
Class 
Book. 



J?, *SfL5 

SO —S -m^ *>0 



.PLAIN COMMENTARY 



THE FOUR HOLY GOSPELS, 



INTENDED CHIEFLY FOR DEVOTIONAL READING. 



ASK FOR THE OLD PATHS, WHERE IS THE GOOD WAY, AND WALK THEREIN ; AND YE SHALL FIND 

rest for your souls. — Jeremiah vi. 16. 

GRANT, LORD, THAT IN READING THY WORD, I MAY NEVER PREFER MY OWN SENTIMENTS BE- 
FORE THOSE OF THE CHURCH IN THE PURELY ANCIENT TIMES OF CHRISTIANITY. — Bp. Wilson. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED BY HERMAN HOOKER, 
S. W. CORNER CHESTNUT AND EIGHTH STREETS. 

1856. 



$5 "2.55 5 

.B73 






PRINTED BY HENRY B. ASHMEAD. 



ADVERTISEMENT 



It will suffice to state that this Commentary is not designed for controversial 
readers ; nor yet for those who approach Scripture chiefly in a critical spirit. With- 
out by any means consciously avoiding real difficulties, or (as the writer hopes) over- 
looking the results of sacred criticism, his aim has "been to produce within moderate 
limits a Commentary which, (like the blessed Volume it professes to illustrate,) 
should address itself to readers of all classes. The writer wished that what he 
wrote might prove useful to unlearned and learned, alike ; old and young ; wise 
and simple ; the teacher and the taught. His Notes are designed for all who study 
the Gospel in a devotional frame of mind ; who read it in order to live by it ; and 
desire, while they read, to have their attention aroused, their heart informed, and 
their curiosity in some degree gratified. 

It is thought that, besides its use in the closet, such a Commentary as the pres- 
ent, especially if it be studied for a few minutes beforehand, might be made avail- 
able for reading aloud in the family. It is hoped that in parochial schools also, 
and for Sunday-school teachers, the work maybe found useful. 

And this shall suffice. May He by whose Spirit the Gospel was given, bless 
the work, and forgive all its faults ! 



Blessed LORD, who hast caused all Holt Scriptures to be written for 

OUR LEARNING ; GRANT THAT WE MAY IN SUCH WISE HEAR THEM, READ, MARK, LEARN, 
AND INWARDLY DIGEST THEM, THAT BY PATIENCE, AND COMFORT OF THY HOLY WORD, 
WE MAY EMBRACE AND EVER HOLD FAST THE BLESSED HOPE OF EVERLASTING LlFE, 

which Thou hast given us in our Saviour JESUS CHRIST. 

Amen. 



PUT OFF THY SHOES FROM OFF THY FEET : FOR THE PLACE WHEREON THOU 
STANDEST IS HOLY GROUND. 



PEE FACE. 9 



The question has been asked why the present is called a " Plain Commen- 
tary;" and what is precisely meant by " devotional reading." If the writer 
had been further called upon to explain why the quotations prefixed to his 
work express veneration for antiquity, he would have been furnished with all 
the heads requisite for those few introductory remarks which it has been his 
desire, all along, to offer on the completion of his work. 

Complaint is often made of the want of an English Commentary on Holy 
Scripture ; and it is not to be denied that, in the department of Exegesis, our 
Theological Literature is exceedingly deficient. But it seems to be not always 
remembered by those who complain, that students of the Bible are not all in 
search of exactly the same thing. 

1. Thus, there are not a few readers who seem to approach the Gospels, for 
instance, in a purely critical spirit. From the style of their inquiries, it would 
scarcely be supposed that they were handling an inspired Work. They treat 
it exactly as if it were an ordinary narrative. To be warned against some 
popular mistake : to be furnished with a correct translation : to have the events 
which it records, reduced to true historical order; and to understand the 
allusions to manners, and natural phenomena: — such seem. to be the chief 
objects of their desire. Readers of this class find writers of their own mental 
complexion : writers, who can be eloquent enough about the Pharisees and 
Sadducees; indeed, who have much to say on the subject of Jewish antiquities 
generally ; are very exact in speaking of the Herods ; very communicative 
concerning the geography of Palestine, and the observations of modern 
travellers ; but who have little to communicate besides. They seem to make 
it a point of honor to be very dry on points of living interest. Their chief 
concern seems to be, to be safe. On every deep doctrinal statement, they 
affect at once the brevity and the ambiguity of an ancient oracle. Such 
writers are singularly prone to evacuate every profounder revelation of the 
Spirit, by a shallow suggestion as to its probable meaning ; or they pass it by 
without a syllable of comment. Meanwhile, they compound for their silence 
when they should have spoken out, by many an useless remark on what is 
perfectly plain already; many a clumsy paraphrase of statements which 
require no paraphrase at all. We hear it sometimes said by readers of truer 
instincts, or who have been better taught, that such Commentaries " always 
tell them everything except the precise thing which they desire to know." 

2. There is again another kind of Commentary which may be said to address 

* [This PrefaQe in the Oxford edition, was printed in connection with St. John's Gospel.] 



IV PREFACE. 

itself to controversial readers. It shuns whatever is of a practical character : 
it shuns also what maybe called the uncontroverted passages. It devotes 
itself entirely to the discussion of old difficulties, or to the discovery of new 
ones. The learned writer will fill his page with a dissertation about a date ; 
enter into historical rninutice on the slightest provocation ; try the patience of 
an ordinary reader by the tedious discussion of a various reading ; or by aiming 
at exactness in points of purely technical or scientific interest, — on which, after 
all, nothing of a vital character can be said to depend. It might really seem 
as if it were never once suspected by writers of this class that the conduct of 
Zacchasus in climbing the sycamore tree, is a far more interesting matter than 
the sycamore tree into which he climbed : that everything which our Saviour 
said is ten times as important as the dialect in which He said it. But, to do 
them justice, these writers do not design their labours for the general reader; 
nor do they pretend to have produced a complete Commentary. Whatever their 
intention, their labours, (which are yet very important in their way,) are so pecu- 
liar in their character, that they may well be considered to form a class apart. 

3. Then, there are labourers of a higher order in the same field, whose criti- 
cism is mostly philological. Beyond all things, they are intent on noticing the 
grammatical peculiarities of the inspired pages. A rare word, — an unique 
phrase, — some anomaly of construction; this it is which chiefly delights many 
readers of the Gospel. It is in some such spirit that scholars are but too prone 
to approach the Book of Life. They have been known to dismiss a verse of 
Scripture when they have translated it exactly, and established the incorrect- 
ness of our English Version. Let it not be thought for an instant that we are 
speaking slightingly of a class of men whose work we delight in. Their labours 
will be overlooked by none who value the Truth. It is to them that we owe 
our very acquaintance with those sacred Oracles for which we profess so much 
regard. But it may surely be declared, without fear of contradiction, that 
Commentaries of this class are addressed exclusively to the learned. And not 
only so, but their authors may surely be charged with dealing with the husk or 
shell only, which contains the fruit. They do not even profess to reach the 
kernel. They seem seldom, if ever, to touch the life. 

For is it not the simple fact, that after historical criticism, and scientific 
skill, and geographical investigation, and antiquarian sagacity, and even schol- 
arlike acumen, have all done their part towards the elucidation of the sacred 
text, — in very many instances, the work of the Commentator has yet to begin ? 
Is not the labour of Exegesis quite a distinct matter ? When St. John deliv- 
ered his Divine Gospel into the hands of his awe-struck disciples, what kind of 
remarks are we to suppose that the Apostle and Evangelist made upon his 
Work ? Did he instruct them in the force of the Greek article ?(a) or recon- 
cile his hours(6) with those of the other Evangelists ? Did he tell them what 
the Jews meant by saying to Pilate, — " It is not lawful for us to put any man 
to death ?"(c) or explain in what sense they proposed to " eat the Passover," (d) 

(a) Alluding to such places as St. John xviii. 15. (6) See St. John xix. 14. 

(c) St. John xviii. 31. (d) St. John xviii. 28. 



PREFACE. V 

more than six hours after the Passover had been eaten Tby our Lord ? Not so ! 
It is at least very hard to believe that the Evangelist's remarks would have 
been of this character. True indeed it is that neither was it perhaps altogether 
necessary, in their case, that he should have discussed such questions with 
them. But then, did not his Gospel require a Commentary ? If Jews required 
to have their understandings opened, (e) in order that they might understand 
the writings of the Old Testament, do not Christians require some enlighten- 
ment in order that they may understand the writings of the New ? What kind 
of remarks, then, (to repeat the question,) are we to suppose that the inspired 
Evangelist St. John would have made upon his own Work ? Would he not 
rather have explained to His disciples the prophetic import of our Saviour's 
Miracles ? and the meaning of certain of His Discourses ? and why he had him- 
self made such emphatic mention of the Water and the Blood which flowed 
from the wounded side of his Lord? and something about our Saviour's 
appearances after He was risen from the dead ? In short, we are prone to 
believe concerning St. John, that if he made any Commentary on his own 
G-ospel at all, his remarks were made in the way of Interpretation of it. 

4. And this brings us naturally to the notice of that truest style of Commen- 
tary which attempts to interpret the difficult places of Holy Scripture ; or, at 
least, never fails to call attention to them. He alone, in strictness, deserves 
the name of a Commentator, who interprets the profounder statements of the 
Spirit : who is at least suggestive, where he cannot be altogether explanatory ; 
or admits that there is something in the sacred text which calls aloud for expla- 
nation, even while he confesses himself unable to explain it. Such a writer 
will gratefully avail himself of all subsidiary helps ; but he will endeavour to 
keep steadily in view that the labours of critics and philologers are but means 
to an end; not the end itself. — It is manifest then, that we are now making 
allusion to a style of Commentary entirely different from either of the former. 
We are, in short, describing such a Commentary as few indeed are capable of 
producing : for it demands, in the first place, entire familiarity with the writ- 
ings of either Covenant ; and a large acquaintance with what our Fathers in the 
faith have delivered on the subject of Holy Scripture ; — requirements which, 
in themselves, imply considerable learning. Next, there should be a vigorous 
yet chastened imagination, corrected by a sound and impartial judgment. 
There is needed besides, above all things, a holy life ; freedom from party pre- 
judice ; and a submissive spirit, capable of prolonged and calm investigation. 
When all these qualifications are united, very little will yet be achieved, unless 
there be present a certain amount of that Theological instinct, in which it must 
be confessed that the moderns are, for the most part, lamentably deficient. 
Without this instinct, this attribute of a Theological mind, learning does but 
encumber : imagination does but mislead : modesty, candor, even holiness 
itself, must all prove unavailing. 

5. There is yet another class of readers who resort to Holy Scripture neither 

(e) St. Luke xxiv. 45. 



VI PREFACE. 

to criticise its, historical statements, nor to acquaint themselves with its lin- 
guistic difficulties, nor yet to have its hard places explained to them. They 
read the Gospel chiefly for their souls' health. They regard it as their daily 
bread, and depend on it for their daily portion. They rather shrink from a 
dissertation upon a difficulty, as they would from a domestic quarrel. They 
do not care to be told about the idiom of the Evangelist ; and are rather 
annoyed than otherwise, at finding that the English Version of his Gospel 
requires correction. They are quite content with it, as it is. But if it must 
be corrected, (say they,) let it be done only in case of great emergency; and 
then, in the fewest possible words. In their simplicity, perhaps in their igno- 
rance, they do but desire to lay their hand on the Book of Life, as the poor 
woman laid her hand on the hem of Christ's garment; and they know that 
virtue must come forth to heal them. Nay, they only value the elucidation of 
a mystery, as it is made thus to minister to edification. Those readers who, 
till lately, were generally driven to the pages of Doddridge or Scott, may be 
considered to represent, in excess, the class of readers of whom we are more 
particularly speaking. They read in a devotional spirit, and look for practical 
remarks on the sacred text ; or at least they wish to be assisted in drawing 
inferences from it which may influence their own daily life and conversation. — 
This, then, is a fifth and a distinct kind of Commentary ; and we will not 
attempt to define any further. 

Of the five classes which we have described, the three first are essentially 
modern in their spirit ; the growth of a late age and a remote country : while, 
under the two latter heads, conjointly, all ancient expositions of Scripture may 
be classed. A Commentary which should exhibit in perfection the conjoined 
characters of all five, might perhaps be called complete : but no such Commen- 
tary will ever be written; nor if it could be written, would it be generally read. 
It would, in the first place, be so exceedingly lengthy ; and, in the next place, 
it would be so exceedingly miscellaneous. The scholar would complain that 
what he was in search of was lost amid remarks and reflections for which he 
had no leisure : the devotional reader would complain that he was forever inter- 
rupted by learned discussions for which he had no relish. Students of the approv- 
ed modern school would call everything that was not either exceedingly dry, or 
exceedingly shallow, fanciful and ridiculous. It is conceivable that their own 
business-like method would be yet more rudely characterized in return ; and 
perhaps, with better show of reason. In short, it is impossible to contrive a 
Commentary which shall meet the requirements of every class of readers ; and 
he who undertakes the difficult task of writing a Commentary at all, must make 
up his mind beforehand as to whom he proposes to teach; and what sort of 
information he intends chiefly to convey. 

The present writer, then, did not design his work in the first instance for 
critical readers : still less did he feel that he was addressing scholars, on their 
own ground : least of all will his pages prove congenial to those who study the 
G-ospel in a controversial spirit. Without by any means consciously avoiding 
real difficulties of any kind, or (as he hopes) overlooking the results of sacred 



PREFACE. Vll 

criticism, lie desired rather to exhibit the results of learned inquiry, than to 
expose the process by which those results may he arrived at. He chiefly 
aimed at affording unlearned readers some real insight into the Gospel : and he 
called his work " a Plain Commentary," not because it pretends to make every- 
thing in the Gospel plain ; nor yet because the language is always such as a 
wholly uneducated person can understand : but because it contains no words of 
Greek or Latin, — no allusions which are beyond the reach of an educated 
person. 

Next, — to mark his intention yet more fully,— the writer ventured to add 
that his Book was "intended chiefly for devotional reading/' He meant 
thereby, that although he wished that what he wrote might prove useful to 
learned and unlearned readers, alike; to old and young, wise and simple, the 
teacher and the taught ; — his notes were yet chiefly intended for those who 
study the Gospel in a devotional frame of mind ; who read it in order to live 
by it ; and desire, while they read, to have their attention aroused, their heart 
informed, and their curiosity in some degree gratified. 

It will be seen, from what has thus been offered, that the writer's design 
was chiefly to exhibit the combined features of those Commentaries which be- 
long to the fourth and fifth classes above described. He has already stated 
that the elder expositors of Scripture seem to have all written with the same 
intention ; and he likes to believe that his labours will be found to bear some 
general resemblance to theirs, as well in respect of matter as manner. — As for 
the manner of those writers, it was, — to avail themselves freely of existing 
materials : to interweave the words of others with their own : to illustrate 
Scripture by a large use of Scripture : to be concise in the discussion of tech- 
nical difficulties, — to be diffuse where important doctrine was involved; or 
where, in the course of the narrative, they encountered statements which could 
be turned to the reader's profit. They never slumbered on Holy ground. To 
detect remote allusions, — to evolve unsuspected meanings, — to vindicate the 
importance of supposed trifles ; — this was all their care. They did not append 
to the inspired pages a series of unconnected notes, to be referred to by the 
reader, or not, at his pleasure : but rather, they discoursed upon the Gospel, 
connectedly, — breaking off. only to introduce the words of Inspiration ; and 
proceeding again with their running comment. 

As for the matter of the ancient writers, — it was, to say the truth, seldom 
altogether new. Novelty, in fact, seems to have formed no distinct part of 
their plan. Truth, — the handing down of Divine Truth, — was their great 
object. To transmit, pure and unpolluted, the current of primitive doctrine ; 
and to extend and enlarge Man's knowledge of the Divine Oracles; was the busi- 
ness of each of the Fathers in turn. To the very full did they admit, (as their 
writings prove,) that striking sentiment of a great modern Doctor, that " it is not 
at all incredible that a Book, which has been so long in the possession of man- 
kind, should contain many truths as yet undiscovered." (/) Far from being 

(/) Bishop Butler. 



Vlil PREFACE. 

servile copyists, the most famous of them were great and original thinkers : 
bold in their speculations, often to the verge of rashness ; so singular in their 
interpretations, as sometimes to incur the charge of extravagance or puerility. 
But they knew how to make amends for their occasional falls, by many a flight 
like the eagle's. In the meanwhile, they showed clearly by the general resem- 
blance of their method of handling Divine Truth, that they were not solitary 
and independent dreamers, — like the modern Germans, and the disciples of the 
G-erman School among ourselves. Reverence, not timidity; sound Theological 
training, not imbecility of wit; made them — what they are. All this admits 
of easy illustration; and the subject is at once so interesting and so important, 
that we shall venture to invite the reader's attention to the following extract 
from Jerome's preface to his Commentary on St. Mathew : — 

" You ask me, my dearest Eusebius, to furnish you with a brief exposition 
of St. Matthew's Gospel, which you may carry with you in your approaching 
journey to Rome, — like victual for the voyage. Your pertinacity in request- 
ing such a Commentary, limited in extent yet pregnant in matter, surprises 
me ; and sure am I that, had you remembered the answer I made you, you 
would never have invited me thus to attempt in a few days to execute a task 
which demands the labour of years. 

a In the first place, it is difficult to go through all the authors who have 
written about the Gospels. Far more difficult, secondly, is the effort of judg- 
ment which is required to make a selection of what is best in each. I admit 
that I have read, (but it is a great many years ago,) Origen's twenty-five books 
of Commentaries on St. Matthew ; together with his Homilies, being as many 
in number, and his Scholia. I have also read the Commentary of Theophilus 
of Antioch, and of Hippolitus the martyr; those of Theodoras of Heraclea, 
Apollinarius of Laodicea, and Didynius of Alexandria : — besides, of the Latins, 
the short works of Hilary, of Victorinus, and of Fortunatianus. And certain- 
ly, even a little, picked out of the Commentaries of such writers, would well 
deserve attention. But you require me, in the space of two weeks, — towards 
the close of Lent, while the winds are blowing, — to dictate : thus allowing no 
time for the labour of writing, of correcting, of transcribing, — especially in 
the case of one like myself, who for three months have been so ill that I have 
scarcely yet begun to walk about again. The length of time allowed me is not 
adequate to the magnitude of the undertaking. 

" The result has been, that, laying aside all consideration of ancient author- 
ities, (whom I have no opportunity either to read or to follow,) I have merely 
attempted a brief historical exposition ; (the thing which you said you wished 
for most ;) into which I have occasionally interwoven the flowers of spiritual 
interpretation. A perfect work I reserve for a future opportunity." So far 
Jerome. 

The inferences which may be drawn from this single passage are neither few 
nor inconsiderable. 

For (1st,) here is one writing a short Commentary on St. Matthew, in A. D. 



PREFACE. IX 

398, whose direct qualification for the task is found to consist in his acquaint- 
ance with what six Greek and three Latin Fathers have already written on the 
same subject; and he insinuates that, under ordinary circumstances, he should 
have felt it his duty to study all the Commentators, before venturing to put 
forth a new Commentary of his own. 

2ndly, Jerome further implies that in the composition of such a Commen- 
tary, his special business would have been to exhibit the cream of what others 
had written. His labour would have lain rather in the judicious selection of 
ancient materials, than in the invention of fresh ones. 

Srdly, The writers which he enumerates flourished from about A. D. 175 to 
about A. D. 370. There is therefore nothing to prevent the oldest of them, 
(Theophilus, Bp. of Antioch,)(^) from having conversed in his youth with a 
man who for many years had been a disciple of St. John. That the next in 
order of time, (Hippolytus,) had conversed with Irenseus, who remembered 
St. John's disciple, Poly carp, — is matter of history. 

4thly, It is observable that the writers whom Jerome names were even more 
widely severed in respect of locality, than in respect of date. Thus Origen 
studied at Alexandria, — over the catechetical School of which famous city, 
Didymus also presided. Theophilus was Bishop of Antioch in Syria : Hippo- 
lytus was Bishop of Portus, near Borne; and Theodoras filled the see of his 
native city, Heraclea, in Thrace. Apollinarius, again, presided over the Church 
of Laodicea, in Asia Minor. Hilary, Bishop of Poictiers, is a noble represen- 
tative of the teaching of the Grallican Church. Victorinus and Fortunatianus 
were Africans ; but the latter was also Bishop of Aquileia in Italy. Although 
five of these writers therefore may be regarded as Jerome's contemporaries, it 
cannot be thought that their several productions were the growth of a single 
school. The reverse is the fact. 

5thly, It should be observed, in the last place, that of the nine Commenta- 
ries thus enumerated, only one, (that of Hilary,) and part of another, (namely, 
Origen's,) are any longer known to be in existence. 

We hesitate not to avow, that the general impression which we derive from 
such a survey of a single instance, is highly favourable to the claims of ancient 
expositions of Holy Scripture on our reverent attention. "We entertain no 
extravagant theory on this subject. We are well aware that the Fathers had 
no authoritative Tradition, to guide them in the general work of Interpretation. 
Concerning Doctrine, indeed, there was such a prevailing Tradition : concern- 
ing the meaning of single texts, there was not. The Fathers are observed to 
reason about the sense of Scripture exactly as we ourselves reason at the pre- 
sent day : they never pretend to knowledge derived from any private source • 
and, of really difficult places, (such as abound in the Discourses of our Lord,) 
there are not unfrequently to be met with as many expositions as there are 

(g) The general argument will not be at all affected by the admission, — which ought perhaps 
in fairness to be made, — that it has been doubted whether the work which Jerome here alludes 
to was the genuine production of the Father whose name it bore. 



X PREFACE. 

expositors. (A) But while all this is freely granted, it is yet claimed as equally 
true that a general consent of Fathers on great subjects is observable : as the 
reference of St. John iii. to Holy Baptism, (i) and even of St. John vi. to the 
Holy Eucharist. Yet further, where the Fathers are not unanimous as to 
ivliat is the precise mystical meaning of any given transaction, (as that recorded 
in St. John xix. 34,) they are nevertheless quite unanimous in pronouncing 
that the passage has a mystical meaning. There is not one of them who would 
subscribe to the doctrine of the Rev. Albert Barnes, which we have consigned 
to the foot of the page.Q") Above all, there is a family resemblance in the 
method of all ancient expositions of Holy Scripture which vindicates for them, 
however remotely, a common origin : a resemblance in the general handling of 
the inspired Word, which can only be satisfactorily explained by supposing that 
the remote type of all was the oral teaching of the Apostles themselves. For 
is it credible that the early Christians would have been so forgetful of the 
discourses of the men who had seen the Lord, that no trace of it, — no tradi- 
tion of so much as the manner of it, — should have lingered on for a hundred 
years after the death of the last of the Apostles ; down to the time when Ori- 
gen, for example, was a young man ? It cannot be ! If the Twelve had indeed 
discoursed, concerning the acts and sayings of our Blessed Saviour, in the 
manner of the Hev. Albert Barnes, will any one believe that, at the end of one 
or two centuries, Christian writers of the East and of the West, of the North 
and of the South, could have all been found, with one consent, to write in a 
style so very dissimilar from that of the American expositor ? Nothing short 
of a general conspiracy in the Church, or a special miracle, would suffice to 
account for so radical a discrepancy. 

We believe, then, that ancient guides are more trustworthy on holy ground, 
than the moderns. Our reasons for thinking so, moreover, are now before the 
reader. The remarkable general consent, — the occasional particular consent, — 
of many men, writing in remote regions of the Church, about the same period 
of time; as Basil(/c) and the two Gregories(?) in Asia Minor, — Epiphanius(m) 
in Cyprus, — Ambrose(^) at Milan, — John Chrysostom(o) at Antioch, — Jer- 

(h) E. g. on St. John xiii. 34: xx. 17. 

(i) " Of all the ancients," (says Hooker,) "there is not one to he named that ever did other- 
wise either expound or allege the place than as implying external Baptism." 

(j) "It is probable, though it is not certainly expressed, that the left side was pierced by 

the spear. It is evident that the spear reached the heart The heart is surrounded by a 

membrane called the pericardium. This membrane contains a serous matter or liquor resem- 
bling water, which prevents the surface of the heart from becoming dry by its continual motion, 
It was this which was pierced, and from which the water flowed. The point of the spear also 
reached one of the ventricles of the heart ; and the blood, yet warm, rushed forth either mingled 
with, or followed by, the water of the' pericardium; so as to appear to St. John to be blood and 
water flowing together. This was a natural effect, and would follow in any other case.". . . . 
Observe how quietly the question is begged in the exordium of this dreary passage ! — the very 
introduction of which, in this place, seems to demand an apology. 

(Jc) Of Csesarsea, a. D. 355—379. (I) Of Nazianzus, a. d. 355—390; of Nyssa, 370—394. 

(m) A. d. 367—403. (n) A. B. 375—397. (o) A. d. 381—107. 



PREFACE. XI 

ome(^) in Palestine, — Augustine^) in Africa, — and Cyril (r) at Alexandria; — 
this fact strikes us as a phenomenon truly extraordinary. But when we further 
discover that it was the practice of those early commentators to borrow largely 
from their predecessors, — so that, in nine cases out of ten, the author is only 
handing down to us what another author had first handed down to him ; when 
we can sometimes even trace the footprints of expositors hack to the very age 
of the Apostles themselves, or the age which immediately succeeded theirs j — 
our surprise at their general coincidence of teaching, assumes the form of defer- 
ence, and respect for their opinions. The phenomenon, we perceive, admits 
of only one explanation • and these venerable writers command at once the 
homage of our hearts, and the allegiance of our understandings. 

For,— let it be asked in the next place, — What claims on our respect and 
attention have the moderns, as yet, established? When the modern method 
differs from the ancient, on what grounds do the moderns recommend their 
conclusions to our acceptance ? The advances which have been made in 
Scholarship and in Science cannot be alleged in their behalf. Precious helps 
these are to investigation ; but no one will pretend they can subvert the method 
of it ; any more than recent improvements in the construction of telescopes, 
because they have made us acquainted with so many unsuspected wonders, 
have rendered the inductive method of reasoning an effete proceeding; or 
falsified the first principles of former mathematicians. How then do the 
moderns handle the sacred writings ? Certainly, if we wanted to characterize 
their distinctive method by a single word, irreverence would be the term which 
we should apply to it. Were we invited to assign a second characteristic, it 
would be shallowness : if a third, arrogance. When the Gospels are in question, 
we read perpetually of the "dislocations," the " inaccurate memories," and the 
"mistakes" of "the Synoptists." The "honesty" of supposed "imposters" is 
vindicated, or the "candour" of professing "witnesses" is pointed out, (It 
would never be imagined that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was the matter in 
debate ! the Apostles of the Lamb, the subjects of examination !) . . . The very 
origin of the Gospels has proved a fruitful source of prolonged debate, — espe- 
cially among our German neighbours, who seem to have taken the " mythical 
narratives" vulgarly ascribed to St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John, 
under their especial patronage and protection. Here, the alarming names of 
Eichorn, Biisching, Yogel, Ammon, G-ratz, Ziegler, Weber, Bertholdt, Hug, 
Kuinoel, Gieseler, Fritzche, De Wette, Lucke, Schleiermacher, Paulus and 
Strauss, represent the combatants in the internecine strife. In the words of a 
great and lamented writer(s), (to whose memory the living representatives of 
this motley crew must bear no particular good- will ;) — " Hypothesis here has 
been knocked down by hypothesis, till the Gospels must begin to feel them- 
selves in a very awkward condition. If they were not written independently, 
— and that is flatly denied ; if one was not copied from another, — and that is 

(p) A. d. 363 — 430. The date of his Commentary on St. Matthew was A. D. 398, — according 
to Clinton, whose dates are here followed. (q) a. d. 386—430. (r) A. D. 412—444. 

(s) The Rev. Hugh James Rose. 



Xll PREFACE. 

almost given up ; if they were not derived from a single common document, — 
and that is growing out of fashion ; if oral tradition does not account for their 
coincidences; — and we are assured that it cannot; at least we may natter our- 
selves that they have not many further chances of escape. The method of 
exhaustion has almost done its work. The last hypothesis, which we think 
neither the Gospels nor our readers can possibly avoid, will be, that, in spite 
of some evidence from our senses, they were never written at all. This con- 
clusion will be a most valuable adjunct to certain other great discoveries of 
the day, and will show in a most striking manner the march of intellect, and 
our incalculable superiority to our gross and ignorant forefathers." 

In the department of sacred Exegesis, the writers for whom we avow so 
little partiality appear to us scarcely less objectionable. Do we encounter 
some deep saying' of our Lord ? They explain it at once away. Is our atten- 
tion arrested by some mysterious transaction ? The meaning of it is forth- 
with laboriously evacuated. Commentators of this modern school present us 
largely with negative statements : and delight in the remarks and the reason- 
ings which they term " subjective." But, (what seems unfortunate,) they 
can never so much as quite agree among themselves, as to the very authen- 
ticity of the record they profess to illustrate ! 

Schott and Liicke, we are informed, " occupy a prominent place among 
those scholars who deny the authenticity of the whole of the last chapter" . . . 
of St. John's Gospel. Kuinoel and Weber, on the contrary, flatter themselves 
that they " have proved most satisfactorily that no sufficient reason can be 
adduced for rejecting the body of the chapter, since all the manuscripts con- 
tain it; and since the ideas are characteristic of St. John (! ! !) and even the 
language itself presents no distinguishable difference from the style of his 
composition." (How candid and considerate of Messieurs Kuinoel and Weber 
to allow any weight to such a trivial circumstance as the combined testimony 
of every known manuscript of a Gospel !) Olshausen, however, amiably sug- 
gests that perhaps all that Messieurs Schott and Liicke meant was, " that 
some definite person, such as the presbyter John, for example, or even some 
one unknown, was the author of the chapter." (What a satisfaction, by the 
way, it would be to the Church to have this benevolent suggestion confirmed ! 
to be convinced that if the Evangelist St. John did not write his own Gospel, 
at all events that somebody else, — "some definite person," — kindly wrote it 
for him !).... Olshausen' s own private dictum, in the meantime, is that " the 
only result of the numerous investigations of this subject which commends 
itself to the understanding, and is confirmed more and more by inquiry, is 
that which regards the last two verses only as not having been written by St. 
John." In this charming forbearance towards the Evangelist, Tholuck agrees 
with Olshausen. But, (says the latter,) the first half of the chapter "appears 
poor and meaningless," — unless we adopt the symbolical interpretation of the 
Fathers. It becomes else, " a lengthened unmeaning preface." Not so ! (ex- 
claims an amiable and highly accomplished living writer of our own ; a digni- 
tary too, and one whose writings are held in much esteem :) such " a length- 



PREFACE. Xlll 

ened allegory" is '"wholly uncongenial to the usual spirit of St. John's 
Gospel." The minuteness which Olshausen finds so "poor and meaningless," 
may be accounted for by supposing that St. John " delighted to record, or 
that the inquiring disciples would not pause in their questions till they had 
received, the whole account, even down to the minutest outward details. "(t) . . . 
Well, (cries the perplexed student,) on this head, I may perhaps be permitted 
to think for myself. Suffer me at least to believe on your authority, that St. 
John wrote the last chapter of his own Gospel! — Alas, even this miserable 
solace is denied. " There are not wanting," (says the oracle,) " indications that 
the actual composition of it is by another hand than that of the Evangelist 
himself." (And here he refers, in a note, to the aforesaid Liicke.) " But 
these difficulties in the outward details of this chapter," (he continues,) "are 
not incompatible with the belief that we have, if not the very words, at least 
the last recollections of the beloved Disciple ; taken clown, it may be, from his 
mouth; or written immediately after his death by the Ephesian disciples; but 
still substantially his own." .... Can it be necessary to point out that con- 
jectures, vague and unsupported and gratuitous as these, (for reasonings they 
may not, by any stretch of courtesy, be called,) are entitled neither to atten- 
tion nor indulgence? Much learning the authors of them may possess; 
philosophers they may be, and wits and scholars too ; but are such criticisms 
worthy of Theologians? Are these, above all, to be the guides of poor souls 
hungering for the bread of life, — reaching out for a hand which may sustain 
their tottering feet, and conduct them to " the well-spring of their own ever- 
lasting felicity ?"(u) 

Thus much, then, on the subject of ancient and modern expositors. And now, 
the reasoning will sufficiently appear why we have prefixed to our poor endea- 
vours, two quotations expressing our own adherence to the ancients. — It only 
remains to speak a little more particularly about what has been here attempted. 

If, after all that has been offered in a preceding page, it should still be 
objected that the present Commentary is not " plain" enough for plain readers, 
the author will but say in his own defence, that he found it practically impos- 
sible to say what he wanted to say in much easier language. It sounds like a 
paradox, but it is obviously true, that very often, in order to explain a diffi- 
culty, things must be said which a wholly unlearned person will find even 
more difficult than the thing to be explained. To be rather shallow in order 
to be very transparent, formed no part of the writer's plan. 

(t) "Elsewhere so unusual in St. John's Gospel," — adds the writer : whether justly or not, let 
the readers of St. John's Gospel declare. Consider the following places : chap. ii. 1 to 10 : vi. 
3 to 14 : viii. 1 to 11 : xi. 18 to 44 : xiii. 4 to 12 : xviii. 1 to IS : xix. 17 to 42 : xx. 3 to 8. 

(u) It would, of course, have been easy to adduce far more flagrant instances of licentiousness, 
from writers of less respectability than Olshausen, (whose work on the Gospels is full of merit,) 
and the esteemed author of " Sermons and Essays on the Apostolic age," — if the present writer 
had desired. What has thus been adduced is merely offered as a favourable specimen o| the 
language of a school, — the growing popularity of which, among our own people, no thoughtful 
man can witness without anxiety and apprehension. Pushed to its extreme development, such 
a method must lead inevitably to aberrations as miserable as those of Paulus and Strauss. 



XIV PREFACE. 

And yet, after a large admission of this kind has been made, he is deeply 
convinced that what he has written will be found useful to readers of a humble 
class j that class, in short, whose needs he had chiefly in view when he first 
took up his pen. No Commentary, of course, can reach the unlettered hind 
who is scarcely able to decipher the sacred text. It is useless to attempt to 
write books for persons who cannot read. But there is a large, and rapidly 
increasing class of readers, who, however imperfectly educated, can yet very 
well pick out the meaning of such remarks as are chiefly met with in these 
pages. The writer has had many opportunities already of convincing himself 
of this fact; and because he has cherished the hope to the very last of being 
useful to such persons, he has invariably contrived that every single chapter 
shall be comprised within such limits as to be capable of forming a separate 
tract. — In parochial schools, — in the hands of the teachers and the elder chil- 
dren, especially, — the work will surely be found useful! Is it beyond the 
capacity of the better class of domestic servants ? of small traders, and artisans ? 
It is even thought that besides its use in the closet, such a work as the pre- 
sent, especially if it be studied for a few minutes beforehand, might be made 
available for reading aloud in the family. 

Something should be said concerning the sources of the present work. The 
writer has availed himself, in the freest manner, of whatever he has at any 
time met with, which he thought would serve his present purpose ; borrowing 
something from the most modern as well as from the most ancient sources ; — 
from the excellent "Annotations" of Bishop Lonsdale and Archdeacon Hale, 
as readily as from the precious fragments of writers of the second century : 
from Bishop Andrewes, (an expositor of Scripture second to none in ancient 
or modern times;) Bishop Pearson; Dr. W. II. Mill, and the Rev. Isaac Wil- 
liams ; as freely as from Augustine, and Chrysostom, and Cyril. It seemed 
to him reasonable and right, moreover, when he met with anything which 
appeared to him felicitously expressed by another writer, to present the pas- 
sage in that writer's actual words ; not to vary the language, in order to make 
the sentiment look like his own. This will account for the numerous quotas 
tions which will be found in the ensuing pages. But it may be necessary to 
remind the unlearned reader that he is not to suppose, whenever the aid of a 
modern author is thus invoked, that the sentiment quoted is therefore peculiar 
to that author. The great value of such expositors as Andrewes and Pearson 
and Mill is rather of the opposite kind; namely, that those men were so deeply 
imbued with the spirit of Patristic interpretation ; had read the Fathers so 
largely, and to such good purpose ; that they were for ever reproducing the 
ancient and the true expositions of God's Word. Refer to the commentaries 
of Augustine and Chrysostom, on laying down Andrewes or Mill, and you 
recognize a hundred expressions immediately, — the germ of many a thought 
which those men have gracefully or learnedly expanded, and made entirely 
their own. But indeed it is scarcely needful to make the reference. The 
fragrance of the honey proclaims plainly enough where the bees have been 
feeding The chief value of such writings, then, proceeds from the very 



PEEFACE. XV 

circumstance which imparts such singular importance to the writings of the 
ancients themselves, — as was explained above, in the instance of Jerome: 
with this memorable difference, however, — namely, that almost all those very 
ancient Books have long since perished which supplied Augustine, and Chryso- 
stom, and Cyril, and the rest, with their materials ; and further, that the best 
of the moderns are but learners in a School where the?/ filled professorial 
chairs. Should it not, however, be cheerfully allowed that there arises at least 
one important counterbalancing consideration, when an ancient exposition is 
thus re-produced by a modern Doctor; namely, that the sentiment thereby 
obtains the sanction of an independent mind, — trained under different influ- 
ences, and furnished with all the appliances of modern learning; superior it 
may be in judgment, and not unfrequently superior in power; — after having 
stood the trying ordeal of at least fifteen hundred years ? — It may be stated, 
in conclusion, that the writer would have availed himself far more largely of 
the ample stores, ancient and modern, which he had at command, but that he 
prescribed to himself the rule of brevity ; in order to produce a Commentary 
within moderate limits. He was thus often afraid to consult fresh authorities ; 
and has always laid down his pen with regret. At the same time, the reader 
will not be aware hoio much has been offered on any given subject, unless he 
will be at the pains to refer, when directed, from one part of the Commentary 
-to another. This operation may prove troublesome; but a system of cross 
references was clearly unavoidable, — unless the same statements were to be 
repeated again and again in different parts of the work. The materials have 
been distributed, according to the writer's best judgment; and the Commen- 
tary on each chapter has been made as readable, and it is hoped as interesting, 
as the narrow limits would allow. 

The assistance which has been derived from living authors has been so 
faithfully acknowledged in the foot-notes, that particular allusion to it is the 
less necessary here ; but the writer feels that he ought to acknowledge his 
oral obligations to the Rev. Charles Marriott, — whose daily life and conversa- 
tion has been to him a perpetual Commentary on the Gospel. 

Very delightful, lastly, — (why should the writer be ashamed to confess 
it?) — has been the favourable notice which his labours have from time to 
time obtained. Very encouraging have those public and private expressions 
of approval been, and he is very grateful for them. Very serviceable they 
have also proved : for indeed the labour of producing even a popular Com- 
mentary, like the present, is excessive, — far surpassing what most persons 
would suppose ; and though, in this instance, the labour has always been its 
own abundant and most blessed reward, yet has the writer many a time felt 
the need of a little encouragement during the countless weary days and nights 
of prolonged mental activity, which he has been compelled to bestow upon his 
task, — the difficulties of which he did not by any means foresee when he first 
undertook it. The dread of incautiously delivering an unsound, or (God for- 
bid !) an heretical opinion : the awful responsibility of having undertaken to 



XVI PKEFAOE. 

explain our Saviour's discourses, and a miserable apprehension at every 
instant lest lie should not be explaining them rightly : the constant fear of 
overlooking something of importance, for want of a little more investigation, — 
or lest, by yielding to the sense of weariness and fatigue, he should be doing 
any part of the work in a slovenly manner : — all this produced what was often 
felt to be a painful tension of the critical faculty. For the sayings of our 
Lord are so deep,(w) and sometimes, so perplexing )(v) the apparently trivial 
words of Scripture prove, not unfrequently, to be so full of unsuspected mean- 
ing;^) the common narrative is so mysterious and divine ;(x) that no ordinary 
vigilance, no ordinary amount of painstaking is necessary on the part of a 
Commentator. It is a very facile proceeding to say a few weak, lifeless words 
about a hard text; a very laborious one to ascertain what the most judicious 
of the ancients and moderns have said concerning it. Moreover, it demands 
a severe exercise of the judgment calmly and dispassionately to decide between 
rival interpretations ; to select what seems to be, upon the whole, the best ; and 
to present it to the unlearned reader in a few plain words. This kind of 
labour, persevered in for about three years; — as well in seasons of sickness 
and sorrow, as of health and joy; amid the pressure of other duties, collegiate 
and parochial ; and (how often !) during those hours which God has allotted 
to Man for rest ; — may well crave a little encouragement. The labour thus 
adverted to has increased as the work has proceeded. Whether because the 
writer grew more interested in his trade, as well as more skillful at it, — or 
because St. John's Gospel invites to deeper research, and will have more atten- 
tion, — he is conscious that his exposition of the last sixteen chapters of St. 
John, together with the fourth, are the least imperfect part of his entire per- 
formance. Would that the rest were like it ! . . . But in truth, the Commen- 
tary is all so utterly unworthy of its Divine subject, that, even in laying down 
his pen, and invoking a blessing on his labours, — the blessing of Him by 
whose Spirit the Gospel was given ! — he desires nothing so much as that its 
many imperfections may be pardoned : that it may prove of use to many, and 
productive of mischief to none. 

The Author would conclude by gratefully recording that he has compiled 
this Commentary, for the most part, in the shelter of a College, — a daily pen- 
sioner on the bounty of one who entered into rest more than five hundred 
years ago. He has thus endeavoured, (to adopt the language of pious Bishop 
Home,) to give the world some account of that time and those opportunities 
which the Providence of a gracious God, and the munificence of a pious 
Founder, have placed within his power. 

Oxford, August 21st, 1855. 

( u) E. g. St. John xv. 26 ; and see xx. 17, — the whole verse. 

(v) E. g. St. John xiv. 28,— see pp. 628—30. (10) E. g. St. Luke, iv. 31 : xvi. 9. 

(x) E. g. St. Matthew ii. 23 : xxi. 2 to 8. St. Mark xi. 12 to 14. St. John iv. 42,— where see 
the notes. 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



THE FOUR HOLY GOSPELS 



ST. MATTHEW. 



CHAPTER I 



1. The genealogy of Christ from Abraham to Joseph. 18. He was conceived by the 
Holy Ghost, and bom of the Virgin Mary when she was espoused to Joseph. 
19. The Angel satisfieth the misdeeming thoughts of Joseph, and interpreteth 
the names of Christ. 

1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, 
the son of Abraham. 

The beginning of the New Testament is meant to remind us of the beginning of 
the Old. The resemblance in the language is intended to imply that there is a cer- 
tain relation or resemblance between the two Testaments also: so that the one is, in 
many respects, the very counterpart of the other. They have been compared to the 
two Cherubims of glory, which overshadowed the mercy-seat with their wings, and 
turned their faces one to another; — between which also God dwelt in brightness, (a) 
and from between which He communed with men. (6) Genesis v. is found to begin 
as follows, — " This is the book of the generations of Adain." Now Adam "is the 
figure of Him that was to come."(c) 

The man Christ Jesus is the second Adam,(d) in whom we behold the beginning 
of a new Creation. For, "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old 
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."(e) 

Our Lord is here called "the Son of David, the son of Abraham," because the 
promise of the Messiah was especially given to those two great saints ; to Abraham, 
in Gen. xxii. 18; to David, in 2 Sam. vii. 12. And "the Son of David" comes 
before "the son of Abraham," in order that "the stone which the builders reject- 
ed" may be made "the head of the corner." 

How attentive should we be to thefrst words of the Gospel of Christ ! 

2, 3 Abraham begat Isaac ; and Isaac begat Jacob ; and his brethren ; 
and Judas begat Pharez and Zara of Thamar. 

Besides the Blessed Virgin Mary, only four female names are found in this 
genealogy, — Thamar, guilty of incest ; Rahab, the harlot ; Ruth, a Moabitess ; 
Bathsheba, an adulteress. Nothing is said of Sarah, and Rebekah, and Rachel, 
and the other holy matrons of whom we elsewhere read. Our Lord's descent from 

(a) Psalm lxxx. 1. (6) Exod. xxv. 20, 22. (c) Rom. v. 14. 

(d) 1 Cor. xv. 45. (e) 2 Cor. v. 17. 



6 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

these four persons, {all, probably of Gentile extraction,) may have been recorded, 
partly in order to intimate the interest which the Gentile world has in Christ ; 
and to prepare men's minds for the ultimate call of the Church, — His Spouse, — 
from among the Heathen : partly, in order to teach us that He came into the world 
to bear our shame. And we learn from what is here written, that the disgrace of 
the ancestor is no real blot upon the descendant ; who may yet be very holy, and 
reflect back his own brightness on all who ever went before him. 

Concerning Rahab and Ruth however, much is said in the way of actual com- 
mendation in Holy Scripture: see the two next notes. And Thamar receives 
memorable notice in the Book of Ruth.(y) "She hath been more righteous than 
I," exclaimed the patriarch Judah concerning her.(^) Indeed we should be very 
careful how we venture to speak of persons whose history indeed, but not whose 
character is set down in the Book of Life. 

The History may mislead us, or rather, it may be mistaken by us. For example, 
few readers of Genesis would have suspected that Esau was in God's sight a "for- 
nicator," and " a profane person."(A) 

4, 5 And Phares begat Esrom ; and Esrom begat Aram ; and Aram 
begat Aminidab ; and Aminidab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat 
Salmon ; and Salmon begat Booz of Rachab ; 

" The harlot Rahab" is one of the " cloud of Witnesses," whose Faith is noticed 
by St. Paul ;(i) and whose works are appealed to by St. James, ii. 25. For her 
remarkable history see Joshua ii. and vi. This is the only place in the Bible where 
her marriage is recorded. 

And Booz begat Obed of Ruth ; and Obed begat Jesse ; 

For the lovely history of Ruth the Moabitess, see the Book in the Bible which 
bears her name. It was all in consequence of her faithfulness(/v) that she won for 
herself so glorious a place in the Book of Life. 

6 And Jesse begat David the king ; 

David was the youngest of Jesse's eight sons,(7) and "fed his father's sheep at 
Bethlehem." (m) God " took him from the sheepfolds . . . to feed Jacob His 
people, and Israel His inheritance."(w) 

And David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of 
Urias ; 

Instead of telling us that this was Bathsheba, the Spirit gives the name of her 
murdered husband; and thus reminds us of David's sin and Bathsheba's shame. 

7 And Solomon begat Roboam ; 

The names which follow, (with slight diversities in the spelling,) are the names 
of the kings of Judah, whose acts are recorded in the Books of Kings and Chroni- 
cles. 

8 And Roboam begat Abia ; and Abia begat Asa ; and Asa begat 
Josaphat ; and Josaphat begat Joram ; and Joram begat Ozias ; 

It is not meant that " Ozias," (that is, Uzziah,) was the son of "Joram" or Jeho- 
ram, but his grandson's grandson ; the names of three kings of Judah are therefore 
here left out ; namely, Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah. This reminds us that there 
are evil names which God will at last, assuredly, blot out of the Book of Life.(o) 

Perhaps these three generations are omitted because they were the result of the 
unholy marriage of Jehoram with Athaliah, the daughter of the wicked Ahab and 

(/) Ruth iv. 12. (g) Gen. xxxviii. 26. (h) Heb. xii. 16. 

(i) Heb. xi. 31. Ik) Ruth i. 14—17. \l\ 1 Sam. xvi. 10, 11. 

(m) 1 Sam. xvii. 15. (n) Psalm lxxviii. 70, 71. (o) Exod. xxxii. 33. 



I-] 



ON ST. MATTHEW S GOSPEL. 



idolatrous Jezebel.Q?) Uzziah, who married Jerusha, the_ daughter of Zadok the 
priest, (q) is the first name which becomes restored to the line of our Lord's ances- 
tors after the flesh. We are reminded by all this of the danger, and perhaps the 
guilt, of contracting marriage with an ungodly family. 

9, 10, 11 And Ozias begat Joathain ; and Joatham begat Achaz ; and 
Acliaz begat Ezekias ; and Ezekias begat Manasses ; and Manasses 
begat Anion ; and Anion begat Josias ; and Josias begat Jechonias and 
his brethren about the time they were carried away to Babylon : 

This " Jechonias" is called in the Old Testament JeJwiaJcim. Unless the Jecho- 
nias in this verse and the next are distinguished, it might be thought that the num- 
bers in ver. 17, do not correspond with the names which had gone before. 

12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Sa- 
lathiel ; 

The king mentioned in verse 11, was the father of this " Jechonias ;" who is 
called in the Old Testament Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, or Coniali. The curse of 
dying childless had been solemnly pronounced upon " Coniah, the son of Jehoia- 
kim," by the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah. (r) Salathiel, here mentioned, must 
therefore have been only his adopted son. 

And Salathiel begat Zorobabel ; 

Zorobabel, (whose name means " He of the dispersion of Babylon,") was gov- 
ernor of Juclah ; a famous type as well as ancestor of our Lord. He it was who, 
with Jeshua the high-priest, rebuilt the temple of Jerusalem after the Captivity ;(s) 
being sustained in the task by the prophets Haggai and Zachariah.(^) For the 
sense in which Salathiel is here said to have begotten Zorobabel, see the note on 
St. Luke iii. 27. 

13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud ; 

This only means that Abiud was descended remotely from Zorobabel; he might 
be called his "son" in the same way as Joseph, in ver. 20, is called " son of David." 
For Zorobabel ; s immediate descendants, see 1 Chronicles iii. 19 — 24. The names 
which here follow, down to Joseph, are nowhere found in the Bible except in this 
place. 

14, 15, 16 And Abiud begat Eliakim ; and Eliakini begat Azor ; and 
Azor begat Sadoc ; and Sadoc begat Achim ; and Achim begat Eliud ; 
and Eliud begat Eleazar ; and Eleazar begat Matthan ; and Matthan 
begat Jacob ; and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom 
was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 

This then is " the genealogy of Christ from Abraham to Joseph" as the heading 
of the chapter rightly informs us. But, since our blessed Lord was born of the 
Virgin Mary, — it may be asked, Why was not her genealogy given rather than 
Joseph's ? And, since Joseph was not our Lord's real Father, How does Ms de- 
scent from David show that our Lord also was "made of the seed of David accord- 
ing to the nesh?"(it) 

These questions cannot be fully answered in a few words. It must suffice to 
point out that it was necessary at first, to keep the mystery of the Birth of Christ 
hidden from the unbelieving eyes of men, and indeed from the Powers of Darkness 
also : and that was why it seemed good in the providence of God, that Joseph 
should not only become the Virgin's wedded husband, but be looked upon and be 
spoken of for a certain space of time as our Lord's Father likewise.(x) Accord- 
ed) 2 Kings viii. 16—18, 26. . (q) 2 Kings xv. 32, 33. (r) Jer. xxii. 24—30. 
Is) Ezra iii. 2 ; v. 2 ; Hag. i. 14. (*) See Ezra v. 1 ; Hag. i. 1, 12 ; ii. 2. («) Rom. i. 3. 
(x) St. Matt. xiii. 55; St. Luke ii. 48; iii. 23; St. John vi. 42. 



8 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

ingly, Joseph's genealogy from David is here given. And next, observe that, in 
the eyes of a Jew, Joseph's descent from David was quite enough to establish our 
Lord's legal descent likewise from the same king, notwithstanding His miraculous 
Birth ; because when Joseph married the Blessed Virgin her Holy Son was ac- 
counted to be strictly Joseph's son, and to be descended from the same line of 
ancestors as Joseph himself. 

But lastly, it is to be borne in mind that, from the very language of Scripture, 
there can be no doubt that the Blessed Virgin was herself of the same family as 
Joseph. She came to Bethlehem "to be taxed," as well as her husband ;(y) there- 
fore she was of the house and lineage of David, as well as he. The angel promised 
that the holy Child which should be born oilier, should occupy "the throne of His 
Father David;" iz) therefore she must have been of David's line. And Zacharias, 
who knew the mystery of our Saviour's Birth, blessed God for having " raised up 
a horn of Salvation in the house of His servant David." (a) 

We must not be surprised to meet with some difficulties in a Revelation which 
comes from God : rather should it surprise us that We meet with so few. Nor is it 
reasonable that beings like ourselves, who really know nothing more about God 
and His ways than He has been pleased to tell us, should sit in judgment, as it 
were, on His Holy Book. Humility is the fitting attitude for the mind which 
studies divine things ; Adoration, the proper business of the heart ; and oh ! the 
peace and joy unspeakable which they experience, who are content in such a tem- 
per to feed upon the Word of Life. Consider such texts as the following : Job 
xxiii. 12 ; Psalm i. 2 ; lvi. 10 ; cxix. 72, 97, 103, 105, 140, 148, &c. 

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen 
generations ; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are 
fourteen generations ; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto 
Christ are fourteen generations. 

In the Book of Wisdom(6) it is said, " Thou hast ordered all things in measure, 
number, and weight." 

Three fourteens are 42 ; which is declared(c) to be the number of the stations of 
the Israelites, on their way from Egypt into Canaan. Just so, there are found to 
be 42 resting places in this Genealogy, by which the Israel of God are conducted 
out of the bondage of the world into the promised land of the Gospel, — the glorious 
liberty of the kingdom of Christ. As a matter of fact, indeed, there were more 
than 42 stations, just as there were actually more than 42 steps in the Genea- 
logy.^) But the same inspiring Spirit which instructed the Author of the Book 
of Numbers to exhibit the stations as six times seven, guided the hand of the bless- 
ed Evangelist St. Matthew likewise to a similar result. 

St. Matthew thus distinguishes three periods of time, from Abraham to Christ ; 
as Moses had defined the limits of two earlier periods ;(e) and these five embrace 
the whole interval comprehended by the Old Testament. A sixth and last period, 
the Age of the Gospel, extending on from the Advent of our Lord to the end of the 
world, may be considered to correspond with the Sixth Day of Creation, inasmuch 
as it presents us with the crowning work of Love, the Man, Christ Jesus, the 
Second Adam. There yet remains to be revealed that eternal Sabbath ;(f) of 
which the rest of the seventh day was but a faint type or image : and the whole 
will indeed be "finished." 

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise : When as His 
Mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she 
was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 

The history of this mighty wonder is given at greater length in St. Luke's Gos- 
pel, (g) One Evangelist supplies what the other omits, in order to induce us to 
study all the four Gospels. 






il] 



St. Luke ii. 5. (2} St. Luke i. 32. (a) St. Luke i. 69. 

Wisdom xi. 20. (c) Numbers xxxiii. (d) See notes on verses 8 and 19. 

(ej Gen. v. and xi. (/) Heb. iv. 9. (g) St. Luke i. 26—28. 



I-] 



ON ST. MATTHEW S GOSPEL. 



That the Saviour should be born of " a Virgin espoused to a man," as St. Luke 
speaks, {h) was a part of the Divine contrivance. The secret of His birth was 
thereby effectually concealed. See the note on verse 16. Also on St. Luke i. 27. 

19 Then Joseph her husband, 

For, by the Jewish law, an " espoused" (or betrothed) woman was reckoned as a 
wife. Consider the language of Deut. xxii. 23, 24. 

being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was 
minded to put her away privily. 

From this, we gather two things. First, that Joseph was a person of amazing 
forbearance and tenderness. Secondly, that the Blessed Virgin had kept the mira- 
cle of the Incarnation a profound secret even from him. She left to God the care 
of completing his own designs, and carrying out the wonderful work He had begun. 

Well would it be Tor us, if we also, after entire obedience, could be content to 
leave the issues of events in the hands of God ! We act as if we could not trust 
Him in the commonest matters for a single hour. 

20 But while he thought on these things, behold the Angel of the 
Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, 
fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife ; 

This was doubtless the Angel Gabriel, who had already conveyed wondrous tid- 
ings to Zacharias, and to the Blessed Virgin Mary.(i) Since the holy Angels take 
so great an interest in the concerns of men, as our Saviour Jestjs Christ assures 
us that they do,(&) how must they have delighted in thus ministering to His chosen 
servants ; and rejoiced in every thing that tended to prepare the way for the coming 
of His Gospel ! 

for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 

God ended his doubts by sending an angel to reveal to him the innocence of 
Mary, and the Divinity of her Son, — who derived His birth from Heaven, and was 
heir of all the world. "And in all our doubts," says a pious Bishop, "we shall 
have a resolution from Heaven, or some of its ministers, if we havej;ecourse thither 
for a guide ; and be not hasty in our discourses, or inconsiderate in our purposes, 
or rash in our judgment." 

21 And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name 
JESUS : for He shall save His people from their sins. 

Almost every name has a well-known meaning. The name Jesus means Saviour: 
that is why the Angel says, "for He shall save His people." 

"Jesus" is the Greek way of writing the Hebrew name Joshua. The famous 
typical personage who bore the latter name is therefore actually called " Jesus" in 
Acts vii. 45, and in Hebrews iv. 8. Other persons bore the name of Jesus besides 
our Lord: see, for example, Colossians iv. 11; but the name never belonged of right, 
to any one but Him. 

Notice, here, the intimation afforded by the Angel that the promised Deliverer 
was to become the Head of a spiritual kingdom: — "He shall save His people — 
from their sins." As for that expression, "Sis people" consider how "He saith 
also in Osee, I will call them My people which were not My people," (I) for the 
name belongs to as many as have been redeemed to God by the Blood of the Lamb 
"out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation :"(m) and was not con- 
fined, as the Jews fondly supposed, to the natural descendants of Abraham. See 
the note on St. Matt. iii. 9. 

It was long before the most enlightened among them were able to realize this 
great truth. Thus the Apostles are found inquiring of our Blessed Lord, shortly 

Ch) St. Luke i. 27. (i) St. Luke i. 19, 26, 27. [k) See St. Luke xv. 10. 

(0 Rom. ix. 25. (to) Rev. v. 9. 



10 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

"before His Ascension into Heaven, " Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again 
the Kingdom to Israel ¥'(n) 

22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was 
spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, 

Bather "spoken by the Lord, through" that is, "by the mouth of" "the pro- 
phet." Compare the language of Acts i. 16. So in ii. 15. More will be found on 
this subject in the note on St. Luke i. 70. 

23 saying, Behold, a Virgin shall be with child, and shall bring 
forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel; which being in- 
terpreted, is, God with us. 

Isaiah is the prophet here spoken of :(o) this is the first of the many ancient 
prophecies which St. Matthew notices as fulfilled in the History of our Blessed 
Lord. It had been pronounced about 750 years before, and yields to none, in its 
wondrous precision and clearness. 

Emmanu means "with us," El means " God." Compare Isaiah viii. 10, where 
this interpretation of the Hebrew name is found. 

Not that our Saviour received the name "Emmanuel" from anyone; but in 
Hebrew, "to be called" and "to be," are different ways of saying the same thing. 
Christ Jesus therefore, because He was "very God of very God," is said to have 
been "called Emmanuel," when He "dwelt among us," (as St. John writes, i. 14,) 
because He was really and truly, God with us. 

Let us never forget His parting promise to His Apostles, the last words of St. 
Matthew's Gospel, — " Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world!" 
"If God be for us," asks St. Paul, "who can be against us?"(jp) 

24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the 
Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife : 

The Virgin Mary became the wife of Joseph, to whom she had already been 
espoused. (q) One reason why it was ordained that by a wedded wife the Eternal 
Son should be born into the world, has been already assigned in the note to ver. 
16. But by this precaution on the part of the Most High we seem to be further 
taught that we tnay not rest content with purity of purpose and innocence of in- 
tention ; but that we must also " provide things honest in the sight of all men ;" 
leaving no room for scandal or suspicion, and throwing no unnecessary stumbling- 
block in the way of others. The most holy Virgin, as her title implies, remained 
a Virgin all her life. Our blessed Lord, the Only Begotten Son of the Father, (r) — 
was her first-born and her only Son. Yet, in respect of that mysterious Child- 
bearing also, did Mary remain a Virgin : so that she has been compared to the 
Bush which burned with fire — and yet was not consumed. (s) 

25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born Son : 

Which does not, in the least degree, imply that she ever had another : but only, 
that she had never had a son before this. Every "first-born" was presented unto 
the Lord, — whence the special notice given to the first-born in the law of Moses, 
Exod. xiii. 2 ; xxii. 29 ; and xxxiv. 19 ; Numb. iii. 13 ; viii. 17; and xviii, 15 : but 
this appellation was bestowed without any reference whatever to the children who 
might (or might not) happen to come after. 

Concerning the expression " till she had brought forth," consider the following 
places of Scripture : — Gen. xxviii. 15 ; Deut. xxxiv. 6 ; 1 Sam. xv. 35 ; 2 Sam. vi. 
23 ; Psalm cxii. 8, &c. ; and take notice that in none of those places is it by any 
means implied that, at the period spoken of, the thing did happen which is spoken 
of as not having happened until then. See by all means, in a Bible with references, 
the marginal note against Daniel i. 21. 

(n) Acts i. 3. (o) See Isaiah vii. 14. (p) Kom. viii. 31. 

(q) See ver. 18, and note there, (r) St. John i. 14, 18 ; iii. 16, 18. (s) Exod. iii. 2. 



I.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 11 

and he called his name JESUS. 

As Joseph had been commanded by the Angel in v. 21. The Blessed Virgin had 
received the same command before him.(^) From the special interference of God 
in the bestowal of names on certain occasions, (as in Genesis xvi. 11; xvii. 5, 15, 
19 ; xxxii. 28, and xxxv. 10 ; and St. Luke i. 13,) we learn that names ought not to 
be carelessly and thoughtlessly given, but that we should have a reason to assign 
for the name we bestow. 

The dignity of the very name of God may be inferred from that petition in our 
daily prayer, — " Hallowed be Thy name." In many places of the Bible the Name 
of God stands for God Himself; as in Psalm xxi. 1, 7 ; Proverbs xviii. 10, &c. 



PRAYERS. 

GOD, which maketh us glad with the yearly remembrance of the 
birth of Thy only Son Jesus Christ, grant that as we joyfully receive 
Him for our Redeemer, so we may with sure confidence behold Him 
when He shall come to be our Judge ; who liveth and reigneth with 
Thee and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 

Collect J or Christmas Day, A. D. 1549. 



Almighty God, who hast given us Thy only-begotten Son to take 
our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin ; 
Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption 
and grace, may daily be renewed by Thy Holy Spirit ; through the 
same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and 
the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 

(t) See St. Luke i. 31. 



\ 



12 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER II. 



1. The Wise Men out of tlie East are directed to Christ by a Star. 11. They wor- 
ship Him, and offer their presents. 14. Joseph jieetli into Egypt, with Jestjs 
and His Mother. 16. Herod slayeth the children. 20. Himself dieth. 23. 
Christ is brought back again to Galilee into Nazaretli. 

1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of 
Herod the king, behold, there came Wise Men from the east to Jeru- 
salem. 

These Persian sages are thought to have "been of royal, as well as of priestly 
race ; and in their persons may have been first fulfilled those glorious anticipations 
of the prophet Isaiah: — "Kings . . . shall how down to Thee, with their face 
toward the earth, and lick up the dust of Thy feet."(«) " The Gentiles shall come 
to Thy light, and Kings to the brightness of Thy rising. 7 '^) " Yea, all Kings 
shall how down before Hini."(c) See also Psalm lxviii. 29 ; Ixxii. 10. 

2 Saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews ? for we have 
seen His Star in the East, and are come to worship Him. 

" King of the Jews V a title which attended our Blessed Lord from the cradle to 
the grave, (cl) 

Notwithstanding the humbleness of our Redeemer's birth, it should not escape 
our notice that the blessed event was carolled by Angels on Earth, and proclaimed 
by a Star in Heaven. Christ was laid in a manger indeed ; but Wise Men from 
the East did Him homage, and confessed that He was " King of the Jews." The 
finger of Prophecy pointed him out to the eye of Faith, from first to last, as the 
Messiah, the Saviour of the World. 

Men are apt to overlook the glories by which the Son of God was attended, even 
in the lowest depth of His humiliation ; simply because those glories were not of 
Earth, but of Heaven. 

3 When Herod the King had heard these things, he was troubled, 
and all Jerusalem with him. 

Herod was by birth an Idumaean, or Edomite; that is, a descendant of Esau. *On 
this account, as well as because of his cruel and tyrannical conduct, he was far 
from popular with the Jewish people, (the descendants of Israel,) whom he gov- 
erned. Well may tidings of one that was "born King of the Jeivs" have " trou- 
bled" Herod therefore ; inflaming his jealousy, and arousing all his fears ! 

4 And when he had gathered all the chief Priests and Scribes of the 
people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 

Observe what important results followed at once from the Wise Men's visit to 
Jerusalem. The chief Priests and Scribes were made to bear witness to the clear 

(a) Isaiah xlix. 23. (&) lb. lx. 3. 

(c) Psalm lxii. 11. (d) See St. Mattli. xxvii. 37, &c. 



II.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 13 

voice of Prophecy ; and the attention of all who looked for redemption in Jeru- 
salem^) was called to the actual advent of Christ. 

There were many holy men among the Jews who looked for His coming ; as St. 
Andrew and St. John,(/) St. Philip (g) and others of the Apostles. Simeon is ex- 
pressly said to have "waited for the consolation of Israel." (7i) Joseph of Arimathea 
also "waited for the kingdom of Go~D."(i) 

5 And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judaea : for thus it is 
written by the Prophet, 

The Jews knew very well (as we learn from St. John vii. 42) that Christ was to 
he born in Bethlehem Ephratah, or, as it was commonly called, Bethlehem of 
Judasa, — to distinguish it from the other village of the same name in the tribe of 
Zabulon.(fc) 

6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among 
the princes of Juda : for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall 
rule My people Israel. 

The chief Priests do not repeat the exact words of Micah v. 2, but they give the 
sense of the prophecy very fairly. It is because they cite that place of Scripture 
according to the interpretation then current among the Jews ; and which is still 
preserved in their " Chaldee paraphrase." 

7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the Wise Men, inquired 
of them diligently what time the Star appeared. 

He sent for them in private, pretending to take a friendly interest in the tidings 
they brought, and hoping thereby the better to frustrate the Divine Will which he 
had just heard declared out of ancient prophecy. He had yet to learn that " the 
counsel of the Lord standethfor ever; ,; (Z) that "with Him is wisdom and strength: 
He hath counsel and understanding -"(m) "He is in one mind, and who can turn 
Him ?"(w) " Hath He said, and shall He not do it ?" 

8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search dili- 
gently for the young Child ; and when ye have found Him, bring me 
word again, that I may come and worship Him also. 

Thus he sent them forth with lying words on his tongue, and murderous thoughts 
in his heart: but "the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands." (o) 
"There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord." (p) "He 
disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their 
enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness." (q) 

9 When they had heard the King, they departed ; and lo, the Star, 
which they saw in the East, went before them, till it came and stood 
over where the young Child was. 

The star which the Wise Men had seen when they were in the East, now ap- 
peared again; and went before them until, to their infinite joy and wonder, it rested 
. and shone steadily above the dwelling of the Infant Saviour. 

This is enough to show that what they beheld was not one of the stars of 
Heaven, but some bright heavenly body, which shone like a star, and appeared for 
the especial purpose of guiding these men, the first-fruits of the Gentiles, to 
Christ. The prophecy of Balaam (r) had prepared mankind for such an appear- 
ance at the birth of Him who afterwards styled Himself in the Book of Bevelation, 
" the bright and morning Star." (s) 

(e) St. Luke ii. 38. (/) gt. Johni. 35— 41. for) Ibid. i. 45. 

(h) St. Luke ii. 25. (i) St. Mark. xv. 43. (k) Joshua xix. 15. 

(0 Psalm xxxii. 11. (m) Job xii. 13. M Ibid, xxiii. 13. 

(o) Psalm ix. 16. (p) Prov. xxi. 30. (?) Job v. 12, 13. 

(r) Numb. xxiv. 17. (*) Numb. xxii. 16. Compare 2 Pet. i. 19. 



14 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

10 When they saw the Star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 

God could have guided the Wise Men all the way from Persia to Bethlehem 
direct, had He seen fit; but His ways are not like man's ways. He "brings about 
the ends of His Providence by an unexpected, and often unwelcome method ; of 
which, however, when we look back, we can often discern the reason. For 
example, it may have been His Divine pleasure to try the faith of the Wise Men 
by making them repair to Jerusalem in the first instance; and certainly what 
they heard on reaching the city, must have been an abundant confirmation of 
their faith, (t) God at last comforts His servants with the sight of the star again, 
for He is "the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort," (u) and never leaves 
without guidance those who are humbly walking in the way of His Commandments. 

11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young 
Child with Mary His Mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him : 
and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him 
gifts ; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. 

Pious men have tried to discover the meaning of these three offerings: and that 
there is a meaning for every thing in Scripture is certain, though we cannot 
always find it out. The Gold is thought to have been an acknowledgment, as 
well as an emblem, of the Royalty of Christ: the Frankincense, of His Divinity: 
the Myrrh, of His sufferings and Death. For Gold was given to Kings, (x) and 
Incense was offered with prayers, (y) and Myrrh was used to embalm mortality. (2) 

Hence it is that prayer and incense came to be so often mentioned together, {a) 
"Gold" is spoken of in connection with "Incense" in Isaiah lx. 6. For the use to 
which Myrrh was applied, see also St. Matthew xxvi. 7, 12, and the parallel places. 
The word there translated 'ointment/ is 'myrrh' in the original. 

12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return 
to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. 

That is, they returned into Persia by a different way from that which had 
brought them to Jerusalem. Thus Herod will have pursued them in vain.' 

Holy men, in ancient days, feeding upon God's Word, and delighting in it, and 
seeing instruction in every part of it, found a lesson in what is here stated. 
It reminded them that the heart which has been once brought to the knowledge 
of Christ, and has bowed down in His presence, and has offered Him of its best, 
when it goes forth into the world again, will return to its "own country — 
another way." 

13 And when they were departed, behold, the Angel of the Lord 
appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young 
Child and His Mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I 
bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him. 

These last words remind us that God sees the yet unformed purpose in the 
heart. "Thou understandest my thoughts long before!" exclaims the Psalmist, (b) 

It is said in a certain place, -"The Angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them 
that fear Him, and delivereth them." (c) Holy Angels still guide the footsteps of 
the just, and minister to them, although unseen. Notice what is said in the 
Collect for 'St. Michael and all Angels/ "Are they not all ministering Spirits, 
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation ? (d) 

14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His Mother by 
night, and departed into Egypt. 

(t) See also the note on verse 4. (u) 2 Corinthians i. 3. (x) See Psalm lxxii. 15. 

\y) See Revelation viii. 3, 4. (z) See St. John xix. 39. 

(a) See Psalm cxlii. 2; St. Luke i. 10, 11; Rev. v. 8. (6) Psalm cxxxix. 1. 

(c) Psalm xxxiv. 7. {d) Hebrews i. 14. 



II.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 15 

Thus then, from His earliest Infancy, was our Blessed Saviour exposed to hard- 
ship and suffering. Already might it have been said of Him, "The foxes have 
holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of Man hath not where to 
lay His head." (e) 

Observe how silently, and how effectually God brings about His purposes. The 
Wise Men, moved by a dream, had already set out for the East. (/) Joseph, in 
the course of the same night probably, takes his journey in an opposite direc- 
tion. Thus by day-break, there would remain in Bethlehem no trace of those 
against whom Herod will soon be "exceeding wroth." 

15 And was there until .the death of Herod : that it might be ful- 
filled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, 

On the expression, — "of the Lord by the prophet," see the note on i. 22. 

saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son. 

This is quoted from Hosea xi. 1, — at first sight, a marvellous application of that 
prophecy, truly ! To understand it, we must bear in mind that CHRIST was the 
promised seed, ((7) in whom God's promises to Abraham had their real fulfilment. 
He alone could properly be called God's Son: but it had been said of Abraham's 
descendants, when they were in Egypt, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, 
even My first-born. ," '(h) What was typically spoken of the children of Israel was 
therefore actually fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. As the infancy of that 
nation was cradled in Egypt, so was it with His infancy. In both cases, God sent 
a Joseph "to preserve life." (1) In both cases, "there arose up a new King ;" (k) 
and lo, in both cases, "the Lord" called His Son "out of Egypt." 

How, at every stage of our Blessed Lord's history, are we reminded that the 
Old Testament in its narratives, no less than in its prophecies, is full of Him! 
(Consider St. Luke xxiv. 27, 44, 45; St. John v. 46; Acts xxviii. 230 

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the Wise Men, 
was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that 
were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old 
and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of 
the Wise Men. 

The Infant Saviour has Infant Martyrs ! Thus children are held up to our 
admiration from the very first, — in their deaths as in their lives, a pattern to older 
Christians. (I) 

These Mothers of Bethlehem must have thought themselves supremely miserable; 
the most afflicted of God's creatures : but they little knew their blessedness ! Their 
murdered Innocents evermore lead the van in 'the Noble Army of Martyrs:' and 
are honored by the Church's yearly Festival which bears their name. Now, " what- 
soever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through 
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." (m) 

It is worth observing that when Herod persecuted our Lord, we behold the 
remote descendant of Esau, the elder brother, persecuting the remote descendant 
of Jacob, the younger. (n) As once "Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing 
wherewith his father blessed him: and said, .... Then will I slay my brother 
Jacob ;"(o) — so was it now. The enmity of the brothers survived in the persons of 
their remote descendants. Consider the following texts: 1 Sam. xxi. 7; xxii. 9, 
18, 19, 22; Obadiah 9—14; St, Mark vi. 17, 27; St. Luke xxiii. 11; Acts xii. 
1— 3, &c. 

17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the Prophet, 
saying, 

(e) St. Matthew viii. 20. (/) St. Matthew ii. 12. (g) Galatians iii. 16. 

f h) Exodus iv. 22. (i) Genesis xlv. 5. (k) Exodus i. 8. 

(I) St. Matthew xviii. 2. (m) Romans xv. 4. (n) See note on verse 3. 

(0) Genesis xxvii. 41. 



16 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

18 In Rama there was a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and 
great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be 
comforted, because they are not. 

These words are found in Jeremiah xxxi. 15. The prophecy received an imme- 
diate fulfilment when the descendants of Rachel, who were being carried away cap- 
tive to Babylon, were led past her tomb-Cp) She whom Jacob had buried " in the 
way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem," (q) was then, by a beautiful poetical figure, 
said to weep passionately for her offspring, because she beheld them taken from 
her. The bereaved Mother sends up a cry of agony from the very chamber of 
Death ! 

But this prophecy was far more strikingly fulfilled in the days of the Gospel, 
when the children of the same Mother were cut off, as it seemed, without any hope 
of return. 

Yet, consider the message of the Prophet : (r) and take note in what a far higher 
sense his words were fulfilled in the persons of the Holy Innocents. 

19, 20 But when Herod w^s dead, behold, an Angel of the Lord 
appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. Saying, Arise, and take 
the young Child and His Mother, and go into the land of Israel : they 
are dead which sought the young Child's life. 

You will find that these last words were also spoken to Moses, who was a type 
of Christ. (s) Holy Scripture often reminds us, in this manner, of types and fig- 
ures ; thus guiding us by the hand, as it were, to much of its hidden teaching. 
Compare for example Genesis xxviii. 12, with St. John i. 52 ; and see the note on 
St. Matthew i. 1, and ii. 4. 

During the last few weeks of Herod's life, he had a horrible disorder, of which 
he died in a dreadful manner, about the month of March, four years loefore the 
common account called Anno Domini, i. e. B. C. 4 ; at which time our Blessed 
Saviour may have been about a half year old. 

21 And he arose, and took the young Child and His Mother, and 
came into the land of Israel. 

Thus, at a Passover time, (for it was just before a Passover that Herod died,) 
did He came up out of Egypt, of whom Israel was a type. (if) 

How are we reminded by this complicated history, of that earlier page of the 
Bible which records God's no less marvellous dealings with His typical son, the 
children of Israel ! Surely, no strangeness in the Divine method with respect to 
ourselves, should ever stagger us, after what Revelation has recorded concerning 
the histories of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, of Joseph and of David, even of 
the Incarnate Son. 

22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the 
room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither : notwithstanding, 
being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of 
Galilee : 

Judaea became the scene of tumults after the death of Herod ; every part of the 
country was infested by lawless bands of armed men. Joseph therefore trembled 
for the Holy Child. But the Angel who had guided him into Egypt, and brought 
him tidings of Herod's death, now warns him in which direction to bend his foot- 
steps. 

All these things happened for our example. " I will never leave thee nor forsake 
thee" says God Almighty. He has never yet forsaken those who did not first for- 
sake Him. 

For a few words concerning Archelaus, see the last note on St. Luke iii. 1, 2. 

(p) Jeremiah xl. 1. (q) Genesis xxxv. 19. (r) Jeremiah xxxi. 16, IT. 

(s) Exodus iv. 19. (t) Deuteronomy xvi. 1. 






II.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 17 

23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth : that it might 
be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophets, He shall be called a 
Nazarene. 

No one particular place of Scripture is here referred to. This was spoken by 
"th® Prophets." 

The Hebrew word Neser means "a "branch;" and from this word, the name of 
the town called Nazareth, (which should not be written with a z,) is derived. The 
Holt Spirit therefore here informs us, that when our Lord went to dwell at Naza- 
reth, and was called a Nazarene, all those prophecies found fulfillment which spoke 
of Him as the branch. For example, " There shall come forth a rod out of the 
stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his root. ;, (£) Again, "Behold the 
man whose name is the Branch." (n) See also Zech. iii. 8 ; and Jeremiah xxiii. 
5 ; and xxxiii. 15. 

A Nazanfe and a Nazamie are wholly different. John Baptist was a Naza- 
rite:(cc) which our Lord expressly says that He Himself was not.(y) 

This may seem a strange explanation of the text, but it is the only true explana- 
tion of it. How wonderful then, is the mind of the SPIRIT, and in what unex- 
pected ways is God found to fulfill his words ! " How unsearchable are His judg- 
ments, and His ways past finding out."(z) 

THE PRAYERS. 

God, who by the leading of a Star didst manifest Thy Only-Be- 
gotten Son to the Gentiles ; mercifully grant that we which know Thee 
now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of Thy glorious 
Godhead, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Almighty God, who out of the mouths of babes and sucklings 
hast ordained strength, and madest Infants to glorify Thee by their 
deaths ; mortify and kill all vices in us, and so strengthen us by Thy 
grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and constancy of our faith, 
even unto death, we may glorify Thy holy Name; through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 

(t) Isaiah xi. 1. (u) Zechariah vi. 12. (x) See St. Matth. iii. 4. 

(y) St. Matthew xi. 19. (z) Romans xi. 33. 



18 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER III, 



1 John preacheth : his office: life, and baptism. 7 He reprehendeth the Pharisees, 
13 and baptizeth Christ in Jordan. 

1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilder- 
ness of Judea, 

The time here spoken of was about thirty years after the birth of Christ. John 
the Baptist, whose miraculous birth St. Luke describes, (a) was then sent to pre- 
pare the Saviour's way. 

Consider how this man, — "a Prophet, yea and more than a Prophet;" (6) nay, 
consider how Christ Himself, " the latchet of whose shoes" the Forerunner was 
"not worthy to stoop down and unloose ;(c) — appeared not in public, nor com- 
menced His Ministry, till He " began to be about thirty years of age."(<2) Surely, 
the consideration of these examples should act as a check and curb ; inspire mod- 
esty and distrust, in those who are called to the Ministry of Christ's Church ; even 
where there may be no lack of ability and true piety ! " Good fruit may be 
plucked too green ; which, let alone awhile to ripen, would prove much more pleas- 
ant and profitable." 

Archbishop Leighton, (the author of the foregoing remark,) points out that, in 
the case of our Incarnate Lord and His Forerunner, — (if it be lawful thus to name 
the two together,) — their long lying hid, is so much the more remarkable, inasmuch 
as, besides their singular fitness for appearing much sooner, they had so short a 
time allotted for their course: the Forerunner, about one year; and our Lord 
Jesus Christ Himself, but about three years and a half. 

2 and saying, Repent ye : for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 

It appears from St. Matthew iv. 17, that this was the subject of our Lord's 
preaching also. The Forerunner's doctrine, (it has been said,) was to the sermons 
of Jesus, as a preface to a discourse ; and his Baptism, was to the discipline of the 
Kingdom, as the Vigil to a Holiday, — of the same kind, in a less degree. 

The same as this of St. John Baptist, and of our Saviour, was the message of 
the Twelve Apostles likewise. (e) — It is only by Repentance that we can become fit 
to receive the message of the Kingdom. Self-denial is necessary to prepare us to 
receive the Grace of God. 

For this is He that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, 
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the 
Lokd, make His paths straight. 

In such language had the prophet Isaiah, more than 700 years before, foretold 
the Baptist's office.(/) So true is that saying of St. James, — "Known unto God 
are all His works from the beginning of the world !"(#) 

a) i. 5 to 25, and 51 to 80. (b) St. Matthew xi. 9. (c) St. Mark i. 7. 

d) St. Luke iii. 23. (e) St. Matthew x. 7. ( / ) Isaiah xl. 3. 

■g) Acts xv- 18. 






III.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 19 



" This suits well with the foregoing sum of the Baptist's preaching, and is in 
effect the same with it. ' Repent,' is, — ' Prepare the way of the Lord, make His 
paths straight/ Repentance levels the heart to God ; makes it a plain for Christ 
to walk in ; casts down the Mountains of Pride ; and raises the soul from base, 
low, earthly ways and affections ; smooths the rugged passions, and straightens the 
crooked deceit of the heart ; makes it sincere and straight, "both towards God and 
Man. And this is our business, — to be dealing with our hearts, leveling, smooth- 
ing, straightening them for our Lord ; that He may take delight to dwell and walk 
in them, and refresh them with His presence. And certainly, the more holy dili- 
gence is used in suiting the heart to His holy will, the more of His sweet presence 
shall we enjoy." So far, pious Leighton, 

4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leath- 
ern girdle about his loins ; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 

By this description of the Baptist's attire, we are reminded that Tie was the per- 
son whom the prophet Malachi foretold, iv. 5, 6 ; for Elijah is said to have worn 
the self-same dress. See 2 Kings i. 8; — where it is described in the self-same 
words : and read the note on St. Matthew ii. 20. 

The Old Testament, because it ends with that prophecy concerning John the 
Baptist, has been said to expire with the Gospel on its lips. 

In his hard fare, and severe mode of living, (h) the Baptist is a rebuke to the 
luxurious and self-indulgent. He tasted neither wine nor strong drink ;(i) but was 
a Nazarite from his mother's womb. (A:) God fed him with locusts; concerning 
which, see Leviticus xi. 22 : and satisfied him with "honey out of the stony rock," 
as it is said in Psalm lxxxi. 16. His dwelling-place was the Wilderness ;(l) which 
means not a region where none abide : but a retired, and less peopled place. And 
this is " for the example of all the messengers of God ; to live, as much as may be, 
in their condition and station, disengaged from the world : not following the 
vain delights and ways of it ; not bathing in the solaces and pleasures of earth, 
and entangling themselves in the cares of it : but sober, and modest, and mortified 
in their way of living ; making it their main business not to please the flesh ; but 
to do service to their Lord, to walk in His ways ; and prepare His way for Him in 
the hearts of His people." The words are, once more, Leighton's. 

5, 6 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the 
region round about Jordan. And were baptized of him in Jordan, 
confessing their sins. 

How passing wonderful must have been the cause which could produce such a 
result as this ! — a result which is yet indicated, rather than described, by the Evan- 
gelist. Holy Scripture, by such brief statements, seems often to force us, as it 
were, to reflect on the majesty of all that it leaves unsaid. Consider St. Matthew 
xxvii. 54; xxviii. 4; St. Mark ix. 15; St. Luke ii. 13, 14 (where see the note); 
St. John xviii. 6, &c. &c. &c. 

We must put together all the scattered hints we possess : — the miraculous birth, 
and the name bestowed by an Angel's lips; (to) of which events some traditional 
knowledge may have got spread abroad: the thirty long years of hardship and 
privation, silence and seclusion from the world, suddenly brought to an end : the 
austere life, and stern aspect: the reputation of extraordinary personal sanctity: 
the summons to repentance and amendment of life; of which, water-Baptism was 
the well-known type or emblem : the soul-stirring Voice, which all men might now 
hear crying in the wilderness : the rough garb, which recalled Elijah the prophet, 
—and the mortified exterior, which bespoke contempt of the world, its pomps, and 
its pleasures : the claim to occupy a place in the page of unfulfilled prophecy : — 
all this, joined to the national belief that Messiah was indeed shortly about to 
appear, and the Preacher's plain avowal that his own office was but to prepare 
Messiah's way before Him; — all this, I say, may help us, in part, to understand 
why the wonderful results here described, should have followed, so speedily, on the 
Baptist's preaching. 

(h) See St. Matthew xi. 18. , {i) St. Luke i. 15. (Jc) Numbers vi. 2, 3. 

(I) St. Luke i. 80. (m) See the notes, on St. Luke i. 13. 



20 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to 
his baptism, he said unto them, generation of vipers, who hath 
warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? 

These were stern words to address to the Pharisees, who were " the most straight- 
est sect" of the Jewish religion, as St. Paul declares in Acts xxvi. 5. But our 
Sayiour employed terms of even greater severity towards them; see St. Matthew 
xxiii. 13 — 33. We are thereby reminded that "the Lord seeth not as man seeth; 
for man looketh on the outward appearance, "but the Lord looketh on the heart." (n) 

It is not to be doubted that among their number were some sincere persons; but, 
as a body, they must have been proud, uncharitable, and self-righteous ; of a cha- 
racter, wholly unlike that which. God approves. See St. Matthew v. 3 — 10 : and 
the notes on St. Luke iii. 7. 

8 Bring forth fruits therefore meet for repentance : 

John's Baptism was a "Baptism of Repentance ." (o) He therefore warns these 
men, who sought the blessing of his Baptism, that they must prove their repent- 
ance sincere by leading a more holy life. He exhorts them to make their conduct 
answer to their profession. 

9 and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our 
father : for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise 
up children unto Abraham. 

The Jews relied on their descent from Abraham, for favour and acceptance with 
God.(j)) It was only the more spiritually minded among them who understood 
that "Abraham's children" were they who did the works of Abraham ; (q) and that 
"he is a Jew which is one inwardly." (r) "For," as St. Paul explained to the 
nation, "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel ;"(s) but, "the Israel of God"(£) 
are "such as are of a clean heart." (u) "Neither, because they are the seed of 
Abraham, are they all children ;" (x) but, as the same Apostle teaches in another 
place, "they which are of Faith, the same are the children of Abraham." (?/) 

The Baptist, who was preaching in the rocky wilderness of the Jordan, reminds 
his hearers, that "of these stones, God could create for Himself a people at His 
will; and the Holy Spirit, by the Baptist's preaching, solemnly warns us also not 
to rely on our privileges as a Church and Nation ; but to bring forth fruits 
worthy of our high calling. The heart is for ever prone thus to lean on external 
advantages. How singular a parallel is presented by the Christian Church, as it 
is now in the world, with the Jewish Church in the days of the Son of Man ! 
See the second note on St. Luke iii. 8. 

10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: there- 
fore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and 
cast into the fire. 

A woodman, before he begins to fell a tree, lays the sharp edge of his axe to the 
place where he means to aim his first blow; he gives warning, as it were, that he 
is about to strike. Just such a merciful warning did the Baptist's preaching 
convey to each of those who heard him. " Noiv," said he, "the axe is laid." 
Our Blessed Lord uses the same figure. See vii. 19 ; and St. Luke xiii. 6 — 9. 

11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance : but He that 
cometh after me is mightier than I, Whose shoes I am not worthy to 
bear : He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire : 

(«) 1 Samuel xvi. 7. (o) Verse 11 ; see also Acts xiii. 24. 

(p) See St. John viii. 33, 39. (q) St. John viii. 39. (r) Romans ii. 28, 29. 

s) Romans ix. 6. it) Galatians vi. 16. («) Psalm lxxiii. 1. 

x) Romans ix. 7. (y) Galatians iii. 7, 9, 29. 



III.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 21 



Alluding chiefly (2) to what took place on the day of Pentecost, see Acts ii. 3 and 
4. But every Christian, at his Baptism, is "born of water and of the Spirit ; (a) 
and in this, lay the great difference between John's Baptism and Christian Bap- 
tism. John's Baptism did not convey the gift of the Holy Ghost : Christ's Bap- 
tism did. See the note on St. Luke iii. 16. 

Concerning the general meaning and intention of John's Baptism, see the second 
note on St. Mark i. 5. Next, observe how careful is the Forerunner found, on all 
occasions, to abase himself and to magnify his Master ! Lastly, compare the op- 
posite meanings of the concluding word in verses 11 and 12 ; and consider that 
"we must be either baptized in this fire, or burned in that!" 

12 Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His 
floor, 

That is, — this is a sifting and a trying time. The unfruitful shall now be 
taken away ; cut down and given to destruction. Now also shall light hearts, and 
vain minds be winnowed out from among the just, and become as fuel for the fire. 
"Where the Gospel comes in greatest power, there is the most certain and the 
saddest weight of judgment on the unbelieving and impenitent, the formal and 
fruitless." 

Consider, in connection with this intimation of the searching character of our 
Lord's coming, the following places of Scripture : — Zechariah xiii. 9 ; Malachi iii. 
2 and 3 ; 1 Corinthians iii. 13; St. Luke ii. 35. And notice, that the same quality 
which is ascribed to the personal Advent of Christ, is ascribed*also to His Written 
Word : — Jeremiah xxiii. 29 ; Hebrews iv. 12 : St. John xii. 48. Compare 1 Cor. 
xiv. 24, 25. 

and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the 
chaff with unquenchable fire. 

The Wheat, and the Chaff; the Good, and the Wicked; the Heavenly Garner, 
and the Fire unquenchable : no mention is any where made of a third class of 
persons ; no promise is any where found of a third place ! 

How mercifully has the Holy Spirit of God ordained that the commonest sights 
shall remind us of the things which concern our peace ! Henceforth ; Fan, Flail, 
and Threshing-floor, become full of Christian teaching. Not, however, that there 
is any thing new in these images, as found in the pages of the New Testament. 
The Eternal Son, by His Spirit, had taught His Servants, in every age, to discern 
the same solemn lessons in the same familiar objects. See Isaiah xli. 15, 16; 
Jeremiah li. 33 ; Job xxi. 18 ; Psalm i. 4, and xxxv. 5 ; Isaiah xvii. 13, and xxix. 
5 ; Hosea xiii. 3 ; also Malachi iv. 1. 

13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto John, to be 
baptized of him. 

Christ comes to His servant, John the Baptist. The greater comes meekly to 
the less. Our Lord is a pattern to us in all things. See the note on St. Luke i. 44. 

In St. Mark's Gospel (5) we are told that it was from Nazareth of Galilee, where 
He had been brought up, that our Lord came. 

- 14 But John forbad Him saying, I have need to be baptized of 
Thee, and comest Thou to, me ? 

John sought to prevent our Lord, and spake the words here recorded, because 
he was well aware of the perfect holiness of our Saviour's character; not because 
he yet knew for certain that his mighty Kinsman was the Son of God. He did not 
know that until after the Baptism, as we are told in another place, (c) 

(z) See Acts i. 5. (a) 1 John iii. 5. (6) i. 9. (c) St. John i. 31 and 33. 



22 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now; for 
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. 

Our Saviour came to fulfill the Law, as He Himself said, (cC) and therefore He 
conformed Himself to all its requirements: setting us an example, and teaching us 
the duty of conformity and obedience. It was for our sake alone that He was "bap- 
tized in the river Jordan, — thereby for ever consecrating the nature of water to the 
mystical washing away of sin. He did not require " the Baptism of Repentance for 
the Remission of sins," because Pie (and He alone) was without sin: yet, inasmuch 
as He had taken our nature upon Him, it was fitting that He should perfectly ac- 
complish in His own person all that must afterwards be fulfilled in the person of 
each of His members. Hence it is that we shall behold Him, in the next chap- 
ter, tempted; afterwards, hungering and thirsting; then, taking our infirmities, 
and bearing our sicknesses ; (e) lastly, submitting Himself to Death. Hence it was 
that He descended into Hell, rose again from the dead, and ascended into Heaven. 
It was for our sakes that He did all these things Who had clothed Himself with our 
common Human Nature. 

Even the renewed unction of the Holy Ghost here recorded, was for our sakes 
likewise; for since our Lord was "conceived by the Holy Ghost," He had been 
sanctified thereby since the time of His Incarnation. But it was to teach us that 
in Holy Baptism there must needs be the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

The few words here spoken, are the only recorded words addressed by "the 
Bridegroom" to His "Friend." We know that the sound of that blessed voice, 
filled the Forerunner's heart with joy unspeakable. See St. John iii. 29. 

Then he suffered Him. 

Our Blessed Lord's reply satisfied the scruples of the Baptist. To ourselves, — 
what page of Holy Writ does not seem to require an interpreter ? 

He, — "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world ;"(,/*) He, — the 
"Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness," (g) — here humbles Himself to be 
baptized. On this, the pious writer already quoted, exclaims, — "Oh, that we who 
are baptized, had more of His likeness in this humble reverence for Divine ordin- 
ances; looking on them as His, in every warranted hand! What though he that 
teaches be less knowing and less spiritual than thou that hearest? one, that 
might rather learn of tlieef Yet, the appointment of God obliges thee to attend 
to his ministry as humbly, and with as much regard, as if he were an Angel." 

16 And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of 
the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw 
the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him : 

Such was the sign which had been promised to John, whereby he should know 
the Messiah. Qi) Jesus of Nazareth was thus declared to be the Christ, and 
pointed out to the world as by the finger of God.(i) 

The Holy Spirit may have chosen to appear in the shape of a dove, not only 
because that bird is the emblem of meekness, gentleness, innocence, (Jc) attributes 
which were so conspicuous in our Divine Master ; (I) qualities which, as we are 
hereby reminded, ought ever to distinguish the spiritual man also;(m) but further, 
in order to recall the blessed office which the same Bird discharged in the days of 
Noah, (n) It was a Dove which then, as now, brought to him who represented 
the Human Race, the comfortable pledge of restored mercies ; announced that God 
was reconciled to a guilty World; and proclaimed that "Old things had passed 
away, behold all things were become new." Noah's Ark was the type of the Chris- 
tian Church (as we read in the Baptismal Service), and that Church was as yet in 
Christ. 

f d) St. Matthew v. 17. (e) St. Matthew viii. 17. (/) St. John i. 29. 

\g) Zechariah xiii. 1. (h) See St. John i. 33. 

i) Compare St. Matthew xii. 28, and St. Luke xi. 20. {Jc) St.Matthewx.16. 

*Z) Isaiah xlii. 1—3; lxi. 1; St. Matthew xi. 29. 

*m) 1 Thessalonians ii. 7; 2 Timothy ii. 24, 25; Titus iii. 2; St. James iii. 17; 2 Corinthians 
xiii. 11; Romans xii. 18, Ac. («) Genesis viii. 11. Consider 1 Peter iii. 20, 21. 



III.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 23 

17 And lo a voice from Heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in 
Whom I am well pleased. 

This visible display of Divine Power and Love is recorded to have occurred at 
our Saviour's Baptism, in order to teach us what happens, although unseen, at 
ours. The Holt Spirit then descends, and takes up His abode with us. By 
adoption, we then become " children of God." 

In the former verse, mention was made of God the Holt Ghost. Here, God the 
Father proclaims the Eternal and Beloved Son. The chapter which contains this 
glorious manifestation of the ever Blessed Trinity is accordingly appointed to be 
the Second Lesson on Trinity Sunday. 

How marvelously do the Old and New Testament correspond ! There had been 
a manifestation resembling the present, "In the beginning." "The Spirit of 
God moved upon the face of the waters ; and God said, Let there be Light, and 
there was Light I" The first chapter of Genesis is, accordingly, another of the 
proper Lessons for Trinity Sunday. 

But our Saviour, " by Whom all things were made," often declared of Himself, 
"J am the Light of the world;" "the true Light, which lighteneth every man:" 
and this was His Epiphany or Manifestation to the world. Here was a fresh " Be- 
ginning," therefore ; and "the Spirit of God" is found to have once more "moved 
upon the face of the waters." (o) 



THE PRAYER. 

Almighty God, by whose Providence Thy Servant John Baptist 
was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of Thy Son our 
Saviour, by preaching of Repentance ; make us so to follow his doc- 
trine and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preach- 
ing ; and after his example constantly speak the Truth, boldly rebuke 
Vice, and patiently suffer for the Truth's sake ; through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 

(o) Genesis i. 2. 



24 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER IV. 



1 Christ fasteth, and is tempted. 11 The angels minister unto Him. 13 He divell- 
eth in Capernaum, 17 beginneth to preach, 18 calletli Peter, and Andrew, 21 
James, and John, 23 and healetli all the diseased. 

The Temptation of our Blessed Lord, with which the fourth chapter of St. Mat- 
thew's Gospel commences, is an event of such unusual interest and of such over- 
whelming importance ; so astonishing in its details, and so tremendous in its con- 
sequences ; that the reader's attention must be invited to a few introductory re- 
marks, in order that he may study with more delight and profit what is to follow. 

It must be borne in mind, then, that the gracious object with which our Saviour 
Christ came into the World was to recover for the Human Eace, in His own per- 
son, that which it had lost in the persons of our first parents, at the Fall. For 
this purpose, He "was made flesh, and dwelt among us:"(a) Hence, Jesus Christ 
is called "the second Adam, ;; — being the beginning of a new Creation. He came 
to restore our ruined Nature ; and, by undoing the ancient curse, to win back for 
mankind an entrance into Paradise. (b) The first step towards this blessed end 
was the effectual resistance of him to whose seductions Adam had yielded, — the 
conquest of Satan, who before had been conqueror.(c) For, "as by one man Sin 

entered into the world, and Death by Sin even so" was it ordained that 

"by the Righteousness of One, the free gift should come upon all men unto Justifi- 
cation of life :" that " as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so 
by the obedience of One should many be made righteous." (d) These remarks will 
sufficiently explain how it happens that the Temptation of Christ by Satan, stands 
on. the very threshold of the Gospel History. 

The first hint contained in the Old Testament Scriptures of what was to follow, 
is found in Genesis iii. 15, — where it is darkly prophesied that the Seed of the 
Woman, — (that is, some one mysteriously born of one of Eve's descendants, with- 
out a human Father,) should "bruise the Serpent's head." As time went on, that 
ancient prophecy grew more and more explicit ; as a reference to Isaiah vii. 14, 
will show. This Deliverer of the Human Race, promised at first generally to our 
first Parents, — then, limited to the first descendants of Abraham, (e) — and (after- 
wards restricted to the posterity of Judah ; was at last confirmed with an oath to 
the line of David the King.'(/) 

Meanwhile, the prophet Isaiah actually described the wondrous Being who was 
to prove the Saviour of Israel, (g) Daniel fixed the time of His coming, by defin- 
ing the interval " unto the Messiah, the Prince."(A) Each succeeding prophet, 
with astonishing minuteness, added some touches to the picture : — one, mentioning 
the place of His Nativity, (i) — another, foreseeing the number of pieces of silver 
for which He should be sold;(&) — another, discerning the Forerunner, whoshould 
come to prepare His way:(Z) until the fullness of time arrived, and mankind be- 
came aware that " the Desire of all nations" must be very nigh, — even at the doors. 
Let it be observed, that while the whole Human Race was in expectation of such 
a Deliverer, the Devil, — "that old Serpent,"(m) — cannot be supposed to have been 

(a) St. John i. 14, on which place see the note. (6) St. Luke xxiii. 43, and the note there. 
(c) See 1 St. John iii. 8. {d ) Rom. v. 12, 18, 19. (e) Gen. xxii. 18. 

(/ ) 2 Sam. vii. 12 ; Ps. cxxxii. 11. {g) Is. li. [h) Daniel ix. 25. 

(i) Micah v. 2. (k) Zech. xi. 12, 13. {I ) Malachi iii. 1, iv. 5, 6. (m) Rev. xii. 9. 



IV.] 



on st. Matthew's gospel. 25 



unconscious of men's hopes ; still less, to have been unconcerned in their frustra- 
tion. He had acquired by usurpation, a wonderful dominion over the bodies, as 
well as the souls of men, — as many a passage in the Gospel proves. Consider St. 
Luke xiii. 16, — the daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound for eighteen 
years : and Acts x. 38, — where St. Peter describes our Lord as healing all those who 
were tyrannized over by the Devil. Consider also Acts xxvi. 18. Satan had been like 
" a strong man armed," " keeping his goods in peace," for 4000 years. He had 
every thing to fear from the coming of " one stronger than he l"(n) And such an 
One the voice from Heaven, recorded in the last verse of the former chapter, had 
proclaimed. With mingled surprise and consternation, therefore, at the announce- 
ment that the Son of God stood on the banks of the Jordan, we may presume him 
to have hastened thither at once : to have followed the Holy Object of his fear and 
hate to the Wilderness ; and there to have availed himself of the hour of faintness 
and extremity, to commence his most fierce assault. See the note on St. Luke iv. 2. 

There must have been surprise, as well as consternation, on the part of the Ene- 
my of Mankind. The Messiah had been promised to the Royal House of David :(o) 
but the Royalty had long since departed from Judah. The Messiah was to have 
been born in Bethlehem : (p ) but Christ had come to His baptism from Naza- 
reth, (q) having passed almost the whole of His previous life in that city.(r) Above 
all, a Virgin was to have been His Mother : (s) but Mary was married, (t) our Lord 
"being (as was supposed) the Son of Joseph." (u) The Arch-Fiend must therefore 
have been as confounded as he was terrified by the announcement which now 
brought him into the presence of the Son of Man ; and he came not by deputy, 
but in person, in order that he might the better make trial of His pretensions, and 
ascertain the strength of Him with whom he had to do. 

In what follows, therefore, we are permitted to witness the most wonderful scene, 
perhaps, in the whole Book of God's Revelation : — one, which nothing but a Reve- 
lation from Him could have discovered to us. The Eternal Son, encompassed with 
all the infirmity of our Nature, is about to encounter face to face the Enemy of our 
Salvation. Guided therefore by the Holy Spirit, He withdraws into the Wilder- 
ness, for the special purpose of being tempted. 

1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit 

" Then," — that is immediately after His Baptism :(v) as if to remind us that this 
Life is from the very first a scene of Trial ; and also to teach us that, until strength 
has been given in the Blessed Sacrament of Baptism, the Christian soldier is not 
fit to encounter the seductions of the Devil, the World, and the Flesh. — See the 
notes on the last half of St. Mark i. 12 : also the first note on the fourth chapter of 
St. Luke. 

"Then," — that is, immediately before He entered on His public Ministry. 
" Thus look to be assailed, when thou art about to engage in any special service. 
Each, according to his place, will find this. When he is upon some purpose of 
honoring God in any particular undertaking or course, and is nearest the perform- 
ance, then shall the strength of Hell be mustered up against him." 

into the wilderness, to be tempted of the Devil. 

" Into the wilderness — to be tempted." There are Temptations therefore in soli- 
tude and in the waste. Nay, we learn from this place that solitude is the fittest 
scene for Temptation. Yet men sometimes talk as if in crowded cities alone 
Temptations abounded. 

2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was af- 
terward an hungered. 

The Almighty Haud, which had till then sustained Him, — as It had before sus- 
tained Moses, on three several occasions,(x) and Elijah, on one,(y)— was then sen- 

(n) St, Luke xi. 21, 22. (o) See the references above, in note/. (p) Micah v. 2. 
(q) St. Mark i. 9. (r) St. Matt. ii. 23. («) Isaiah vii. 14. 

h) St. Matt, i. 24. («) St. Luke iii. 23. (v) Compare St. Mark i. 12, and St. Luke iv. 1. 
(x) Deuteronomy ix. 9 and 18; also x. 1 and 10, compared with Exodus xxxiv. i. and 28. 

(?/) 1 Kings xix. 8. 



26 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

sibly withdrawn ; and the Son of God, who had assumed the reality of our human 
Nature, "hungered." This was necessary; because, not by God as God, but by 
"The Man Christ Jesus," (z) must Satan be overcome. 

3 And when the Tempter came to Him, 

Having probably first assumed the appearance of "an Angel of Light." (a) Ob- 
serve the malice of Satan, — reserving his most vigorous onset for the hour of faint- 
ing, and nature's greatest need ! 

We shall find that his first Temptation is directed against carnal appetite ; a cir- 
cumstance which may convince us of the quarter in which our Nature is most 
easily, as well as most successfully, assailed. " The Lust of the flesh" is deemed 
the readiest avenue of Temptation, — in the case of the second, as in the case of 
the first, Adam. 

he said, If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be 
made bread. 

By these words, the Arch-Fiend seeks to inspire the same distrust in God, — the 
same impatient requiring of food, (b) — which the typical Israel displayed during 
their forty years of trial ; when, as it is said, "Lust came upon them in the wil- 
derness, and they tempted God in the desert." (c) 

The Tempter says, — If Thou be, in truth, what the Voice from Heaven lately 
proclaimed Thee to be, — namely, the promised Son of God and the Anointed De- 
liverer ; make proof of Thy Divine character by a display of Thy Almighty power. 
God humbles Thee in the wilderness, — as He "humbled "the people who foreshad- 
owed Thee of old: God suffers Thee to hunger now, as He "suffered" them.(cZ) 
And yet, He "rained down manna upon them for to eat, and gave them food from 

heaven. . . . He rained flesh upon them as thick as dust So they 

did eat and were well filled." (e) Thou art faint, and nigh unto death. Why 
shouldst Thou, more than they, be disappointed of Thy lust?(y) If Thou be the 
Son of God, command that these stones be made bread ! 

There seems nothing monstrous in this proposal. It might be thought also that 
it could not have been unlawful in Him who giveth food to all flesh ; — who, at 
Cana, commanded the water to be made wine ; — and who, on the Eastern shores of 
the Lake, supplied the necessities of the five, and of the four thousand ; — by a 
similar exercise of Divine power, to relieve Himself. But the sinfulness of the act, 
in the present instance, would have consisted in compliance with Satan's sugges- 
tion. And how unlike would have been the circumstances, — how different would 
have been the object and the consequence, — of our Lord's compliance ! A miracle 
performed, not in public, but in utter privacy : not intended for convincing men, 
but for gratifying the great Enemy of mankind : not calculated to create in others 
confidence in God, by supplying support which (in the words of a great writer) 
"might prove the symbol of better nourishment than Earth could give ;" but end- 
ing, where it began, — in self. The effect of such compliance on the part of our 
Lord, would have been only " to suspend and terminate an extraordinary act of 
devotion, tending to God's glory, and His own perfection." 

4 But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by 
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of 
God. 

Our Lord's reply might have simply been, that compliance was not His Divine 
pleasure. Ear different, however, was His reply. He accepts (and thereby dis- 
covers to us) the Tempter's allusion to the History of God's chosen people ; but 
calmly appeals, at the same time, to the deep and divine lesson which the great 
Lawgiver (in Deut. viii. 3) had himself drawn from the occasion when "Man did 
eat Angels' food."(#) The object of that supernatural supply, whereby the Israel- 
ites were fed so long, had been, — to train them to confidence in God as their sole 
support and satisfying portion; — to rebuke their sensual spirit; — and to furnish a 

(z) 1 Tim. ii. 5. (a) 2 Cor. xi. 14. (b) Ps. lxxviii. 19. (c) Ps. cvi. 14. 

(d) Deut. viii. 3. (e) Ps. lxxviii. 25— 30. (/) Ps. lxxviii. 30. (g) Ps. lxxviii. 25. 



IV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 27 

pledge of the security of all God's gracious promises, — an earnest- of the blessings 
which were yet in store, and which awaited them when they should reach their 
typical Land of Kest. So that, if we may venture to represent so lofty a matter 
in language of our own, the reply of the Holy One amounted to a declaration that 
He had meat to eat which the Tempter knew not of, — even the Heavenly aid which 
did not forsake Him, when all earthly means of sustenance had been withdrawn. 
His pure mind and will, needed not, like the grosser minds of the Hebrew Fathers, 
a sign from Heaven. For His spiritual support no sensible token was necessary: 
but, (as Himself said on another occasion), His meat was to do the Father's will, 
and to finish His work. (Ji) 

See more on this subject, in the note to St. Luke iv. 4. 

5 Then the Devil taketh Him up into the Holy City, and setteth 
Him on a pinnacle of the Temple, 

The manner of this mysterious proceeding, is not revealed; but left for the 
exercise of a reverent curiosity. It seems most likely that a supernatural agency 
was employed in the second, as in the third Temptation; and that our Lord per- 
mitted Himself to be borne by the Adversary through the air. See the note on 
ver. 8. 

Here, then, the scene of conflict is changed. It is no longer the Wilderness, 
but Jerusalem; and Jerusalem retains its name of "The Holy City," though its 
inhabitants are no longer holy. The appellation is found in Isaiah xlviii. 2, and 
Daniel ix. 24. It recurs in St. Matthew xxvii. 53. 

The "pinnacle," here mentioned, may well have been situated on the southern 
side of the Temple, — which, (according to Josephus, the Jewish Historian,) tower- 
ing up to a wondrous height, overhung a valley which it was impossible to gaze 
down upon without giddiness, and risk of falling. 

6 and saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself 
down: 

Much comfort may be derived from the discovered limits of the power of the 
Evil One. " Cast Thyself down," are his words. By which infernal suggestion, 
the Tempter exposed his weakness rather than proved his power. He has no 
power to injure, till one shall have first " Cast one' s-self down." He can persuade 
to the act; but he has no power, himself, to achieve it. 

for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee ; 
and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash 
Thy foot against a stone. 

It is observable that "the Father of lies" can yet make appeal to Holy Writ. He 
quotes Scripture but once; and then, with consummate craft. The quotation, 
however specious, is discovered, first, not to be in point; for although the 91st 
Psalm declares that God will give His Angels charge concerning Christ, (and all 
that are His,) — what encouragement is thereby furnished why He, or any of His 
servants, should rush headlong on destruction ? Moreover, the clause which im- 
plies the condition of such angelic guardianship, the Arch-fiend craftily omits, — ' 
namely, " in all Thy ways." It was none of Christ's ways to cast Himself down 
from the Temple ; nor will the Imitation of Christ ever lead His servants into 
such a perilous path. Lastly, Satan arrests his quotation just iri time: for the 
very next words of the Psalm(i) foretell the victory of the Christian soldier over the 
Enemy of his Salvation, and over all the Power of the Enemy. 

7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt 
the Lord thy God. 

The quotation is from Deuteronomy vi. 16. It was not, of course, addressed by 
Christ to Satan, as if implying that He, the speaker, were "the Lord his God," — 

(70 St. John iv. 34. (i) Ps. xci. 13. 



28 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

(which nevertheless would have been a most true application of the test :) but 
simply in proof that, as Man, He could not lawfully comply with the suggestion 
of His Adversary. It is therefore such a reply as any one of ourselves, His mem- 
bers, might make at any time; whence its peculiar graciousness and value on the 
lips of our glorified Head, who hereby teaches us by His example how to en- 
counter temptation in our own person, and in what spirit to overcome the Tempter. 

The guilt, then, of tempting God is incurred as often as "we forsake the ordinary 
path of duty, without obligation or necessity ; and thus, without the Word or Pro- 
vidence of God inviting us, become involved in strange difficulties or imminent 
dangers. In this. course," (to use the words of a great man), "no support is to 
be calculated on from that Power without which we can do nothing." 

The Scripture quoted to Satan by our Saviour Christ, is full of instruction, as 
thus applied by Him. Moses spoke the words in question with reference to the 
distrustful murmuring of the people, whereby they tempted God. But our 
Saviour, by His present application of them, reminds us that impetuous and un- 
warrantable presumption on the Divine protection, no less than impatient distrust 
of His Power, and Love, — is Unbelief; disguised under a more subtle, perhaps, 
but certainly not under a less dangerous, form. It may seem to be Reliance upon 
God ; but, in reality, it is Idolatry of Self. To Faith, must be added Patience, — 
the patient waiting for God, — if we would escape the snare which Satan spread 
no less for the Holy One, when he had " set Him on a pinnacle of the Temple," 
than for the Israelites when they tempted God at Massah,(&) And this is, perhaps, 
the reason of the remarkable prominence given to the grace of Patience, both by 
our Lord and His Apostles ; (I) a circumstance, as it may be thought, which has 
not altogether attracted the attention which it deserves. 

8 Again, the Devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, 
and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them ; 

It is impossible to say what Mountain was the scene of this, the Third Tempta- 
tion. But since there is no Mountain in the world which commands such a 
spectacle which is here indicated, (neither, indeed, can be,) we may rest well 
assured that it was by some subtle device of him who is elsewhere styled "the 
Prince of the Power of the Air," (in) that " all the kingdoms of the World, and the 
glory of them," were made to display themselves in dazzling order before the human 
eyes of the second Adam. This becomes plainer from St. Luke's account of the 
same transaction, — iv. 5 ; where see the note. 

9 and saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou 
wilt fall down and worship me. 

The remark which was made on ver. 6, here again presents itself. Notwith- 
standing this boastful speech of the Enemy, it is evident that the surrender of the 
will is needful before he can proceed a single step with his infernal purpose. The 
Devil cannot give riches to whom he will: but to those only who are willing to 
receive them of him. 

Far higher consolation, however, is contained in this place of Scripture. Many 
holy men have been thrown into dismay and perplexity by the blasphemous 
thoughts with which they have been occasionally tormented. Let all such take 
comfort in the discovery that Satan here suggests foul blasphemy to their Incar- 
nate Lord. He knew him not, for certain, to be GoD, indeed; but he already sus- 
pected no less : and that he had to do with one of wondrous spiritual attainment, — 
a most holy person, — he had at least discovered. Yet did Satan dare to suggest 
to Him no less sin than devil-worship! 

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence Satan: for it is 

(k) Deut. vi. 16, &c. 

(I) St. Luke xxi. 19. Rom. ii. 7; v. 3, 4; viii. 25 ; xii. 12; xv. 4, 5; 2 Cor. vi. 4; xii. 12 ; 
Coloss. i. 11; 1 Thess. 1. 3; v. 14; 2 Thess. i. 4; iii. 5; 1 Tim. iii. 3; vi. 11; 2 Tim. ii. 24; 
iii.10; Titus ii. 2; Hebr. vi. 12; x. 36; xii. 1; St. James i. 3,4; v. 7,8,10,11; 1 Pet. ii. 20; 
2 Peter i. 6 ; Rev. i. 9 ; ii. 2, 3, 19 ; iii. 10 ; xiii. 10 ; xiv. 12. (m) Ephes. ii. 2. 



IV.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 29 



written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt 
thou serve. 

The Captain of our Salvation is found to answer every suggestion of the Enemy 
by a single sentence of the Law, — as contained in the Book of Deuteronomy: viz., 
viii. 3 ; vi. 16 ; vi. 13. These were His " smooth stones out of the brook."(n) He 
condescends not to His Adversary, — no, not even to point out the hollowness of 
each proposal ; but pierces him at once with the ''sharp two-edged sword which 
goeth out of His mouth,"(o) — 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of 
God. ; (^>) 

11 Then the Devil leaveth Him, and, behold, Angels came and 
ministered unto Him. 

The Tempter, baffled in every endeavour, — withdraws in wonder: and, oh 
blessed contrast ! behold Angels are hastening to minister to the mysterious neces- 
sity of the Son of Man. 

Leighton says beautifully, — " This know, that our Lord is tender of us, and will 
inlay our painful conflicts with sweet comforts. And these, in a high degree, 
usually follow hard encounters patiently and stoutly sustained. Our Lord had a 
cordial draught both before and after this conflict : before, in the last verse of chap, 
iii. — He was confirmed in the very point He was assaulted in : ' This is My Be- 
loved Son.' And as He was confirmed before, so was He comforted after : ' Angels 
came, and ministered unto Him/ Oh ! the sweet issue our Lord gives to many a 
sad battle of weak Christians, wherein they possibly thought once that all was 
lost, and that they never should hold out, and come through it ! But never think 
so. We shall come through all, and the day shall be ours." 

12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, He 
departed into Galilee ; 

Between the last verse,^) and the present, if you would know what happened, 
read St. John's Gospel from the 19th verse of chapter i. to the 43rd verse of 
chapter iv. 

The Imprisonment of John is thus distinctly noticed by all the four Evangelists 
(St. Matt. iv. 12,— St. Mark i. 14,— St. Luke iv. 14,— St, John iv. 43,) in order, with 
the greater clearness, to mark the beginning of our Lord's Ministry. He had 
already wrought miracles, and made disciples ; but it is from this event that His 
public career more especially dates. See ver. 17, and the note there. Notice also 
what St. Peter says, in Acts x. 37. 

Concerning the circumstances which led to John's imprisonment by Herod the 
Tetrarch, see the note on St. Mark vi. 17. The event itself is related by the 
present Evangelist, in chap. xiv. 3, 4. 

No remark, however, will be found, — either there or elsewhere, — on the ex- 
tremely short duration of the Baptist's Ministry ; to which, in the infinite Wisdom 
of God, the space of one year, at the utmost, was assigned. Nor, indeed, is it the 
manner of the Spirit so to convey instruction. The facts are given ; or the facts 
may, by careful study, be found out. To draw inferences from them, is almost 
always left to individual hearts. Let us not, from this place of Scripture, for 
instance, fail to derive two important lessons : first, — an intimation of the mighty 
result which may be achieved in a very small space of time : next, — a hint that 
there is no knowing how soon God may have done with us ; and that it is quite a 
mistake to covet for ourselves, or for others, a prolonged life, — on the supposition 
that we might thereby be able to serve God effectually for a longer time. He does 
not require our services, at all. He certainly does not take us out of the World, till 
He has no more work left for us to do in it. " Let all rather study for themselves, 
and wish unto others, that they may be diligent in their work while their day lasts, 
be it short or long ; faithful and fruitful in their generation ; and the shorter their 
day is like to be, work the faster. For, certainly, the good of life is not in the 
length of it; but in the use of it." — They are the words of Archbishop Leighton. 

( n) 1 Sam. xvii. 40. (o) Rev. i. 16 and xix. 15, 21. Compare 2 Thess. ii. 8 ; Rev. ii. 16. 

(p) Ephes. vi. IT. Compare Hebrews iv. 12. (?) ver. 11. 



30 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum. 

When the Forerunner's Imprisonment was announced to our Lord, He was stay- 
ing for two days at Sychar in Samaria.(r) Thereupon, He departed into. Galilee, — 
taking Nazareth, "where he had been brought up,"(Y) in His way. For the account 
of what then occurred, see St. Luke's Gospel, — iv. 16 — 30. " Leaving Nazareth," 
— " not being honoured in His own Country. So, commonness of things make 
them cheap with us, how excellent soever ;" — " He came and dwelt in Capernaum." 

The town stood near the North-Western extremity of the Lake of Tiberias, or (as 
it is oftener called) the Sea of Galilee ; but there exist no remains of it, and its very 
site is uncertain. 

Our Saviour came to dwell by the sea-side, in order to fish for men. 

14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the 
prophet, 

Not till now, therefore, was the veil removed from this place of ancient Prophecy. 
Yet how mysterious was the fulfilment of what had been here foretold ! A forlorn 
Stranger, — a houseless Wanderer, — a poor, persecuted Man: yet, this was the 
"great Light!" This was He who was to "make glorious" the land of Zabulon 
and the land of Naphtali ! 

Such discoveries become lessons and warnings to ourselves. Not only with 
reference to unfulfilled prophecy, are they in the highest degree suggestive ; but 
they surely invite also to a more watchful study of incidents altogether private and 
personal. Promises of Divine Help, duly fulfilled, but fulfilled in a shape under 
which they fail to strike us ; — offers of Mercy, — opportunities of Blessing, — the 
very presence of our Lord, — all duly vouchsafed to us ; yet, it may be, all des- 
pised, neglected, over-looked: — and that, because we have not the ears to hear, or 
the hearts to discover, or the eyes to recognize Him when we see Him ! 

15, 16 saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nepthalim, by 
the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles ; the people 
which sat in darkness saw great light ; and to them which sat in the 
region and shadow of death light is sprung up. 

The finger of Prophecy had not failed to point out the spot where Messiah was 
to dwell so long, and work so many wonders. The place of Isaiah here quoted, is 
found in chap. ix. 1 — 2. 

Divinely indeed did it happen that, in "the borders of Zabulon and Nephtha- 
lim," — the spot, namely, where the territory respectively assigned to those patri- 
archs,^) met, — the Saviour of His people should have come to dwell : for it was 
precisely the inhabitants of this district, who, first of all the Jews, were led into 
Captivity by Tiglath Pileser, King of Assyria, b.c. 740 ; as related in the Second 
Book of Kings, (it) So that, as one of the ancients points out, — "where the Law 
was first forgotten, there the Gospel was first preached." The Region which had 
been the first to suffer Captivity, was the first to enjoy the Light of that Truth 
which maketh free."(x) 

The prophecy of Isaiah here quoted, contains a special allusion to the Assyrian 
Captivity ; for, — contrasting the fate of the region here spoken of, in the days of 
Messiah, with its former desolate condition, — the Prophet is thought by learned 
men to have written somewhat as follows : — " Nevertheless, there shall not here- 
after be darkness in the Land which was distressed. In the former time, He de- 
based the land of Zabulon, and the land of Naphtali ; but in the latter time He 
hath made it glorious : even the way of the Sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the 
Nations." And then follows, — " The people which walked in darkness have seen 
a great Light,"(?/) &c. 

(r) St. John iv. 5 and 43. («) See St. Matt. ii. 23; St. Luke iv. 16 and St. Mark i. 9. 

(*) Joshua xix. 10 to 16 ; 32 to 39. (u) xv. 29 : and see 1 Chron. v. 26. 

(x) St. John viii. 32, 36. 

(y) Compare this with the rendering of Isaiah ix. 1, 2, in the authorized version of the 
English Bible. 



IV.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 31 



The Northern part of Galilee was called " Galilee of the Gentiles" because it bor- 
dered upon a heathen land, and was itself partly heathen. " Twenty cities" of 
Galilee had been given by Solomon to Hiram, king of Tyre.(z) Well, therefore, 
might such a people be said to sit in darkness;" as not knowing which way they 
should go. 

The constancy of the Imagery employed by the Holt Spirit, cannot fail to 
strike every one who is at all familiar with the Gospels. Consider, in connection 
with the appellation in the text, such places as the following : — St. John i. 5 to 9 ; 
iii. 19 to 21 ; viii. 12 ; ix. 5 ; xi. 9, 10 ; xii. 35, 36, and 46. 

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, 

That is to say, from the time that John was cast into prison, — which was the 
occasion of our Saviour's departure into Galilee, spoken of in ver. 12. 

and to say, Repent : for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 

This had been the Sermon of the Baptist, also. See chap. iii. 2, and the note 
there. " Not only the same sense, but the very same words. He who needed to 
borrow from none, but gives all to all, yet disdains not to preach this over after 
John Baptist." 

" Oh, sweet invitation, — the offer of pardon to a repenting sinner ! But how 
much more that of a Kingdom ! He might have said, ' Repent, for the Prison of 
Hell is at hand/ if ye do not : but He rather draws by the happiness and glory 
attending our return." So far, pious Leighton. 

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, 

For some account of this Lake, see the note on St. Mark i. 16. 

saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, 
casting a net into the sea : 

To read this, no one would suppose that Simon and Andrew were well known 
to the Saviour, and had already become His Disciples : but it is the manner of the 
Evangelists when they mention a person or place for the first time, to introduce the 
name in this manner. Observe how Nazareth, — for thirty years' Christ's home, — 
is mentioned by St. Matthew, in chap. ii. 23. 

Very surprising indeed will the ensuing brief narrative appear, to one who reads 
it with the first chapter of St. John's Gospel (a) fresh in his memory. The com- 
parison of the two histories leads to many an important inference concerning our 
Saviour's method with His Disciples. There was no constraint put upon their 
wills or affections. To " abide with Him,"(6) might, or might not, avail to draw 
the heart effectually to Him. The very witnessing of a Miracle, (like that per- 
formed at Cana of Galilee, (c) was not enough to produce, even in faithful men, the 
kind of conviction we are apt to suppose. God left them to themselves. The seed 
of His spoken Word fell, — as in the parable, — by the way-side, or upon stony 
places, or among thorns, or into good ground, and it met with a corresponding 
fate.(<i) How nearly does our position resemble theirs I How closely does the recep- 
tion which Christ now meets with in the World, resemble that which awaited Him 
" all the time that He went in and out among" men !(e) 

These men, from being Disciples of John the Baptist, had transferred their obe- 
dience to Christ. The remarks just now offered are meant to explain how it may 
-have happened that when they beheld the Baptist thrown into prison, they re- 
sumed their former calling. 

for they were fishers. 

Let us pause for a moment on this short sentence: which declares, by the way, 
the temporal estate, and lowly calling of the first Apostles. 

(z) 1 Kings ix. 11. (a) ver. 35 to 42. (b) St. John i. 39. 

( c) St. John ii. 2. (d) St. Matthew xiii. 3 to 8. (e) Acts i. 21. 



32 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

It was the will of God to choose the men by whose means He intended to re- 
model the World, out of the humbler class ; that so, no flesh might glory in His 
presence ; (/) nor any pretend that human wit had a share in the miraculous 
leavening process which ensued. It was God, throughout; acting in, and through, 
most weak instruments. 

But it can scarcely require to be stated that no encouragement whatever is there- 
by given to the rashness of unlearned men of low degree, — thrusting themselves 
forward, in the vain pretence that they are as the Apostles were ; and presuming 
to usurp the seat of the learned, because (forsooth) it pleased God once to "choose 
the foolish things of the World to confound the wise ; and the weak things of the 
World to confound the things which are mighty." (g) If the fishermen of Galilee 
taught all mysteries, it was, because in the place of mere Human wisdom, they 
enjoyed the extraordinary illumination of God's Holy Spirit. They were miracu- 
lously enabled to speak with new tongues ; and, for the subject of their discourse, 
it was not they who spoke, but the Spirit, within them, which gave them utter- 
ance. (A) When God consents to become our Teacher, and to work Miracles in our 
behalf, human helps may be neglected ; but, not till then. • 

In the mean time, let it be carefully noted that God made choice of His Holy 
Apostles by no irrespective decree. Great indeed was the Faith, great the Z eal, 
marvellous must have been the Goodness to which those men had attained, who 
were destined hereafter to " sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of 
Israel." (i) They did not become Saints because they were Apostles. On the con- 
trary. Our Saviour made them Apostles, because they had become Saints. See 
the note on St. John i. 43, 44. In their personal sanctity, let all seek to resemble 
and to rival them. Their ministerial rights and privileges, let those who have not 
been duly called, agree to behold from a distance, and to revere. 

And, humble as were the instruments which God employed for the Salvation of 
Mankind, so humbling was the Doctrine which He proposed to men's acceptance. 
See 1 Cor. i. 18, and 20 to 23. The result might have been expected; namely, 
that " the poor in spirit," alone, — who, in this case, were also "the poor," as St. 
Paul expressly informs us,(&) — embraced the Kingdom. 

19 And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fish- 
ers of men. 

It was a Divine circumstance that these great Apostles should have been of the 
number of those who " go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in 
great waters :"(l) for, to cast the net of the Kingdom, (m) — to fish for souls, — and 
to capture mighty draughts of men, — ("Casting the net in public preaching, and 
angling in private converse,") — became their wondrous calling. Yet, how little 
must they have understood of the wondrous prophecy now delivered by Him, who 
" declareth the end from the beginning ; and from ancient times, the things that 
are not yet done \"(n) 

The Psalm just quoted proceeds, as if in a prophetic strain, — " These men see 
the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." — A great "work," and a 
mighty " wonder," truly, had now been wrought: for, unlikely as it may sound, 
this piece of narrative is certainly the same with that in St. Luke v. 1 to 11. The 
first Miraculous Draught of fishes, therefore, was the event which produced an 
abiding conviction in the minds of these four followers of the Lamb ; proved the 
occasion of that prevailing summons to follow Christ, which drew after Him those 
two wondrous pairs of brethren, — the sons of Jonas, and the sons of Zebedee. 

You will observe that this miracle was, in effect, an appeal to their Faith. They 
looked to capture something in their nets : but their success far surpassed the ut- 
most limit of their hopes. 

20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. 

St. Peter alluded to this hour, when he asked our Lord, long after, — "Behold, 
we have forsaken all, and followed Thee: what shall we have therefore?" (o) 

21 And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, 

(/) 1 Cor. i. 29. (g) 1 Cor. i. 27. (h) Acts ii. 4. (i) St. Matt. xix. 28. 

\k) 1 Cor. i. 26. \l) Psalm cvii. 23. (m) St. Matt. xiii. 47. («) Isaiah xlvi. 10. 

Co) St. Matthew xix. 27. 



IV.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. , 33 



Observe how they are gathered, by two and two, into the fold : even as, by two 
and two, Christ will hereafter send them forth to preach. 

These are Brothers ; that so Nature may conspire with Grace in securing a firm 
foundation in Love for the edifice which is to follow. As, anciently, God builded 
on Moses and Aaron :(p) so, now, He builds on Peter and Andrew, — James and 
John. 

James the son of Zebeclee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebe- 
dee their father, mending their nets : 

They were "mending" the nets which — as St. Luke(g) specially informs us, — 
had been " broken" by the multitude of the Fishes, which they had recently 
caught. 

and he called them. 

It will be perceived that, notwithstanding the conciseness of the narrative, men- 
tion has been made of the particular act in which the four Disciples were engaged 
at the time of their call: or rather, that this is the only thing which is mentioned. 
Two of them were casting a net into the sea,(r) — and two were occupied in the 
manner just now described. 

Consider how carefully, in the case of many other of God's chosen servants, we 
find their occupation recorded, at the moment when the Divine summons first found 
them out. " The Lord took me," says the prophet Amos, " as I followed the flock, 
and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto My people Israel." (s) Such was 
the occupation of Moses(^) and of David. (if) Gideon was threshing wheat :{x) 
Saul, seeking the asses of his Father ;{y) and Elisha, ploughing with twelve yoke 
of oxen.(z) — Nathaniel, beneath the fig-tree ;(a) St. Matthew sitting at the Receipt 
of custom; (6) and Saul, journeying to Damascus ;(c) — are examples of the same 
thing, in the New Testament: to which we may add the case of four other Apos- 
tles, — St. Peter and St. Andrew, St. James and St. John. 

How are we hereby reminded that Christ is ever to be met with, in the path of 
duty ! that no occupation is so secular, or so lowly, as to exclude us from the bless- 
ing of being found out, in the midst of it, by Him ! 

22 And they immediately left the ship and their Father, and fol- 
lowed Him. 

Simon and Andrew forsook property, — James and John overlooked earthly ties, 
— for Christ's sake, and the Gospel's. Absolutely, they may appear not to have 
forsaken much : but it was all they possessed ; and therefore, it was much to them. 

Henceforth, the waves of this troublesome World, — the Ark of Christ's Church, 
— the net of the Gospel, — men's wandering wills ; — these became the objects to 
which these holy men transferred all their anxieties. 

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, 
and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of 
sickness, and all manner of diseases among the people. 

This is the description of our 'Lord's First great Ministerial Journey, during 
which He traversed all Galilee. What a mighty narrative is here summed up in a 
few words! The laborious travel, and hardships, and weariness of many months ; 
— the splendor of many hundred discourses, both public and private ; — stupendous 
acts of Mercy, — countless miracles of Love : — all, are here despatched in fewer 
words than we should claim for the description of some of our most trivial actions. 

Another circuit of Galilee, like the present, will be found noticed, and almostin 
the same terms, in chap. ix. 35. On both occasions, spiritual infirmity and bodily 
ailment are spoken of in such close connection, that it is impossible not to per- 

(p) Exodus iv. 14, 15, and 27 to 32. (q) St. Luke v. 6. (r) See above, ver. 18. 

(s) Amos vii. 15. (0 Exod. iii. 1. {u) Psalm lxxviii. 70—71 

\x) Judges vi. 11. (y) 1 Sam. ix. 3 to 20. (z) 1 Kings xix. 19. 

(a) St. John i. 48. (6) St. Matthew ix. 9, &c. (c) Acts ix. 3, Ac. 

3 



34 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

ceive the relation which, is intimated as subsisting "between them : the latter, a type 
or emblem of the former; — the latter, no less than the former, a consequence of the 
Fall: both alike, symptoms of that great and general disorder, for the remedy of 
which the Son of Man had come into the world. Consider the language of St. 
Matthew viii. 16, 17. Moreover, the Miracles which He wrought were a pledge of 
His power; and therefore a confirmation of the Doctrines which He came to 
deliver. 

24 And His fame went throughout all Syria : and they brought unto 
Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, 
and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were 
lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them. 

As might be expected, the lame of the Great Physician spreads far beyond the 
region actually traversed by Him. " Syria" denotes all the region situated to the 
North of the Country in which our Lord was at present preaching. 

25 And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, 
and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and/rom 
beyond Jordan. 

So mighty a retinue was drawn after His blessed footsteps in consequence of His 
miraculous acts. " Decapolis, ;; — a word denoting Ten Cities, (of which Gadara 
was one,) — was the name of the district East of the Sea of Galilee.(cZ) The present 
enumeration therefore amounts to a statement that the Saviour, in the course of 
His first Ministerial Journey, was followed by multitudes from the Country on 
either side of the Jordan, as well as from the Capital City. 



THE PRAYER. 

LORD, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights ; 
Give us grace to use such abstinence, that our flesh being subdued to 
the Spirit, we may ever obey Thy godly motions in righteousness and 
true holiness, to Thy honour and glory, who livest and reignest with 
the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. 
Amen. 

(d) St, Luke viii. 26. 






v.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 35 



CHAPTER V. 



1 Christ beginneth Sis sermon in the mount : 3 declaring who are blessed, 13 who 
are the salt of the earth, 14 the light of the world, the city on an hill, 15 the 
candle: 17 that He came to fulfil the law. 21 What it is to kill, 27 to commit 
adultery, 33 to swear: 38 exhorteth to suffer wrong, 44 to love even our enemies, 
48 and to labour after perfectness. 

1, 2 And seeing the multitudes. He went up into a mountain : and 
when He was set, His disciples came unto- Him: and He opened His 
mouth, and taught them, saying, 

The "Sermon on the Mount," — for by that name the first and the fullest of our 
Lord's public discourses is known, — begins at this place. As the Old Law, pro- 
mulgated by Moses, had been originally delivered on a mountain, (that is, Sinai;) 
so was it proper that on a mountain also, the New Law should be delivered by 
Christ. But the contrast of the circumstances is remarkable. The Law was 
given then, amid terrors ; now, amid calm. Then, God spake to His people by the 
hand of Moses; now, face to face. 

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the Kingdom of 
Heaven. 

It seems a beautiful circumstance, that whereas the volume of the Old Testament 
ends by threatening a Curse, the Gospel of the Kingdom should begin with the 
promise of a Blessing. 

Observe, that the first of these eight "Beatitudes/' (as they are called,) is a bless- 
ing pronounced on Humility; on that state of heart which, conscious of inward, not 
outward, poverty and need, knows its own utter destitution. So that the promise 
runs parallel with that other promise of our Divine Master, " He that humbleth 
himself shall be exalted."(a) Our Lord points out Pride, — spiritual Pride, — as 
the root and source of all evil. For He speaks not here of a mere absence of this 
world's goods; but of that state of heart which worldly poverty is often found to 
maintain, or to produce. Hence, St. Luke was guided to record this first Beatitude 
in different language: — "Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the Kingdom of God." 
See the note on St. Luke vi. 20. 

Observe, therefore, that what God regards is the inclination of the heart, — the 
disposition of the will. A very beggar may yet be full of proud thoughts: or if, 
through misery, his soul be kept low, yet may he be for ever pining after that 
which, if obtained, would infallibly inflate him. Now, such an one comes not, 
cannot come, within the terms of the blessedness here promised. 

4 Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be comforted. 

The mourning here spoken of, is not, of course, mere worldly grief: (for " the 
sorrow of the world," as the Apostle declares, "worketh death :")(b) but it is that 
affliction, that "godly sorrow," which is sure, sooner or later, to overtake every 

(a) St. Matt, xxiii. 12; St. Luke xiv. 11, and xviii. 14. (6) 2 Cor. vii. 10. 



36 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

man who faithfully endeavours to walk in the way of God's commandments. It is 
a sad, but a true prophecy, — "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, 
shall suffer persecution." (c) Those who mourn after such a sort, have the promise 
of "the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost." (d) 

5 Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth. 

Our Saviour here quotes the words of Psalm xxxviii. 11. That wondrous pro- 
mise seems to involve a contradiction: for surely, (we say,) the meek are apt 
rather to be thrust out, and driven away, from their possessions. Nevertheless, 
the thing which is here promised will infallibly be found to come to pass ; for He 
is faithful that promiseth. The meek shall possess the earth, even by right; for it 
is said — "they shall inherit" it. 

Only, let those who earnestly desire this blessing, — as many as desire to possess 
the earth, — beware lest they become possessed by it. For, in its fullest sense, 
this promise doubtless has reference to those "new Heavens," and that "new 
Earth," of which St. Peter speaks,(e) and for which the Saints of God are ever 
looking. 

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness : 
for they shall be filled. 

The keenness of bodily appetite, — of Hunger and of Thirst, — was given us, in 
order that we might know how ardent should be the craving of our Souls after 
Holiness. This spiritual craving the Psalmist felt, when he cried, — " As the hart 
panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, God." (/) Now 
it is here promised, among many other things, that this deep longing of the Saints, 
— alluded to, rather than described, — shall be fully satisfied in Heaven. " They 

shall hunger no more," (as it is said,) " neither thirst any more(#) For the 

Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them 
unto living fountains of waters. And" (it is added) "God shall wipe away all 
tears from their eyes:" (Ji) words which recall the form of the second and fourth of 
these Beatitudes, as St. Luke exhibits them: — "Blessed are ye that hunger now, 
for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh." (?') 

Not only, however, in the World to come, but in this World also, will the soul's 
desire be satisfied : fully there ; here, only imperfectly and in part : — but the long- 
ings, with which it dilates itself here, render it capable of the greater fullness here- 
after. And we know that the flesh being subdued to the Spirit, is apter for right- 
eousness and true holiness : (k) by which remark it is intended to connect these 
words of Scripture with the parallel place in St. Luke's Gospel, — vi. 21. 

7 Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy. 

Thus, God pledges Himself to the bestowal of His Divine mercies, — which are 
eternal, and beyond price ; on the condition that we show mercy in human things, 
— which are brief and valueless. 

How often is this condition of future blessedness insisted upon in the Gospel ! 
Consider St. Matt. vi. 12, 14, 15 : xviii. 21 — 35, especially the last verse. St. Mark 
xi. 25, 26, &c. 

8 Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God. 

" The pure in heart:" for, so that purity be there, the lips and the hands, — yea, 
the whole life, (like waters flowing from the fountain-head,) will perforce be pure. 

The vision of God is made dependent in many places of Scripture besides this, 
on holiness of character; or, as it is here said, on purity of heart. "Follow peace 
with all men," says St. Paul, " and holiness, ivithout which no man shall see the 
Lord." (I) "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart," shall hereafter "ascend 

(c) 2 Tim. iii. 12, and compare St. John xvi. 33, Acts xiv. 22, &e. 

Id) St. John xiv. 26. Compare 2 Cor. i. 4; also St. Luke xvi. 25, and Rev. vii. 14. 

(<?) 2 Pet. iii. 13. (/) Ps. xlii. 10. (g) Rev. vii. 16. Compare Isaiah xlix. 10. 

\h) Rev. vii. 17. Compare Rev. xxi. 4, and Isaiah xxv. 8. (i) St. Luke vi. 21. 

(k) See the Collect for the First Sunday in Lent. (I) Heb. xii. 14. 






v.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 37 



into the hill of the Lord, 77 (m) and like the highest order of the holy Angels, (n), 
"see the King in His beauty. 77 (o) 

But the beloved Disciple in a certain place,(j?) even more strikingly says, — "We 
know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as 
He is :" — thus making a restoration to the Divine image, (q) and the seeing of God, 
dependent notions. And so, without pretending to solve the hard question of how 
this mysterious promise is to be fulfilled, (for who can tell what a glorious heritage 
of loftier powers may be reserved for the Spiritual Body?)(r) let us be sure that 
like every other divine prophecy, it will have its own wondrous fulfillment, — par- 
tially, in this world; more fully, in the next: here, "as through a glass darkly; 77 
there, "face to face. 77 (s) We may be certain, moreover, that this is a matter con- 
cerning which he who leads the holiest life, will know the most. 

It has been thought that there is something progressive in the blessings here 
enumerated, one rising above another: and doubtless they follow, (like the stars of 
Heaven,) [in a beautiful and wonderful order, though it may be difficult, always, to 
find it out. This Beatitude and the last stand together instructively. How lovely 
a character would his be, who should add to his "mercifulness, 77 (not a very rare 
grace, it may be thought,) "purity of heart, 77 — which is perhaps the very rarest 
grace of all ! 

9 Blessed are the peace-makers : for they shall be called the 
children of God. 

" The peace-makers/ 7 — whether those who undertake the blessed office of recon- 
ciling brethren at enmity ; or those less conspicuous ones who are engaged in 
overcoming their own warring lusts and affections, — making peace in their own 
hearts, — and setting up the Kingdom of God within themselves. (t) The first work 
avails little without the second. 

You observe that this Sabbath of the Soul stands in the seventh place. 

To produce "on earth, Peace, 77 («) was the great office of the Gospel, - -whose 
Author is called " the Prince of Peace. 77 (x) To peace-makers is here assigned as 
their peculiar blessedness, the likeness of God. 

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake : 
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 

" Persecuted—; -for righteousness' sake;" else, no prospect of blessedness is held 
out. 

The eighth Beatitude has the same promise attached to it as the first, — seever. 3. 
The first and eighth Beatitudes, therefore, are like the corresponding clasps at the 
two extremities of a chain, — where every bead is a blessing. 

But, in truth, "the Kingdom of Heaven 77 is the one reward promised in every 
instance ; although under various names, according to the various Graces specified. 
Just as it is the character of the Just, — though viewed under different aspects, — 
to which the promises are all alike addressed. 

11, 12 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, 
and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. 
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: 
for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you. 

"Kevile you," to your face: "say all manner of evil against you, 77 behind your 
back : " persecute you, 77 in any way. But all this must be done falsely — and for 
Christ 7 s sake, in order to bring us within the terms of the blessing. 

" The prophets which were before you ; 77 — by which saying, Christ associates 

(m) Ps. xxiv. 4 (») St. Matt, xviii. 10. (o) Isaiah xxxiii. 17. 

(p) ISt. John iii. 2. (q) See Genesis i. 26; and compare Psalm xvii. 15. 

{r) Consider the following texts, Job xix. 26, 27; 1 Cor. ii. 9; (quoted from Isaiah lxiv. 
4;) St. Matt. xxii. 30. 

(s) 1 Cor. xiii. 12. (0 St. Luke xvii. 21. («) St. Luke ii. 14. 

{x) Isaiah ix. 6. Compare Ephesians ii. 14 St. John xiy. 27, &c- 



38 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

the humblest of His suffering servants with that " goodly fellowship of the Pro- 
phets" " of whom the World was not worthy ."(?/) 

13 Ye are the salt of the earth : 

The Saints are declared to he that which keeps this old Earth of ours from cor- 
ruption. Their blessed office is to be to mankind " the savour of life unto life." (z) 
• . . . The transition is more obvious in St. Luke's Gospel. There, the preceding 
Beatitudes are addressed to the Disciples, " Blessed are ye:" whence it follows, in 
this place, " Ye are the salt of the earth." 

but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted ? 
It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden 
under foot of men. 

That is, — Beware lest you lose this property of sustaining the World's life ! 
" For it is impossible," (as the great Apostle declares,) " for those who were once 
enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the 
Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the World 
to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance." (a) With 
what salt shall they be salted, to whom was committed the World's salting ? 

14, 15 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill 
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a 
bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in 
the house. 

As "salt," in ver. 13, was descriptive of the inward condition, so " light," in 
this place, has reference to the outward aspect. The Church of Christ, — like the 
faithful witness in Heaven, (b) — shines with borrowed glory : glory derived from 
"the Sun of Righteousness,"(c) who styles Himself, "the Light of the World."(^) 
Being set on an hill, (the "holy Hill of Sion,") the Church neither can, nor should, 
escape observation. It is as absurd to suppose that a man would first light a 
candle, and then seek to smother its beams under a bushel, or to suppose that the 
Divine Author of our Faith should intend those whom He entrusts with the Light 
of his Gospel to sit down in the shadow of bodily ease and self-indulgence, and 
thus to conceal the glory of their trust. 

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good 
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

Why should men "see our good works?" Not certainly in order to promote 
conceit, and a spirit of self-righteousness, in order to glorify us; but only, in order 
that the sight of those Works may induce beholders to glorify our Father which is 
in Heaven. It is God who is glorified in His Saints. 

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets : I 
am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 

Our Saviour fulfilled the Law when He submitted to all its precepts ;— the Pro- 
phets, when He either performed or endured whatever things they had foretold con- 
cerning Himself; loth "the Law and the Prophets," by His life-long acts of Love.(e) 
But the present declaration was true in another, and even a more striking sense ; 
for we know that all things which, under the Law, had been imperfectly conveyed 
by type or shadow, exhibited their true intent, and discovered their full meaning, 
only under the Gospel dispensation. The very history of God's ancient people, 
seen by the light' of Christ's words, or those of His holy Apostles, is proved to be 

y) Hebrews ix. 32—38. (z) 2 Cor. ii. 16. (a) Hebrews vi. ±—6. 

b) Psalm lxxxix. 37. (c) Malachi iv. 2. 

d) St. John viii. 12; ix. 5; xii. 35, &c. (<?) St. Matt. vii. 12. 






V.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 39 

replete with unsuspected teaching ; and may be truly said to have been only then 
" fulfilled" when Christ came into the World. 

18 For verily I say unto you, till Heaven and Earth pass, one jot 
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 

By this mention of " one jot or tittle," we are reminded of the dignity and impor- 
tance which attaches to the very least letter of God's written Law. So solemn a de- 
claration should convince the most reluctant heart, how utterly baseless must be 
the pretence that the teaching of the New Testament casts any slight whatever 
upon the teaching of the Old : or that Christianity is in any respect contradictory 
of the Jewish Keligion. " Eem ember ye the Law of Moses My servant," — are 
among the latest words of the Prophet Malachi, iv. 4: and yet the first words of the 
Gospel were already on his lips.(/) But the veil which at first covered so much 
of Divine meaning, was afterwards lifted off and withdrawn. 

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least command- 
ments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the King- 
dom of Heaven : but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall 
be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. 

That is, — So far am I from annulling the ancient Law of My people, that I de- 
clare I will lightly esteem the man who assumes to himself the liberty of violating 
the least precept of that Law, — and so sets an example of disobedience. Whereas, 
the most strict obedience shall enjoy the most high reward. 

20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed 
the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter 
into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

The same train of thought is continued: — For I say unto you that your righteous- 
ness, although resembling in kind that of the Scribes and Pharisees, unless it 
infinitely surpasses theirs in degree, will not avail to win for you even an entrance 
into My Kingdom. 

We are next, — in verses 21 to 26, — presented with a specimen of Divine Inter- 
pretation of that Law which, in its true spirit and intention, our Saviour professes 
that He came "not to destroy." . The Commandment first noticed, is the sixth; 
which, He who gave it so interprets as to show that in that negative precept, 
(" Thou shalt do no Murder,") is contained the Law of Love. And this, perhaps, 
is the reason why our Blessed Lord begins with that particular commandment ; 
instead of the fifth, for example: for "Love is the fulfilling of the Law."(#) 

21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt 
not kill ; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. 

" Thou shalt not kill," — which precept is found in Exod. xx. 13, and Deut. v. 
17, — is the whole of the actual quotation. The rest of the sentence may be inferred 
from what is said in Levit. xxiv. 21, and Numbers xxxv. 16, 17. 

22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother 
without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment : and whosoever 
shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council : but 
whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 

Moses, — proclaiming Christ's words "to them of old time," — had forbidden 
Murder; and affixed a certain penalty to the crime. The "Prophet like unto 
Moses," republishing His ancient code, affixes that same penalty to what might 

(/) See Malachi iv. 5, 6. Compare also iii. 1, and St. Mark i. 1, 2. 

(g) See Romans xiii. 8 — 10. Compare also Galatians v. 14 ; St. Matt. vii. 12, and xxii. 39, 
40 \ 1 Timothy i. 5 ; Coloss. iii. 14; St. James ii. 8. 



40 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

seem a far lower offence ; but which, was, in the mind of the Lawgiver, a violation 
of the original command. . . . " I say unto you:" for He taught them as One 
having authority," — as it is expressly stated at the end of the present discourse. (Ji) 

By simply human terms, three degrees of punishment, divine and future, are 
here described ; or rather, things heavenly and unutterable are here indicated by 
language with which our Lord's hearers were familiar. " The Judgment," and 
" the Council," were the names of two well-known Jewish courts. "Gehenna," 
or as it is here Englished, "hell-fire," denotes an extremity of suffering, by refer- 
ring to the hideous fate of dead corpses in the valley of Hinnom.(i) In this way, 
our merciful Lord neither dazzled men with pictures of Heaven ; nor distracted 
them by descriptions of Hell : but by the use of images either of delight or of des- 
pair, opened to His followers as much concerning the unseen world as it was need- 
ful for them to know. 

Corresponding with the three punishments already noticed, are three offences. 
First, causeless Anger which yet maintains silence: — next, the same Anger, allow- 
ing itself in reproachful speech : — lastly, the same Anger, when it proceeds to open 
insult and unmeasured provocation. 

It is remarkable to what trifles (as it might be thought) in behaviour, the pre- 
cepts of our Blessed Lord descend. See the note on St. Matt. vi. 6. 

23, 24 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there re- 
memberest that thy brother hath ought against thee ; leave there thy 
gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, 
and then come and offer thy gift. 

Not, observe, — "If thou hast aught against thy brother;" but, "If thy brother 
hath aught against thee ;" which certainly is a great guarantee that there shall be 
reconciliation. 

On the other hand, his "having somewhat against thee" is probably a sign that 
thou wert the offender. Had he been the offender, there would be no need that 
thou shouldest leave thy gift, and go thy way. A mere act of forgiveness would 
have been all that was required. Still, he may have been the author of the wrong, 
and the bearer of malice both. Any way, there must be reconciliation. 

Compare with this, the exhortation before Holy Communion, to be "in perfect 
charity with all men," — in order to be "meet partakers of those holy mysteries." 
For "we have an altar," (as St. Paul says,)(^) and thereto we bring our gift, — 
even as the Jews were taught to do. 

25, 26 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the 
way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, 
and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till 
thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. 

These are two very difficult verses; but after what has gone before, their general 
purport is plain. It is still reconciliation, which is recommended ; still, the law of 
Love, which is enforced ; and, as it seems, by a most awful threat : for how can 
" the uttermost farthing" ever be paid ? 

"Whiles thou art in the way with him," must denote the days of the years of 
our mortal pilgrimage. "The Judge," and "the Officer," and "Prison," — are 
terms, borrowed from the usage of human courts, which seem descriptive of what 
will be hereafter ; if death should find a man unreconciled to the adversary, who is 
prepared to plead against him before the Judgment-seat of God. 

Our attention is directed, next, to the requirements of the Almighty in the 
seventh Commandment. 

27, 28 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou 
shalt not commit adultery : but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh 
on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already 
in his heart. 

(h) St. Matt. vii. 29. (t) 2 Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. vii. 31, xxxii. 35. (/) Heb. xiii. 10. 



V.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 41 

" As for God, His way is perfect."(&) "Every word of God is pure."(/) " The 
words of the Lord are pure words : as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified 
seven times." (wi) 

Righteous also, assuredly, are His judgments. For it is not, of course, the ability, 
"but the will : not so much the act, as the desire, which He must regard. 

One of the ancients has well remarked on this place, that neither will she be held 
guiltless who so dresses and adorns herself as to attract men's eyes, in this sort, 
towards her. She mixes the poison, and offers the cup, even though none be found 
to drink it. 

But though it must be fully admitted, that even the random glances of an un- 
guarded eye are not without sin, — yet, it seems right to point out that it is not 
those which our Saviour is here condemning. It is the "looking — to lust:" that is, 
looking with the intention to gratify the impure thought ; with purpose to feed the 
unholy desire. 

29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from 
thee : for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should per- 
ish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 

" Thy right eye," — for that was the offending member. "Eyes full of adultery," 
— as the Spirit says in another place. (w) Whence holy Job declares of himself, 
with reference to this very matter, — " I made a covenant with mine eyes."(o) 

" Thy right eye." No attempt is made, either here or elsewhere, to diminish the 
greatness of the required sacrifice. Consider the language of Genesis xxii. 2. 

Our Lord certainly cannot mean that we are to mutilate our bodies, — which are 
temples of the Holt Ghost \{p) but that the sense of sight must be mortified as 
effectually on such occasions, as if " the light of the body," (which is the eye,) 
were utterly, and for ever, extinguished. 

30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from 
thee : for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should per- 
ish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 

Having mentioned the "right Eye," (for the special reason noted above,) our 
Saviour adds the "right Hand," — probably because He would convey the lesson 
that, for His sake, and in order to save the whole body, we must be prepared to 
sacrifice the dearest and most precious thing we possess. His language conveys a 
lively notion of the uncompromising jealousy, the relentless severity, with which 
we must watch every avenue, and cut off every occasion, of sin in ourselves. 

31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him 
give her a writing of divorcement : 

Alluding to Deut. xxiv. 1, — a permission which, as our Lord tells us in another 
place,((?) Moses gave the people " because of the hardness of their hearts." This 
permission had come to be monstrously abused in our Saviour's time ; so that, On 
any petty pretext, a man thought himself at liberty to put away his wife. 

32 But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, sav- 
ing for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery : and 
whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. 

The solemn truth is implied, that the woman, so put away, continues to be the 
wife of him who put her away: for God once joined them together. "Wherefore 
they are no more twain, but one flesh."(r) 

33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, 



(k) 2 Sam. xxii. 31 ; Psalm xviii. 30. (I) Proverbs xxx. 5. 

(m) Psalm xii. 6. See also Ps. cxix. 140. (n) 2 Pet.ii. 14. (o) Job xxx. 1. 

(iO 1 Cor. vi. 19, iii. 16. (q) St. Matt. xix. 8. {>>) St. Matt. xix. 6. 



42 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Thou slialt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine 
oaths : 

Our Lord proceeds to the eighth Commandment. To " forswear/' in this place, 
is to fail in the performance of something sworn. The very words do not occur in 
the Law of Moses ; but the command is found in Deut. xxxiii. 21, and 23 : Num- 
bers xxx. 2. 

34, 35, 36, 37. But I say unto you, Swear not at all ; neither by 
Heaven : for it is God's throne : nor by the Earth ; for it is His foot- 
stool : neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 
Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make 
one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea ; 
Nay, nay : for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. 

These words of our Saviour Christ are very explicit, and God forbid that we 
should seek to weaken and explain them away ; or to evade their obvious force and 
meaning, by a merely human gloss. Yet may it be humbly suggested concerning 
the preceding passage, and all that follows, down to ver. 42, that the blessed words 
are not to be taken so much in their Letter, as in their Spirit. By which, it is not 
meant that they are to be only admitted in part : but that their full height, and 
depth, and breadth, — their entire scope, — their real meaning, — is to be sought for 
in the other revelations of the Spirit : to be illustrated by the other sayings, and 
by the actions, of our Lord and His chiefest Saints. For as, when the same Divine 
Speaker commands us to call no man our Father on earth, (s) He cannot be thought 
to forbid the ordinary language of our nature ; so here, He cannot be supposed to 
forbid that in a Court of Law, (for example,) a man should take the oath pre- 
scribed by competent authority. Nay, on a certain occasion, He took it to Him- 
self.^) There are instances of Divine swearing, in Genesis xxii. 16, (compare He- 
brews vi. 13), the Psalms (ex. 4), and elsewhere. St. Paul again solemnly calls 
God to witness in more than one of his Epistles : for example, in Rom. i. 9 : 2 Cor. 
i. 23 : xi. 31 : Gal. i. 20: Philipp. i. 8 : 1 Thess. ii. 5.—' What is here forbidden, 
must be rash, needless, and irreverent swearing, to which the Jews in the time of 
our Lord, (like the common people at the present day among ourselves,) must have 
been singularly addicted. 

To these words of Christ, St. James refers in his Epistle (v. 12), when he says, 
— " But above all things, my brethren, swear not ; neither by Heaven, neither by 
the Earth, neither by any other oath : but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; 
lest ye fall into condemnation." 

And this, they were not to do " at all" They were not to look upon some oaths 
as more binding than others ; but to learn that all causeless swearing was offensive 
in the eyes of Him with whom they had to do, — since every oath alike is an invo- 
cation of God's presence. 

38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a 
tooth for a tooth : 

These words are found in Exod. xxi. 24, Lev. xxiv. 20, and Deut. xix. 21. An 
injured man was thereby permitted to inflict exactly as much injury as he had re- 
ceived, — but no more. 

39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil : 

Of old, as we have seen, there had been a precept forbidding men to inflict une- 
qual retaliation : but our Lord (who came "to fulfill the Law") (it) forbids men to 
retaliate at all : whereby, certainly, the obj ect of the ancient precept was most 
effectually secured. His prohibition, (as an old writer observes,) "cuts off the 
beginnings of sin. The Law corrected faults ; — but the Gospel removes the occa- 
sion of them." 

(s) St. Matt, xxiii. 9. (t) St. Matt. xxiv. 64. («) St. Matt. v. 17. 



V.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 43 

40, 41. but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to 
him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take 
thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel 
thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 

Concerning the spirit in which all these remarkable commands are to be taken, 
see the note on ver. 37. — The attentive reader of the Gospel will remember how 
the Saviour of the World, at different times, fulfilled every precept which He has 
here delivered ; thus enforcing His own words by His own Divine example. But 
it should be well observed that it was in their spirit, not in their letter, that He 
fulfilled them. Thus, although " He gave His back to the smiters," (as the Pro- 
phet Isaiah had foretold of Him long before, (1. 6,) yet, instead of courting the 
malice of one of the officers, (for example,) when he struck Him with the palm of 
his hand, we find the language of mild remonstrance on our Saviour's lips : — " If I 
have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil ; but if well, why smitest thou Me V\x) 
Now, there can be no doubt, that the acts of the Redeemer are the best commen- 
tary on His spoken words. 

In like manner, when Ananias, the High-Priest, commanded that St. Paul should 
be smitten on the mouth, the Apostle simply denounced a fearful prophecy against 
him,(y) — which moreover was strictly fulfilled. Now, it is obviously fair to pre- 
sume that the lives of our Lord's greatest Saints may be taken, in some degree, as 
a living commentary upon the precepts which they were commissioned to deliver. 

As regards Lawsuits, again, (see ver. 40,) it will be remembered that the Holy 
Spirit in another place expressly allows of them, so that they be conducted be- 
fore the Brethren. (z) And, as some one has piously remarked, Men who would 
injure their neighbors must be resisted, lest, by those very actions, they should 
prove the ruin of themselves. See the note on ver. 42. 

42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow 
of thee turn not thou away. 

This must be because we are Stewards only, — not Lords, of the wealth we call 
ours. We are but the channels of God's bounties. Nothing can really belong to 
us, since ive belong to God. 

But neither will this precept, any more than the preceding ones, bear taking in 
its very letter ; or the foundations of Society would be overthrown, and we should 
be narrowing, not rising to, the largeness of the Divine requirement. Nor may 
the precept be interpreted exclusively of money ; or it would be addressed only to 
a section of mankind. See the note on ver. 37. 

The only certain saying of "the Lord Jesus" which has been preserved to us, 
not recorded in the Gospels,(a) may be called to memory in connection with ver. 42. 

By all these injunctions, then, the inner rather than tlie outer man, is schooled to 
holiness and virtue. The blow may be warded off, — nay, it may be right to pun- 
ish the man that dealt it: yet may the injured person, inwardly, turn the other 
cheek to the offender, and grieve but for his sake. The action at Law may be de- 
fended, in that spirit of Love which, while it sets the well-being of Society above 
its own private ease and quiet, would willingly, — if it dared, — withdraw its claim 
to the contested prize. The violent man may be resisted, if he oversteps his com- 
mission ; yet may the heart be unconscious, all the while, of strife. Lastly, — love 
may compel us to withhold many a gift, — to refuse many a prayer, — to be firm 
against many an appeal. . . . " And who is sufficient for these things ?" 

Consider in connection with these last remarks, the tears of Christ over Jerusa- 
lem,^) — at the very time that His avenging sword was drawn against the city. 
And, to compare small things with great, Joseph's tears, — even while he bound 
Simeon, (c) 

But it may not be forgotten that this new spiritual code, — or rather, this spiritual 
exposition of the ancient Mosaic Law, — though popularly spoken of, as peculiar 
to the days of the Gospel, — is to be met with, in all its essential features, in the 

(xj St. John xviii. 23. (y) Acts xxiii. 2, 3. (») 1 Cor. vi. 1—6. 

(a) Acts sx. 35. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, " It is more blessed 
to give than to receive." 

(b) St. Luke xix. 41. (c) Genesis xlii. 24. 



44 , A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Scriptures of the Old Testament. Christ came, indeed, not to destroy the Law, 
but "to fulfill" it: and we have seen, in verses 22, 28, 34, 39, 44, how the Law is 
to be fulfilled. But, to as many as had " ears to hear," this, the true method of 
fulfilling "the letter" in "the spirit,"(<i) had been abundantly pointed out "to 
them of old time." Thus, in Deut. x. 16, the great Lawgiver will be found to have 
already made Circumcision a spiritual ordinance. Consider also Deut. v. 21, vi. 
5 ; and viii. 3. Also Exodus xxiii. 4, 5 ; and Proverbs xxv. 21. And so, in a 
multitude of other places. 

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bour, and hate thine enemy. 

The first half of this command is found in Levit. xix. 18 : — the latter clause be- 
ing the wicked addition of the Pharisees. This was indeed " teaching for doc- . 
trines the commandments of men;" and "making the commandment of God of 
none effect by their tradition." Matt. xv. 9, 6. Compare Mark vii. 1-13. 

In a certain sense, however, it may be thought, that to hate our Enemies, is a 
precept quite in accordance with the spirit of the Old Testament Scriptures. (e) 
But then, it is only as directed against the Enemies of God, that such a sentiment 
can be allowable : hatred therefore, not of Men, but of Sin in Men, — and to this, 
the Gospel itself is no stranger : see what is said of the loud cry of the soul under 
the Altar, in Kevelation vi. 9. Between this sentiment, and words of tenderest 
love, (see the next verse,) there is no contradiction whatever. Thus, on one occa- 
sion, our Saviour was unspeakably gracious to one who had " had five husbands," 
— and was then living with one who was "not her husband."(/) On another 
occasion, He spoke words of encouragement to a poor penitent, who had 3^et been 
a notorious " sinner."(^) The woman " taken in adultery,"(7i) was dealt with by 
the Holy One in this same spirit of compassionate love. There was no indifference 
to Sin, in any of these cases : God forbid ! (" To destroy the works of the Devil" 
was the special purpose for which the Son of God was manifested.) (i) But there 
was love, unbounded love, towards Man. There was the knowledge also, that the 
victory over Sin, and a renewal to Righteousness, would be best achieved by adopt- 
ing the way of Mercy. See note on St. Luke xv. 3. 

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse 
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despite- 
fully use you, and persecute you ; 

As was before remarked, (in the note on ver. 41,) our Saviour recommended to 
us all these lovely precepts by His own most holy example. (&) Nay, it had been 
foreseen by the keen glance of Prophecy, long before, that He would do so. See 
the concluding words of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. David displayed towards 
Saul the temper here enjoined ;Q) — and the first Martyr, Saint Stephen, in like 
manner, prayed for his murderers. (m) This seems to have the spirit of Moses, (n) 
and of the Apostle of the Gentiles.(o) 

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven : 
for He maketh His sun 

" His Sun !" — the Sun which, on " the fourth day," He created : — which His 
Almighty Hands clad with a mantle of Light ; — and which He stationed in the 
visible Heavens to be an emblem of Himself! See Psalm xix. 5, 6. 

to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and 
on the unjust. 

(d) 2 Cor. iii. 6. 

(e) See Deut. vii. 2—5; xxiii. 6; xxv. 17—19; 1 Sam. xv. 2, 3. So also throughout the 
Book of Psalms : e. g. cxxxvii. 7 — 9. 

(/) St. John iv. 16—18. (g) St. Luke vii. 37, &c. (h) St. John viii. 3—11. 

(t) 1 St. John iii. 8. (k) St. Luke xxiii. 34. (I) 1 Samuel xxiv. 17, and xxvi. 21. 

(m) Acts vii. 60. (n) Exod. xxxii. 32. (o) Rom. ix. 3. 



V.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 45 

It will be a new thought to many, that the Rain and the Sunshine, — descending 
upon the fields of the just and the unjust alike, — are an argument of God's long- 
suffering Patience, and unwearied Kindness and impartial Love. 

We have great need to be thus reminded of those common mercies which are 
poured out impartially upon all ; and which fail to strike us, simply because they 
are common mercies. 

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye ? 

That is, — What reward can you hope to receive at the hands of your Father 
which is in Heaven? See St. Matthew vi. 1. 

Do not even the Publicans the same? 

See the parallel place in St. Luke vi. 32, and the note on St. Mark ii. 15. 

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others ? 
do not even the Publicans so ? 

To return evil for good, is the act of devils, — the work of those who are lowest 
of all, in the scale. To return evil for evil, and good for good, (verses 38, 43, 46, 
47,) is but low morality, — the act of our fallen Human Nature. But to return 
good for evil, — or rather, to do good to all, — is Divine; and this is the course which 
our Blessed Lord here enjoins upon us. 

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven 
is perfect. 

A wondrous injunction, truly; and one with which, at first sight, compliance is 
simply impossible: but it evidently amounts to a requirement that we should live 
up to the utmost "perfection"^) of which our renewed Nature is capable, — even 
as the Almighty hath existed, from all Eternity, in the perfection of His. And as 
we ever trace some resemblance to the Sire in the form and features of the Son, so 
may we well expect to recognize in the spiritual offspring of Goi>,(q) the likeness 
of Him who begat them.(r) 

It is well that the division of the Chapter was made in this place ; in order that 
the savour of so lofty a command might remain on the heart, and linger in the 
memory, of him who readeth. 



THE PRAYER. 

Almighty Lord, and everlasting God, vouchsafe, we beseech 
Thee, to direct, sanctify, and govern, both our hearts and bodies in the 
ways of Thy Laws, and in the works of Thy Commandments; that 
through Thy most mighty protection, both here and ever, we may be 
preserved in Body and Soul, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. Amen. 

(p) See Genesis vi. 9; xvii. 1 ; Jobi. 1. (q) Acts xvii. 28. (r) St. James i. IS. 



46 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER YI 



1 Christ continueth His Sermon in the Mount, speaking of Alms. 5 Prayer. 14 
Forgiving our brethren. 16 Fasting. 19 Where our treasure is io be laid up. 24 
Of serving God and Mammon. 25 Fxhorteth not to be careful for worldly things, 
33 but to seek God's Kingdom. 

Hitherto, our Lord has been putting His own Divine Interpretation on six 

commands of the Law, — " It ivas said," " But I say:" ch. v. verses 21, 

27, 31, 33, 38, 43. The " Sermon on the Mount" proceeds with certain directions 
concerning Almsgiving, (ver. 1 to 4), — Prayer, (ver. 5 to 15), — and Fasting, (ver. 
16 to 18): which are, respectively, the dedication of our Substance, — of our Souls, — 
and of our Bodies, to God. And it is observable that our Blessed Saviour, 
assuming each Duty as something known and admitted, dwells only on the manner 
in which each is to be performed. 

First, then, concerning Almsgiving: — 

1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of 
them: 

It was commanded in the former chapter (v. 16), " Let your light so shine be- 
fore men; that they may see your good ivorks." But there is no contradiction 
between that place, and this : for what was there commanded, was, that by the 
shining of the light, our ivorks, not ourselves, should become conspicuous; and that 
men should be thereby led to glorify, not us, but our Father which is in Heaven. 
In like manner, what is here condemned, is, not that Alms should be done before 
men; but that human observation should be the motive of such almsgiving: — " be- 
fore men, — to be seen of them." 

Verily, the caution is needed, even by the best ; for it is marvellous how prone 
we are to be influenced by unworthy motives, even though the glory of God may 
be the chief object proposed to ourselves in all that we do. The love of Praise, 
moreover, is an instinct which we derive from God: and to desire the good opinion 
of our fellow men, — is in itself right. To these instincts our Saviour Christ 
more than once appeals: see St. Luke xiv. 9, 10: also ver. 29. And all -this, 
(which makes the greatness of our trial,) may in part explain why our Saviour 
dwells at so much length, (verses 1 to 18), on the duty of bestowing Alms, — of 
Praying, — and of Fasting, — with a single eye to "our Father which is in 
Heaven." 

otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in Heaven. 

That which is expressly stated in ver. 4, is here as plainly implied : namely, 
that he who acts in a contrary spirit, shall certainly reap a heavenly reward.(a) 

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet 

(a) St. Matt. x. 42. Compare Proverbs xix. 17 with St. Matt. xxv. 40. See also Proverbs 
xxviii. 27: Ecclesiastes xi. : Hebrews vi. 10. 



vi.] on st. Matthew's gospel. 47 

before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, 
that they may have glory of men. 

The picture in this verse, — as well as in verses 5 and 16, — of what was common 
in our Lord's time, reveals in a very striking manner the degraded state of reli- 
gious feeling, — the moral blindness which had befallen the Jewish people. Many 
similar hints are supplied in other places of the Gospel: as in St. Matthew xxiii. 2 
to 33: St. Mark vii. 6 to 13: St. Luke xi. 37 to 54: xviii. 10 to 12, &c. 

And yet, let us beware how we make such remarks in a spirit of self-congratula- 
tion: for, (as a good man observes of ourselves,) " When we do give, how much of 
self and how little of God is there in it! The left hand knows what is done: yea, 
it is done with the left hand, — done, that is, with sinister respects and intentions, — 
although the bodily right hand does it." 

Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 

They who do such things, "have their reward;" that is, they have received 
already all the reward they ever will receive: namely, the observation of men. 
Compare, for the expression, St. Luke vi. 24. It recurs in verses 5 and 16. 

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy 
right hand doeth : 

To fulfill this precept in the letter, is obviously impossible; for " the left hand" 
must, perforce, know what is done by " the right hand." Yet, herein lies the very 
fitness and beauty of the image. It is equally impossible for a man to keep from 
himself the knowledge of his own deeds. 

By this expression, however, we are forcibly taught m what spirit all our best 
actions should be performed. We must not only shun the applause of others : we 
must shun even our own. To effect this, He who " knew what was in man" knew 
that it would be needful to keep from us, if it were possible, the very consciousness 
of what we had ourselves been about. 

"An excellent word!" exclaims pious Leighton; " Reflect not on it as thy action, 
with self-pleasing: for that is the ' left hand' in view. But look on God's goodness 
to thee, in not having placed thee in the Receiver's room and he in thine: in making 
thee able to relieve another, which many are not; and, being able, making thee 
willing, which far fewer are. Take thy very giving to thy distressed brother, as a 
gift from God, and a further obligation on thee. Though He is pleased to become 
thy debtor, yet truly the thing itself is His gift, and a great one, — as David 
acknowledges excellently, concerning the offerings to the temple: — 'But who am I, 
and what is my people that we should he able to offer so willingly, after this sort? 
For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.'(i) Not only 
the power, but the will, is from God:" and with respect to both, the King and his 
people had but given God of His oion. 

that thine alms may be in secret: 

It can scarcely be necessary to add the remark, that the point of these directions 
concerning Almsgiving is not that it should " be in secret;" but that it should be 
done to GOD' S glory, — with a single eye to His praise. Such Almsgiving will, 
doubtless, commonly be secret ; but it will not lose its character because it may 
happen to be done in the full light of day, and where it is sure to attract obser- 
vation. 

" When it must be public," says Leighton, " let thy intention be secret. Take 
no delight in having the eyes of men on thee; yea, rather count it a pain, — and 
still eye God alone, for He eyes thee." 

and thy Fathek which seeth in secret, . 

" Remember," (continues the same holy man,) " even in public acts of charity, 
and other such like, He sees in secret. Though the action be no secret, the spring, 

(6) 1 Chron. xxix. 14. 



48 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

the source of it, is; and He still looks upon that: He sees by what weights the 
wheels go; views thy heart, the hidden bent and intention of it, which man cannot 
see. So then, though, in some cases, it is necessary to "be seen in order to do, — 
yet, in no case, do, in order to be seen." 

Himself shall reward thee openly. 

Or, as it is elsewhere expressed, — " Thou shalt be recompensed at the Kesurrec- 
tion of the Just."(c) See the last note on ver. 1. 

A caution follows on the subject of Prayer: and in ver. 6, certain directions con- 
cerning Private Prayer. 

5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are : 
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of 
the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, 
they have their reward. 

As before remarked, (see note on ver. 1), it is not the praying in the Synagogues, 
or in the streets, which our Lord here condemns ; but the hypocrisy of so praying 
in order to " be seen of men." Consider the behaviour of the Pharisee, in the 
Parable: (St. Luke xviii. 10 to 12,) also the language of our Lord, as recorded by 
St. Matthew xxiii. 5. — See above, the notes on ver. 2. 

6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou 
hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ; 

" When thou hast shut thy door." To such minuteness of detail does the Lord 
of Heaven and Earth condescend! What shall we venture to call a trifle, if 
so small an act as this does not escape His notice, — nay, is put forward by Him, 
almost as the condition of prevailing Prayer? 

The door should be more than " shut." Our Lord says " locked." See the last 
words of the note on St. Luke xi. 7. 

and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 
These words are found in ver. 4, (where, see the note;) and will recur in ver. 18. 

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do : 
for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 

" Much Speaking," which our Saviour here condemns, is not the same thing as 
much Praying. This, He recommended to us by His precept, when " He spake a 
Parable to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint:" (d) and en- 
forced His own Divine example, when He "continued all night in prayer to GoD."(e) 
It is rather, the employment of many irreverent and useless words in our approaches 
to the throne of Grace. We have an example of the " heathen" practice in this 
respect, in 1 Kings xviii. 26 to 29; where it is related that " the Priests of Baal 
called upon the name of Baal from morning to noon, saying, Baal hear us \" 

Holy Scripture does indeed contain examples of very lengthy prayers, — as in 1 
Kings viii. and 2 Chronicles vi. : Nehemiah ix. : Daniel ix. : St. John xvii. : but 
these were offered up on extraordinary occasions. On the other hand, the Lord's 
Prayer, — " after ivhich manner" we are instructed to pray, — is exceedingly brief. 
Briefer still, is the pattern of prevailing prayer in St. Luke xviii. 13 : and such 
was the prayer of our Saviour Himself in the garden, — a prayer, moreover, which 
he repeated (not "vainly") three times, (f) Consider, again, the character of those 
Prayers which were answered by displays of miraculous power: " Lord, if Thou 
wilt, Thou canst make me clean."(#) — "Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest 
come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed."(/i) 

(c) St. Luke xiv. 14. (d) St. Luke xviii. 1. (e) St. Luke vi. 12. 

(/) St. Matt. xxvi. 39, 42, 44. (g) St. Matthew viii. 2 (h) St. Matthew viii. 8. 



VI.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 49 



" Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me !"(i) — " Lord, that I may receive 
my sight."(&) — And the like. Such, too, are all the fragmentary portions which sur- 
vive, of the primitive services of the Church: and our Collects are all constructed 
in the same spirit of severe brevity. The holy men by whom they were compiled 
must have been deeply impressed with the pious sentiment adopted by Hooker from 
the Book of Ecclesiastes (v. 2): — " He is above, and we upon Earth; therefore it 
behooveth our words to be wary and few." 

One of the moderns has well remarked, — " If the heart is close to Him in ever 
so short a prayer, there is much said in a little. We usually speak many words, 
and say little." 

8 Be not ye therefore like unto them : for your Father knoweth 
what things ye have need. of, before ye ask Him. 

We do not pray, in order to inform God of our needs ; but in order to entreat 
Him to supply them. See the Collect, beginning "Almighty God, the fountain of 
all Wisdom," — at the end of the Communion Service. 

But, (it may be thought,) If God " knows our necessities before we ask." — what 
can be the necessity of asking ? — We answer, first, That it is the Divine Will that 
we should Ask, in order that it may be Given, — Seek, in order that we may find, — 
Knock, in order that it may be Opened :(7) and this reply should be final. The 

Yessel must be brought to the Fountain in order that it may be filled But 

secondly, it should be remembered that the limit to the bestowal of God's mercies 
is created not by Sis unwillingness to bestow, but by our inability to receive. The 
miraculous supply of Oil " stayed" not, until that confession of the Widow's son, 
" There is not a vessel more."(m) By Prayer, our hearts become enlarged for the 
reception of the Divine Gift. That turning of the Heart to God prepares and fits 
us for the Blessing which He is ever prepared to bestow, but which we are not 
always prepared to receive. 

9 After this manner therefore pray ye : 

Our Blessed Lord delivered to His Disciples the Prayer which follows, also on 
another occasion : in compliance, namely, with their request that He would " Teach 
them how to pray."(w) He prefaced it,, then, by the injunction, — "when ye pray, 
say:" thereby bestowing His sanction, for ever, on set forms of Prayer. On this 
occasion, the Lord's Prayer is introduced by the words, — "After this manner pray 
ye." The Lord's Prayer is, accordingly, at once the most frequent of all our pray- 
ers ; and the pattern on which the others are constructed. See the end of the note 
on ver. 7. 

Our Father 

By "the Spirit of Adoption,"(o) " because we are sons,"(^>) we address God as 
"Our Father:" for, to as many as believe, "giveth He power to become the sons 
of God."(^) " Of His own will begat He us," says St. James (i. 18) ; us men, 
" which are made after the similitude of GoD."(r) 

"Our:" although the prayer is to be said in the closet, privately. This must be, 
because " we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of 
another."(s) 

which art in Heaven, 

For He alone is properly the Father of all, — as our Saviour hath expressly 
taught us: "One is your Father, which is in Heaven."(£) The compassionate 
Love which authorized us to draw near to such a presence with words inspiring 
confidence and affection, — it is impossible sufficiently to admire. 

ft) St. Luke xviii. 38. {k) St. Luke xviii. 41. (I) St. Matthew vii. 7, 8. 

\m) 2 Kings iv. 6. (n) St. Luke xi. 2. (o) Eom. viii. 15. 

>) Gal. iv. 6. (q) St. John i. 12. 

r) St. James iii. 9, and compare 1 St. John iii. 1, 2, and Galatians iii. 26. 
L «) Romans xii. 5. (t) St. Matthew xxiii. 9. 

4 



50 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

But it is a relation which implies corresponding duties on our side: — " If I then 
be a Father," — saith the Lord, by His prophet Malachi, — (i. 6,) "where is Mine 
honour?" 

" Which art in Heaven ;" because it is especially there that He manifests His 
glory. But "behold, the Heaven, and the Heaven of Heavens, cannot contain'' 
Him.(w) Consider Psalm cxiii. 6. 

Hallowed be Thy Name. 

This, since it is the first petition in the Lord's Prayer, expresses what should be 
the foremost anxiety of every Christian heart, — namely, the honor of God's Holy 
Name. By such language, we stand pledged to hallow it ourselves; "not only 
with our lips, but in our lives." 

10 Thy Kingdom come. 

" The child of God," being also " an heir of the Kingdom of Heaven," is impa- 
tient for the coming of that Kingdom. " Beseeching Thee," (as it is said in the 
Burial Service,) "that it may please Thee, of Thy gracious goodness, shortly tc 
accomplish the number of Thine elect, and to hasten Thy Kingdom." But "what, 
manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness,"(x) who 
say such words as these ? 

We pray here for the establishment of Christ's Kingdom ; and not only that we 
ourselves may have our place in it, but that the same Kingdom may have a place 
also in ourselves. (y) 

Thy Will be done 

This entire petition may be understood as marking anxiety on the part of the 
Creature, to behold universal obedience to the Creator's Will : or rather, to behold 
the conformity of all other wills to His. See the note on the same petition in St. 
Luke xi. 2. But this former clause is especially the language of personal submis- 
sion ; of humble and entire acquiescence in the decrees of a higher Power. See 
St. Luke xxii. 42, and Acts xxi. 14. 

It may be regarded, moreover, as a prayer for guidance: a prayer that God 
would " direct our steps according to His Word;" (z)— -and that " the words of our 
mouth, and the meditation of our heart may be alway acceptable in His sight," — 
who is " our Strength and our Redeemer." (a) 

in Earth, as it is in Heaven. 

This latter clause is applicable to each of the three petitions which go before. 
The Holy Name, — the Heavenly Kingdom, — the Divine Will; — to be perfectly 
hallowed, — to have fully come, — to be entirely obeyed ; — every thing must be " in 
Earth, as it is in Heaven." The words themselves reveal, incidentally, the order 
which must reign in the Courts above, — where, in all respects, as the Son here as- 
sures us, the Father's will is done As Hooker lay a-dying, one of his 

friends inquired his present thoughts: to whom he replied, — " That he was meditat- 
ing the number and nature of Angels, and their blessed obedience and order; without 
which peace could not be in Heaven : and, oh that it might be so on Earth !" 

11 Give us this day 

Whereby our Lord teaches us to " take no thought," — (that is, to repress in our- 
selves all undue anxiety,) — "for the morrow."(6) The Christian's anxieties (as 
we have seen) are already enlisted on behalf of the coming of Christ's Kingdom. 
How shall he then " make provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof ?"(c) 

our daily bread. 

hi) 1 Kings viii. 27. (x) 2 St. Pet. iii. 11. (y) St. Luke xvii. 21. 

(a) Psalm cxix. 133. (a) Ps. xix. 14 (b) St. Matth. vi. 34. 

(c) Romans xiii. 14. 



VI.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW S GOSPEL. 51 



That is, — " Send us all things that he needful both for our Souls and Bodies :" 
as will be found more fully explained in the note on St. Luke iv. 4. But we are 
taught to pray only for the supply of our daily needs. Nature is satisfied with lit- 
tle, — says a good man: Grace, with less. "And, having food and raiment, let us 
be therewith content." (d) 

" Our daily Bread:" the simplest fare ! And no promise is ever held out to us 
of more. " Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and 
verily — tliou shalt be fed." (e) 

For more than this, Agur prayed not, when he said, — " Give me neither Poverty 
nor Riches ; feed me with food convenient for me : lest I be full, and deny Thee, 
and say, Who is the Lord ? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my 
God in vain."(y) 

Observe, however, that this is not only a prayer for food and raiment ; but also 
a prayer that our food and raiment may be of GOD'S giving, — that is, may be 
honestly and fairly earned. "For," as an old writer remarks, "to him God gives 
bread, who earns it by righteous means ; but to him who earns it by sin, the Devil 
it is who giveth." 

Indeed, the bread which is unfairly obtained, is not truly ours, but another 
man's. Neither can those supplies be fairly regarded as our own, of which a share 
should be distributed to him that needeth.(^) 

The richer sort of persons find it hard to realize the belief that their daily food 
comes from God ; and so, may feel as if this petition were out of place on their 
lips. Such persons should be reminded, that, by saying, — " Give us this day our 
daily bread," they do in effect say, — " Give Thou to us this day, the bread which 
belongs to us." As if their language were, — " Let the bread which is ours, come 
to us this day sanctified by Thy Almighty Hands 1" 

But we must look for a yet deeper meaning in this petition, — as will be more 
fully shown in the note on St. Luke iv. 4. "Is not the life more than meat, and 
the body than raiment ?"(h) Wherefore, in the words of our" Saviour Christ, — 
" Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His Righteousness ; and all these things," 
— that is, all that is required, for your temporal support and welfare, — " shall be 
added unto you."(i) 

12 And forgive us our debts, 

"Debts," in this place, is clearly equivalent to "trespasses" in ver. 14, — with 
which word we are more familiar. The expression informs us of the relation in 
which we stand to God : reminds us, that we are under an obligation to fulfill His 
commands. Hence the Parable which sets forth the duty of Forgiveness of Inju- 
ries, relates the History of two Creditors :{j) and of kindred application is the 
Parable of " a certain Creditor which had two Debtors." (k) 

With the present place, the language of St. Luke xi. 4, should be compared ; 
and it will be seen that the word translated " sinners" in St. Luke xiii. 4, is ren- 
dered " Debtors," in the margin. 

In this fifth petition, then, we pray for daily remission, daily cleansing, daily re- 
newal : admitting by this, our daily sacrifice of Prayer, the self-same thing which 
was anciently witnessed by the Daily Sacrifice of a victim by the High-priest, — 
"first for his own sins, and then for the people's."(7) 

For "there is none that doeth good, no not one."(m) We fall into sin, daily; 
and the sum of those many little sins, makes a large amount in the end. " They 
are more in number than the hairs of my head," — as the Psalmist speaks ; "they 
have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up l"(n) 

as we forgive our debtors. 

The mercy we show towards others, is here proposed by ourselves as the measure 
of the mercy we desire to experience at God's Hands. So strictly do we stand 

(d) 1 Tim. vi. 8. (e) Psalm xxxvii. 3. (/) Proverbs xxx 8, 9. 

[g) Ephes. iv. 28. (h) St. Matth. vi. 25. ft) St. Matth. vi. 33. 

( j ) St. Matth. xviii. 23 to 35. {k) St. Luke vii. 41. 
( I i Hebrews vii. 27 : referring to Levit. xvi. 11 and 15. 

(m) Psalm xiv. 3, quoted in Romans iii. 10 and 12. (n) Psalm xl. 13. 



52 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

bound, and pledged, to show forgiveness to other men ! For, on this condition 
only, do we presume to ask forgiveness for ourselves. 

This petition, then, becomes a terrible one on the lips of the implacable man, — 
for thereby he closes the Gate of Mercy against himself; and declares his own 
dreadful sentence. 

And here, by the way, the plain and obvious meaning of the plea urged, is not 
to be lost sight of. Mercifulness with respect to debts of money is, of course, to 
be understood, where the language of pecuniary obligation is so distinctly em- 
ployed. 

See the notes on verses 14 and 15. 

13 And lead us not into Temptation. 

This is not, of course, a prayer that God will not " tempt" us, by solicitations to 
sin; for in that sense " God tempteth no man," as St. James declares. (o) But it is 
a prayer that we may not " be led" into circumstances of Trial ; in which sense 
" God tempted Abraham, "(£>) and indeed tempts all His Saints. The meaning of 
the petition therefore is, humbly to deprecate that trial should be made of our con- 
stancy : and this, because it but too commonly happens that for men to be tempted, 
is for men to fall. " Considering thyself, lest thou also — be tempted" writes the 
Apostle. (a) And so, our Blessed Saviour, on more than one occasion, said to His 
disciples, — " Watch and pray that ye enter not into Temptation.(r) 

But St. James says, " My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers 
temptations. "(s) These passages, however, are easily reconciled. We may not seek 
Temptation. The weakness of the Flesh, as already remarked, should teach us 
even to dread it. But when, in the course of God's good Providence, and the pur- 
suit of our known duty, we find ourselves involved in circumstances of trial, then 
we are taught to " count it all joy." for then, it may be humbly hoped that the 
Tempter beholds in us that living principle of earnestness which it is the whole 
business of himself and his accursed emissaries to assail, and if possible to destroy. 
Persons so "led into Temptation," are " led by the SPIRIT,"(t) as we learn from 
the example of our glorified Head ; and, as members of His mystical Body, we may 
humbly hope to be continually supported by His Spirit through the conflict; as 
well as to be crowned with victory, after His glorious pattern, in the end. 

But deliver us from Evil: 

Whether from within, or from without: — from the evil of our own hearts, (it) or 
from the evil suggestions of the Enemy, (x) and his Angels. (y) It is in fact a 
prayer that "from all Evil, and Mischief: from Sin: from the crafts and assaults 
of the Devil: from God's wrath, and from Everlasting Damnation, from all Blind- 
ness of heart: from Pride, Vain-glory, and Hypocrisy: from Envy, Hatred, and 
Malice, and all Uncharitableness : from Fornication, and all other deadly sin: and 
from all the deceits of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, — the good Lord would 
deliver us." 

As, in the former petition, we prayed unto God that it would please Him "to 
save and defend us in all dangers, ghostly and bodily;" so, in this, we implore 
Him "to keep us from all sin and wickedness, and from our Ghostly Enemy, and 
from Everlasting Death." 

In this broad manner we are content to take this great petition; though learned 
men are of opinion that, in the strict letter, the words should be interpreted, — 
" Deliver us from the Evil One:"(z) and they are probably right. The Reader is 
referred to the note on St Luke iv. 6. 

See what has been remarked on this petition in the corresponding place of St. 
Luke's Gospel (ch. xi. 4); and note, that those many expressions in the Psalms, 
which speak of Enemies, and pray for Victory or Deliverance, (a) may be con- 
sidered, in their spiritual meaning, to look in the direction of the present petition. 
On Christian lips, they convey a desire akin to that here expressed. 

St. James i. 13. ( p) Genesis xxii. 1. (q) Galat. vi. 1. 

St. Matthew xxvi. 41. St. Luke xxii. 40 and 46. 
(«)' St. James i. 2. (t) St. Matthew iv. 1, &c. 

(u) Romans vii. 23. St. James i. 14. (x) 2 Cor. ii. 11 : 1 St. Peter v. 8. 

(y) Ephes. vi. 12. (z) The same remark applies to St. Matt. v. 37, and to 1 St. John v. 19. 
v (a) Psalm liv. 5; lix. 1, 10 : cxliii. 12, Ac, Ac. 



8 



VI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 53 

For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for ever. 

For the Kingdom we pray for, is Thine: — Thine, also, is the Power to bestow 
every blessing of which we stand in need:— and Thine, Thine only, be the Glory! 
.... The same language is found in 1 Chron. xxix. 11, — which see. 

Amen. 

By the word ' Amen/ we set our seal to every petition which has gone before. 
The word implies devout assent, (6) — or earnest desire, (c) — as in this place: hearty 
belief,— or solemn confirmation, (d) — as at the end of the Creed. It is often trans- 
lated " Verily," — as in verses 2, 5, and 16, of the present chapter: and is personally 
applied to Christ Himself, in the Book of Revelation, — iii. 14. 

Such, then, is the Prayer which the Lord hath taught us; and which He twice 
repeated, — as if in token that it is a perfect summary of all our actual needs ; an 
enumeration of all our lawful desires. Thus we are "tosay;"(<?) or " after this 
manner." (f) No petition, therefore, should be offered up to the Majesty on High, 
which cannot be fairly brought under one of these seven heads. Indeed the very 
desires which fall not within the compass of one of these petitions, may be pro- 
nounced unlawful. 

14, 15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Fa- 
ther will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, 
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

It seems worth remarking that the petition, — " Forgive us our trespasses, as we 
forgive them that trespass against us, ;; is the only portion of the Lord's Prayer for 
which no parallel has been traced out in the prayers of God's ancient People. For 
every other petition, some corresponding one has been discovered ; which leads to 
the interesting belief, that, on this occasion, our Saviour did but put together ma- 
terials with which His hearers were, for the most part, familiar. But in respect 
of the petition which pleads for Mercy, by promising to be merciful in turn, He is 
found to have been " like unto a man that is a Householder; which bringeth forth 
out of his Treasure things new," as well as " old."(g) And this may be the reason 
why it is the only petition to which the Blessed Speaker recurs: the one He singles 
out from the rest for the solemn yet simple comment, contained in these two verses. 

16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad coun- 
tenance : for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men 
to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 

Having considered the duty of Almsgiving, and Prayer, our Lord proceeds to the 
duty of Fasting: for a duty must that be which is spoken of, as Fasting is, in ver. 
17. — Compare verses 2 and 5, and the notes thereon. 

" Prayer" and "Fasting" are frequently joined together by the Spirit: as in 
the following places of Holy Scripture: — Psalm xxxv. 13: Daniel ix. 3: St. Mat- 
thew xvii. 21 (St. Mark ix. 29): St. Luke ii. 37: Acts xiv. 23: 1 Cor. vii. 5. 
"Prayers" and "Alms" are conjoined in Acts x. 4. 

17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy 
face ; 

Our Lord alludes, specially, to the manners and fashion of His own time. But 
His words teach us that whatever of usual outward observance cannot be neglected 
without attracting undue notice, must continue to be practised, during seasons of 
Fasting. 

18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father 

(6) 1 Corinth, xiv. 16: Deut. xxvii. 15, Ac. (c) Jeremiah xi. 5 xx:viii. 6. Nehemiah viii. 6. 
(d) 1 Kings i. 36. Numb. v. 22. , (e) St. Luke xi. 2. (/) St. Matt. vi. 9. 

(g) St. Matthew xiii 52. 



54 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

which is in secret : and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward 
thee openly. 

With this verse, compare verses 4 and 6. The precept concerning Fasting, like 
those concerning Almsgiving and Prayer, regards Purity of Intention : a caution 
the more necessary, inasmuch as mortifications and austerities seem to have no- 
thing to do with Pride. But Pride may lurk in sackcloth ; and it is more formi- 
dable, from that very circumstance, than when it comes abroad arrayed in finery. 

It is obvious that, in many other ways besides this, " Fasting" may be " made 
of none effect:" — as, when it is not attended with purity of life; when it is made 
to consist in a mere varying of food, — not an abridgment of meat and drink; or 
when we practise simplicity at our tables, in order thereby to save the more, — not 
for Christ's Poor, but for ourselves. But we may be sure that our Lord has here 
laid His finger on the most dangerous deceit of any: the snare which most effec- 
tually renders our good works worthless in His sight. 

On " seeing in secret" see above, the note on ver. 4. 

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon Earth. 

As our Lord recurred, at the end of His pattern-prayer (ver. 14), to one of the 
petitions which had gone before (ver. 12,) — so here does He recur, if not to Alms- 
giving, (of which he had spoken in verses 1 to 4,) at least to a topic close akin to 
it, — namely, the Vice to which it stands opposed. Indeed, He has been thought, 
in this and the following verses, to recommend Almsgiving ; and certainly there are 
parallel expressions in St. Luke's Gospel, which favour the opinion: see St. Luke 
xii. 33, 34. Moreover, there can be no surer way of depositing one's goods in 
safety than by placing them in the hand of Him who, (in the person of His poor,) 
stretches out His hand to receive them. " He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth 
unto the Lord," said the wise man: " and that which he hath given, will He pay 
Mm again." (h) — "Give to the poor, and — thou shalt have treasure in Heaven," (i) 
was the language of our Lord Himself, on a certain occasion. But to interpret 
this passage of Almsgiving, only, is perhaps to take too narrow a view of our 
Saviour's wondrous words: which are rather a warning against Covetousness, — 
verses 19 to 24; and a caution against undue Anxiety about the things of this life, 
verses 25 to the end. 

It may be admitted, however, that the preceding verse, and those which follow, 
grow naturally out of the subject treated of at the beginning of the present Chap- 
ter, and stand in the closest connection with it: as though the object of the Blessed 
Speaker had been to remove the chief impediment to the free bestowal of our 
worldly goods, — namely, the lust to heap up a fortune. 

where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through 
and steal: 

As though he said, — Why lay up thy treasure here, where thou thyself fleest as 
it were a shadow, and never continuest in one stay? where, even before thou thy- 
self departest, the thief may rob thee of it in a moment; where, though spared by 
him, the moth will destroy it; where, lastly, every thing thou lovest contains within 
itself the principles of decay ? 

" They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their 
riches," were of old reminded that they must " perish and leave their wealth to 
others." (Jc) " Surely," (it was said) " men are disquieted in vain. He heapeth 
up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them." if) But, more solemn, by far, 
is our Saviour's warning: more prevailing by far the motive which He suggests. 
Compare the note on St. Matthew vii. 1. 

20 But lay up for yourselves treasure in Heaven, where neither 
moth nor rus>t doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through 
nor steal. 

m Proverbs xix. 17. {%) St. Matt. xix. 21 : St. Mark x. 21 : St. Luke xviii. 22. 

\h) Psalm xlix. 6 and 10. (I) Psalm xxxix. 6. Compare Ecclesiastes ii. 18. 



VI.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 55 



wondrous Love, which would not deprive us even of these, His lower gifts: 
but would teach us to bestow them, where we may find them, after many days ! 
yet more wondrous skill, which can provide a means whereby the perishable things 
of earth may be conveyed away, and deposited in the eternal Mansions ! 

That we ourselves have here no abiding city, we know: that we look for a House, 
eternal in the heavens, (m) we admit. Why are we so loath, then, to send our 
goods on before us, — our treasures, — whatsoever they may happen to be? He who 
is the Author and Giver of all good things, offers to become the Guardian and 
Keeper of them also. How does it happen that so few have the heart to trust 
Sim f What does He, in this place, but advise us to transfer our fruits to a higher 
floor; where they shall be in no danger of the fate which, here below, is inevitable? 
" For riches certainly make themselves wings. They fly away as an Eagle." And 
wherefore should not their flight be, like the Eagle's, — towards Heaven ?"(n) 

21 For where your treasure is, there will your Heart be also. 

This, then, is the reason which our Saviour assigns for the precepts which go 
immediately before. He desires nothing less than that our hearts should be 
drawn upwards; that to Heaven, all our thoughts should point: and so, that our 
conversation should be in Heaven, (o) — "hid with Christ in GoD."(p) 

And since our " Treasure," — of whatever kind it may happen to be, — has this 
wondrous power of drawing the heart after it, and up to it ; who sees not that the 
foregoing precept is of vaster extent than might, at first, be expected? Does it not 
address the mourner ? — reminding him that he has lost nothing ; that he has but 
laid up his treasure in a place where he will find it after many days ; and that the 
withdrawal of that which was the delight of his eyes, is but a summons to him to 
" lift up his heart;" — a warning to him to " set his affection on things above, not 
on things on the earth V'(q) 

22 . The light of the body is the Eye : 

Rather — " The lamp of the body." — Expressions strictly parallel to this verse 
and the next, are to be found in St. Luke xi. 34; but they will be perceived to 
stand in quite a different connection, and to have quite a different bearing. How 
are we thereby reminded of the breadth of application claimed by His words, who 
spake as never man spoke ! 

Sin enters at the eye: compare ch. v. 28, 29, — and the notes there. The organ 
which was meant to be the avenue of Light to the Body, thereby becomes the 
channel by which Pollution enters, and darkness abounds. How little are the blind 
aware of their blessedness ! 

if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 

Bather, — "liberal;" for that is the meaning of "single," in this place. The 
connection with what went before, is close and obvious. 

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. 

"Evil," in the sense of "illiberal," — as in St. Matth. xx. 15. — We are hereby 
assured that nothing so effectually blinds the eye, and thus blocks up the intended 
avenue of light, — darkening the whole inner man, — as Covetousness. 

Consider, in connection with this saying of our Lord, the character and conduct 
of Judas Iscariot. 

If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that 
darkness ! 

That is, — " How great" must " the darkness" be, which is thus deprived of the 
means of illumination ! 

(m) 2 Cor. v. 1. (n) Prov. xxiii. 5. (o) Philip, iii. 20. 

(p) Coloss. iii. 3. (q) Coloss. iii. 2. 



58 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

24 No man can serve two masters : 

These, and the following words, will be found repeated in St. Luke's Gospel, — 
xvi. 13 : but, as before,(r) in quite a different connection. 

for either he will hate the one, and love the other ; or else he will 
hold to the one, and despise the other. 

Our Lord puts two cases, — the one the converse of the other. And observe the 
exquisite accuracy of the language employed : — For either, (He says,) a man must 
hate Satan, and love God: or else he must "hold to" Satan, — (who cannot become 
the object of human love;) and "despise" God, — (who cannot become the object 
of human hate). Now, lie " holds" or " attaches himself, to" Satan, who seeks 
Satan's rewards : and what does lie do, who disregards God's threats and promises, 
but "despise" Him? 

Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. 

" Mammon" is the Syriac title for " the god of this world :"(s) but, in this place, 
the name stands for Lucre, generally. The deep meaning concealed in the expres- 
sion, appears from another place of Scripture; where the Apostle, speaking of 
" Covetousness," immediately adds, — " which is Idolatry." (t) 

Some persons may be disposed to fancy that an undue space is given to some 
Sins, — to Covetousness for example, — in the Sermon on the Mount. Any one so 
thinking, should be reminded that we are, and can only be, learners, here. He 
may be referred, also, to the concluding note on chapter vii. Touching the par- 
ticular sin of Covetousness, let the History of Balaam, of Achan, and of Gehazi, 
in the Old Testament; of Judas, of Ananias, and of Sapphira, in the New, — be to 
us a sufficient warning of our danger. How can a warning against the sin of Judas, 
by possibility, occupy too conspicuous a place in the Gospel of Christ ? 

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your Life, what 
ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your Body, what ye 
shall put on. # 

" Take no thought," — does not mean that we are to make no provision. Very 
far from this, indeed, is implied by the whole tenor of Scripture. St. Paul declares 
that " if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he 
hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."(w) The " bag" which con- 
tained the common fund, whereby the daily need of the Son of Man and His fol- 
lowers was supplied, (x) showed thought. 

Nor yet is labour forbidden. St. Paul wrought with his own hands ; (y) and 
commanded " that if any would not work, neither should he eat." (z) " Go to the 
Ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise," saith the Spirit: "which 
having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her Meat in the Summer, and gath- 
ereth her food in the harvest." (a) The Divine Injunction does but prohibit dis- 
tracting anxiety — over-carefulness about the things of this life. 

But if it is forbidden that concerning necessary things, — as meat, and drink, 
and clothing, — we should feel anxiety ; how offensive to Almighty God must en- 
grossing schemes of Ambition, and of Pleasure, — solicitude about Luxuries, or 
about Trifles — be ! 

Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment ? 

Shall not, therefore, He who so curiously built the Body, — and so wondrously 
endowed it with Life, — provide both for the covering of the one, and the support of 
the other ? Is not the bestowal of the greater gift, an assurance and a pledge that 
the lesser will not be withheld either ? 

(r) See the first note, above, on ver. 22. (s) 2 Cor. iv. 4. Compare St. Luke xvi. 9. 
(t) Coloss. iii. 5. (u) 1 Tim. v. 8. 



St. John xii. 6 and xiii. 29. (y) 2 Thess. iii. 8, 9; Acts xviii. 3; xx. 34. 

» 2 Thess. iii. 10. (a) Proverbs vi. 6—8. 



vi.] on st. Matthew's gospel. 57 

26 Behold the Fowls of the air : for they sow not, neither do they 
reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. 

Verily, "The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His 
works !"(&) The concern of Almighty God for these His lower creatures is appa- 
rent from many parts of Scripture. Consider the following places : — Deuteronomy 
xxii. 6, 7 ; Leviticus xxii. 28 ; Exodus xxiii. 19 (repeated, in xxxiv. 26, and Deut- 
eronomy xiv. 21) ; Deuteronomy xxv. 4 ; Exodus xxiii. 5, &c. 

Are ye not much better than they ? 

Every hint concerning that great mystery, — the brute Creation, — when it comes 
from the mouth of the Creator Himself, is precious. Compare with this place, 
St. Matthew xii. 12. 

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his 
stature ? 

Rather, " unto his term of life." The space traversed in a man's earthly course; 
length of days, — not altitude of stature, — is the object of solicitude here specified. 

28 And why take ye thought for raiment ? Consider the Lilies of 
the field, how they grow ; 

The Author of Creation turns to another class of His works. He could have 
instanced the gorgeous plumage of birds, — the lovely colours, and the wonderful 
texture of their clothing: but He prefers to descend a step in the scale of Being, 
and appeal to the world of Flowers. 

Hither He invites our attention also. The injunction stands for evermore — 
" Consider the lilies of the field !" 

they toil not, neither do they spin : 

Neither "toil," — as men, for the materials of clothing; nor "spin," — as women, 
whose office it is to give shape to those materials, and make them fit for use. 
Consolation is intended for either sex. 

29 and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was 
not arrayed like one of these. 

No Jewish Monarch ever attained to such worldly magnificence as Solomon; who 
"made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones ;"(c) "it was nothing 
accounted of in the days of Solouion."(d) His fame brought the Queen of Sheba 
to his court: and when she "had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he 
had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the at- 
tendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cup-bearers, and his ascent by 
which he went up unto the House of the Lord, — there was no more spirit in her. 
And she said to the King, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land ; 
and behold, the half was not told me."(e) 

The Creator here declares that the streaked and freckled flower, blooming un- 
seen or uncared for, is more beautifully arrayed than "even Solomon, in all his 
glory." And we need only " consider," in order to convince ourselves that so it 
is. Truth is not more widely removed from Falsehood, than are the natural hues 
of flowers from the dyed garments of men. 

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day 
is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, 

He ranks " the lilies" with " the grass of the field," and notices their ordinary 

(b) Psalm cxlv. 9. (c) 2 Chron. j. 15. 

[d) 1 Kings x. 21. (e) 1 Kings x. 4 to 7. 



58 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

fate : both in order to show us how little they are worth, and to remind us of the 
reason why. 

shall He not much more clothe you, ye of little faith ? 

If, then, God hath, in such matchless splendour, clad these His meaner works, — 
how much more shall He provide for the covering of Man ; whom He created in 
His own image, and endowed with a reasonable Soul ; " for whom/' also, " Christ 
died," and so glorious a destiny is reserved in store ! 

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat ? or, What 
shall we drink ? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed ? 

"Verily, "To the poor" the Gospel was preached ;{f) — its words of warning, no 
less than its words of promise! For, are not Meat, — Drink, — Clothing, — subjects of 
anxiety rather with the poor, than with the rich ? Let that class, then, which hath 
so many glorious consolations in God's Word, take the present as a solemn caution 
addressed to themselves. 

Our Lord's words do, indeed, convey a lesson to rich and poor alike ; for dainti- 
ness in Meat, Drink, Clothing, — " What," and "wherewithal;" anxiety, therefore, 
about the kind of thing, rather than about the thing itself, — is here specially for- 
bidden. Moreover, just as the petition for " Daily Bread," was found to be a 
prayer that " God would send us all things that be needful both for our souls and 
bodies," — so, doubtless, is every temporal object of personal anxiety included in 
the present mention of Food and Raiment. But then, the words must be allowed 
to have their own special, and proper sense; and that is never to be overlooked in 
expositions of Scripture. Poverty has wondrous privileges, mighty blessings, 
splendid promises ; (as well it may ! for it is a most heavy and bitter portion) : but, 
doubtless, it has its own peculiar dangers and warnings, likewise : and this is one 
of them. 

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your 
Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 

Compare ver. 8, and see the note there. Observe also, that our Lord, while He 
declares the Divine Knowledge, admits also the human "need, of all these things." 

The Blessed speaker does not say " GOD knoweth;" but, " Your Heavenly 
Father knoweth." And the reason is plain. That comfortable appellation is the 
foundation of all our Hope. If He be our Father, then are we His Children; and 
it cannot be that He will overlook us, in our need. Consider those words of 
Isaiah, — " Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have com- 
passion on the son of her womb ? Yea, they may forget, — yet will I not forget 
thee!"{g) 

33 But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, 

" His righteousness :" for all Righteousness is of Him, and all our good deeds 
are His. See the following places of Scripture : — 1 Corinthians xv. 10 ; 2 Corin- 
thians iii. 5 ; Galat. ii. 8 ; Eph. iii. 7 ; Philippians ii. 13 ; St. John xv. 4. 

and all these things shall be added unto you. 

That is, — Make it your chief concern to please God, and to serve Him ; to do as 
He has commanded, and thus, to hasten the coming of His Kingdom ; — (an in- 
junction which, we may be sure, our Saviour here delivered not without special 
reference to the subject which immediately precedes ;) — and then, all these other 
things will be found to follow. "Godliness," as St. Paul in a certain place de- 
clares, is profitable unto all things ; having promise of the life that now is," as well 
as " of that which is to come." (h) Compare the language of Psalm xxxvii. 3, 4 
and 25 ; xli. 1, 2 ; all cxii. (to which, the words just quoted from St. Paul, are 

(/) St. Matt. xi. 5, and St. Luke iv. 18. (g) Isaiah xlix. 15. (h) 1 Tim. iv. 8. 



VI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 59 

actually prefixed, as a heading), Prov. xi. 24, 25; xix. 17 ; xxviii. 27. See espe- 
cially St. Mark x. 29, 30\ 

" Almsgiving, or Mercifulness, was never the wasting or lessening of any man's 
estate, to himself or his posterity ; "but rather, the increasing of it." So said the 
pious and most charitable Dr. Hammond, once, in a sermon at St. Paul's Cross. (i) 
A Church dignitary, whose charities were so remarkable and profuse as to provoke 
the inquiry, How he contrived, having so large a family, not only to subsist, but 
even to grow rich ? — made answer that, several years before, he happened to be 
present at a Sermon at St. Paul's Cross, where the Preacher, recommending the 
Duty of Almsgiving, assured his auditory that that was the most certain way to 
acquire Riches. He had accordingly resolved to try the experiment .... When 
this story was told to Dr. Hammond, he admitted that he had himself preached 
the Sermon which had borne such blessed fruit. 

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow : for the morrow shall 
take thought for the things of itself. 

He speaks of to-morrow, as if it were a person ; and one, sufficiently alive to 
his own interests; — sufficiently beset with his own anxieties, also, — to render any 
solicitude for him, on our part, quite superfluous, as well as unreasonable. 

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 

" Evil," is here opposed to Good, generally : not to the good of Virtue, but to 
the good of Ease, and freedom from Care. 

"To-day," — like "to-morrow," just above, — comes forward as a person. He 
bends beneath his own proper burden, and asks why he is to be further oppressed 
by the weight of To-morrow's cares, — with which he has no concern ? 

" Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Christ hath spoken it. With 
such words let us be content to resign the future to His keeping, who surveys the 
Future, as He does the Past and the Present, — at a glance : who shapes it, as He 
pleases ; and who will enable us to bear whatever His Providence shall see fit 
therein to order for us. 



THE PRAYER. 

GOD, who declarest Thy Almighty Power most chiefly in showing 
Mercy and Pity; mercifully grant unto us such a measure of Thy 
Grace, that we, running the way of Thy Commandments, may obtain 
Thy gracious Promises, and be made partakers of Thy Heavenly trea- 
sure ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

(i) Called The Poor Man's Tithing, preached in 1640. 



60 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER VII. 



1 Christ ending His sermon in the Mount, reproveth rash judgment. 6 Forbiddeth to 
cast holy things to dogs. 7 Exhorteth to Prayer. 13 To enter in at the strait gate. 
15 To beware of false Prophets. 21 Not to be hearers, but doers of the Word, 
24 Like houses builded on a rock, 26 and not on the sand. 

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 

Are we, then, not to use that critical faculty, which God has implanted in every 
one of us, whereby we are enabled to judge of actions, and of those who perform 
them ? The very supposition is absurd. Some men have a commission given them 
to judge, — whether in things spiritual or in things temporal. Of all it is required 
that they shall "have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." (a) 
But what our Lord here condemns is, rash censure; a severe passing of sentence 
on doubtful actions ; an uncharitable Judgment based on insufficient evidence. 
Chanty "thinketh no evil; .... believeth all things, hopeth all things ;"(&) but 
such is not the spirit which prevails amongst mankind. How heavily does this 
precept of our Lord bear on one of the fashionable vices of what is called 
" society !" 

" Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ?" asks the Apostle : " to his 
own master he standeth or falleth." (c) That is, For his conduct is no affair of 
thine. — " Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy 
brother ?" he presently asks : " For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of 
Christ. "(d) That is, For thou wilt have to give an account hereafter for thyself 
also. — " Judge nothing before the time,"(e) says the same Apostle in another 
place. That is, For the great and terrible Day shall reveal the truth of the 
matter. — St. James says, — " Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that 
speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the Law, 
and judgeth the Law." That is, Judge not, for it is a monstrous and unseemly 
proceeding in such an one as thou art. — But our Blessed Lord's precept is 
briefer and stronger. " Judge not," He says, " that ye be not judged :" a most 
weighty reason, and prevailing motive, truly, for withholding or suspending cen- 
sure. The Divine Speaker proceeds to explain it : 

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged : and with 
what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 

Which reminds us of the plea we daily urge for forgiveness, in the Lord's 
Prayer. "For," — as St. James speaks, — "he shall have Judgment without 
Mercy, that hath showed no Mercy." (f) 

But, is the Retribution hinted at in these two verses, Divine or Human ? Doubt- 
less both are implied ; though the English of the corresponding verses in St. Luke's 
Gospel, (vi. 37, 38,) as well as ver. 12 of the present chapter, might be thought to 
show that it was this World's Judgment to which the Divine Speaker chiefly 
alluded. 

(a) Heb. v. 14. (&) 1 Cor. viii. 5 and 7. (c) Romans xiv. 4. 

\d) Romans xiy. 10. (e) 1 Cor. iv. 5. (/ ) St. James ii. 13. 



VII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 61 

The connection between this verse and the next, (wherein our Lord makes use 
of a well-known Jewish proverb,) is suggested by that saying of the Great 
Apostle, — "If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, (g) 

3 And why beholclest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, 
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye ? 

Some remarks on these words will be found in the notes on St. Luke's Gospel, — 
vi. 41. 

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote 
out of thine eye ; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye ? 

This verse is not a mere echo of the last. There, Censure was spoken of, and 
the person addressed was a Judge: here, the reference is to Admonition, and the 
person addressed is a Guide. Refer to St. Matthew xv. 14; and observe that a 
parallel to that verse is found in the place which corresponds with the present, in 
St. Luke's Gospel, — vi. 39: "Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both 
fall into the ditch ?" 

5 Thou hypocrite, 

Reminding us of — " Thou wicked Servant !" in St. Matt, xviii. 25. 

first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; 

Leighton says, — " If thou wouldst find much favour and peace with God and 
man, be very low in thine own eyes. Forgive thyself little, and others much." 
So, also, says Bishop Sanderson. 

and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy 
brother's eye. 

So that a man is then fit to admonish others, when he has first laboured to cor- 
rect himself, and thereby sharpened his own power of spiritual discernment. 

It is highly instructive to notice on hoAv many occasions our Lord directs men to 
turn from the study of their neighbours' failings to the discovery of their own : as 
in St. John viii. 7 ; St. Luke xiii. 1 to 5, &c. Of kindred interest, is the 'practical 
turn which the same Divine Speaker gave to all merely speculative inquiries. As, 
St. Luke xiii. 23, 24 ; St. John xxi. 21, 22, &c. 

6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, 

Compare St. Matthew xv. 26. See also Deut. xxiii. 18 ; Phil. iii. 2 ; Rev. xxii. 
15. Dogs and Swine — the latter, an unclean (Ji) animal — are found connected in 
2 St. Peter ii. 22. 

neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them 
under their feet, and turn again and rend you. 

Our Lord seems to be still addressing Himself to those who are called to be 
Guides and Teachers, — the Dispensers of His Word and Sacraments. In this 
place, He requires them to make proof of that faculty of spiritual discernment, for 
the attainment of which He gave directions in the preceding verse. 

The subject, therefore, is here changed; but the connection of thought is pre- 
served, or rather pursued. Not only the mysteries of the Faith, but even Admon- 
ition and Reproof, are to be dispensed with a due regard to men's ability to receive 
them ; lest the Religion of Christ (the Pearl of great price) be brought into con- 
tempt, and its professors exposed to insult and outrage. 

And, generally, a warning is here given, (very needful, it may be thought, in 

(g) 1 Cor. xi. 31. (h) Leviticus xi. 8, and Deut. xiv. 8; Isaiah lxvi. 17". 



62 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

these times,) against irreverence in regard of holy things ; which may not l?e dis- 
coursed of in all companies, — without respect had to circumstances of time and 
place. 
In what follows there seems to he a change of subject. 

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, 
and it shall be opened unto you. 

Verse 7 to ver. 11, inclusive, will be found to recur, almost word for word, in 
St. Luke xi. 9 to 13. The allusion is, clearly, to Prayer; as the Church teaches us 
in the beginning of her Baptismal Service : and earnestness, or rather importunity, 
in Prayer, is the Duty here enforced. By a reference to the place in St. Luke's 
Gospel, it will be perceived that these injunctions are there preceded by the 
Parable of the Friend at Midnight, who hears another "knock," and "ask" for the 
bread which he is " seeking." That parable, again, is immediately preceded by 
the Lord's Prayer; — a circumstance which teaches us to connect the present place 
with the Lord's Prayer in chap. vi. 

How great is our need of these exhortations to earnestness in our approaches to 
God ! Who shall tell the amount of blessedness from which we are excluded, — 
from which we exclude ourselves ? 

Men " say their prayers ;" but they do not always pray. And this formal service 
grows upon Christians who are unwary and slothful. " Many that pray," (to use 
the words of a good man,) "know little of this Divine art of Prayer; this wrest- 
ling with God ; this resolving not to let Him go until He bless them, — as Jacob 
did."(0 

8 For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; 
and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. 

So strictly does God stand pledged to answer Prayer! Compare also such 
places as the following, — St. Matt. xxi. 22 ; St. Mark xi. 24 ; St. Luke xi. 5 to 13 ; 
St. John xiv. 13, 14 ; xv. 7, 16 ; xvi. 23 ; 1 St. John iii. 22 ; St. James i. 5, &c. 

If any complain that they have "asked," "sought," "knocked" in vain, let them 
be reminded, lstly, That Prayer is not always answered immediately : see, for 
instance, St. Matt. xv. 22 to 28 ; St. Luke i. 13 ; St. Luke xviii. 1 to 7, &c. And 
the reason why God sometimes delays His gifts may be, (as a great man has 
pointed out,) because that which is long looked for is sweeter when obtained; but 
that is held cheap which comes at once. 2ndly, That it is often an act of the 
truest Love to withhold a favour, however earnestly prayed for; as when God 
would not suffer St. Paul's " thorn in the flesh" to depart from him,(/c) — thereby 
regarding the highest good of His Servant : namely, his spiritual perfection. A 
petition is sometimes granted in wrath, and as a punishment; as when God 
gave flesh to His people in the wilderness, (I) and afterwards granted them a 
King.(w) " I gave them a King," He says, "in Mine anger." (n) Consider the 
petition of the devils which St. Matthew relates, together with its consequences, — 
viii. 31, 32. Consider further the petition of the Gergesenes, immediately after : 
with which, also, our Lord complied. But, 3dly, Take note that Prayer, though 
sometimes actually refused (for merciful reasons,) at the time, is sometimes, (per- 
haps always,) eventually answered in a different, (and far higher,) sense than was 
expected or intended : compare, for instance, Deut. iii. 23 to 27, with St. Luke ix. 
28 to 31 ; St. Mark x. 35 to 40, with St. Matthew xix. 27 and 28; St. John ii. 3, 4, 
with what follows : and consider the sense in which the promises made to Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob were fulfilled. 

But the promise is far oftener fulfilled, in the strict letter, and at once. God 
commonly answers Prayer immediately, and in the very sense intended by the sup- 
plicant. Consider the following texts: Gen. xviii. 23 to 33; xx. 17 ; xxiv. 12 to 
15, — (where observe that Rebekah came out " before Eliezer had done speaking" 
ver. 15); Numb. xi. 2; Joshua x. 12 to 14; 1 Samuel xii. 17, 18; 1 Kings xiii. 4 
to 6 ; 2 Kings iv. 32 to 35 ; xix. 15 to 20, and 35 ; xx. 1 to 6, (where observe that 
the Word of the Lord came to Isaiah, " afore he was gone out into the middle court,'''' 

(i) Genesis xxxii. 26. (A;) 2 Cor. xii. 7 to 9. (I) Psalm lxxviii. 18 to 31. 

(m) 1 Samuel viii. 6 to 9, and 19 to 22. (n) Hosea xiii. 11. 



VII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 63 

ver. 4.) See also verses 8 to 11 ; Daniel ix. 3, 20, and following verses : (taking 
note, that "while [the prophet] was speaking in prayer" (ver. 20, 21,) the Angel 
Gabriel brought an answer to his prayer, and informed him that "at the beginning 
of Ms supplication the Commandment came forth" (ver. 23) ; and, that "from the 
first day that he did set his heart to understand, and to chasten himself before his 
'God, his words were heard" (Dan. x. 12.) ; St. Matthew viii. 1, 2, 3 ; ix. 27, 29 ; 
St. Mark x. 51, 52 ; St. Luke xvii. 13, 14 ; xxiii. 42, 43 (the case of the Malefactor 
on the Cross) ; St. John iv. 49 to 53 ; Acts ix. 11 (the case of " Saul of Tarsus," to 
whom Ananias was sent, " for behold, — he prayeth") ; x. 1 to 4 (the case of Cor- 
nelius) ; xii. 5 to 10 (the case of St. Peter in prison) ; St. James v. 16 to 18, &c. &c. 
But, because Faith is the great support, the very life of Prayer, (o) our Lord 
next proceeds,— by an argument, the very force of which all must admit, — to per- 
suade us that we shall assuredly be heard, and receive the things we pray for. 

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask Bread will he 
give him a Stone ? 

Rather, "Which of you, though he be but a man" — though merely a human 
being. See a remark on the first word of St. Matthew xii. 29. 

10 Or if he ask a Fish, will he give him a Serpent ? 

Take- notice that it was with " Bread" and " Fish" that our Saviour Christ — 
" our Father which is in Heaven," (see verse 11), — on three several occasions sup- 
plied the earthly needs of His children : — twice on the eastern side of the Lake, 
when He fed (1st) the five thousand — St. Matt. xiv. 17 to 21 ; and (2nd) the four 
thousand — St. Matt. xv*. 34 to 38 ; (3rd) after His Resurrection, when He showed 
Himself to the seven Disciples at the " Sea of Tiberias" — St. John xxi. 9 to 13. 

11 If ye then, being evil, 

That is, — notwithstanding the evil which dwells in all of you. This, then, is one 
of the many places where the corruption of Man's nature, (the doctrine of Original 
Sin as it is called,) is clearly laid down. 

know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more 
shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that 
ask Him ! 

Compare with this, the Parable of the Unjust Judge, — St. Luke xviii. especially 
"verses 6 and 7. 

Take notice, also, that in the parallel place of St. Luke's Gospel,(jj) instead of 
" good things," there is a promise that our Heavenly Father will give " the Holy 
Spirit to them that ask Him." That, then, is the good thing we ought to pray 
for ; and which we do pray for, on " Christmas Day," — on the " Sunday called 
Quinquagesima," — on the " Sunday after Ascension Day," — on " Whit-Sunday," — 
and on the " Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity." 

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to 
you, do ye even so to them : 

This golden precept reminds us of the two first verses of the present chapter ; 
as will appear more clearly by comparing them with the corresponding place in 
St. Luke's Gospel, — vi. 37, 38. Compare also St. Luke vi. 31, 

for this is the Law and the Prophets. 

As it is elsewhere said, — " Love is the fulfilling of the Law:"(#) and again, — 
"All the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour 

(o) St. James i. 5, 6, 7. (j>) St. Lube xi. 13. (q) Romans xiii. 10. 



64 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

as thyself.' "(f) Compare St. Matt. xxii. 37 to 40. The meaning is, that the teach- 
ing of Moses and the Prophets with respect to our Duty towards our Neighbour, 
may be reduced to this. 

The connection of ver. 12 with what goes before is not very obvious. But as our 
Lord, at the end of His prayer in the vi. Chapter,(5) enforced the duty of a For- 
giving Temper towards others, as the necessary condition of our obtaining for- 
giveness at God's hands, — so, here, He teaches us how we must act towards others 
in order to secure a favourable hearing for ourselves when we come " asking," — 
" seeking," — " knocking/ 7 — at the Heavenly Gate. 

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate : 

However strait and narrow the Gate by which we enter may be, — however rug- 
ged and painful the Way beyond it may prove, — the Christian Pilgrim should re- 
member that there is no lack of room,(f) of pleasure and enjoyment, (u) beyond. 
The ease and delight to be experienced there, will abundantly make up for all 
trouble and hardship by the way. 

for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to Destruc- 
tion, and many there be which go in thereat : 

Mention is made not only of the strait and the wide gate, but of the narrow and 
the broad way, — in order to remind us that as no one falls into the hands of Satan, 
unless he walks " in the way of sinners,"(x') so can no one hope to enter into Life, 
but by walking, first, in u the way of God's Commandments,"(?/) and treading " the 
path of Life."(2) 

Take notice that as we read of but two ways, — and of two gates, — so are we told 
of but two conditions hereafter ; namely, Life, and Destruction. No mention is 
made of a third course in this world, or of a third place in the next ! Every man, 
therefore, is travelling along one of those two roads; and is daily drawing nearer 
either to Eternal Happiness, or to Eternal Misery. See the note on the last part 
of St. Matth. iii. 12. 

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth 
unto Life, and few there be that find it. 

Observe, that the strait gate and the narrow way, require to be found. The 
other needs no search: they find it who go astray. " Yet, so much pains is there 
taken to find it," says Sanderson, "that I verily believe half the pains many a man 
taketh to go to Hell, would have brought him to Heaven." 

Observe also, that under the figure of " a gate," our first entrance on a religious 
life is here discoursed of: and that by calling it "strait," our Lord teaches us to 
expect to find the first beginnings of Religion, our first steps in Holiness, difficult. 
Evil habits to be broken off, — old companions to be parted with, — constitute a 
severe trial. But, thenceforward begins that Peace which the World can neither 
give nor take away; and St. Paul has told us what should be the conduct of him 
who runs in a race, with so glorious a prize in view. See Philippians iii. 13, 14. 

Not that " the gate" is " strait," or " the way" " narrow" in themselves. It is 
the loftiness of Pride, and the swelling thoughts of the heart, which makes the gate 
seem "strait:" the encumbrance of Wealth, and the allurements of Pleasure, 
which make the way seem " narrow." " Learn of Me," is the gracious exhortation 
of our Saviour Christ : "for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest 
unto your souls."(a) " I am the Door. By Me if any man enter in, he shall be 

saved." (6) " I am the Way No man cometh unto the Father but by 

Me."(c) 

Very solemn and affecting is the prediction with which this verse concludes. We 
are disposed to inquire with that " one," whose question, but not whose name, has 
been recorded ; — " Lord, are there few that be saved ?"(d) Most instructive is the 

(r) Gal. v. 14, — quoting Levit. xix. 18. (s) St. Matt. vi. 14, 15. (t) St. John xiv. 2. 
(u) Psalm xvi. 11 : xvii. 15: xxxvi. 8. — Isaiah lxiv. 4 (quoted 1 Cor. ii. 9.) — Romans viii. 
18.— Rev. xxi. 10 to 23. 

(x) Psalm i. 1. (y) Ps. cxix. 32. (z) Ps. xvi. 11. (a) St. Matthew xi. 29. 

(b) St. John x. 9. (c) St. John xiv. 6. (d) St. Luke xiii. 23. 



VII,] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 65 

answer he received, — which, we may be sure, is addressed by Christ to His 
Church, for ever, — " Strive ye earnestly to enter in at the strait gate." The curious 
questioning is repressed, — the hearty endeavour is encouraged, — in that, and every 
other place of Scripture. See above, on verse 5. 

The next verse contains a warning against false Teachers, — Guides who may not 
be trusted by those who desire to find the strait Gate. 

15 Beware of false Prophets, 

" False Prophets" are generally false Teachers. They who taught, with a special 
and direct commission from God, were often miraculously endowed by Him with 
the power of foretelling future events ; but they were not called Prophets for that 
reason ; nor was that, by any means, the only, or even the chief, part of their 
office. They were called Prophets because they declared the mind of God, on 
GOD' S behalf; — whether respecting things past, present, or to come. See St. 
Matt. xiv. 5 : xxi. 11. St. Luke vii. 16 : xxiv. 19. St. John ix. 17, &c. 

The " Man of God" was not mindful of the present precept, when he accepted 
the invitation of the " Old Prophet," — as related in 1 Kings xiii. 11 to 32. How 
interesting is the coincidence of that chapter, (which is appointed for the first les- 
son on the Eighth Sunday after Trinity,) with the words before us, — which are the 
first words of the Gospel for the same Day ! 

which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are raven- 
ing wolves. 

Since Christians are called " sheep," " sheep's clothing" will signify the outward 
appearances of Religion. St. Paul probably alluded to these words of our Lord, 
and to St. John x. 12, when he said to the elders of the Church of Ephesus, — " I 
know that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing 
the nock."(e) Compare Ezekiel xxii. 27. 

Consider, also, 2 Corinthians xi. 13 to 15. 

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. 

These words supply the connection of thought in all that follows, to the end of 
the chapter. Men's works are henceforward spoken of; and first, under the simili- 
tude of fruit; according to the frequent practice of Holy Scripture. See, for in- 
stance, St. Luke iii. 8. Presently, (namely, in ver. 21), the Divine Speaker will 
proceed to say that it is works not words which He requires : the fruits of Faith, — 
not mere protestations, which, like leaves, often give false promise.(/) Lastly, 
(namely, in ver. 24), He will contrast the fate of those who hear His sayings, and 
do them, with that of those (in ver. 26) who hear, yet do them not. 

Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?. 

Does not St. James, — iii. 12, — allude to these words of his Lord ; or to the paral- 
lel verse in St. Luke's Gospel, — vi. 44 ? 

17, 18 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a 
corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth 
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 

Take note, that our Lord, — speaking of men and their actions under the figure 
of trees and their fruits,— does not say that a good tree cannot become corrupt ; or, 
that a corrupt tree cannot become good ; — but only, that while a Tree continues good 
or evil, its fruits must be strictly corresponding. To become good, the wild olive 
must be grafted into the Good Olive-tree: the branches must abide in the Vine: 
then only do men experience renewal, when they are made partakers of the nature 
of Christ : they are fruitful only so long as they " abide in Him." See St. John 
xv. 2, 4, 5, 6, &c Refer to the note on St. Matt. xiii. 23. 

(c) Acts xx. 29. (/) See St. Mark xi. 13. 

5 



66 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

19 Every tree that pringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and 
cast into the fire. 

Messiah here employs the very language which His Forerunner had used "before 
Him, — as recorded by St. Matthew iii. 10. 
See the second note on St. Matthew iv. 17. 

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 

The Divine Speaker, before passing on to another branch of His subject, here 
recalls the words with which He began. See the first words of ver. 16. 

A test is hereby supplied us, — doubtless the most safe of any, — whereby to judge 
of those who come to us with claims on our submission, and Belief. Are they 
jealous for the true honour of Almighty God, — His Holy Name, His Holy Word, 
and His Holy Day ? Are they obedient to authority, — loving, — pure, — honest, — 
truthful? Of charitable speech and contented tempers? If not, "by their fruits 
ye shall know them" to be other than what they pretend to be. 

Let those who have left the Church of their Fathers, and lost her Spirit, " hear," 
if yet they have " ears to hear." 

21 Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, 

Compare St. Matthew xxiii. 7. 

shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven ; but He that doeth the Will 
of My Father which is in Heaven. 

It is not enough therefore to profess Christianity, — to use the prayers of the 
Church, — and to call upon the Name of Christ ; — but to this must be added dili- 
gence in doing His known Will. Many there are, who, in the words of the Apostle, 
"profess that they know God, but in ivorks deny Him."(^) 

For the connection of thought between this verse and what precedes, see the 
note on ver. 16. 

Obedience is made the condition of acceptance, and the test of Love, throughout 
the Bible: — consider 1 Samuel xv. 22: Hosea vi. 6: St. John xiv. 15, 21, 23: xv. 
10, 14: 1 St. John v. 3, &c. 

22 Many will say to Me in that Day, 

" Say unto Me :" — observe how the Divine Speaker here secretly brings in the 
mention of Himself, as the judge of all flesh! 

" In that Day" — the great and terrible Day of Christ, when He shall come "in 
the glory of His Father with the holy Angels." (h) The Day of Judgment is fre- 
quently so spoken of by our Lord and His Apostles, — as if always occupying so 
conspicuous a place in the sphere of their mental vision as to make further descrip- 
tion superfluous: — see St. Luke x. 12: 2 Thess. i. 10: 2 Tim. i. 12 and 18 : iv. 
8, &c. 

Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? and in Thy 
Name have cast out devils? and in thy Name done many wonderful 
works ? 

" In Thy Name," — that is, by Thy authority. Compare St. Matthew xviii. 20 : 
St. Mark ix. 38, 39: St. Luke x. 17, &c. 

This may be literally done, by evil men : — as when Pharaoh's Magicians for a 
while contended with Moses, — Exodus vii. 11, 12, 22 : viii. 7. See also Acts xix. 
13 to 15, &c. ; and consider the case of Balaam, of Saul, of Judas, and of Caiaphas. 

We learn, hence, that lowly graces are more to be coveted than mighty gifts : 
since these are sure to win for their possessor a share of the Divine favour, whereas 
those often prove the severest trial. "Whence the Apostle could truly say to the 

{g) Titus i. 16. (h) St. Mark viii. 38. 



VII.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 67 



Corinthian Church, after reviewing their -wondrous spiritual endowments, — " And 
yet show I unto you a more excellent way:{i) proceeding, forthwith, to discourse 
to them of " that most excellent gift of Charity, — the very "bond of Peace and of 
all Virtues." 

"Gifts are as gold, which adorns the Temple," says Burkitt: "but Grace is 
like the Temple that sanctifies the gold." 

It is remarkable how many parts of the Sermon on the Mount have reference to 
those who are Guides or Teachers. See verses 4, 5, and 6, of the present chapter. 
The warning in ver. 22 seems especially addressed to those who are in the Ministry. 

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: 

That is, — Openly declare that I never acknowledged you as Mine. God is said 
to know those only of whom He approves. See Ps. i. 6. St. Matthew xxv. 12. 
St. Luke xiii. 25. 1 Cor. viii. 3, &c. 

depart from Me, ye that work iniquity. 

What a miserable picture is discovered to us here ! But the startling circum- 
stance in all this, is, the manifest self-delusion of those who will be so addressed. 
This is, surely, very much to be noted. "Many will say to Me, in that day," — is 
the prophecy of Him to whom the Future, like the Present and the Past, is fully 
known. Men could not address such words to their Judge, unless they believed 
them true, also. 

And yet, this declaration as to what will be hereafter, should create no astonish- 
ment. Death separates the soul from the body, but it does not change the heart 
or the mind. If, then, men live and die in a state of self-delusion, — as we see men 
daily doing, — should it surprise us to be told that they will at last wake up, in the 
same state in which they fall asleep ? 

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth 
them, 

" If ye know these things," says our Lord in a certain place, " happy are ye if 
ye do them." (A:) And such is the constant language of Holv Scripture, — as in 
St, Luke xi. 28: St. John ix. 31 : Romans ii. 13 : St. James i. 22 to 25, &c. The 
connection of this verse with the preceding, has been pointed out in the note on 
verse 16. 

In what follows, the end of those who are " doers of the Word," and of those who 
are "hearers only," is set forth: and it is worth remarking that both classes of 
persons, alike, are represented as building for themselves a House. But only to 
one class does that House prove a place of refuge and shelter ; to the other, it 
proves the very chamber of Death. 

I will liken him unto a wise man. which built his House upon a Rock : 

See the note on St. Luke vi. 48. 

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, 
and beat upon that House ; and it fell not : for it was founded upon a 
Rock. 

"And that Rock was Christ," (I) — as it is said in another place: "for other 
foundation can no man lay." " Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, 
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble ; every man's work shall be made mani- 
fest : for the Day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire ; and the fire 
shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he 
hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward."(m) — So constant is the imagery 
of the Spirit ! 

(i) 1 Cor. xii. 31. (fc) St. John xiii. 17. (0 1 Cor. x. 4. (m) 1 Cor. iii. 11 to 14. 



68 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

David, in like manner, speaks of Christ as "the Rock of Salvation."(n) Com- 
pare also what is said by the prophet Isaiah, — (as he is interpreted by St. Paul,(o) 
and St. Peter,) (p) — of the Rock laid in Sion ; — on whom " whosoever believeth . . . 
shall not be ashamed."^) 

This reference, however, to one of His own titles, was not W\q primary meaning 
of our Saviour's words, — although it was doubtless comprehended in them. And 
indeed those words of His have a yet deeper meaning, which it shall suffice to 
allude to, briefly. For who is the " Wise Man" spoken of in the text, but Christ 
Himself, — who is sometimes called Wisdom ?(r) And what is the "House" in- 
tended but His Church, which He hath so builded on a rock(s) that it shall never 
fall ; and concerning which it had been said, long before, by the Spirit of Pro- 
phecy, " Wisdom hath builded her House V\t) . . . The Church of Christ is the 
House of Christ; for He hath "builded the House," and is "as a Son over His 
own House; whose House are we:"(u) — "God's building,"(x) as the Apostle 
speaks; against whom neither "rain" nor "floods," nor "winds," — no, nor the 
very gates of Hell itself shall prevail ; " if we hold fast the confidence, and the 
rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end."(?/) 

26, 27 And every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth 
them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his House 
upon the sand : and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 
winds blew, and beat upon that House ; and it fell : and great was the 
fall of it. 

Some remarks on these words, the Reader will find in the notes on St. Luke 
vi. 49. 

But when do "the rain" — "the floods" — and " the winds," conspire to try the 
stability of the structure here described? In part, doubtless, in the Day of Adver- 
sity. Then is the building put sorely to the proof. But the Great and Terrible 
Day of the Lord it is, which will bring with it the severest trial. The miserable 
man who has rested, all his life long, in a barren, formal assent to the Doctrines of 
the Gospel, will then be found to have built his House on the sand : while those 
blessed ones who have been rather faithful doers, than frequent hearers of God's 
Word, will then be "clothed upon" with "a building of God, an House not made 
with hands, eternal in the Heavens." (2) 

"Oh! take heed," says pious Leighton, "of founding your house in the sand. 
Though ever so stately and fair built, and showing fine, yet that foundation will be 
its ruin. There is no safe building but on the rock, — that Rock of Salvation who 
here taught this doctrine. Then, come storms as they will, there can be no fear. 
"He that buildeth on Him shall not be ashamed."(a) No matter what houses or 
lands ye have here, whether any or none, — (He Llimself had none here ;) — provided 
you build on Him, as the Fountain of eternal blessedness ! Oh, that men would 
think of this ; and amidst all their ensuring of things still unsure, would mind the 
making of this sure, which may be made so sure for ever as not to be moved !" 



Thus ends the " Sermon on the Mount," — the fullest connected specimen of our 
Saviour's teaching which the Holy Spirit has seen fit to set on record. We can- 
not surely survey it too carefully, or study it in too humble and teachable a tem- 
per. Perhaps it will be well to consider it partly as a map, — wherein the broad 
outlines of Christian duty are clearly laid down : partly as a mirror, — in which we 
behold ourselves, that is, our fallen Nature, faithfully reflected. 

Considered as a Map of Christian Duty, — we are reminded that some of the low- 
liest graces are the most highly prized in God's sight : Humility, Meekness, Mer- 
cifulness, (chap. v. 1 to 12.) Next, that under the Veil of the Law, were hid the 

In) Ps. Ixxxix. 26: xcv. 1. See also Ps. xix. 14: xxviii. 1: xlii. 9, &c. 
to) Romans ix. 33, (p) 1 St. Peter ii. 6. 

(q) Isaiah xxviii. 16. — Note, that shame will be the portion of the sinner, in the last day. 
See Daniel xii. 2. Revel, vi. 15 to 17, &c. 

(r) Namely, throughout the Book of Proverbs. (s) St. Matt. xvi. 18. 

(t) Proverbs ix. 1. («) Hebrews iii. 3 and 6. (x) 1 Cor. iii. 9. Compare 2 Sam. vii. 13. 

(y) Hebrews iii. 6. (a) 2 Cor. v. 1. (a) 1 St. Peter ii. 6. 



VII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 69 

features of the Gospel : (verses 17 to 20) the Law of Love, under the Sixth Com- 
mandment, — the Law of Purity, under the Seventh, — and the like. (Verses 21 
to 48.) 

Considering the Sermon on the Mount as a Mirror, — and therefore as intended 
to teach us something about ourselves, — how startling is it to discover, (it would 
be more becoming, perhaps, to say, — How startling is it, to be reminded?) that our 
chief clanger, whether we give Alms, (vi. 1 to 4,) — Pray, (ver. 5 to 15) — or Fast, 
(ver. 16 to 18,) is on the side of Vain-glory ! arises out of our desire of human 
praise! See chap. vi. 1, 5, 16 ; and the notes thereon. 

Surprising, also, seems the assurance in chap. vi. 14, 15, that we require so very 
special a dissuasive against cherishing an unforgiving temper! 

The large space occupied by the warning against Covetousness, (ver. 19 to 24) 
and Worldly Anxiety, (ver. 25 to 34,) is surely a most instructive circumstance. 
This has been already remarked upon in the last note on chap. vi. ver. 24. 

In the way of Precept, the last of these three Chapters (chap, vii.) is chiefly re- 
markable for the golden rule of Duty which is laid down in verses 1, 2, and 12. It 
contains also a weighty exhortation to Earnestness, — first, in Prayer, (ver. 7 to 11, 
which is to be taken in connection with the great Pattern of Prayer in chap. vi. 9 
to 13 ;) next, in working out our own Salvation (ver. 13, 14.) The Mirror is again 
held up to Human Nature by the warning against Hypocrisy, Deceit, and Self- 
Delusion ; whether in ourselves (ver. 3 to 5 : ver. 21 to 27 :) or in others, (ver. 15 
to 20.) 

The Discourse ends by contrasting the condition of the Righteous and the Wick- 
ed ; and by describing what will be their fate in the great and terrible Day. And 
whereas it is sometimes said that a Sermon should always end with cheerful words 
of Hope and Encouragement, it is observable that in this specimen of Divine Teach- 
ing the last place has been reserved for the miserable fate of him who "hears' 7 the 
words of Christ, without "doing them." 

28, 29 And it came to pass, when Jesus had 'ended these sayings, 
the people were astonished at His Doctrine : for He taught them as 
One having authority, and not as the Scribes. 

This may, doubtless, refer to the form in which our Lord delivered several of the 
foregoing precepts ; see chap. v. verses 22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44, &c; and to the lan- 
guage of authority adopted by the Divine Speaker throughout the entire discourse. 
Moses and the Prophets had said, — " Thus saith the Lord :" but our Saviour's 
Word was "J say unto you." " Being the Master of Law, He uttered things which 
were above the Law ; changing the Letter to the Truth, and the figures to the spir- 
itual meaning." More than that, however, seems to be implied by this statement 
of the Evangelist concerning the effect which our Saviour's teaching produced on 
the multitude who listened. It is a hint, — one of the many hints scattered up and 
down the Gospels, — that, (as might have been expected,) there was something in 
the manner of our Saviour Christ which awed and impressed beholders to a re- 
markable extent. Consider the following places : — St. Mark i. 22, (where the self- 
same words recur, and where see the note :) si. 18 ; St. Luke iv. 15, and 20 to 22, 
and ver. 32 ; xix. 47, 48 ; St. John vii. 43 to 46 ; xviii. 6, &c. 



THE PRAYER. 

Stir up, we beseech Thee, Lord, the wills of Thy faithful people ; 
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of 
Thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 



70 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



2 Christ cleanseth the leper, 5 liealetli the Centurion's servant, 14 Peter's mother- 
in-law, 16 and many other diseased : 18 shoiveth how He is to be followed : 23 
stilleth the Tempest on the Sea: 28 driveth the devils out of two men possessed, 31 
and snffereth them to go into the swine. 

As the thirteenth Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel is The Treasury of Parables, 
so is this Chapter and the next (the 8th and 9th.) The Treasury of Miracles. 
Throughout the three last Chapters, we have been listening to the wondrous Words 
of Christ ; — in these two, some of His mightiest Works are set before us. The 
Works were for a Confirmation of the Word. See St. Mark xvi. 20 : St. John iii. 
2: v. 36: x. 25, 38, &c. Hebrews ii. 3, 4, &c. 

1 When He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes 
followed Him. 

We shall find that this concourse of persons, — the same which had been listening 
to the Sermon on the Mount, — followed our Lord into Capernaum; compare verses 
5 and 10. On the day after, they followed Him to "a city called Nam." See St. 
Luke vii. 11. 

2 And, behold, there came a leper 

It would appear, — from a comparison of verse 5 with St. Luke vii. 1, 2, — that 
the Historical order of events has been disregarded by St. Matthew, in this place. 
The Holt Spirit has set the cure of one afflicted with leprosy before that of the 
Centurion's Servant who was " sick of the palsy," (ver. 6.) 

Doubtless, this was done with a deep motive. And when it is remembered that 
Leprosy, in Seripture, is the type of Sin, — it will perhaps seem a reasonable sup- 
position that the Divine intention, in thus giving the foremost place to a case of 
leprosy, may have been, thereby to imply the purpose with which our Saviour 
came into the World: (namely, to heal that more terrible malady which infected 
the whole Human Kace, and which the disease of leprosy represented ;) as well as 
to teach us that the bodily diseases which the Great Physician went about with 
purpose to cure, are all to be regarded as typical of the disorders of the soul. See 
the note on the last part of St. Luke v. 13 : also the note on St. Mark ii. 3 : also 
below, on ver. 17. 

The miraculous cleansing of the leper, which follows, is recorded in three Gos- 
pels, being found also in St. Mark i. 40 to 45 ; and St. Luke v. 12 to 15. 

and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me 
clean. 

See the note on St. Mark i. 40. 

This man "worshipped" Christ; as the Wise Men had done,(a) and as so many 
others did: which merely means that they fell down, or knelt before Him.(6) Did 

(a) St. Matt. ii. 2. 

(h) Compare this place with St. Mark i. 40, and St. Luke v. 12. — Compare also St. Matt. ix. 
18, with St. Mark v. 22, and St. Luke viii. 41.— Again, compare St. Matt. xv. 25 with St. 
Mark vii. 25. 



VIII.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 71 



lie know Him to be the Son of God? In the full sense of the term, it is quite in- 
credible that he should have done so ; "but his offering, the Faith he brought, — 
whatever it may have been, — our Saviour graciously accepted. " We are com- 
monly not satisfied with anything that comes not up to our own height ;" (says a 
good man:) "but our meek Kedeemer accepts of what he finds, even in the very 
least, and extols it to the highest pitch it is capable of." 

3 And Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, 

How precious is every hint of this kind, — which sets the Saviour, as it were, 
before our eyes! 

But how far more precious is the consolation which this act of our Saviour af- 
fords : in proving that nothing is too loathsome to obtain cleansing from Him! 

Sometimes, our Lord cured by a touch, — as in St. Mark viii. 22 to 25. Some- 
times, by a word, — as in St. John v. 8. Sometimes, by neither word nor touch, — 
as in St. John iv. 50. On this occasion, he employs both instruments. See the 
note on St. Luke v. 13 : also the first note on St. Mark i. 41. But observe that it 
was neither the Saviour's touch, nor the Saviour's word, — but the Saviour's Will 
which wrought miracles. The outward signs were but for the sake of the by- 
standers. Consider however, whether, besides every other reason for touching this 
Leper, there may not have been the merciful wish thereby to comfort the miserable 
sufferer. 

saying, I will ; be thou clean. 

Take notice, here, that our Saviour not only strictly granted the man his implied 
petition ; but, by repeating the very words He had just before used, reminds us 
that the largeness of His mercies often corresponds exactly with the extent of our 
Faith. See below, the last note on ver. 13. 

Leighton says, — "And thus, in His Word, He speaks to Sinners; where He 
hath revealed His Will together with His Power: and, that we may doubt it not, 
we may read it in His blood streaming forth for our cleansing. Yet, if any one 
out of a deep sense of his vileness, think, ' I know that He can cleanse me, but 
will He look upon such an one ? Or, if He look, will He not straight turn away ? 
Will He vouchsafe to touch my filthy sores, and apply His own precious blood for 

my cleansing and healing?' Yes, He 'will.' If He be not changed from 

what He was, He l wilV pity thee, and thou shalt find it." 

And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 

Or, as it is added in St. Mark, — " as soon as He had spoken:" {c) for, (in the lan- 
guage of an Eastern Bishop) "even this word 'immediately ' is too slow to express 
the speed with which the deed was clone." Such, then, is the answer which God 
grants to Prayer 1 See the notes on St. Matthew vii. 8. 

4 And Jesus said unto him, see thou tell no man ; 

This is a difficult command to explain with certainty. It was delivered, probably, 
because the knowledge of this miracle, instead of proving a benefit to certain of 
those whom the Leper would have "told," was likely to prove a curse; — either by 
Blasphemy or Unbelief: or by exciting them to some act of malice. And thus our 
Lord, by His own practice, exemplified the precept which he delivered in the fore- 
going chapter, — namely, that we may not " cast our pearls before swine." (vii. 6.) 
The injunction will be found further explained in the concluding note on the first 
chapter of St. Mark's Gospel. 

but go thy way, show thyself to the Priest. 

This is sometimes perverted, so as to make it appear by analogy that, in the case 
of the Christian Priesthood, it is needful in order to the cure of spiritual Leprosy, 

(c) St. Mark i. 42. 



72 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

— that is, of Sin, — that thou "show thyself to the Priest." Whereas, it is manifest 
that as the cure of Diseases, in reality, rests with God; (and Leprosy, in par- 
ticular, was known to be incurable by human skill;) so none can forgive Sins but 
God only; and the plain fact is that the object with which the afflicted person 
showed himself to the priest under the Law, was not Ms cure; but only in order to 
have his state pronounced upon, — to be "bound" or "loosed" by authority. For 
thus we read in Leviticus, — " He shall be brought unto the priest: and the priest 
shall go forth out of the Camp, and .... look ; and, behold, if the plague of 
leprosy be healed in the leper, then shall the priest .... pronounce him clean;" — 
with many significant ceremonies, for which see Leviticus xiv. 2 to 7, and following 
verses. 

Compare with the present place St. Luke xvii. 14 

and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. 

"The gift" will be found described in Leviticus xiv. 10. Take notice how true 
was that saying of our Lord, — "I am not come to destroy" the Law and the Pro- 
phets, "but to fulfill :"((£) so scrupulous was He, at all times, to require conformity 
and obedience, and to set an example of it. Indeed, it is easy to see that until the 
Great Sacrifice was offered on the Cross, it was proper that the sacrifices ordained 
in the Law should continue to be offered. 

On the last words of this verse, see the note on St. Luke v. 14. 

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto 
Him a Centurion, beseeching Him, 

This person (the first-fruits of the Gentiles !) was a Koman Soldier, — the com- 
mander of a company ; — who had become a proselyte, or convert to the Jewish 
Religion, and was probably stationed at Capernaum. From St. Luke we learn that 
his zeal had induced him to build a Synagogue in the City where he dwelt, for 
the use of the Nation whose purer faith he had adopted. 

6 and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, 
grievously tormented. 

Notice here the man's kindness, — the humanity which brought him thus a sup- 
pliant to the great Physician, in behalf of the Slave, "who," (as St. Luke says) 
"was dear unto him." 

7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 

"Who is like unto the Lord our God," exclaims the Psalmist; "that hath His 
dwelling so high, and yet humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in Heaven 
and Earth ?"(e) Yea, He humbled Himself yet more, — if possible : for He made 
the lowliest, and the meanest, and the weakest, the objects of His largest bounty, 
occasions for the chief display of His Almighty Power and Love. 

8 The Centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that 
Thou shouldest come under my roof: 

"While he counted himself unworthy that Christ should come under his roof, 
(says an ancient Bishop,) he was counted worthy that Christ should enter into his 
heart : and this was a greater boon, and a higher blessedness. "He that humbleth 
himself shall be exalted," — saith the Spirit.(/) 

but speak the word only, and my servant shall he healed. 

He knew that it was not necessary that our Lord should enter his dwelling in 
order to work the cure of his servant. He may have had in mind the miraculous 
cure which our Lord by His mere word, had wrought some time before, on the 

(d ) St. Matthew v. 17. (e) Pslani cxiii. 5. (/) St. Luke xiv. 11. 



VIII.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 73 



Nobleman's son, in the same City ; being Himself at Cana, all the while. See St. 
John iv. 46 to 53 ; and the note on St. Luke vii. 7. 

The Humility of the speaker, no less than his Faith, shines out in this speech. 
He was ashamed to think that by the terms of his first message, (for which see St. 
Luke vii. 3,) he had solicited one whom he knew to be God, to come beneath the 
shadow of his roof. He therefore hastens forth to prevent the gracious intention of 
the Saviour. 

9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me : and 
I say to this man, Go, and he goeth ; and to another, Come, and he 
cometh ; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 

That is, — " For I am a man not supreme in command ; but under the authority 
of a superior officer ; and in turn, having soldiers under me : and yet, even I say to 
my soldiers and servants, Come, and Go, and am immediately obeyed. How much 
more must Thou be able, who art without superior, or even equal, — Thou to whom 
all creatures in Heaven and Earth do bow down and obey ; — how much more must 
it be in Thy power to say 'Begone !' to this palsy, which is after all but a servant 
of thine !" 

10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, 

The stupendous miracle which He was about to work, showed Him to be "perfect 
God :" — the feeling of wonder, here noticed, showed him to be "perfect Man,"" like- 
wise ; "of a reasonable soul and human flesh." See the first note on St. John i. 14. 
See also the first note on St. Luke viii. 23. Observe, however, that for our sakes 
this act of our Saviour Christ is recorded ; in order that we may know at what 
ive ought to marvel : namely, less at Wisdom, Wealth, and Grandeur, than at the 
fruits of Faith. And observe, that He who is here said to have "marvelled," did 
but admire the work of His own Almighty Hands ; and confess that it was "very 
good." Faith, like every other Grace, is GOD' S gift. 

and said to them that followed, 

See the note on St. Luke vii. 9. 

Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in 
Israel. 

That is, among the descendants of Abraham, — notwithstanding all their vaunted 
claims and real privileges, — our Saviour had not met with such Faith as was 
exhibited by this Roman soldier; by birth, "an alien from the commonwealth of 
Israel, and stranger from the covenants of promise," — as it is said in Ephesians 
ii. 12. 

The wondrous vigour of this man's Faith may be perceived from what has been 
remarked above, in the note on ver. 9 ; but it is further worth observing that, by 
saying, "Speak the word only," and not requesting the actual presence of Christ, 
he surpassed the Nobleman, (who had said "Sir, come down ere my child die:")(g0 
and Jairus, (who, anxious for his little daughter, had said " Come and lay Thy 
hands on her :")(h) and Martha and Mary, (who had said " Lord, if Thou hadst 
been here my brother had not died:")(?') and many others. He seems to have had 
the fullest sense that he was addressing the Almighty. 

- Note, therefore, that not only did the degraded Nazareth, besides nursing the 
Saviour of the World, nourish a Joseph and a Mary ; — not only did Bethsaida, on 
which our Lord pronounced such a tremendous doom,(/t) produce an Andrew, a 
Simon, and a Philip ;(T) — but Capernaum also, (which, for being more unbelieving 
than Sodom, was to be hereafter "thrust down to Hel\"(m) and therefore must have 
been filled with surpassing wickedness,) contained this pattern of Humility, of 
Love, and above all of Faith. See the note on St. Luke vii. 5. 

(g) St. John iv. 49. (h) St. Mark v. 23. (i) St. John xi. 21 and 32. 

Ik) St. Matt. xi. 21, 22 (l) St. John i. 44. (m) St. Matt. xi. 23, 24. 



74 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The reader is referred to the note on St. John i. 44, for the obvious remark which 
facts like these suggest. Will men dare, in the face of such a history, to pass 
sweeping censures on large masses of persons ? on the inhabitants of a whole vil- 
lage? Shall not these instances of transcendent goodness among a degraded people, 
rather induce a suspicion that we also may be living among unsuspected Saints ? 
that Angels may be dwelling, unawares, (w) at our very doors? 

11 And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west, 
and shall sifc down with Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom 
of Heaven: 

"Sit down," — because the joys of the Life to come are likened by our Lord to a 
Feast ;(o) where the hungry are filled, and the thirst of parched and weary souls is 
quenched, (p) and where all joys abound.(g) A Coronation banquet, — where all are 
crowned kings :(r) while ivithout, is Darkness, — "outer Darkness/' as it is said in 
the next verse. But the comparison of Heavenly joy to an Earthly Feast, is but 
"a dark shadow of that bright glory." ..." Oh, were the things of Eternity, the 
Misery and the Blessedness to come, indeed believed, how much would our thoughts 
be in them ! and how little room would they leave for the trifles and vanities which 
our hearts are taken up with." 

12 But the Children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer 
darkness : 

" Darkness," — because removed from the presence of God, who is Light. As the 
beloved Apostle speaks, — " God is Light, and in Him is no Darkness at all."(s) It 
seems a fitting retribution, that those who, when Light came into the world, loved 
Darkness rather than Light because their deeds were evil "(f) — should hereafter suffer 
the penalty of a "Darkness which may be felt." (if) 

there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

The Blessed Speaker here prophecies the abundant gathering in of the Gentiles 
into the Kingdom of Heaven, — and contrasts it with the final exclusion of many of 
the Jewish nation, by reason of their impenitence and unbelief. The same con- 
trast will be found in St. Luke xiii. 28, 29, — with which last verse, Genesis xxviii. 
14 should be compared. — The Jews were heirs of the promises made to Abraham, 
— and " Children of the kingdom," as our Lord here calls them ; — and accordingly, 
to them were the first offers of Mercy and Salvation made. It came even to their 
very doors ; but they put it from them. The wedding was ready, but they which 
were bidden were not worthy :(x) " and this near miss of Happiness" (as one hath 
well remarked,) "is the greatest misery." 

" It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you," 
said Paul and Barnabas, at Antioch in Pisidia, to their blaspheming Countrymen : 
"but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting 
Life, — lo, we turn to the Gentiles ; for so hath the Lord commanded us."(y) And 
to the same effect, St. Paul spoke to the unbelieving Jews at Rome : — " Be it known 
therefore unto you, that the Salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles: and" — he 
added a memorable prophecy, — " they will hear iV\z) Our Lord had said the like, 
— in St. Matthew xxi. 43. 

But, woe to us if we rise from the study of such passages as these, with a dry 
lifeless remark on the purely historical meaning of the words employed, as they re- 
gard Jew and Gentile. They reach much further than the destruction of the Holy 
City, and the subsequent destiny of the Nation which Christ came to save. The 

Hebrews xiii. 2. 

St. Matt. xxii. 4, &c. St. Luke xiv. 16, &o. xxii. 30. Rev. xix. 9. Compare also St. 
Luke xv. 23. 

(^>) Isaiah iv. 1 and lxv. 13: St. Matt. v. 6: St. Luke vi. 21: Rev. vii. 16, quoted from Is. 
xlix. 10, Ac. 

(q) See the first note on St Matt. vii. 13. 

I r) Compare Rev. i. 6, and 2 Tim. iv. 8. St. James i. 12. Rev. ii. 10 . iii. 11, &c. 
(s) 1 St. John i. 5. (t) St. John iii. 19. (mJ Exodus x. 21. 

(x) See St. Matt. xxii. 8. (y) Acts xiii. 46,47. (») Acts xxviii. 28. 



VIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 75 

" Children of the Kingdom" are we, — as many of us as have the Gospel brought to 
our very doors ; and that " outer darkness " will be ours, if, with splendid opportu- 
nities, abundant knowledge, and spiritual advantages of the very highest order, 
" we neglect so great Salvation. "(#) 

The place of Suffering, — which is reserved for the wicked and impenitent,— is 
described in terms descriptive of the bitterest bodily anguish. Repentance, which 
comes too late, draws unavailing tears: and Despair, which shall have no end, causes 
the teeth to clench with agony. And take notice that such language cannot be called 
figurative ; since " they that have done evil " will go ivitli their bodies " into ever- 
lasting fire." 

13 And Jesijs said unto the Centurion, Go thy way ; and as thou 
hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in 
the self-same hour. 

Showing that his Faith was perfect. Our Lord's words on this occasion are like 
those which He spoke to the two blind men, in St. Matt. ix. 29. The entire 
case resembles that of the " Nobleman," and should be compared with it. See 
St. John iv. 50 and 53. 

But did the Centurion " Go his way?" Not so. He remained with Christ, — in 
perfect confidence that the object of his anxiety, whom he had left "ready to 
&ie,"(y) was perfectly restored. See St. Luke vii. 10, and the note there. 

"As thou hast believed — so be it done unto thee." The measure of Faith is 
ever made the measure of Blessedness. See above, on the words "I will; be thou 
clean," — in verse 3. 

14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's 
mother laid, and sick of a fever. 

We learn from this verse, incidentally, several facts concerning St. Peter. He 
was a citizen of Bethsaida,(z) but his dwelling-place was Capernaum; for see ver. 
5. The House belonged to himself and his brother Andrew: (a) and the Apostle 
proves to have been a married man. St. Paul states the fact plainly : " Have we 
not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other Apostles, and as the breth- 
ren of the Lord, and Cephas V'(b) — which was the name bestowed by our Saviour 
on Simon, when first the fisherman of Galilee was brought into His presence, (c) 

15 And He touched her hand, and the fever left her : and she arose, 
and ministered unto them. 

This short but instructive miracle is related more particularly by St. Mark, i. 29 
to 31, and St. Luke iv. 38, 39, — where see the notes; especially those on St. Mark's 
narrative. 

16 When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that 
were possessed with devils : and He cast out the spirits with His word, 
and healed all that were sick : 

See the note on St. Mark i. 32. What a cluster of marvels is recorded in this 
place ! 

" All that were sick V We read of none that were disappointed, — none that were 
sent away unhealed. Now, " whatsoever things were written aforetime were writ- 
ten for our learning ; that we, through patience and comfort of the Scripture, 
might have hope."(c?) 

17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, 
saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. 

But the words of Isaiah are — " Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our 

fas) Heb. ii. 3. (y) St. Luke vii. 2. (z) St. John i. 44. 

(a) Compare St. Mark i. 29. (6)1 Cor. ix. 5. (c) St. John i. 42. 

(d ) Rom. xv. 4. 



76 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

sorrows :"(e) and they clearly refer to the sins of mankind rather than to their 
sicknesses. St. Peter so quotes the Prophet, at the end of the second chapter of 
his First Epistle: " who His own self tare our sins.'\f) This, then, is an example 
of Divine Interpretation ; — one of the places where the Spirit has condescended to 
be His own Interpreter. 

It is reasonable and becoming, here, to point out the close connection between 
sin and sickness ; and to call to mind how nearly linked are moral evil and bodily 
ailment : but we must not presume, by such remarks, to explain, and as it were to 
defend the wondrous application of this text by the Evangelist. No one without 
the express warrant of God's Word to that effect, would have ever supposed, — or 
been warranted in supposing, — that Isaiah liii. 4 was fulfilled when our Saviour 
cast out the Spirits from them that were possessed, and healed the sick. This ap- 
plication of the Scripture ".is the LORD'S doing, and it is marvellous in our 
eyes/ ; (<7) See the notes on St. Mark ii. 5. 

18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave com- 
mandment to depart unto the other side. 

To cross the Lake, — from the Western to the Eastern shore. 

19 And a certain Scribe came, and said unto Him, Master, I will 
follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. 

Concerning the Scribes, see the note on St. Mark iii. 22. 

The attentive reader of the Gospel turns anxiously to the Note or Comment on 
all such passages as the present (ver. 19, 20,) and that which immediately follows, 
(ver. 21,) — in hopes of being informed who this Scribe, and who that Disciple, 
were ? It is with a sense of disappointment that the reader finds his guide silent, 
and as much at a loss as himself, in the very place where information was wanted 
most. 

He will be tempted to make the remark, that such passages of Scripture cannot 
have been written in vain. The two incidents before us were set on record for our 
learning, — and certainly with some higher purpose than merely to inflame our 
curiosity. He will call to mind an occurrence described in St. Mark's Gospel, — 
xiv. 51, 52 ; — and be disposed to maintain that he who pretends to comment on the 
Gospels ought to be prepared with an explanation of all such passages as these. 

The plain truth is, that he who reads the Gospels most attentively, finds in them 
most to wonder at : for they are full of difficulties ; not only obvious ones, (like the 
present,) but unexpected difficulties also. Now, a Commentary may well be re- 
quired to be more or less satisfactory in discussing hard passages which involve 
Doctrine; because, in the statement of Doctrine, Holy Men have spoken plainly 
in all ages ; and the Tradition of the Church, (as it is called,) has been uniform 
from the very beginning. Difficult idioms ought also to be explained ; and the 
reader (if he be curious in such matters has further a right to require infor- 
mation in matters of History, Chronology, and Geography ; since a little learn- 
ing of the most ordinary kind, will, for the most part, supply all the help re- 
quired. Above all, does it seem to be the business of Notes to call attention 
to precious sayings which might else escape notice : and to gather lessons of Di- 
vine Wisdom from the less prominent facts and allusions of the Spirit : for by 
this means the Word of God becomes the Bread of Life, — the very food and sup- 
port of the soul. But there the skill of the Commentator ends. No one so curious 
as he to have the hidden things of the Gospel explained to him : but he finds a 
thick curtain spread over many of them, which no one yet has been enabled to 
remove. 

That many things yet remain to be discovered in Holy Scripture, he firmly 
believes. That grounds of great probability can be offered for a guess, even at 
such places as the present, he knows. But after he has said this, he is glad to con- 
fess his own great ignorance. 

He would fain be permitted, however, to add, — that there are things far better 
worth knowing than the present, which will be revealed to readers of Scripture 

(e) Isaiah liii. 4. ( / ) 1 St. Pet. ii. 24. (g) Ps. cxviii. 23. 



VIII.] 



on st. Matthew's gospel. 77 



with no reading and little wit; who yet study the Book of Life with pure hearts, 
supremely desirous of discerning God in His Word. 

And lastly, let it be stated that we should read the Gospels rather in order to 
feed upon their clear statements than to perplex ourselves with their dark places. 
It is a great snare of Satan to make men wonder and cavil where they ought to 
believe and obey. "While others dispute," (says the great Father of the Western 
Church,) "be it mine to adore." 

20 And Jesus saith unto Him, The Foxes have holes, and the Birds 
of the air have nests ; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His 
head. 

Words which we have read, and heard repeated, till they have perhaps ceased to 
move us : yet, inexpressibly affecting they surely are, on the lips of the Eternal 
Son, — the Word "made flesh I" . . . . What a history do they discover, of weary 
days, and shelterless nights : — of houseless wanderings, and scanty supplies of 
food ! The Chief Shepherd might have said with far more truth than Jacob, (who 
was but a feeble type of Him.) — " In the day the drought consumed me, and the 
frost by night: and my sleep departed from mine eyes." (h) 

The title " Son of Man 7 ' is applied to our Lord by Himself in the Gospels, fre- 
quently ; by His Apostles, never. He who was in the highest sense the Son of God, — 
and became the Son of Man only "for us men and for our Salvation," — seems to 
have called Himself by this name in order to give His hearers to understand that 
it was He of whom the prophet Daniel spoke, in Daniel vii. 13. That the Jews 
understood the title, as denoting the Messiah, appears from St. John xii. 34, — 
where our Lord's words at the Feast of Tabernacles(i) are alluded to. He is 
found to have applied to Himself the prophecy of Daniel, just quoted, on two occa- 
sions : namely, in St. Matthew xxiv. 30, and xxvi. 64. See the second note on St. 
John v. 27. 

21 And another of His Disciples said unto Him, Lord, suffer me 
first to go and bury my Father. 

Here was a Disciple who drew back ; and we shall find, in the next verse, that 
our Saviour urged him forward. We have just witnessed a contrary spectacle : 

one who was for pressing forward, but whom our Lord kept back He has 

different ways of dealing with us, according to our different dispositions. The 
timid need reproof and encouragement, — the impetuous must be made to count the 
cost. 

22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow Me ; and let the dead bury 
their dead. 

There is some uncertainty as to the exact meaning of this saying, and others 
like it, in the Gospels ; and so long as that is the case, it is safer to gather the gen- 
eral lesson which they embody, — the teaching which they were certainly intended 
to convey to ourselves, — than to dispute about their precise meaning in the ears of 
the Disciples who heard them. That those who are living in a state of Sin, are 
dead in God's sight, we know from such passages as St. John v. 25. Rom. v. 14: 
vi. 11, 13 : Ephes. ii. 1, 5. Colossians ii. 13. 1 Timothy v. 6. Rev. iii. 1, &c. It 
may therefore be, that this Disciple understood our Lord's words to signify, "Let 
those who are spiritually dead so excuse, — so employ themselves." But be this as 
it may, it is clear that Christ reproved the man for inventing delays, — when he 
should have simply followed the footsteps of the Saviour. And this is ever the 
way with all of us. We profess love, and willingness, and good intentions : but 
there is always something which we think must be done first. We stand equally 
in need, therefore, of the reproof here recorded : and that may be the chief reason 
why it is recorded. 

23 And when He was entered into a ship, His Disciples followed 
Him. 

[h) Gen. xxxi. 40. (t) St. John viii. 28. 



78 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Let us be well persuaded that that ship, and its little company, — with their Lord 
in the midst of them, — exhibits a lively type or emblem of the Christian Church : 
vexed with many storms, — yet safe, because blessed with the presence of Christ. 

24 And, behold, there arose a great Tempest in the Sea, insomuch 
that the Ship was covered with the waves : 

That which happens to the body, befalls each of the members likewise. " Deep 
calleth unto deep," saith the Psalmist. " All Thy waves and Thy billows are gone 
over me."(fc) " Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and Thou hast afflicted me with 
all Thy waves."(Z) But to be tost by the billows is no proof of desertion, or even 
of danger. 

but He was asleep. 

The ship, — covered with waves ; and Christ in the ship, — asleep! How 

true a picture of the Church's fortunes ! How true a picture of the Church at 

tliis, — at all times ! Is He therefore unconscious of the danger, because 

He is motionless ? Is He therefore unaware of the storm, because He is asleep ? — 
"I sleep," He saith; "but My heart waketh:"(m) yea, rather, "He that keepeth 
Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. "(ii) 

25 And His Disciples came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, Lord, 
save us : we perish. 

As if the ship could perish which carried Christ ! And yet this faithless con- 
duct of the Disciples is ours at all times ! Unless we can see signs and wonders 
we will not believe. (o) The language of the Disciples is that of the Church in the 
hour of danger, — slow of heart to believe God's promises, (p) and impatient of the 
storm. "Awake, why sleepest Thou, Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever. 
Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face?" (q) 

26 And He saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, ye of little faith ? 
Then, He arose, and rebuked the Winds and the Sea ; 

Observe, that He first rebuked them, — afterwards the sea. with His head yet 
reclining "on the pillow," (r) He reproached them for their "little faith." "Then 
He arose." .... The storm which was raging in their hearts, — the confusion and 
excitement which He discovered there, — endangered their safety far more than the 
heaving billows of the Lake. 

and there was a great calm. 

" And so, in the soul, when all within is full of confusion and noise, — the heart 
working like a troubled sea, and finding no rest, either from its own persuasions 
or the most skillful speeches of others ; but, amidst all, likely to be swallowed up 
or split in pieces : then, one word from Christ's mouth quiets all presently, and 
makes the soul calmer and smoother than the stillest water in the fairest day.". 
The words are Leighton's. 

" A great calm !" — If the Miracles of our Lord have a typical and prophetic 
character, (as many of them doubtless have,) how full of deep and mysterious 
meaning, how full of comfort to troubled hearts, — are these few words ! That 
ship and its little company, (among whom Christ was,) proves the emblem of the 
Ark of Christ's Church ; — the stormy waters set forth the vexations of our present 
restless and unquiet life. What then is this mention of "a great calm," but a 
prophecy of what will be hereafter ; when "the waves of this troublesome world'' 
shall have been exchanged for " a sea of glass, like unto crystal ;"(s) and the pre- 
sent shifting scene, for that better Land where " the wicked cease from troubling, 
and ... the weary be at rest?"(tf) 

(Jc) Ps. xlii. 7. (0 Ps. lxxxviii. 7. (m) Solomon's Song, v. 2. 

\n) Ps. cxxi. 4. (o) St. John iv. 48. (p) Isaiah liv. 17. St. Matt, xxviii. 20, &c. 

(q) Psalm xliv. 23, 24 (r) St. Mark iv. 38. (s) Rev. iv. 6. •(«) Job iii. 17. 



VIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 79 

27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, 
that even the winds and the sea obey Him ! 

" Man" should "be in italics, — for the word does not occur in the original. 
" Who 1" " What manner of [being] V is the question in all the three Gospels. 

Not that they doubted who He was, or questioned His Divinity ; but because so 
stupendous an act of power took them quite by surprise. They had seen Him cast 
out devils and cure diseases ; they had even known the elements, in silent subjec- 
tion to His sway, change their very nature ; as when the water, at C ana's feast, 
became wine. But it was something quite strange and new to see the mad winds 
chained up at his rebuke ; and the waves, — which, a moment before threatened to 
cover them, — stand motionless at His word. 

28 And when He was come to the other side, into the country of 
the Gergesenes, 

Our Lord had now crossed the Lake, and set foot on the Eastern Coast. The 
Country of the Gergesenes was so called from the city of Gergesa, which lay there. 
Hard by, was the city of Gadara. Hence, the same district is called " the Country 
of the Gadarenes" by St. Mark (v. 1), and St. Luke (viii. 26). See the last note 
on St. Matthew iv. 

A wondrous narrative follows, — extending to the end of the present chapter. St. 
Mark and St. Luke have delivered the incident so much more fully than St. Mat- 
thew, that the reader is referred to the notes on those Gospels, — namely, St. Mark 
v. 1 to 20, and St. Luke viii. 26 to 40, — for many remarks on the entire miracle 
which cannot be introduced with equal fitness in this place. 

there met Him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, 
exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 

Take notice that these unclean spirits loved to haunt the tombs, — places which 
it was accounted pollution even to touch. See Numbers xix. 16 ; and consider St. 
Matthew xxiii. 27. To " remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments/' 
and "eat swine's flesh,"(w) — had been, long before, pointed out by the Prophet, 
as marks of a people hateful in God's sight. The "tombs' 7 spoken of resembled 
our vaults rather than ordinary graves : being recesses in the rock, whether natural 
or artificial; large enough to contain many persons. 

29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with 
Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God ? 

Here was a full confession of our Saviour's GoDhead. " The devils also believe, 
and tremble. But wilt thou know, vain man, that Faith ivithout Works is 
dead?"(x) 

Observe, that ever after the Temptation, the Devils knew Christ. Compare St. 
Luke iv. 34 and 41, and see the note on the former place. 

Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time ? 

Compare St. Luke iv. 34. See also, the note on St. Luke viii. 31. How awful, 
and how terrible are these glimpses at the unseen World, and the history of the 
devils ! The Human Race had been for so long a time expecting Salvation, — the 
evil angels Punishment, (y) And the very sight of the Holy One is torture to them, — 
the anticipation of their sentence ! 

For there will come a day, " a time," as these words remind us, when our Saviour 
Christ, putting "all enemies under His feet,"(z) shall bring to judgment the evil 
angels also, (a) They already know their sentence ; and see, by anticipation, " the 
smoke of their torment ascending up for ever and ever." (6) 

(«) Isaiah lxv. 4. (x) St. James ii. 19, 20. (y) 2 St. Peter ii. 4. St. Jude, ver. 6. 

(z) 1 Cor. xv. 25. (a) Compare 1 Cor. vi. 3. (6) Rev. xiv. 11. 



80 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine 
feeding. 

St. Mark informs us that there were about two thousand. (c) Take note that, 
according to the Law, these creatures were unclean. See Leviticus xi. 8, compared 
with Deut. xiv. 8. Also Isaiah lxvi. 17. 

31 So the devils besought Him, saying, If Thou cast us out, suffer 
us to go away into the herd of swine. 

See what is said on St. Mark v. 12 : and take notice that the devils promised 
themselves a gratification most nearly resembling that which they had till now 
enjoyed, by being permitted to take up their abode in the bodies of the most filthy 
of animals ! 

32 And He said unto them, Go. 

Observe, that our Lord does not send the devils into the swine. He does but 
permit them to enter the herd of unclean creatures. 

And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine : 
and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place 
into the sea, and perished in the waters. 

Whether this was the intention of the devils, or not, does not appear. It may 
very well have been that the herd, — frenzied by the strange power which suddenly 
possessed them, — rushed over the cliff; unconscious that they were thereby defeat- 
ing the object of their invaders. But see the second note on St. Mark v. 13. 

If so it were, we should be reminded by this incident of the many occasions 
when the most bitter malice, and the most exceeding cunning, are found to have 
outwitted and over-reached themselves. Consider St. Matthew ii. 7, 8, &c. 

33, 34 And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the 
city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of 
the devils. And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus : and 
when they saw Him, they besought Him that He would depart out of 
their coasts. 

So true was that saying of the prophet, — " When we shall see Him, there is no 
beauty that we should desire Him V\d) 

What a picture is here presented to us ! The inhabitants of a whole city im- 
ploring the Saviour of the World to " depart out of their coasts!" Yet had He 
come among them as a Benefactor; and delivered them from a terrible pest, — 
namely, the presence of a whole legion(e) of devils ; whose violence was such, that 
" no man might pass that way," (ver. 28.) Thus He, whose baby-limbs were laid 
in a Manger, because there was no room for Him in the Inn :(f) — whose Infancy 
was nursed in Egypt, because the savage King of Judaea sought His Life: (g) — ■ 
who was forced to save Himself by flight, from the murderous hands of His own 
fellow-townsmen, (h) — and many a time was obliged to go from place to place in 
order to escape the violence of the very nation He came to save:(i) — who was at 
last betrayed by His Friend, — mocked, scourged, smitten, crowned with thorns, 
spitted on and Crucified : He, in the ordinary events of His every-day Life, expe- 
rienced nothing but neglect, unkindness, and ingratitude. He walked the earth's 
surface without a place "where to lay His head." (7c) Men, — "when they saw Him, 
— besought Him that He would depart out of their coasts." 

(c) St. Mark v. 13. (d) Isaiah liii. 2. (e) St. Mark v. 9. 

(/) St. Luke ii. 7. (g) St. Matth. ii. 13, 14. (h) St. Luke iv. 29, 30. 

' (i) St. John viii. 59: x. 31 and 39 : xi. 53, 54, &c. (k) See above ver. 20. 



VIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 81 



THE PKAYER. 

Grant, Lord, we beseech Thee, that the course of this World 
may be so peaceably ordered by Thy governance, that Thy Church 
may joyfully serve Thee in all godly quietness ; through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 



82 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER IX. 



2 Christ curing one sick oftlie palsy. 9 CaUetli Matthew from the receipt of cus- 
tom. 10 Eateth with Publicans and Sinners. 14 Defendeth His Disciples for 
not fasting. 20 Cureth the bloody issue. 23 Raiseth from death Jairus 1 daugh- 
ter. 27 Giveth sight to two blind men. 32 Healeth a dumb man possessed of a 
devil. 36 And hath compassion of the multitude. 

1 And He entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into His 
own City. 

Our Blessed Lord, having wrought the great miracle in the country of the Gerge- 
senes, (described in the former chapter,) entered again into the ship, and crossed 
over to the Western shore of the Lake. 

"He who measures the waters in the hollow of His hand, and commands 
them," (a) says Leighton, " is ferried over in some "boat or small vessel !" 

"His own Country" was Nazareth: (b) "His own City" was Capernaum. See 
St. Mark ii. 1. — One of the ancients remarks beautifully, — " The Creator of all 
things, the Lord of the World, when He had, for our sakes, straitened Himself in 
the bonds of our flesh, — began to have His own country, as a man ; began to be a 
citizen of Judaea, and to have Parents, (though Himself be Parent of all!) in order 
that Affection might attach to Him those whom Fear had separated." 

A most interesting narrative follows, — the cure of the Paralytic, borne of four. 
St. Matthew, however, relates this miracle so concisely, that his narrative would 
be scarcely intelligible without the help of the next two Evangelists. The reader 
is accordingly referred to St. Mark's Gospel, — chap. ii. 1 to 12 ; and to St. Luke y. 
17 to 26, and to the notes on both places, for further information concerning this 
miracle. 

2 And, behold, they brought to Him a man sick of the palsy, 
The reader is referred to a long note on St. Mark ii. 3. 

lying on a bed. 

But St. Mark(c) and St Luke(tf) furnish many more particulars; as, that "they 
sought means to bring him in, and lay him before Him. And when they could not 
find by what way they might bring him in, because of the multitude, they went 
upon the housetop, and uncovered the roof where He was : and when they had 
broken it up, they let him down through the tiling, with his couch, into the midst 
before Jesus." This was indeed a surprising act : wherefore the Evangelist pro- 
ceeds, — 

And Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy ; Son, 
be of good cheer ; thy sins be forgiven thee. 

(a) St. Matthew viii. 26. (b) Compare St. Luke iv. 16 and 23, 24. 

(c) St. Mark ii. 4. (d) St. Luke v. 19. 



IX.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 83 



The reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark ii. 5. 

" It is needless," says Leighton, "to dispute whether one may be benefited by 
another's Faith. Surely, much may be done by it. Thus, it may bring, and pre- 
sent a person ; may recommend, may pray for him ; and may be respected in the 
grant of Mercy, — not only in things temporal, but in spiritual matters also. 
And yet ' The Just' lives only by his own Faith ,(e) — which Faith, no doubt, this 
poor man had. For the word ' their' excludes not, but rather includes, the sick 
man's, — who, no doubt, consented to the course they were pursuing, and shared 
their confidence." 

3 And, behold, certain of the Scribes said within themselves, This 
man blasphemeth. 

St. Matthew tells us not what Scribes these were. To understand the Evangel- 
ist's meaning, see St. Mark ii. 6 : but St. Luke it is, — v. 17, — who makes the mat- 
ter clearest of all. 

" It is good," says Leighton, " to be in believing people's company.(/) Another 
person, a city, a society, may fare the better for the faith of an Individual. {g) 
Often, one who prays in a family, averts judgments, and draws down blessings 
upon the whole."(/i) 

See the notes on St. Mark ii. 5, 6, and 7. 

4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil 
in your hearts ? 

"This," says Leighton, " without anything further, was enough to prove His 
Divine power. Oh, that this truth were ever before us, that all our thoughts are 
under His eye ! If we knew that they were under the eye of some grave, wise 
man, — how wary and choice should we be of them ! And shall we have less regard 
to our holiest and wisest Lord, — to whom they are all naked and open?" 

" Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts ?" — " There was no reason in the thing ; 
but the truth was, — their hearts were evil ; and so was everything which came out 
of them. An evil heart is an incessant forge of evil thoughts .... Hence, that 
excellent advice of Solomon, ' Keep thy heart with all diligence.'(f) To amend 
some evil customs, without the renewing of the heart, is but to lop the branches 
that will grow again. But a holy heart meditates on holy things ; is still in 
Heaven; is all reverence towards God, — all meekness and Charity towards man." 

See the notes on St. Mark ii. 8. 

5 For whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee ; or to say, 
Arise, and walk ? 

That is, — Which of the two is the safer thing to say ? Which claim is more 
easily set up ; — the power to forgive Sin, — or the power to restore yonder palsied 
body to strength and motion ? 

6 But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on Earth 
to forgive sins, (then saith He to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up 
thy bed, and go unto thine house. 

" Power on Earth," as opposed to " Power in Heaven." See the note on St. 
Mark ii. 10. 

Thereby our Saviour proved the reality of His Miracle, taking away from His 
enemies all pretence that it was any illusion. He also thereby showed them that 
He had not only healed this poor sufferer, but had given him strength as well. But 
the deepest truth He showed, and that which it most concerns us to observe, was, 
that He hath power not only to turn away souls from sin ; but to give them strength 

(e) Habakkuk ii. 4,— quoted by St. Paul three times : Eom. i. 17; Gal. iii. 11; Heb. x. 38. 
(/) Compare Genesis xviii. 32. \g) See the notes on the first part of St. Luke v. 6. 

(h) See St. James v. 16 — and, the places referred to in the margin of a reference Bible. 
(t) Prov. iv. 23. (k) Psalm cxix. 32. 



84 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

afterwards to walk in the way of His Law. " I will run the way of Thy Com- 
mandments," says the Psalmist, — "when Thou hast set my heart at liberty. ,: '(k) 

7 And he arose, and departed to his house. 

Our Lord proves what is invisible "by what is visible. So he ever doth ! He ex- 
plains what is hard indeed, by what is comparatively easy. And yet, His enemies, 
in their folly, think that He is doing the very contrary of this. — See the note on 
St. Mark ii. 9. 

8 But when the multitude saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, 
which had given such power unto men. 

The Header is referred to the notes on St. Mark ii. 11, 13. 

9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named 
Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom : 

"He staid no long time upon Earth, but He lost no part of that time. Every step, 
to us is a wonder of Goodness ! And here is a cure which the Evangelist relates 
as done upon himself, which was not less, if not more wonderful than that per- 
formed upon the paralytic man : done as easily and quickly, and by the same 
means, — a word spoken \" 

" A man named Matthew." How humble and simple a way of speaking of him- 
self! . . . Take notice, that the other Evangelists(Z) call him Levi, — as the more 
honorable appellation, by which he was known to his brethren of the common- 
wealth of Israel. Observe also, that He who " saw .... Simon called Peter, and 
Andrew his brother ;" " and, going on from thence, saw other two brethren ;"(m) — 
who also "saio" Nathaniel sitting under the ng~tree,(?j) now "saw a man named 
Matthew;" and called him. "He spies us out," says a good man, "when we 
think of nothing less." Notice the language of St. Luke xxi. 2. 

and He saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him. 

So simply does St. Matthew relate his own call to Apostleship ! He has reserved 
the account till now, in order that he may relate it in connection with the Feast 
which he made to his Divine Master; but, in reality, it happened long before. 
The Twelve had all been called before the Sermon on the Mount, — as appears from 
St. Luke vi. 15, compared with ver. 20 of the same chapter. 

Concerning the call of St. Matthew, see more in the note on St. Mark ii. 14. 

The reader is further referred to a note on the latter part of St. Matthew iv. 21. 

The ancients are fond of reminding us that the Apostle and Evangelist was 
called from the receipt of custom to be entrusted with a more precious " pound," 
and ten more precious " talents." 

10 And it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house, 

"In the house:" — that is, St. Matthew's house; "the house" so well known to 
himself! It is thus that men ever speak of what is their own. Compare St. Mark 
i. 11, and see the note there. 

But St. Mark, fearing lest the Evangelist's meaning might not be understood, 
says, — " as Jesus sat at meat in his house ;"(o) and St. Luke, to put the matter out 
of all doubt, says, — " in his own house."(^>) 

behold, many Publicans and sinners came and sat down with Him 
and His Disciples. 

Concerning " publicans and sinners," — see the note on St. Mark ii. 15. To eat 
with such persons, was deemed a pollution; whence it follows, — 



k) Psalm cxix. 32. (0 St. Mark ii. 14, and St. Luke v. 27. 

») St. Matthew iv. 18, 21. (n) St. John i. 48. 

[o) St. Mark ii. 15. (j>) St. Luke v. 29. 



IX.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 85 

11, 12 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His Disciples, 
Why eateth your Master with Publicans and Sinners ? But when Jesus 
heard that, He said unto them, They that be whole need not a Physi- 
cian, but they that are sick. 

The Reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark ii. 16, 17, for some remarks on 
these words. 

13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have Mercy, and 
not Sacrifice : 

St. Matthew, addressing his Gospel especially to readers of his own nation, "brings 
forward many more citations of the Old Testament Scriptures than the other Evan- 
gelists. Consider chap. i. 23 : ii. 15, 23 : iv. 15, 16 : viii. 17, &c. — The place here 
quoted from Hosea vi. 6, is quoted again in chap. xii. 7 ; and is clearly not in- 
tended to disparage Sacrifice ; but only to exalt Mercy above it. It runs as fol- 
lows, — " I desired Mercy and not Sacrifice ; and the knowledge of God more than 
burnt oflermgs,' 7 (<?) — where the latter clause of the sentence explains the former. 
For (in the words of an old English Archbishop,) — " God does not condemn Sacri- 
fice, but Sacrifice without Mercy" .... This is one of the many places where 
the Law contains a foretaste of the Gospel. Such are also 1 Samuel xv. 22. Isaiah 
i. 11 to 17 : lviii. 4 to 7. Micah vi. 6 to 8, &c. 

Concerning the precept here conveyed, it has been well remarked by a good man, 
that — "multiplying external sacrifices is no proof of progress in holiness; but 
proficiency in Mercy, is always so." 

for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 

" Art thou an eminent sinner?" asks Leighton, "then come to Him, for He 
came to thee. It is such that He comes to seek. They are the very objects of His 
Grace. He had nothing else to do in the World, but to save such. He came on 
purpose for their sakes. His very Name tells it : ' He shall be called Jesus, for 
He shall save His people from their sins.'(r) Were it not strange if one should 
say, I am sick, very sick, therefore I will not address the Physician ? And to say, 
I am a sinner, and a great one, therefore I dare not go to the Saviour of sinners, — 
would be equally strange." 

"Not the righteous, but sinners:" and so, just before, "Not Sacrifice, but 
Mercy." Compare Proverbs viii. 10. Joel ii. 13. St. Mark ix. 37. St. Luke x. 
■20. St. John iii. 17 : v. 30 : vi. 27 : vii. 16 : ix. 3 : xii. 44, 47 : xiv. 24. Acts v. 
4. Komans ii. 13. 1 Cor. vii. 10. 1 St. John iii. 18. — In all these places, the 
meaning seems to be Not so much the one, as the other : Rather the one, than the 
other : Not only the one, but also the other. 

14 Then came to Him the Disciples of John, saying, Why do we 
and the Pharisees fast oft, but Thy Disciples fast not ? 

15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber 
mourn, as long as the Bridegroom is with them ? but the days will come, 
when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they 
fast. 

Take notice that our Lord here utters a great prophecy, — and makes one of the 
earliest allusions to His own approaching Death. 

See the notes on St. Mark ii. 18, 19, 20 ; also on St. Luke v. 35, for several re- 
marks on the preceding verses. 

16, 17 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, 
for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the 
rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles : 

(q) Hosea vi. 6. (r) St. Matthew i. 21. 



86 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish : 
but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. 

The reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark ii. 21, 22. Consider also St. Luke 
y. 39, and the note there. 

18 While He spake these things unto them, behold there came a 
cetain Ruler, 

St. Matthew relates the raising of Jairus' daughter more concisely, by far, than 
either St. Mark or St. Luke. For example, he tells us neither the name of the 
Father, — nor what kind of " Ruler" he was. He describes also, in the very briefest 
manner, the wondrous miracle which our Saviour performed by the way, on the 
Woman with the issue of blood, — verses 20 to 22. 

The Reader is therefore referred to the notes on St. Mark v. 22 to 43, for the re- 
marks which would be less conveniently offered here. See also the notes on St. 
Luke viii. 41 to 56. 

and worshipped Him, saying, My Daughter is even now dead : but 
come and lay Thy Hand upon her, and she shall live. 

Rather, — " My Daughter is by this time, dead ;" — " must be dead by this time." 
The Father had left his child in the very agony of death, — as the words of St. 
Mark v. 23, and the subsequent course of the History, (St. Mark v. 35,) clearly 
prove. 

19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did His Disciples. 

20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood 
twelve years, came behind Him, and touched the hem of His garment : 

"What is here called a " hem," (and is translated " border," in St. Luke viii. 44,) 
is called a "fringe" in Numbers xv. 38 and 39 ; — where the divine command is 
recorded, in virtue whereof this ornament was worn by members of the Jewish 
nation. See the place. It is probable that this afflicted creature laid her hand on 
the " ribband of blue" which edged the outer garment of the Saviour of the World, 
as considering that it possessed a peculiar sanctity. 

See the note on St. Matt, xxiii. 5. 

Observe, that the touch of such an one brought defilement ;(s) which may, partly, 
have been the cause of her timid approach. But see the notes on St. Mark i. 41, 
and on the last half of St. Luke v. 13. 

21 for she said within herself, If I may but touch His garment, I 
shall be whole. 

She believed with her heart : she confessed with her lips :(f) she touched with 
her hand. By Faith, — Word, — and Deed, Salvation is obtained. St. Mark relates, 
how immediate was her cure : — v. 29 to 32. 

22 But Jesus turned Him about, and when He saw her, He said, 
Daughter, be of good comfort ; thy faith hath made thee whole. And 
the woman was made whole from that hour. 

Which means not the hour when " Jesus turned Him about," — but the hour, or 
rather the instant, in which the afflicted woman touched His garment. 

The entire incident is related with surprising conciseness by the present Evan- 
gelist. The Reader has been already referred to the Gospels of St. Mark, — v. 22 
to 43 ; and St. Luke, — viii. 41 to 56. 



(s) Leviticus xv. 27 to 29. (t) Rom. x. 9 and 10. 



IX.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 87 



23 And when Jesus came into the Ruler's house, and saw the min- 
strels and the people making a noise, 

The house was full of hired niourners,(w) and pipers, who, according to the 
Jewish custom played mournful music, — as an expression of sorrow for the de- 
parted. There is an allusion to this in Jeremiah xlviii. 36. 

24 He said unto them, Give place : for the maid is not dead, but 
sleepeth. And they laughed Him to scorn. 

Our Saviour Christ thereby disarms Death of its terrors, reminding us that He 
is " the God of the living ; for all live unto Him."(#) 

See the note on St. Mark v. 39 ; and consider the following texts : 1 Thess. iv. 
13, 14, 15. 1 Cor. xv. 6, 51. 

25 But when the people were put forth, He went in, and took her 
by the hand, and the maid arose. 

By His three miraculous acts of raising the dead, our Blessed Lord displayed 
before men's eyes the Doctrine of the Resurrection : teaching at the same time, 
that Himself is " the Resurrection and the Life."(?/) 

It has been also supposed that He thereby mystically set forth the purpose of 
His coming ; which was, to raise up those who were dead in sins to a life of Right- 
eousness. And such, indeed, is the frequent language of the Spirit ; as when it 
is said, — " God, who is rich in Mercy, . . . when we were dead in sins, hath quick- 
ened us, . . . and raised us up. ;; (z) And again, — " Awake thou that sleepest, and 
arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. ;; («) Consider also such texts 
as the following, St. Matt. viii. 22. St. Luke xv. 24, 32. 1 Tim. v. 6. Coloss. ii. 

13. Rev. iii. 1, &c. 

It has been further pointed out, and with remarkable truth, that the three cases 
of raising the dead, recorded in the Gospels, aptly set forth three different condi- 
tions of the human soul, from which it may be raised by the quickening voice of 
Christ. It has either just sunk into Sin, — of which the present miracle would be 
typical : or its restoration may seem the more hopeless, from its having been 
already some time in that case, — of which the Widow of Nam's Son, on his way 
to burial, would be a lively figure ; — or it may be, to all appearance, hopelessly 
lost, — of which Lazarus, who had lain four days in the grave, would be the sad 
type. Consider St. John v. 24, 25 ; and the note on the latter verse. 

26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land. 

We are next presented with two mighty miracles, — indicative, alike, of the days 
of the Gospel ; concerning which, it has been said, — " Then the eyes of the blind 
shall be opened, .... and the tongue of the dumb shall sing."(&) — the former of 
these two miracles, — (whereby our Lord restored to sight two blind men in the 
House, — is peculiar to the present Gospel : and seems to have immediately fol- 
lowed the transaction last related. It is the first miracle performed on the blind, 
described in the Gospels ; — the others will be found in St. Matthew xii. 22 : xx. 30 
to 34 : St. Mark viii. 22 to 26 ; and St. John ix. 1 to 7. See also St. Matthew xxi. 

14. And take notice, that all such acts were but symbolical of the far higher pur- 
pose with which our Saviour came into the World, — namely, to open the eyes of 
them whom Sin had blinded ; and who, in a far deeper sense, are described in 
Scripture as walking in darkness, — sitting in the very shadow of Death. Consider 
the following texts: — Isaiah ix. 2: xlii. 7: xlix. 9. St. John ix. 39 ^o 41, &c. 

Ephes. v. 8, 14. Rev. iii. 17, 18 How fitting then, was it, that He who 

opened the eyes of the blind, should have been called — "The Light of the 
World l"(c) 

(u\ See the note on St. Mark v. 38. (x) St. Luke xx. 38. 

M St. John xi. 25. (s) Ephes. ii. 4, 5, 6. («) Ephes. v. 14. 

(6) Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6. (c) St. John viii. 12, &e. 



88 . A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed Him, 
crying, and saying, Thou Son of David have mercy on us. 

A cry which we make our own, daily, in the suffrages at the end of the Litany! 

The same appellation is found on the lips of the Woman of Canaan, in chap. xv. 
22; and it is heard from the two other blind men, at Jericho, in chap. xx. 30, 31: 
— a sufficient proof of the popular belief that "Christ cometh of the seed of Da- 
vid;"^) as well as of the conviction of these afflicted persons, that Jesus of Naza- 
reth was He. Compare chap. xii. 23: xxi. 9 and 15. Also i. 1. 

It seems, then, that these two persons followed our Saviour, with loud cries ; 
but that our Lord pursued His way to the House, as if regardless of their need. 
Compare with this our Lord's treatment of the woman of Canaan.(e) 

28 And when He was come into the house, the blind men came to 
Him: 

That is, they followed our Blessed Saviour into the house which he inhabited at 
Capernaum: mentioned in chap. xiii. 1, 36, &c: probably, Simon Peter's. Our 
Saviour wrought His miracles in all places, — in the street, and in the house ; amid 
festivity and beside the grave ; in crowds and before few persons ; in the Synagogue, 
and in the private chamber, — as if to remind us that we are in every place alike 
objects of His Love ; and may every where become the objects of His Mercy. 

Take notice, that these men had believed, by hearing only : for the Voice of 
Christ, and the report of Him, was all that could have reached them. They had 
seen no wonder wrought by His Hands, nor, as yet, beheld the Majesty of His 

Person. Their case, therefore, in some respects, resembles our own But 

"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."(jQ And how severe 
a reproof was administered by their Faith to the stiff-necked people who had so 
long beheld the Miracles of Christ in vain! 

and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this ? 
They said unto Him, Yea, Lord. 

Not that our Lord required this assurance. "He needed not that any should 
testify of men : for he knew what was in Man."(#) But he asked the question, in 
order to draw from the blind men a confession of their Faith ; "for with the heart, 
man believeth unto righteousness: and with the mouth, confession is made unto 
Salvation/' Qi) Perhaps, also, this may have been done for the sake of some who 
were' present. See the note on St. Mark v. 9 ; and on the latter part of ver. 30. 

29 Then touched He their eyes, saying, According to your faith be 
it unto you. 

The result proved their faith to be perfectly earnest and sincere, And let it here 
once more be noted that the measure of Faith is ever the measure of Blessedness. 
Strange to say, it is this only which prescribes a limit to Divine Love ! Compare 
St. Matthew xiii. 58, with St. Mark vi. 5 ; and consider Acts xiv. 9. See also the 
first note on the last part of St. Matth. viii. 3. 

Our Lord's action on this occasion, was repeated in the case of the two blind 
men at Jericho ;{i) while His words closely resemble those which He addressed to 
the Centurion at Capernaum, — chap. viii. 13 ; where see the note. 

30 And their eyes were opened ; 

"I will give Thee," saith Almighty God, "to open the blind eyes; to bring our 
the prisoners from the prison ; and them that sit in darkness, out of the prison- 
house."(7<0 Compare the last words of Isaiah lxi. 1, with the last words of St. 
Luke iv. 18. 

(d) St. John vii. 42. (e) St. Matthew xv. 22, 23, compared with St. Mark vii. 24. 

(/) St. John xx. 29. (g) St. John ii. 25. (h) Romans x. 10. 

(i) St. Matthew xx. 34. (k) Isaiah xiii. 7. 



IX.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 89 

And Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. 

With the injunction which our Lord proceeded to deliver, compare what He said 
to the Leper, in St. Mark i. 44: and to the deaf man with an impediment in his 
speech, in St. Mark vii. 36. See also the first note on St. Matthew viii. 4 ; and the 
notes on St. Mark i. 44, 45. 

Holy Scripture is wondrous brief at all times. To fill up the sketch is ever left 
for ourselves. Do but think of the wondrous scene which must have followed an 
incident like this ! The men, — rewarded for their Faith to the utmost extent of 
their desires, — suddenly find themselves face to face with their Benefactor. What 
must have been their surprise, their joy, their gratitude, their awe! "I have heard 
of Thee" (say they) "with the hearing of the ear; but now, — mine eye seeth 
Thee !"(0 

The rapture of prisoners set free from a gloomy prison-house, must have been 
theirs : and it seems to have been excessive, — for see the next verse, and the note 
upon it. 

31 But they, when they were departed, spread abroad His fame in 
all that country. 

There had been perfect Faith, therefore; but there was not perfect Obedience. 
The consequence here described is found to have also ensued upon all occasions 
referred to in the foregoing note : and yet, from the remarkable word which the 
Evangelist uses, (and which we translate "straitly charged,") it would appear that 
these men were violating a most earnest, emphatic command. The word recurs in 
St. Mark xiv. 5, and St. John xi. 33, 38. 

It had been foretold by the Prophet, that, in the days of Messiah, not only should 
"the eyes of the blind be opened/ 7 but "the tongue of the dumb should sing."(w) 
A miracle performed on a dumb person comes next. 

32 As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a dumb man 
possessed with a devil. 

Observe how closely this miracle follows on the heels of the other. A bloody 
issue, — Death, — blind eyes, — and dumb lips : what an assemblage of marvels, in 
close succession, does one short chapter contain! 

The present appears to have been a very extraordinary display of Almighty 
Power: but it is recorded with singular brevity. Observe that the sufferer was 
"brought" to Christ. He was possessed by what is called in St. Mark ix. 17, "a 
dumb 



33 And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake : and the mul- 
titude marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. 

It would appear, from this mention of the multitudes, that our Saviour did not 
work this miracle, like the preceding, privately, and in the House. 

We read here of no questioning on the part of our Lord: no act of Faith on the 
part of the sufferer. The Great Physician simply heals the afflicted person whom 
another brings. And it is because the man was the sport of an evil spirit's 
malice, — who had bound up his will, and left him scarcely, (if at all,) responsible 
for his actions. — The same course was pursued by our Lord on all similar occasions. 

34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the Prince 
of devils. 

We shall find the same blasphemous charge brought against our Lord, and by 
the same persons, in chap. xii. 24, — on the occasion of His casting out the devil 
from the man possessed, blind and dumb. See the note on St. Mark iii. 22. 

Observe the last resource of unbelief. As long as the Pharisees can deny our 
Lord's, miracles, they do so. See St. John ix. 18. When denial is simply impos- 

(l) Job xlii. 5. (m) Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6. 



90 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

sible, they set about explaining them away. And do we not witness the same thing 
at the present day among ourselves ? 

35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their 
synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing 
every sickness and every disease among the people. 

Thus briefly, once more, does the Evangelist describe our Lord's second great 
Ministerial Journey ! — He repeats almost the very words which he had used to 
describe the former one, — in chap. iv. 23 ; whither the reader is referred. 

The Shepherd and Bishop of Souls thus went after "the lost sheep of the House 
of Israel." A warning to us, that we also must "go about," — go after that which 
has gone astray, and seek to recover that which is lost. 

St. Peter, summing up in a single sentence the History of our Saviour's Life, 
uses words admirably descriptive of what is intimated in this place: namely, — 
"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power: 
who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil ; for 
God was with Him."(w) 

36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion 
on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep 
having no Shepherd. 

Marvellous is the constancy of Holy Scripture. This image will be found to 
recur in Numbers xxvii. 17 : 1 Kings xxii. 17 : Jeremiah xxiii. 1 to 4, and 1. 6 : 
Ezekiel xxxiv. 5, 6, &c. . . These poor sheep, who had followed our Blessed Lord 
on the occasion mentioned in the last verse, were still hanging on the Divine foot- 
steps of their Benefactor ; exhausted in body, and scattered from their homes. 

37 Then saith He unto His Disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, 
but the labourers are few ; 

Compare St. John iv. 35, and the note there. 

38 pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest, that He will send 
forth labourers into His Harvest. 

This, in effect, we do daily, when we say "Thy Kingdom come." — Compare St. 
Matthew xiii. 30. 

Verses 37, 38 of this Gospel, — which describe what our Lord said, on sending 
forth His Twelve Apostles to preach, — recur, word for word, in St. Luke x. 2 ; and 
are found to have been spoken also at the sending out of the Seventy Disciples. 



THE PRAYER. 

ALMIGHTY God, we beseech Thee graciously to behold this Thy 
Family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be 
betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer 
death upon the Cross ; who now liveth and reigneth with Thee and the 
Holy Ghost, ever one God, World without end. Amen. 

(») Acts. x. 38. 



X.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 91 



CHAPTER X. 



1 Christ sendeth out His twelve Apostles, enabling them with power to do miracles. 
5 Giveth them their Charge, teacheth them. 16 Comforteth them against persecutions. 
40 And promiseth a blessing to those that receive them. 

1 And when He had called unto Him His twelve Disciples, He gave 
them power against unclean Spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all 
manner of sickness and all manner of disease. 

The concluding verses of the preceding chapter(a) prepare the Reader for this 
famous incident, — namely, the first sending forth of the Twelve Apostles, armed 
with miraculous powers which had been immediately delegated to them by their 
Lord. St. Matthew, because he had not yet given their names, proceeds to recount 
them. The Reader is requested to refer to what has been already remarked on this 
subject in the note on St. Mark iii. 14, 15. 



2, 3, 4 Now the names of the twelve Apostles are these ; the first, 
Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother ; James the son 
of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, 
and Matthew the publican ; James, the son of Alphseus, and Lebbagus, 
whose surname was Thaddseus ; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Isca- 
riot, who also betrayed Him. 

It seems needless to add anything in this place, to what has been already offered 
at some length, concerning these Twelve great names, in the notes upon St. Mark's 
Gospel, — chap. iii. 16 to 19. No attentive reader can fail to be struck by the pre- 
ference which St. Matthew here gives to his brother- Apostle St. Thomas, (whom he 
names before himself;) or the humility which led him to attach to his own name a 
record of the reproachful calling which he had once pursued, — "Matthew the Pub- 
lican." Concerning the three names of chief difficulty, Lebbseus or Thaddaeus, 
(who was Jude, our Saviour's cousin,) — James the son of Alphseus, — and Simon 
the Cananite, (incorrectly written "the Canaanite,") it must suffice to refer to 
another part of this Commentary. (6) 

St. Mark relates that the Twelve were sent forth "by two and two."(c) St. 
Matthew accordingly will be found to enumerate the Apostles in pairs. Does he 
perchance thereby inform us which of them were companions? It seems probable; 
for the brothers are mentioned together; and Philip's name is linked with that of 
his beloved Nathanael. Simon the Zealot, be it observed, is the companion of one 
to whom his own warm spirit failed to communicate life and heat, and for whom it 
would have been good if he had never been born.(d) 

5, 6 These twelve, Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, 
Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samari- 

(a) St. Matthew ix. 36 to 38. (b) See St. Mark iii. 16 to 19. 

(c) St. Mark vi. 7. (d) St. Matthew xxvi. 24. 



92 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

tans enter ye not : but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of 
Israel. 

So begins our Lord's first Charge to the Twelve ; which St. Matthew here gives 
far more fully than either St. Mark(e) or St. Luke.(/') The offer of Salvation was 
to be made first to the Jews. To them alone had our Lord been sent ; as He Him- 
self declared in language which strongly recalls the present, when a Woman of 
Canaan implored His Mercy.(^) \If sometimes those who were aliens from the 
Commonwealth of Israel pressed forward, and, — like the Woman just noticed, or 
like the Centurion of Capernaum, — in reward of their Faith, succeeded in carrying 
away a blessing, such cases form a rare exception to the rule which God's Provi- 
dence had laid down ; and in conformity with which the Disciples are found to 
have acted even after our Lord's Ascension. The notices of their practice in this 
respect are frequent and interesting. (h) Then, however, their Commission was, — 
"Go, teach all Nations /"(i) 

Samaria, though lying in the very heart of Palestine, is yet reckoned with "the 
Gentiles ;" having been peopled chiefly by the " strange nations" of the East whom 
the Assyrian King Shalmaneser transplanted into the country, after the carrying 
away of the Ten Tribes. (&) Its inhabitants were accordingly termed " Strangers." {I) 
Shortly after our Lord's Ascension, however, it " received the Word of God" by 
the preaching of Philip the Deacon ; whereupon " the Apostles which were at 
Jerusalem sent unto them Peter and John."(m) "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me," 
(said Christ to His Apostles, after His Resurrection,) " both in Jerusalem, and in 
all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (n) 

7 And as ye go, preach, saying, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 

Take notice that this, which had been the Baptist's message, (o) and our Sa- 
viour's also,(^>) became now, in turn, the message of the Twelve. How secretly 
and silently, — how suddenly too, and in what an unlooked for manner, — did this 
offer of the Kingdom come to all ! How entirely was the appeal made to the ear 
of Faith, when those six pair of Holy Brethren, — armed with supernatural powers 
indeed, yet rude of speech, and poorly clad, — made their first circuit of the Towns 
of Galilee! They carried no promises, either of present Glory or of future Con- 
quest; — held out no soothing hopes, either of earthly Prosperity, or of temporal 
Abundance ; but preached Repentance and Amendment of Life, — and the actual 
Advent of Messiah ; — told of a cross to be borne, and a crown to be won ; but 
pointed for the fulfillment of all God's promises to a period yet future ; with trem- 
bling hands, guided the eyes which would see the King in His Beauty, to the Land 
which is very far off. (q) 

In the mean time, it is discovered that their Lord, in His Wisdom, had im- 
parted to His Disciples as yet but a very partial view of the nature of that King- 
dom which He sent them forth to proclaim. Nay, at a much later period, we find 
Him delivering a parable " because they thought that the Kingdom of God should 
immediately appear."(r) They clung to the notion of a glorious temporal King- 
dom, and to the Beign of Messiah here on Earth, to the very last.(s) This ex- 
pectation lay at the root of the question which four of their number put to our 
Saviour on the Mount of Olives ;(t) and even after the Resurrection, they are 
found to inquire, — " Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to 
Israel ?"(w) 

From all which, it is plain that these great Saints enjoyed, at first, no supernatu- 
ral light; were endued with no extraordinary powers of spiritual vision. God 
dealt with them as He deals with ourselves. Their advantages were even, (in a 
manner,) less than our own ; for they had to accustom themselves by slow degrees 
to the glories of the Gospel. As men who have lived long in darkness cannot at 

(e) St. Mark vi. 8 to 11. (/ ) St. Luke ix. 3 to 5. (g) St. Matthew xv. 24. 

\h) Acts ii. 39 : xi. 19 : xiii. 46 : xviii. 6. (t) St. Matthew xxviii. 19. 

\k) 2 Kings xvii. 6, 24; concerning the Samaritans, see more in the notes on St. John iv. 

\l ) St. Luke xvii. 16, 18. (m) Acts viii. 5 and 14. (n) Acts i. 8. 

(o) St. Matthew iii. 2. (p) St. Matthew iv. 17. (q) Isaiah xxxiii. 17. 

\r) St. Luke xix. 11. (s) See St, Matthew xx. 21: St. Mark x. 37. 

(t) St. Matthew xxiv. 3. (u) Acts i. 6. 



X.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 93 

once distinguish objects when they are brought into the Light, even so it seems to 
have fared with them. With such a limited conception of their Divine Master's 
meaning, then, did the Twelve receive His command to " preach, saying, The King- 
dom of Heaven is at hand." 

8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils : 
freely ye have received, freely give. 

God had always armed those whom He sent forth on such a service, with miracu- 
lous powers, — as a token and witness of their Divine Commission. The Eternal 
Son proves those powers to be inherent in Himself, as God, by communicating 
them to whom He will : to the Twelve Apostles, in this place ; to the Seventy Dis- 
ciples, in another.(x) The gifts of healing which He delegated to the Twelve were 
symbolical of their spiritual function ; in the exercise of which, He here warns 
them against the seductions of covetousness.(?/) As they had received from Him, 
" without money and without price," so were they commanded to impart to others 
without stint, and without fee. And Judas was one of those on whose ears the 
words of this caution fell ! 

9, 10 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor 
scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves : 
for the workman is worthy of his meat. 

Instead of shoes they were to wear sandals. (z) A single staff they might bear 
in their hands, (a) — but another might not be carried in reserve. In which direc- 
tions, who sees not that there is something of deep and mysterious import ? A pro- 
vision of bread in the scrip, or wallet, was likewise forbidden, — "for" (says our 
Lord,) " the Workman is worthy of his meat." Nor might any provision of mo- 
ney be carried in the purse ; and thereby He ordained (as St. Paul assures us,) 
" that they which preach the Gospel, should live of the Gospel. ;; (6) 

This last sanction, the Church holds to be of abiding weight and efficacy. Shall 
then the former precepts be regarded as abrogated in their spirit, as well as in their 
letter? Doubtless our Saviour's Charge to the first Preachers of His Gospel, — 
over and above its literal and symbolical teaching to the men of that generation, 
and the individuals to whom it was originally addressed, — must be understood to 
convey to so many as shall ever enter His service, a perpetual warning against 
Covetousness, Luxury, and Worldly Anxiety. 

11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in 
it is worthy : and there abide till ye go thence. 

Which proves that the miraculous powers with which they were endowed, were 
limited. They cannot discern who is worthy, by any spiritual faculty of their 
own ; but must make inquiry, as ordinary travellers do. 

12 And when ye come into an house, salute it. 

Probably, with the salutation, — " Peace be to this house \" as in St. Luke x. 5 ; 
which explains the meaning of the words which follow : — 

13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it : but 
if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 

Take notice how those words of Christian salutation are spoken of as carrying 
with them a reality of blessedness. The word must prosper in the thing whereto 
it is sent ; or, (like the dove sent forth too soon from the Ark,) must return — 
void.(c) 

(x) St. Luke x. 19. (y) Compare Exodus xviii. 21. (z) St. Mark vi 9. 

(a) St. Mark vi. 8. (b) 1 Cor. ix. 14 

(c) Isaiah lv. 11 ; compare for the expression, Psalm xxxv. 13. 



94 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

14, 15 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, 
when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your 
feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of 
Sodom and Gomorrha in the Day of Judgment, than for that City. 

We find St. Paul and Barnabas fulfilling this command, at Antiochin Pisidia,(dT) 
when the people of that city expelled them out of their coasts. To " shake off the 
dust of the feet" seems clearly an emblematic act; showing that God would, 
in like manner, reject the persons who did such things. And the dust was "a 

witness of the toil of the journey which the preachers had sustained." 

"Doubtless," says one, "the higher a people rise, under the means of grace, the 
lower they fall if they miscarry." 

From this place, to the end of the chapter, is one continuous prophecy of the 
dangers and hardships to which the first preachers of the Gospel were to be exposed; 
mingled, however, with words of unearthly counsel, and comfort, — with wondrous 
promises of support, and most precious assurances of Love. By foretelling the 
evils which were to befall them, their Divine Master both convinced them of His 
knowledge of the future, and prepared them to encounter it with fortitude, as well 
as to meet it without surprise. It is observable, however, (from the tenor of verses 
17, 18, 23, &c.) that our Lord's prediction, in this place, of what was to befall His 
Disciples, looks forward many years. Compare verses 17 to 22, and verse 30, with 
St. Luke xxi. 12 to 17, and verse 18: take note that the latter passage has refer- 
ence to events subsequent to the Ascension ; and then consider how the words of 
the Divine Speaker even seem to stretch out beyond the present, to embrace the 
remote future in their wondrous span ! 

16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : be ye 
therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 

Sheep and Wolves, — the Serpent and the Dove : these are constant types in Holy 
Scripture of meekness and rapacity, (e) — of subtlety (f) and innocence 1(g) But 
it concerns us most to notice how pointed is the command, in this place, that Chris- 
tian men should combine a cautious and wary course of action, with perfect inno- 
cence of life and manner : for "here," (as a good man has written,) " are the two 
arms defensive of a Christian : Prudence against the evils of men, — Innocence 
against the arts of the Devil, and all that relates to his Kingdom." Christian Pru- 
dence, therefore, and Christian Simplicity, are to be the weapons of our warfare. 

" When you can avoid it, suffer not men to ride over your heads, or trample you 
under foot: that is the wisdom of Serpents. And so must we ; that is, by all just 
compliances, and toleration of indifferent changes in which a duty is not destroyed, 
and in which we are not active, so preserve ourselves, that we might be permitted 
to live, and serve God, and to do advantages to religion ; so, purchasing time to do 
good in ... . And this is the direct meaning of St. Paul, — ' See then that ye 
walk circumspectly, not, as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days 
are evil :'(h) that is, purchase as much respite as you can ; buy or 'redeem the time/ 
by all honest arts."(i) St. Paul himself practised what he here recommends, when 
he divided his judges, (who were partly Sadducees, partly Pharisees,) by proclaim- 
ing himself to belong to the latter sect :(k) also, when he appealed unto Caesar. (I) 
Bishop Taylor, whose words have been just now quoted, has left five sermons on 
this text : in the first three of which he enumerates the several points of Christian 
Prudence ; in the last three, of Christian Simplicity. 

17, 18 But beware of men : for they will deliver you up to the coun- 
cils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues ; and ye shall be 

Id) Acts xiii. 51. 

U) Isaiah xi. 6: lxv. 25. St. Matthew vii. 15. St. John x. 12. Acts xx. 29. 
(/) Genesis iii. 1. (g) St. Luke iii. 22. 

(h) Ephes. v. 15, 16; with which compare by all means Coloss. iv. 5: "Walk in wisdom to- 
ward them that are without, redeeming the time." 

^i) Bishop Taylor. (k) Acts xxiii. 6. (I) Acts xxv. 11. 



X.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 95 

brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against 
them and the Gentiles. 

Kather, " in order that you may bear testimony before them." 

19, 20 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what 
ye shall speak : for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye 
shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father 
which speaketh in you. 

It is easy to imagine the fame which words like these must have acquired in the 
early ages of the Church: how precious they must have been to every one who 
went forth to preach the Gospel of Christ, and with what jealousy they must have 
been regarded by as many as opposed themselves to the Divine message. St. Paul 
has left us a striking confirmation of this remark in his Epistle to the Corinthians, 
who, (he informs us,) "sought a proof of CHRIST speaking in liim.{m) "His 
letters," they said, " are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, 
and his speech contemptible."(w) 

21 And the Brother shall deliver up the Brother to death, and the 
Father the Child : and the Children shall rise up against their Parents, 
and cause them to be put to death. 

" "Wrongs which we suffer from strangers," (says a very old writer,) " pain us 
less than those we suffer from men on whose affections we had counted ; for be- 
sides the bodily affliction, there is then the pain of lost affection." " This," (adds 
another,) "we often see in persecutions; nor is there any true affection between 
those whose faith is different." 

22 And ye shall be hated of all men for My Name's sake : but he 
that endureth to the end shall be saved. 

" For Virtue is not to begin, but to complete :" " and the reward is not for those 
that begin, but for those that bring to an end." So far, two ancient writers. The 
importance attached in Holy Scripture to perfect works, — perseverance till " it is 
finished," — to endurance to the end, — is far greater than might be supposed by 
those who have never attended to the circumstance. 

23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another : 
for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of 
Israel, till the Son of Man be come. 

In conformity with this precept, we find St. Paul escaping from Damascus to 
Jerusalem ;(o) and again flying from Iconium to Lystra.(^)) Our Blessed Lord 
illustrated His precept by His example when He retired from Nazareth to Caper- 
naum;^) and from one village of Samaria to another ;(r) and again, when He 
withdrew to a city called Ephraim, bordering on the wilderness. is) Consider also 
St. John viii. 59, and x. 39, 40. 

The concluding words of the present verse are somewhat more difficult. Let it 
be observed, however, that it is safest always to interpret the " Coming of the Son 
of Man" of the Final Advent of Christ to Judgment \(t) and then, it will appear 
that our Lord's words in this place amount to a prophecy that after the Gospel has 
been preached to the Gentiles, and before the ancient people of God have been en- 
tirely reclaimed to the Gospel, the end of the "World will arrive. 

24, 25 The Disciple is not above Ms Master, nor the Servant above 

(m) 2 Cor. xiii. 3. (n) 2 Cor. x. 10. (o) Acts ix. 25. (p) Acts. xiv. 6 

(q) St. Luke iv. 28 to 31. (r) St. Luke ix. 51 to 56. (a) St. John xi. 53, 54. 
(t) As in St. Matthew xvi. 27: xxiv. 27: xxvi. 64. See however the notes on St. Matthew 
xvi. 28, and St. John xxi. 22. 



96 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

his Lord. It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master, and 
the Servant as his Lord. If they have called the Master of the House 
Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household ! 

It will be remembered that " The Master of the House" was thus blasphemously- 
addressed in St. Matthew xii. 24 : also in St. Matthew ix. 34.(zt) One, at least, of 
His household is known from the sacred record to have shared his Master's re- 
proach ; namely, St. John Baptist. See St. Luke vii. 33, and the note there. 

The next eight verses are found to recur in quite a different connection in St. 
Luke's Gospel, — xii. 2 to 9 : affording one of the many striking proofs which, the 
Gospels contain that the same sayings were for ever heard from the lips of our 
Saviour. Here, they are addressed to the Twelve Apostles ; there, they are clearly 
addressed to a multitude : and it should not escape our notice that even in the first 
instance, the mode of expression is such that it is equally applicable to all Believ- 
ers, — may be made the common property of all ranks of men, alike. 

26 Fear them not therefore : for there is nothing covered, that shall 
not be revealed ; and hid, that shall not be known. 

This seems to be a proverbial saying ; which conveys, (and is doubtless meant 
to convey,) many meanings. As it stands, it most likely implies the same thing 
which the Psalmist expresses in a certain place : " Commit thy way unto the Lord ; 
trust also in Him ; and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy 
Kighteousness as the Light, and thy judgment as the noon-day ."(x) St. Paul, if 
he does not actually allude to the words of our Saviour, seems to supply an admi- 
rable commentary upon them, when, (after declaring himself and Apollos to be 
" Ministers of Christ, and Stewards of the mysteries of God/') he warns the Co- 
rinthians against judging him " before the time, until the Lord come, — who both 
will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and toill make manifest the counsels 
of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise of God."(?/) 

27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light : and what 
ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 

This is said with obvious reference to the style of building in Judsea, where "the 
housetop" afforded a convenient place for such an act as our Lord describes :(z) 
and there may be an allusion to the practice of the Jewish Teachers, who are said 
to have dictated softly in the ear what an Interpreter immediately after delivered 
aloud. But the general teaching of the place seems to be, that whatsoever the 
Apostles had conveyed to themselves under a figure, that they were without a figure 
to preach to all : what they had been taught secretly, that they were openly to 
proclaim : what they had heard in a corner of Judsea, that they were to make 
known all over the world. 

28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill 
the soul : 

" He does not hold out to them deliverance from death," (says an ancient Arch- 
bishop,) "but encourages them to despise it; which is a much greater thing than 
to be rescued from death. Thus did this discourse of our Lord aid in fixing in 
their minds the doctrine of Immortality." 

but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in 
Hell. 

" This cannot be," (as an ancient Father remarks,) " before the soul is so joined 
to the body, that nothing may sever them. Yet is it rightly called the death of 
the soul, because it then does not live of God : and the death of the body, because 
though man does not cease to feel, yet because this his feeling has neither pleasure, 

See also St. John vii. 20 : viii. 48, 52 : x. 20. (x) Psalm xxxvii. 5, 6. 

1 Cor. iv. 5. (») See the note on St. Luke v. 19. 



X.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 97 



nor health, but is a pain and a punishment, it is better named death than life." 
Take notice, however, that at the end of the verse, a different word is employed 
from that which was used in the beginning of it. In Hell, the body is not "killed." 
Our Lord speaks of "the second death" (a) as a continued destroying of the body 
and the soul. It is " everlasting destruction ;"(&) — as St. Paul, in a certain place, 
speaks. See the note on St. Mark ix. 48. 

The statement which follows proclaims a truth unsuspected by the heathen 
world. 

29, 30 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? and one of them 
shall not fall to the ground without your Father. But the very hairs 
of your head are all numbered. 

Our ears, — our lips, it may be, — are familiar with these wondrous declarations 
of our Saviour respecting the minuteness of His Providence ; yet may it well be 
suspected that very few are at the pains to realize His words in their daily lives. 
Strange, that a statement which invests every minute event with dignity and im- 
portance should affect men so little ! It has been truly observed by a living writer, 
that — "not till belief in these declarations, in their most literal sense, becomes the 
calm and settled habit of the soul, is Life ever redeemed from drudgery and dreary 
emptiness ; and made full of interest, meaning, and Divine significance." 

31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many spar- 
rows. 

Should not our hearts assume the posture of reverent attention, as often as the 
Author of Creation is pleased to make any revelation, — to present us with any 
comment, — on the mysterious beings which surround us ; those irrational creatures 
of His, concerning which so little is known, because so little has been revealed ? 
Compare this place with St. Matthew vi. 26, and xii. 12. 

32 Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I con- 
fess also before My Father which is in Heaven. 

Whereon a famous Bishop remarks, — "True indeed it is that the great promises 
of the Gospel are made unto Faith ; and glorious things are spoken of it. But the 
same promises are made to the Confession of Faith together with it."(c) For it is 
"with the mouth that confession is made unto salvation/ ; (cZ) 

Nor must men confess Him with their lips only, but in their lives ; in deed as 
well as in word. The Apostle, speaking of some in his days, remarks — " they pro- 
fess that they know God ; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and 
disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate :"(e) and our Lord has spoken 
most clearly and solemnly concerning the fate of those who do such things. (/) 
They, on the contrary, who confess Christ as plainly to show that they firmly be- 
lieve in Him as their Saviour, their Mediator, and their Advocate, enjoy the benefit 
of that Intercession which He is declared to be eternally making for those who 
come unto God by Him.(^) He confesses them before the Father, — confesses that 
they belong to Him; and, (as He has Himself solemnly spoken,) — "I pray for 
ihem.'Xh) 

33 But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny 
before My Father which is in Heaven. 

To which words of our Saviour Christ, St. Paul clearly refers in his second 
Epistle to Timothy : " If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him ; if we deny Him, 
He also will deny us."(i) 

34 Think not that I am come to send peace on Earth: I came not 
to send peace, but a sword. 



(a) Rev. xxi. 8. (b) 2 Thess. i. 9. (c) Bp. Pearson. 

(d) Romans x. 10. (e) Titus i. 16. (/) St. Matt, vii 

(g) Hebrews vii. 25. . {h) St. John xvii. 9. (i) 2 Tim. ii. 12. 



98 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Our Lord speaks not of the intention with which He came into the world ; for, 
" on Earth Peace" was the song of the Angels on the Night of His Nativity: nay, 
the Apostles, (" shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace,") (k) were in- 
structed, as we have just seen, to enter every house of their sojourn with a message 
of Peace. But the sad result of Christ's comiug (owing to the corruption of Man's 
fallen Nature,) was to be strife and division ; " a sword," as it is here declared. 

The cause of such enmity in households seems glanced at in what follows : 

35, 36 For I am come to set a man at variance against his Father, 
and the daughter against her Mother, and the Daughter-in-law against 
her Mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own house- 
hold. 

Our Saviour here quotes from one of His ancient prophets, — namely, Micah vii. 
6. One of the Fathers, remarking on the circumstances, observes justly, — "We 
should always take note when a passage is cited out of the Old Testament ; whether 
the sense only, or the very words are given." In this place, the exactness of the 
quotation is remarkable. 

37, 38 He that loveth Father or Mother more than Me is not wor- 
thy of Me : and he that loveth Son or Daughter more than Me is not 
worthy of Me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after 
Me, is not worthy of Me. 

By such sayings, uttered long before the time of His Passion, did our Saviour 
not obscurely intimate by what death He was Himself to die. The allusion is to 
the practice of compelling malefactors to bear the cross whereon they were destined 
to suffer. 

39 He that findeth his life shall lose it ; and he that loseth his life 
for My sake shall find it. 

A few words must here be supplied; and a clause in the latter part of the verse 
sufficiently indicates what they are. The blessed Speaker declares that the man 
who by denying his Master, and refusing to bear any part of His heavy burden, 
obtains the enjoyment of this present life, — will lose his inheritance in that which 
is to come : whereas he who, for Christ's sake, disregards this present life, shall 

win Life Eternal Almost the self-same sayings as are contained in the two 

last verses, will be found to recur further on, in chap. xvi. 24, 25. See also St. 
John xii. 25. 

Our Lord concludes with lofty promises, and words of glorious encouragement : 

40 He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me 
receiveth Him that sent Me. 

A marvellous saying, truly ! It is found repeated, with slight variations, and on 
no less than three distinct occasions besides the present : namely, in St. Mark ix. 
37 ; St. Luke x. 16 ; and St. John xiii. 20. — Surely the sayings of our Lord which 
are found to have been frequently on His lips, (and there are many such,) deserve 
to be most attentively considered ! 

41 He that receiveth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall re- 
ceive a Prophet's reward : and he that receiveth a righteous man in the 
name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. 

" In the name of a prophet," and "of a righteous man," denotes the absence of 
any other motive or consideration, save that he is a prophet, (that is, a divinely 
commissioned teacher ;) is a righteous man. 

And his "reward," probably signifies a recompense not unlike that which the 

(*) Ephes. vi. 15. 



X.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 99 

Preacher and the Saint will himself receive at God's hand. For it had been an- 
ciently decreed in Israel, — "As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall 
his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike."(^) 

42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a 
cup of cold water only in the name of a Disciple, verily I say unto you, 
he shall in no wise lose his reward. 

Our Saviour repeated this saying on a different occasion, — namely, in St. Mark 
ix. 41 ; the entire context of which it will be found highly instructive to compare 
with the present place. He was then embracing " a little child" in His arms ; but 
He reserves the mention of "little ones" for the present occasion, — as if to remind 
us that the weak, and the guileless, and the simple, and the pure, and the young, 
are all as " Babes" (m) in His sight. 

And oh, the marvel of the promise thus twice recorded ! "A cup of cold water," 
in Time, to find its reward — ("a sea of pleasure," as Bishop Andrewes speaks,) — 
throughout the ages of Eternity ! It may be, that our merciful Lord thus men- 
tioned the simplest offering of any, and one which is within the reach of the poor- 
est, in order to indicate that no one who desires to show his love towards Christ 
need suppose himself debarred of the means of doing so. 

(1)1 Samuel xxx. 24. (m) See St, Matt. xi. 25. 



THE PRAYER. 

God, who hast prepared for them that love Thee such good things 
as pass man's understanding ; pour into our hearts such love toward 
Thee, that we, loving Thee above all things, may obtain Thy promises, 
which exceed all that we can desire ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 



100 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER XI 



2 John sendeth his disciples to Christ. 7 Christ's testimony concerning John. 18 
The opinion of the people, both concerning John and Christ. 20 Christ upbraid- 
eth the unthankfulness and unrepentance of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. 
25 And praising His Father's Wisdom in revealing the Gospel to the simple, 28 
He calleth to Him all such as feel the burden of their sins. 

1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of command- 
ing His Twelve Disciples, He departed thence to teach and to preach 
in their cities. 

The former Chapter described the sending forth of the Twelve ; and contained 
the solemn charge which their Lord and ours delivered to them on that occasion. 
We learn from the present verse that, after He had sent them forth, our Saviour 
took His third great ministerial Journey through Galilee, alone : and the Reader 
should take notice in how exceedingly slight a manner that mighty event is here 
recorded. 

He is further requested to believe that the allusion in the ensuing verse is not to 
" the works" which were wrought on the occasion of the Journey just noticed: but 
to the cure of the Centurion's Servant, and the raising of the Widow's Son. A 
reference to St. Luke vii. 17, 18, is almost enough to establish this fact. It may 
be also here suggested, that when our Lord, (in verse 5,) says, — " the Dead are 
raised up ;" it is to the miracle performed on the Widow of Nain's Son that He is 
alluding. The messengers of John had not seen this, indeed, but they received an 
account of the transaction from those who had been eye-witnesses of it ; and that 
is perhaps the reason why our Lord (in ver. 4) bids the men Go and show John 
again those things which they u heard," as well as " saw." 

2, 3 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, 
he sent two of his Disciples and said unto Him, Art Thou He that 
should come, or do we look for another ? 

St. John the Baptist was at this time imprisoned in the castle of Machaerus,— a 
fortress belonging to Herod Antipas, but on the very confines of his dominions ; as 
will be found explained more at length in the notes on St. Mark vi. 17 to 20. The 
rumor of certain of our Saviour's miracles, is found to have been conveyed to the 
Baptist's ears, by the Disciples of John. (a) Whereupon, he sends two of them to 
Christ, with the inquiry recorded in the text: — " Art Thou He that should come?" 
That is, "Art Thou the Christ ?"(&) For, " He that should come," or " is to come," 
was one of the titles by which Messiah was designated in prophecy. See Habak- 
kuk ii. 3, as it is quoted in Hebrews x. 37 : and consider Genesis xlix. 10 : Exodus 
iv. 13 : Isaiah xxxv. 4: Ezekiel xxi. 27 : Zech. ix. 9: — in the Old Testament. St. 
Matthew iii. 11: xxi. 9: xxiii. 39. St. John iii. 11: v. 43: vi. 14, — in the New. 

But what was the motive of the Baptist in making this inquiry? Was it in con- 
sequence of any personal sense of doubt? Had he begun to waver in his belief? 
Certain it is, that he had been permitted to exercise his Ministry for the space of 

(a) St Luke vii. 18. (b) Compare St. Luke iii. 15, 16. 



XI.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 101 



only a few months ; and he seems to have been blessed with but slender intercourse 
with his Lord. May he then, — (as some have thought,) — have become perplexed 
and staggered, at the end of more than a year's imprisonment ? Or, are we, (with 
our Fathers in the Faith,) simply to behold in this transaction the expedient of 
the Baptist to convince his disciples that He to whom they ought to transfer their 
allegiance, had indeed appeared ? 

Either alternative is extremely improbable: and the first is even monstrous. 
That the disciples of John were incredulous with respect to our Lord's Sacred 
Office, cannot indeed well be doubted: but that their incredulity was shared by 
their Master, is an opinion which can scarcely be entertained by any one who con- 
siders such places as, — St. John i. 26 to 34 : iii. 27 to 36. On the other hand, that 
the Baptist also desired for himself the confirmation of his own Faith, — the com- 
fortable corroboration from the lips of Christ, of his own deep-rooted, and well- 
grounded convictions respecting Messiah, — seems an abundantly probable circum- 
stance. This view suits the context very well ; and rather derives support from 
the discourse which follows, — in verses 7, 8, &c. Indirectly, therefore, the Bap- 
tist may be regarded as an Ambassador in bonds ; effectually discharging the pur- 
pose of his mission, even in the dungeon of Machgerus: for "the Word of God 
is not bound."(c) 

St. Luke relates that our Lord performed many miracles of healing in reply to 
the inquiry of John's disciples: (d) whereupon, — 

4, 5 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again 
those things which ye do hear and see : the blind receive their sight, 
and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the 
dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. 

As if our Lord had added, — and John will be abundantly satisfied ; John, whom 
ye are willing to believe, will be able easily to convince you, that Messiah must 
indeed be come at last : that these are the days of which it was foretold by Isaiah, — 
" Then the eyes of the Blind shall be opened, and the ears of the Deaf shall be un- 
stopped. Then shall the Lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the Dumb 
sing."(e) " For the "Works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same 
works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me."(/) 

Yet more, — the Dead are now raised ; (for God's performance ever exceeds God's 
promise) : and, as a crowning act of Love, the Mysteries of the Gospel, — unlike 
the Wisdom which the Jewish Doctors impart to those alone who can afford to pay 
largely for it, — are freely conveyed to the poorest sort of all : as was also specially 
foretold by Isaiah, (g) — See more in the note on St. Luke vii. 22. 

Take notice how differently God deals with different applicants. The woman of 
Samaria asked no question, but was expressly informed by our Lord that He was 
the Messiah. (h) Here, men come from far to make the inquiry ; and instead of 
words, they are presented with a sign. Turn to the note on St. Luke viii. 39 : also 
on St. Mark v. 19. Refer also to what was said on St. John i. 47. 

6 And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me. 

Here, then, is another " Beatitude. "(7) The words, it has been thought, were 
aimed at, as well as addressed to, the two disciples of John. They mean, — Blessed 
is he whose Faith shall not fail him ; who, (in the language of Scripture,) shall 
not stumble, at anything he beholds, or shall hereafter behold in Me : My lowly 
Birth and Condition, (at which our Lord's countrymen were " offended," — see St. 
Matthew xiii. 57 :)— My hard sayings, and lofty Teaching, (at which many of His 
Disciples were " offended," — see St. John vi. 60, 61, 66 :) My Cross and Passion, 
(at which the Twelve were " offended," — see St. Matthew xxvi. 31.) .... Con- 
sider by all means Isaiah viii. 14 : Romans ix. 33 : 1 Cor. i. 23 : 1 St. Peter ii. 
6 to 8. 

( c) 2 Tim. ii. 9. (d) St. Luke vii. 21. 

(e) Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6. — Compare also Isaiah xxix. 18: xxxii. 3, 4: xlii. 7 : lxi. 1. Also Ps. 
cxlvi. 8. (/) St. John v. 36. 

(g) Isaiah lxi. 1, — as interpreted by St. Luke iv. 18. (h) St. John iv. 25, 26. 

(i) See St. Matthew v. 3, &c. and the note there. 



102 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The preceding inquiry seems to have been made, and answered, in the presence 
of a vast multitude of persons : and it would appear that the impression which it 
produced upon their minds was disparaging to the Baptist. "Whence, it follows, — 

7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes 
concerning John, What went ye out into the Wilderness to see ? A 
reed shaken with the wind ? 

As if, (perhaps,) the Divine Speaker had said: — Ye are suspecting My Fore- 
runner of a wavering Faith ; but, by the evidence of your own actions, I will con- 
vict you of your unreasonableness. Ye went out in large numbers(&) into the 
Wilderness, drawn by the fame of John's preaching, to behold the man of whom 
such wondrous things were related. "Was it the character of one easily shaken 
from his steadfastness, — a nature fickle and unsteady as that of the reeds which 
grow in the Waste, — which drew you forth ? Or, did ye go to behold one who had 
set his face like a flint to deliver his stern message ? and who stood up, stable as a 
rock, while he proclaimed God's Anger against a stubborn and a sinful generation ? 

8 But what went ye out for to see ? A man clothed in soft raiment ? 
behold, they that wear soft clothing are in King's houses. 

The Divine Speaker continues to bear testimony, in turn, to Mm who had once 
borne such fearless testimony to Himself. He is reminding the people of the days 
when they trooped forth in such crowds, to see and hear the Baptist. Certainly it 
was not a mere nothing, — a quivering reed, — which had provoked their curiosity : 
nor was it the report of one living luxuriously, which had drawn them forth. But 
it was the fame of a great Prophet, who professed to have been sent by the living 
God : and to be preparing His way before Him. It may also be that, with our 
Lord's present auditory, the Baptist's protracted imprisonment constituted another 
ground of offence, and suspicion. " The hardships of a dungeon, (the multitude 
may have thought,) have crushed his spirit, and occasioned this timid inquiry. 
And if John can speak thus, in whom may not doubts be excusable ?" But our 
Lord reminds them what manner of man the Baptist had shown himself. Was it 
a person of luxurious life whom they had gone out into the Wilderness to see ? 
Or was it one of austere manners ? clad in a garment of skin ; who fed on insects, 
and on honey out of the stony rock ? whose dwelling was the Waste ; and who had 
been nursed in Solitude, — amid hardships, sufferings, and privations ? 

Then, — as if to meet the suspicion that the Baptist may, after all, have borne a 
fallacious testimony concerning Christ, his Divine Apologist proceeds, — 

9 But what went ye out for to see ? A Prophet ? yea, I say unto 
you, and more than a Prophet. 

" More than a Prophet ;" first, — because he was himself the subject of Prophecy ; 
secondly, — because, whereas other Prophets had merely foretold the coming of 
Christ, St. John Baptist was His actual precursor: "the Prophet of the High- 
est," as it is said in St. Luke i. 76: going before Him, not only in thought, and in 
word ; but in person, and in deed : pointing Him out, not only with His lips, but 
even with his finger. Consider St. Luke i. 76. As it follows, — 

10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send My Messen- 
ger before Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. 

Which words are a quotation from Malachi iii. 1 : but there, it is said, — " My 
Messenger .... shall prepare the way before Me." Christ, by whose Spirit all 
Prophecy was spoken, (I) taking back these words of His latest Prophet into His 
lips, and uttering them afresh, is found here, and wherever else they recur, (in) to 
deliver them otherwise : namely, thus, — " My Messenger . . before Thy Face, . . 
shall prepare Thy way before Thee." Such quotations are nothing less than inter- 

(k) St. Matthew iii. 5, 6 : and St. Luke iii. 7. (0 1 St. Peter i. 2. 

(to) Namely, in St. Mark i. 2 and^t. Luke vii. 27. Compare St. Luke i. 76. 



xi.] on st. Matthew's gospel. 103 

jpretations of Scripture. The present one not only declares Chkist to "be God ; but 
reveals the Divine Unity. 

" Having first delivered the Prophet's testimony in praise of John/' (says an 
ancient Archbishop,) " He rested not there, but added His own decision respecting 
him:" setting him above all the Saints of the Old Testament, when He said, — 

11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women 
there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist : 

On which, one of the Ancients remarks, — " I suppose that all the Saints, tried 
by the keenness of the Divine judgment, rank in a fixed order ; some lower, some 
before other. Whence we understand that he who hath none greater than himself, 
is greatest of all." Take notice that the " greatness" of John had been already 
the subject of Angelic comment; as St. Luke relates, (n) Our Loed, having thus 
brought His praise of the Baptist to a climax, proceeds to establish more clearly 
the Dignity of the Christian Dispensation : the surpassing Blessedness of that Gos- 
pel which He Himself came to deliver ; and for which, the preaching of John only 
prepared the way. 

notwithstanding, he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater 
than he. 

A marvellous saying truly, and one which may be easily misunderstood ; yet one 
which it is not difficult to understand aright. John was doubtless incomparably 
superior in holiness to any among ourselves, who are actual inheritors of that 
Kingdom of which Christ here speaks. But what our Lord implies, is, that what- 
ever Holiness attached to His great Forerunner, as well as to the other Saints of 
the elder Covenant, was derived to them not from the Law, (under which they 
lived,) but from the Gospel, which as yet was not. For, " not having received the 
promises, but having [only] seen them afar off,"(o) their Blessedness arose out of 
their participation, by Faith, in that Kingdom concerning which our Lord de- 
clares such glorious things : and since it was the " the Kingdom of Heaven," dart- 
ing forward a ray of its own future glory, which made those elders supremely 
great, — it is manifest that every little one who, by Baptism into Christ's Death, is 
made a " member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the Kingdom of 
Heaven," — is in a true sense " greater than he" who, naturally an alien, becomes, 
only by special grace and favour, a partaker in the Blessedness to come. 

12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom 
of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. 

The Apostles were sent "rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel :"(_p) 
but it was the Publicans and Sinners(g) who profited by their preaching. The 
Kingdom of Heaven, therefore, when these last " pressed into it "(f) is said to have 
" suffered violence," and to have been " taken by force ;" for the birth-right and 
the blessing of Israel, forfeited by them, was snatched away and firmly held, by 
the Gentiles. This had been typically foreshown by Jacob when he supplanted 
Esau ;(s) and indeed, throughout the Old Testament, the minds of faithful men had 
been prepared for such an issue, by the preference generally enjoyed by the younger 
son. See the third note on St. Luke xv. 32. 

This verse and the next will be found in quite a different connection in St. Luke's 
Gospel, — chap. xvi. 16. 

13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 

The Baptist was the connecting link between the Law and the Gospel ; as will 
be found explained in the note on St. John i. 28. With him, was " The beginning 
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,"— as St. Mark declares ;(t) and St. Peter implies 
no less, in the first chapter of the Acts, — ver. 22. See the note on St. Luke i. 22. 

(n) St. Luke i. 15 (o) Hebrews xi. 13. (p) St. Matthew x. 6. 

(q) See St. Luke vii. 39 (r) St. Luke xvi. 16. (*) Genesis xxvii. 36. 

(*) St. Mark i. 1. 



104 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. 

" If ye will receive it:'" — for God constrains not the Will,(w) "but leaves men free 
to act as they choose ; John Baptist therefore was the " Elijah," promised by the 
prophet Malachi at the very end of the Canon of the Old Testament ;(x) and this 
our Lord repeated on another occasion, — viz. in St. Matthew xvii. 10 to 13. Not 
Elijah himself, — which the carnal minded Jews supposed possible ; as appears from 
the inquiry recorded in St. John i. 21, (y) — where see the note: but one who came 
" in the Spirit and Power ofJElias."(a) Hence, it follows, — 

15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 

Concerning which words, see the note on St. Mark iv. 9. The Reader should 
also here refer to the 29th and 30th verses of 7th chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, — 
where the effect which our Lord's words produced on His auditory, is noticed. 

16 But whereunto shall I liken this generation? 

With such a phrase, the same Divine Speaker prefaced His Parable of the Grain 
of Mustard Seed;(5) and of the Leaven. (c) He proceeds to derive His illustration 
from the sports of Children: but what particular sport is not exactly known. An 
ancient Eastern Bishop relates that " a company of boys used to assemble in the 
market place ; and, mocking the sudden changes in the affairs of this life, some of 
them sang, — some mourned. But the mourners did not rejoice with those that re- 
joiced ; nor did those who rejoiced attend to those who wept. They then rebuked 
each other, in turn, for their want of sympathy." Doubtless it must have been 
something of this kind which is here alluded to, by our Saviour. 

17 It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto 
their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not 
danced ; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. 

"As concerning the flesh,"(eZ) our Saviour Christ, as well as the Baptist, were 
of the same stock as the rest of the Jewish nation. As with children, therefore, 
in the market place, complaining that their music had not made " their fellows" 
dance, neither had their lamentation made "their fellows" mourn; so had it fared, 
(says our Lord,) with Himself and His Forerunner. I have set before you the 
pattern of social virtue, — the graces of a most perfect Charity, — and ye have 
scorned My teaching : John has practised a hard life, — has fasted and displayed 
the graces of the largest self-denial, — and ye have blasphemed against him. As it 
follows, — 

18, 19 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 
He hath a devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they 
say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans 
and sinners. But Wisdom is justified of Her Children. 

In these words, our Lord draws the picture of a perverse nation ; who, neither 
by austerities, nor by indulgence, were to be won over. Christ's Forerunner had 
pleaded with them in vain : Christ Himself had been equally unsuccessful. 

But, take note, (for it throws light on a difficult passage,) that in St. Luke's Gos- 
pel it is here added, — "And all the people that heard Him, and the publicans jus- 
tified GOD, being baptized with the Baptism of John."(e) Accordingly it seems 
to be implied, with reference to those more faithful ones, that notwithstanding the 
perversity of the wicked, yet was there a remnant left : and that, by her own true 
children, the ways of Wisdom were abundantly justified. The same Righteousness 
was taught by John Baptist, and by the Son of Man, though it was to be attained 

(u) See the third note on St. Matthew iv. 18. (x) Malachi iy. 5, 6. 

(.?/) With which compare St. Matthew xvi. 14. (a) St. Luke i. 17. 

(b) St. Mark iv. 30; and St. Luke xiii. 18. (c) St. Luke xiii. 20. 

(d) Romans ix. 5. (e) St. Luke vii. 29. 



XL] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 105 

"by different paths. The Disciples of either were therefore the children of One; 
and by those, His children, Christ would be abundantly justified in all His deal- 
ings with mankind : confessed to be a God of surpassing Goodness, of wondrous 
Patience, of most perfect Love. 

The awful censure, which has hitherto been general, now becomes particular. 
Our Lord specifies certain towns which were especially guilty : 

20, 21 Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His 
mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, 
Chorazin ! woe unto thee, Bethsaida ! for if the mighty works, which 
were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have 
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 

Truly, a most striking statement, on two accounts. First, because it informs us 
that "most of His mighty works'' were done in two cities, — one of which, (Chora- 
zin,) is nowhere else even named in the Gospels : while no single miracle is related 
as having been performed in either City.(/) And how does this suggest the im- 
mensity and the number of the operations of His hands,— concerning which St. 
John said that "if they should be written every one," he supposed " that even the 
World itself could not contain the books that should be written V (g) 

And next, — these words of our Lord are remarkable as revealing the extent of 
the Divine Omniscience. God knows not only what will be; but (which seems 
stranger,) what would have been. If Tyre and Sidon had seen the miracles which 
the streets of Chorazin and Bethsaida had witnessed, the inhabitants of those two 

famous cities woidd have repented The same knowledge is declared in 1 

Samuel xxiii. 11 and 12; where God tells David that the men of Keilah will deliver 
him into the hand of Saul, if he remains within the city. And the like is obser- 
vable in other places. 

Lastly, be it observed that St. Peter, St. Andrew, and St. Philip, — were all of 
Bethsaida. There are great saints therefore in the very worst cities. Even filthy 
Sodom harbors "just Lot." 

22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Si- 
don at the Day of Judgment, than for you. 

Such words remind us that sinners are but reserved for punishment : that al- 
though, to us, Tyre and Sidon seem gone by, and the Old World has become but a 
History,— to the Almighty, it is all far otherwise. With Him, Tyre and Sidon 
are a living reality, — a breathing multitude ; which simply waits for the Day of 
Judgment to receive its final doom ! 

23, 24 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto Heaven, shalt 
be brought down to Hell : for if the mighty works, which have been 
done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until 
this day. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the 
land of Sodom in the Day of Judgment, than for thee. 

Some of the remarks already offered on verses 21 and 22, here suggest them- 
selves afresh. 

Capernaum,—" exalted unto Heaven," (that is, raised to the very highest pitch 
of greatness,) (Ii) by the habitual presence, by the frequent discourses, and by the 
mighty miracles of the Lord of Heaven and Earth, — was to experience a tremen- 
dous fall : and the denunciation has taken strict effect ; since the name of the City 
has long since perished, and its very site is only conjecturally known. Travellers 
describe the spot on which Capernaum must have stood, as a tract of marshy 
ground close to the Lake ; overgrown with shrubs, and overspread with masses of 

(/) This Bethsaida is to be distinguished from that other Bethsaida, East of the Lake, near 
which the five thousand were fed, — St. Luke ix. 10 : and where the blind man was restored to 
sight,— St. Mark viii. 22. 

(g) St. John xxi. 25. (ft) Compare the expression with St. Luke x. 18. 



106 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

stone and marble, — the foundations and sub-structures of the ancient edifices. 
" The utter desolation of the place/' (writes a friend, already quoted,) (i) "is most 
striking. Plants of a wild thorny nature, mingled with oleander, and other kinds, 
form a covering to the shore, quite down to the water's edge ; so thick and tangled 
that it is with great difficulty you can make your way through it. Almost hidden 
by this rank vegetation, lie broken columns, large hewn stones of costly workman- 
ship, beautiful capitals, &c. in the greatest confusion, and in almost incredible 
numbers. Large snakes and venomous reptiles abound among the brush-wood; 
and add not a little to the desolate and ruined character of the place." 

Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum have all three entirely disappeared. There 
can be no doubt, however, that they stood about two miles distant one from the 
other, on the Western side of the Lake, towards its Northern extremity. The terms 
in which their future destiny is mentioned clearly prove that there are different 
degrees of misery in Hell. 

In connection with the last note, above, on verse 21, the reader is requested to 
refer to some remarks which are strictly applicable to the present place, in the con- 
cluding note on St. Matthew viii. 10. — He will also discover from St. Luke's Gos- 
pel, — x. 12 to 15, — that our Blessed Lord delivered almost the self-same words as 
those contained in the last five verses, (verses 20 to 24,) on quite a distinct occasion. 

25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, Father, 
Lord of Heaven and Earth, because Thou hast hid these things from 
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto Babes. 

Our Lord says not, — "And hast revealed them unto the foolish;" but, "Unto 
Babes:" which must evidently mean, — the humble and meek; persons of childlike 
dispositions. And this proves that by "wise and prudent," He only means men 
"wise in their oxen conceits," — as St. Paul expresses it: (A;) condemns — not, Wisdom 
and Understanding, but — Pride. " Woe unto them," (says the prophet Isaiah,) 
" who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight." (I) 

Our Lord here "thanks" the Father, — that is, "praises," and "adores" Him; 
" gives Him glory," — not for having hid the saving Doctrines of the Gospel from 
"the wise .... the Scribe .... the Disputer of this World ;"(m) but for hav- 
ing revealed those blessed Truths to the lowly and meek ; His " little ones," as He 
elsewhere calls them. Compare the form of expression of Romans vi. 17. 

Our Blessed Lord's sayings in the present and next two verses, will be found to 
recur in quite a different connection in St. Luke's Gospel, — x. 21, 22. 

26 Even so, Father : for so it seemed good in Thy sight. 

Whereby we learn that it is in conformity with God's Eternal decree, that the 
meek are exalted ; and the proud in the imaginations of their hearts, scattered : 
"the hungry" "filled with good things ;"(ji) and "the rich" "sent empty away." 
And Holy Scripture is full of this, from one end to the other. " Surely, He scorn- 
eth the scorners ; but He giveth grace unto the lowly," (o) — says the wise King: 
and his words are repeated both by St. James,(j9) and by St. Peter.(^) This doc- 
trine is the very key-note of the Magnificat, or Song of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
"For Judgment I am come into this World," said our Blessed Lord; "that they 
which see not might see ; and that they which see might be made blind." Con- 
sider Romans i. 21, 22. 1 Cor. i. 18 to 31. 

27 All things are delivered unto Me of My Father : and no man 
knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the 
Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. 

By the mutual knowledge, proclaiming that the Father and the Son are of one 
substance. 

(i) See the notes on St. Luke vii. 11, and St. John ii. 1. 

}k) Romans xi. 25; xii. 16. (1) Isaiah v. 21. (m) 1 Cor. i. 20. 

(n) Compare St. Matth. vii. 11, with St. Luke xi. 13. 

(o) Proverbs iii. 34. ( p) St. James iv. 6. (q) 1 St. Peter v. 5. 



XI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 107 

It is the Divine office of the Son to reveal the Father. The Father declares 
Himself by His Word. See the notes on St. John i. 1. — And not only " no man" 
knoweth the Father ; but no being whatever. The only access to the Father is 
through the Son. 

" To whomsoever the Son will reveal Him," — should rather be, — "May determine 
to reveal Him: for express mention is made of the counsel of His Will.(r) 

Hear, next, what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all that truly 
turn to Him. 

28 Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest. 

Compare, by all means, the similar invitation in St. John vii. 37: " If any man 
thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." " He that cometh to Me, shall never hun- 
ger; and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst."(s) To "come" to Christ, is 
to believe in Him : to "draw near with Faith." And the present invitation is uni- 
versal ; for the Flesh itself is a burden, — as the Church admits in her Burial ser- 
vice ; and as many of us as " are in this Tabernacle do groan, — being burdened." (t) 
Consider, further, whether those "heavy burdens and grievous to be borne" {it) which 
the Scribes and Pharisees bound, and laid on the shoulders of our Saviour's audi- 
tory, may not have been also alluded to. For take notice that in ver. 30 the Bles- 
sed Speaker Himself proposes a "burden;" with the gracious intimation, however, 
that it shall be "light," 

And yet the persons chiefly addressed, — those who "labour" most, and are most 
" heavy laden," — are doubtless such as have been in bondage to the Devil, and are 
servants of Sin: such as are "grieved and wearied with the burden of their 
sins-.ix) such as/eel them to be a burden, — as it is said in the heading of the pre- 
sent Chapter. In support of which view, see the concluding note. 

29 Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me ; for I am meek and 
lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

In which words we have an allusion to Zechariah ix. 9, and a quotation from 
Jeremiah vi. 16. Would it not seem as if our Lord loved to re-syllable the words 
of His ancient Prophets ? 

Learn of Me, — " not, to create a World, or to do Miracles in that World : but, — 
Learn meekness and holiness of heart." So writes a famous Bishop of the West: 
and he proceeds, — ■" Wouldest thou build up a mighty fabric of greatness? Lay 
first the foundation of Humility: for the loftier the structure any one seeks to 
raise, the deeper must he dig for his foundation.' 7 

" Take My yoke upon you :" that is, Believe My Doctrine, Submit to My Disci- 
pline. " This yoke is twofold, — a yoke of Instruction, and a yoke of Affliction. 
And Christ calls it His yoke ; because He, as a Lord, lays it upon our necks ; and, 
as a Servant, bore it upon His own neck first, before He laid it upon ours. Ob- 
serve, further, that the way and manner how to bear Christ's yoke must be learned 
of Christ Himself." Take notice how persuasively He recommends it: — 

30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. 

The word here translated "easy," rather signifies "sweet," — "pleasant," — 
" gracious," — "profitable," or the like : and the meaning of the Blessed Speaker 
seems to be that He invites men to no morose or melancholy course : but that His 
statutes will be found to be " sweeter than honey, and the honey-comb ;(?/) His 
testimonies, the very "rejoicing of the heart :"(z) that in His presence is "full- 
ness of joy ; at His right hand, pleasures for everrnore."(a) For " His command- 
ments are not grievous," as St. John declares. (6) This announcement therefore 
agrees with that which is found in another place : namely, that Wisdom's " ways" 
(that is, Christ's ways,) " are ways of Pleasantness, and all her paths are 

(r) Ephes. i. 11. (s) St. John vi. 35. (0 2 Cor. v. 4. 

(u) St. Matthew xxiii. 4. Compare Acts xv. 28. 

(x) Communion Service. Compare Ps. xxxviii. 4. 

{y) Psalm xix. 10. (z) Ps. cxix. 111. (a) Ps. xvi. 11. (6) 1 St. John v. 3. 



108 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Peace."( c ) . . . * Not every one, it may be thought, is aware of the extent to 
which Joy, as one of the graces of the Christian Life, is recommended in Scrip- 
ture, (d) And can there be any doubt that ample provision has been made for it, 
likewise? 

What effect then did this gracious invitation produce upon those who heard? From 
the course of the narrative in the present Gospel, you cannot tell ; but by a refer- 
ence to St. Luke's account—- (vii. 24 to 35,) — of the preceding discourse, it will be 
discovered that, at the end of it, a Woman of the City, which was a sinner, — one, 
therefore, who " laboured and was heavy laden," — moved by the loving promise of 
a sweet yoke, and a light burden, and withal rest unto her soul, — followed our 
Lord into the House of the Pharisee where He went to eat bread ; there washed 
His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Wherefore 
her sins, which were many, were forgiven ! 

(c) Prov. iii. 17. Compare "Wisdom viii. 1. 

\d) See the following places :— St. Matth. xiii. 20, 44. St. John xv. 11: xvi. 20, 22, 24. 
Romans v. 2: xii. 12: xiv. 17: xv. 13. 2 Cor. vi. 10. Galat. v. 22. Philipp. i. 25: iii. 1: 
iv. 4. 1 Thess. i. 6 : v. 16. 1 St. Peter i. 6, 8. 



THE PRAYER. 

Grant, we beseech Thee, merciful Lord, to Thy faithful people par- 
don and peace ; that they may he cleansed from all their sins, and 
serve Thee with a quiet mind: through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 



XII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 109 






CHAPTER XII. 



1 Christ reproveth the blindness of the Pharisees concerning the breach of the Sab- 
bath, 3 by Scriptures, 9 by Reason, 13 and by a Miracle. 22 He healeth the man 
possessed, that was blind and dumb. 31 Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost 
shall never be forgiven. 36 Account shall be made of idle words. 38 He rebuketfi 
the unfaithful, who seek after a sign. 49 And showeth who is His brother, sister, 
and mother. 

1, 2, 3, 4 At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the 
corn ; and His disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears 
of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto 
Him, Behold, Thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the 
Sabbath day. But He said unto them, Have ye not read what David 
did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him ; how he 
entered into .the House of God, and did eat the show-bread, which was 
not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but 
only for the Priests ? 

It is admirably said in the heading of the present Chapter, — " Christ reproveth 
the "blindness of the Pharisees concerning the breach of the Sabbath, by Scrip- 
tures, — by Reason, — and by a Miracle." One of the Scriptures cited by Him, — 
(1 Samuel xxi. 1 to 6,) — has been already sufficiently commented on, in the notes 
to St. Mark ii. 23 to 26, — which see. The Blessed Speaker is found to have added 
a further reference to Scripture on this occasion. 

5 Or have ye not read in the Law, how that on the Sabbath days 
the Priests in the Temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless ? 

That is, — Break the letter of the Commandment which declares that no manner 
of work shall be done on the Sabbath: for the Law required, " on the Sabbath day, 
two lambs" for a burnt-offering; "beside the continual burnt-offering, and his 
drink-offering." (a) 

The Pharisees may have been disposed to reply that the Temple sanctified that 
labour, but that here there was ho Temple : wherefore our Lord proceeds, 

6 But I say unto you, that in this place is One greater than the 
Temple. 

" " Greater," — inasmuch as it was " His Temple ;"(5) a House made glorious, yea, 
and made holy too, by His presence, — who was the true Shekinah, (or Glory,) 
foretold by the Prophet Haggai.(c) The reader is referred to the notes on the 
words " dwelt among us," in St. John i. 14. 

7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have Mercy, and 
not Sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. 

(a) Numbers xxviii. 9, 10. (6) See Malachi iii. 1. (c) See Haggai ii. 7 and 9. 



110 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Thus, for the second time, our Saviour quotes Hosea vi. 6. See St. Matthew ix. 
13, and the note there. The Reader will perceive, from the allusion to the " Priests 
in the Temple," in ver. 5, that, our Lord's argument is, — If then those My Servants, 
who serve My Temple only, go unblained, although their acts are of a purely cere- 
monial kind, — shall blame attach to these My Servants who wait on Me, for the per- 
formance of an act of Mercy, — involving the very support of human life? My 
Disciples are " guiltless," that is, " free from blame," (says our Lord). — 

8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. 

It was He who had originally " blessed the Seventh Day, and hallowed it," and 
commanded men to observe it. He therefore had power, and He only, to dispense 
with its observance. See the note on St. Mark ii. 8. 

The incident which follows, happened on "another Sabbath," — St. Luke vi. 6. 

9, 10 And when He was departed thence, He went into their syna- 
gogue : and, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. 
And they asked Him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days ? 
that they might accuse Him. 

The Reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark iii. 1 and 2. 

11 And He said unto them, What man shall there be among you, 
that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, 
will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out ? 

The self-same striking reasoning is found to recur in St. Luke, xiv. 5, — when our 
Blessed Lord was about to heal " a certain man which had the dropsy." Close 
akin to it, is what we meet with in St. Luke xiii. 15. Consider also the reasoning 
in St. John vii. 22, 23, — which is quite similar. 

12 How much then is a man better than a sheep ! 

He does not allude, as He might have done, to their real motive. He knew that 
it was not from humanity to the sheep, but from regard to their own interests, that 
they performed the act described in verse 11. But, as the Author of Creation, He 
sets the value of one of His creatures against the other ; and the argument is com- 
plete. He contrasts a sheep with a man: and leaves them to contrast the work of 
Covetousness with the work of Love. Compare St. Matthew vi. 26. 

Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days. 

Our Lord Himself answers the question He had Himself already asked : see St. 
Mark iii. 4. 

' ' Thus, in the everlasting rest," says an ancient, beautifully, — "we shall rest 
only from evil, and not from good." 

13 Then saith He to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he 
stretched it forth ; and it was restored whole, like as the other. 

14, 15, 16 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a counsel against 
Him, how they might destroy Him. But when Jesus knew it, He 
withdrew Himself from thence : 

The Reader is referred to St. Mark iii. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 ; and to the notes which 
he will find upon these words in that place. 

and great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all ; 

"Him whom the Pharisees with one consent plotted against to destroy, the un- 
taught multitude with one consent love and follow. Whence they received the 
fulfillment of their desires." 



xii.] on st. Matthew's gospel. Ill 

and charged them that they should not make Him known. 

See the first note on St. Matthew viii. 4, and the notes on St. Mark i. 44, 45. 
The Evangelist proceeds to quote from Isaiah xlii. 1 to 4. 

17. 18 That it might he fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the 
Prophet, saying, Behold My servant, whom I have chosen ; 

For Christ "took upon Him the form of a Servant "(d) — seeing that He, being 
God, assumed our Human Nature. Among His Disciples, moreover, He was " as 
he that serveth."(e) I* ^ s on ly m respect of His Incarnation, that our Loed Jesus 
Christ is called the Servant of Almighty God. 

My Beloved, in whom My soul is well pleased : 
The very words of St. Matthew iii. 17, and xvii. 5. 

I will put My Spirit upon Him ; 

Consider St. Luke i. 35 : iii. 22 : iv. 18, — quoting Isaiah lxi. 1. 

and He shall show judgment to the Gentiles. 

That is, — He shall out of the Law bring forth, and display before all nations, 
the pure Doctrines of the Gospel. 

19 He shall not strive, nor cry ; neither shall any man hear His 
voice in the streets. 

" For such was the carefulness of the Prophets," says one of the ancients, " that 
they had not omitted even this ; but had noted all His ways and movements." 
Consider the instances of this which our Lord has just given, verses 14 to 16 : and 
which seems to have suggested the quotation from Isaiah. See the note on St. 
Mark iii. 7. Consider also such places as the following : St. John i. 39 : ii. 9 : iii. 
2, &c. : iv. 6, 7, &c: v. 6 to 8, 12, 13, 14, &c: vi. 15 : vii, 10, 11: viii. 2 and 59: 
ix. 6, 7, 12 : x. 23, 24, 39, &c, &c. 

20 A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He 
not quench, 

In the words of an excellent living writer, this may mean, — " He shall move so 
gently, that His tread shall not break a bruised reed ; nor extinguish the glimmer- 
ing spark in the smoking flax." — " He that holds not out his hand to a sinner, nor 
bears his brother's burthen," remarks an ancient, " breaks a bruised reed ; and he 
who despises a weak spark of Faith in a little one, quenches smoking flax." — 
Consider the following places, — St. Mark xvi. 7 and 9. St. Luke vii. 48. St. 
John iv. 26 : viii. 11. 

It is implied hereby, that He who is " Mighty to save"(/) could have broken 
the Jewish nation, as a man breaks " a bruised reed;" could have quenched the 
spark of Faith, had He willed it: but He spared the smoking flax, in His Love and 
Mercy. 

till He send forth judgment unto victory. 
" 21 And in His Name shall the Gentiles trust. 

" Till," (in the words of the writer last quoted,) "by this mild and quiet course, 
He makes the just and holy cause of the Gospel to triumph in the World." Con- 
sider Isaiah ii. 10. St. Matthew xxviii. 19. St. Luke xxiv. 47. The Evangelist 

(d)Phil. ii. 7. 

h) St. Luke xxii. 27 : with which compare St. Matthew xx. 28, and St. John xiii. 14. 

(/) Isaiah lxiii. 1. 



112 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

has been quoting from Isaiah xlii. 1 to 4. The Hebrew of this last verse reads, 
" And the isles shall wait for His Law." 

22 Then was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind, 
and dumb : and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb 
both spake and saw. 

" Spake and saw :" not " saw and spake." That is, because the thing which 
made the people wonder most was, that " when the devil was gone out, the dumb 
spake:" as it is said in St. Luke xi. 14. 

23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the Son 
of David ? 

That is, — the promised Messiah ; of whom it had been specially foretold by the 
Prophet, that He should restore sight to the blind, and speech to the dumb. In 
His days, said Isaiah, "the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the tongue of 
the dumb shall smg."(</) See the note on St. Matthew ix. 27. 

24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not 
cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the Prince of the devils. 

Concerning "Beelzebub," see the note on St. Matthew x. 25. These men mean, 
— " His power over the demons is obtained by a compact with the Prince of Dark- 
ness." Already have we heard this blasphemous charge brought against Him: (h) 
by which His enemies admitted the reality of what they saw. More will be found 
on this subject in the notes on St. Mark iii. 22, — to which the Reader is referred. 

The words in the text must have been now said privately however, or it was only 
the secret thought of their heart ; for the Evangelist proceeds : 

25, 26 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every 
kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation ; and every City 
or House divided against itself shall not stand : and if Satan cast out 
Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his Kingdom 
stand ? 

It will be perceived that our Lord meets the blasphemy of His enemies by two 
arguments. One precedes, and is the plain statement of a most important prin- 
ciple: which convicted them of having advanced an unreasonable accusation. See 
the note on St. Mark iii. 26. Then follows another argument, which is of a per- 
sonal kind, — verses 27 and 28. In the last place, — verse 29, — our Lord establishes 
the very contrary of what His enemies had advanced ; for whereas they said that 
He must be in league with Satan, our Saviour proves that He must needs, on the 
contrary, have vanquished him, before He could perform these miracles. 

27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children 
cast them out ? therefore they shall be your judges. 

To quote the words of a great living writer, — " He appeals also to those sprung 
from themselves, who, by the use of well-known forms of exorcism, in the name of 
the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, succeeded, (through the power of God 
exerted for His ancient servant's sake,) in the expulsion of evil spirits from the 
bodies of men : and He declares that these should be witnesses against them in 
the Judgment, if they dared impiously to ascribe to the Prince of Darkness won- 
ders effected with more signal success by the immediate command of Christ." 
Compare St. Matt. vii. 22. St. Luke ix. 49, and Acts xix. 13, 14. 

Having silenced the Pharisees, by this personal argument, our Saviour presents 
them with the solemn alternative. 

(g) Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6. (h) See chap. ix. 34. 



xii.] on st. Matthew's gospel. 113 

28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom 
of God is come unto you. 

"The fact of demons being thus expelled, was a sufficient proof that the promised 
Messiah was come: the Kingdom of Him whom the Spirit of God was to anoint 
for these precise works of healing deliverance, and for proclaiming the acceptable 
year of the Lord to lsrael."(0 

The argument therefore takes the form of a dilemma. "If I, in order to cast 
out Satan, am in league with Satan, — then must you allow that your children are 
so likewise; but if I by the Spirit of God work these wonders, — then you must 
admit that the Kingdom of Heaven has overtaken you," — "come before you were 
aware." 

Compare the last words of verse 28, with St. Luke xi. 20, — and see the note there. 

29 Or else, 

This word only calls attention, gives earnestness, to a question that is asked. It 
recurs in chap. vii. 9: xx. 15; and may be Englished, — "Pray," — "Come," — or 
" Consider." 

how can one enter into a Strong Man's house, and spoil his goods, 
except he first bind the Strong Man ? and then he will spoil his house. 

The Strong Man has indeed been bound by One stronger than he ; that is, his 
power to harm our race has been broken. " Yet ought we not therefore to be care- 
less," said an ancient; "for here, the Conqueror Himself pronounces him to be 
strong." 

The Header is referred to the note on St. Mark iii. 27, and all the references there. 

30 He that is not with Me is against Me ; and He that gathereth 
not "with Me scattereth abroad. 

The connection of this verse with what precedes, requires supplying ; but it is 
always a perilous matter to supply what He who "spake as never man spake," has 
left unrecorded. It is humbly suggested however, that it is as if our Lord had 
said: — I have shown you that because I am, (as my actions prove,) against Satan, 
I cannot be connected loith him : he also, because He is not with Me, is against Me. 
So likewise are all who partake his spirit. Whosoever is not with Me is against 
Me : nay, to My spiritual harvest, if any one contributes not his labour, he doth 
but scatter to the winds. Whosoever expects to reap a harvest of divine benefit, 
otherwise than through faith in Me, will find his hopes and his labour vain. It is 
only by acting "with Me," that any amount of victory against the strong man I 
speak of, has ever been obtained, or can hereafter be hoped for. 

Our Saviour proceeds to remark on the guilt which may be incurred by such a 
charge as His enemies had just now brought against Himself. The mention of 
"the Spirit" (in verse 31) sems to have reference to what was said in verse 28. 

31, 32 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy 
shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the HOLY 
Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a 
■word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him : but whosoever 
speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither 
in this world, neither in the world to come. 

It is not of course meant that the Son is less than the Holt Ghost. (God for- 
bid!) But as "made flesh/' — as the Son of Man, — as one of us, He might be 
rejected; and yet the sin incurred might be not unpardonable. 

(i) Isaiah ixi. 1, 2, quoted in St. Luke iv. 18. 

8 



114 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The very solemn statement which follows, and is twice repeated, was not written 
that weak believers should perplex and torture themselves with it; neither is 
it one which any may presume to overlook. If Impenitence persevered in to the 
end is common, then may it be feared that the sin against the Holt Ghost is not 
uncommon either. The Reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark iii. 28, 29, and 
30, — where a few remarks will be found on this mysterious subject. 

33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good ; or else make the 
tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt : for the tree is known by his fruit. 

It is often difficult to trace the exact connection of one verse with another; 
because a large portion of our Lord's Discourse is often omitted. Compare for in- 
stance St. Luke xi. 23 and 24, with St. Matthew xii. 30, 43, — where observe, seven 
verses are supplied by one Evangelist which are omitted by the other. 

Our Saviour is thought here to refer to what went before. He perhaps bids His 
enemies either admit that He is God, since they see that His acts are so good and 
gracious : — or else, if they will call Him Beelzebub, let them declare His actions 
to be devilish likewise ; for the tree is known by his fruit : — "God cannot do evil 
works, nor the Devil good works." 

But from what follows (in verses 34, 35,) — and from a comparison of such places 
as St. Matthew vii. 16 to 18, and St. Luke vi. 43 to 45, — it seems rather to be a 
warning, similar to that of the Prophet, — "0 Jerusalem, wash tliine heart from 
wickedness . . . How long shall Thy vain thoughts lodge within thee V\k) "The 
man must be changed first, that his works may be changed : for if he remains in 
that wherein he is evil, he cannot have good works. If he remains in that wherein 
he is good, he cannot have evil works/' The human heart (mentioned in verse 35) 
seems to be the " tree " here spoken of; and the "fruit " is the fruit of the lips.(f) 
Consider St. James iii. 10, 11, 12 ; and observe that the tongue is clearly referred 
to above, by the language of verse 32 ; and below, in verses 34, 36, 37. 

When, from the individual bearing of these words, we proceed to inquire into 
their national application, we are reminded of the many places of the Old and New 
Testament where the Jewish nation, or rather the Jewish Church, is spoken of 
under the figure of a Tree: as in Ps. lxxx. 8, &c. (with which compare St. John xv. 
1 to 8.) Isaiah v. 1 to 7. St. Matthew xxi. 33, 34. St. Mark xi. 12 to 14. St. 
Luke xiii. 6 to 9. Especially are we reminded of St. Luke iii. 7, 8; a place which 
the Reader will probabiy think conclusive as to the meaning of the present passage. 

34 generation of vipers, 

"Offspring of vipers," — as St. John Baptist had also styled them, see St. Luke 
iii. 7 ; and the first note on the latter half of St. Luke iii. 8. The best commentary 
on this appellation is contained in St. Matthew xxiii.; where, in verses 30, 31, 32, 
our Lord reminds them of the actions of their Fathers : couples the children with 
the Parents ; and ends with the most withering* rebuke, in ver. 33. 

Take notice that it was their favourite boast of being Abraham's seed,(w) which 
gives such amazing point to these denunciations of our Lord and of His Fore- 
runner.^) Observe also that it is thereby implied that they were of "their Father, 
the Devil," — " that Old Se?pent. v (o) Read, by all means, St. John viii. from verse 
33 to verse 44. 

35 how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the 
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the 
good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things : and an evil 
man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 

This recurs in St. Luke vi. 45, where see the note. 

(k) Jeremiah iv. 14. (I ) Heb. xiii. 15. (m) St. Matt. iii. 9. St. John viii. 33, 39. 
(n) St. Matthew iii. 7: xxiii. 33. St. Luke iii. 7. 

(o) Rev. xii. 9: xx. 2: in connection with which, consider St. Mark xvi. 18, and St. Luke 
x. 19. 



XII.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 115 



36, 37 But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall 
speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment. For 
by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be 
condemned. 

A most solemn warning, truly. We are reminded of the prominent place given 
to the sins of that "little member/' (the tongue), in St. James' Epistle. "If any 
man offend not in word" he says, "the same is a perfect inan!"(p) Consider St. 
James i. 26: iii. 2 to 12: also Psalm xxxiv. 12, 13, (quoted in 1 St. Peter iii. 10): 
xvii. 3: xxxix. 1: cxli. 3, &c. The most thoughtful and profound of English 
Bishops made his first sermon — "On the Government of the Tongue?' 

The argument in the former verse is, — Not only for the "evil things" -which they 
utter, (that is, their blasphemous words,) shall men hereafter be called to judgment; 
but even of their inconsiderate and unreal words, shall they have to give account. 
"Idle," (literally "object-less," "useless,") seems to mean something more than 
"unprofitable," and less than "mischievous." 

38 Then certain of the Scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, 
Master, we would see a sign from Thee. 

What they asked for, was, "a sign from Heaven" See St. Luke xi. 16, and the 
note there. Such signs Moses, (q) Joshua, (r) Samuel,(s) and Elijah,(£) had shown. 
The same request is made by the same persons in St. Matthew xvi. 1, and obtains 
the same reply, — in verse 4. Compare St. John ii. 18 : (where see the note) : and 
vi. 30. Consider also, 1 Cor. i. 22. 

39 But He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous 
generation seeketh after a sign : and there shall no sign be given to 
it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonas : 

He calls them "adulterous," because God had styled Himself the Husband of the 
Jewish Church,(zf) had wedded that nation to Himself ;(x) and yet they had turned 
away from Him, and gone after other gods(y) .... Now, he who loves most, is 
most jealous ; hence, such language as is held in Zechariah i. 14: viii. 2, &c. 

40 for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly: 

Take notice that it is our LORD who tells us that it was "a whale" which swal- 
lowed His Prophet, (A whale : the only creature besides Man, whose creation is 
specially recorded !)(z) In the History itself, we read only of "a great fish." (a) 

so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart 
of the earth. 

Thus our Saviour gave them a marvellous sign ; not " in the height above," but 
"in the depth ;"(b) declaring the Prophet Jonah, "in the heart of the seas, "(c) to 
have exhibited a type of His own descent into the Grave; and of His Resurrection: 
for as Jonah "was restored alive unto the dry land again, so should the Messiah, 
after three days, be taken out of the jaws of Death, and restored unto the land of 
the living." Our Lord proceeds, — 

41, 42 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this genera- 
tion, and shall condemn it : because they repented at the preaching of 
Jonas : and behold, a Greater than Jonas is here. The Queen of the 

p) St. James iii. 2. (q) Exodus xvi. 4, 15, referred to in St. John vi. 30 to 32. 

r) Joshua x. 12, 13. (s) 1 Samuel xii. 16 to 18. (*) 2 Kings i. 10 to 12. 

it) Isaiah liv. 5. Jeremiah xxxi. 32. 

,x) Jeremiah iii. 14. Compare 2 Cor. xi. 2. Ephes. v. 23, Ac. Rev. xix. 7: xxi. 2. 
y\ Jeremiah iii. 2, 8, 9. Ezekiel xxiii. 11, &c. (z) See Genesis i. 21. 

a) Jonah i. 17. (6) Isaiah vii. 11. (c) see the margin of Jonah ii. 3. 



116 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

South shall rise up in Judgment with this generation, and shall con- 
demn it : for she came from the uttermost parts of the Earth to hear 
the wisdom of Solomon ; and, behold, a Greater than Solomon is here. 

The men of sinful and idolatrous Nineveh, who repented at the preaching of 
Jonah ;(d) and the Queen of Sheba, who came from far, although a heathen, to 
hear the wisdom of Solomon, (e) — were the models of the converted and penitent 
Gentile world. But behold, One greater than either Jonah or the Queen of the 
South was here; and yet, He won no credit at the hands of the very nation whom 
He came to save. In the day of Judgment, Nineveh and Saba would therefore 
prove the condemnation of the Jewish people. And what must be feared for that 
nation when their only Saviour had been finally renounced? He proceeds Him- 
self to describe the fate which awaited them : delivering on this occasion one of 
the most extraordinary of all His recorded sayings. 

43 When the unclean Spirit is gone out of a man, 

Take notice that this is said of "a many At the end of verse 45, the warning 
is applied to the Jewish Nation: "Even so shall it be also unto this wicked genera- 
tion." It may be, that, whatever is true of communities, applies, in a manner, to 
individuals also. Mercifully, however, did the Divine Speaker so frame His Dis- 
course, that the warning Avhich he was about to deliver to the Jewish People, should 
first take an altogether private and personal form. Every baptized Christian, 
therefore, finds here a picture of his danger. 

And the first thing to be noticed is, that a real expulsion of the evil Spirit is here 
spoken of. He is " gone out," because he is " cast out."(/) The Grace of Baptism 
also is real. There has been " a Death unto Sin, and a new Birth," — (that is, Re- 
generation,") — " unto Righteousness." Henceforth, our prayer is that the baptized 
person may " continue Christ's," and " lead the rest of his life according to this 
beginning." 

Observe that when God " did safely lead the children of Israel through the Red 
Sea, figuring thereby His Holy Baptisms "(g) — it is expressly related that "Israel 
saw the Egyptians," their enemies, "dead upon the sea shore." (Ji) 

But our attention is invited to the behaviour of an unclean Spirit when it has 
been driven out of a man. 

he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 

Here is a wonderful statement ! Behold, the veil is rent away, even by the Hand 
of the Creator Himself, from the unseen part of Creation; and we learn the beha- 
viour of a fallen Angel, — an unclean Spirit, who had taken up his abode in a hu- 
man body, but had been driven out from thence ! 

He is restless. " Rest" and " Quietness, "(?') — " sitting still,"(£) " patient abid- 
ing,"^) — is the portion of the good: but "the wicked are like the troubled sea, 
when it cannot rest . . . There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. "(m) . . . 
The unclean Spirit "goes to and fro in the Earth, — walks up and down in it,"(rc) — 
restless and miserable. He seeketh rest, — but findeth none. Consider the beha- 
viour of the Demoniac, as described by St. Mark v. 2 to 5 : and by St. Luke 
viii. 29. 

But what are "dry," (or, as it is here, " loaterless) places?" We gratefully ac- 
cept the suggestion of a great writer: — "probably, the barren wilds of Heathen- 
ism, oh which the dews of Grace have not descended ; and where there are no 
shoots of Divine planting to corrupt or destroy. (o) Then it is that he bethinks 
himself of trying to regain his ancient habitation." 

44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came 
out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 

(cl ) Jonah iii. 5 to 10. (e) 1 Kings x. 1, &c, and 2 Chron. ix. 1, &c. 

(/) See above, verses 24, 26, 27, 28. (g) See the first prayer in the Baptismal service. 

( h) Exodus xiv. 30. {i) Isaiah xxx. 15. (&) Isaiah xxx. 7. 

\l) Psalm ix. 18. Compare 1 St. Peter iii. 4, and Psalm xxxvii. 9. 

(m) Isaiah lvii. 21. Compare xlviii. 22. 

\n) Job i. 7, and ii. 2. Compare 1 St. Pet. v. 8. (o) Consider St. Luke viii. 6. 



XII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 117 

So " empty, swept, and garnished" with all spiritual graces, did Satan find the 
Temple of the Lord's Body, after His Baptism, — when he made that fierce assault 
upon Him to which we give the name of "the Temptation." Not that there had 
been any expulsion of Evil in that case. God forbid! The very thought were 
blasphemous. But see the note on St. Luke iv. 1. 

" Empty, swept, and garnished," doubtless, and in no ordinary manner, did the 
same accursed Spirit find Judas Iscariot ; when for three whole years He had fol- 
lowed the footsteps of the Holy One.(p) Yea, he had just received from his Divine 
Master's Hand the Bread of Life, and the Cup of Salvation, when, (as for the second 
time we read,) "Satan entered into him."(q) How solemn a warning for ourselves! 
See the note on St. John xiii. 27. 

45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more 
wicked than himself, 

Strange things are discovered to us here, at every step. We learn that there are 
degrees of wickedness in the evil Spirits ; and these maintain possession with pro- 
portionate power; see St. Matthew xvii. 21. We learn too that there is no small 
amount of plan and design on the part of the Devil and his evil agents, in order to 
achieve their accursed purposes. Thus, to regain possession of one miserable man, 
from whom Christ's power had expelled him, (without adding the injunction — 
" and enter no more into him,") (r) we find an unclean Spirit making a league with 
" seven other spirits more wicked than himself." Compare St. Luke viii. 2. Con- 
sider also St. Luke viii. 30, and see the note there. The Beader will find some 
additional remarks on the present words in the note on St. Luke xi. 26. 

Here the description ends ; and we must supply the rest of the picture for our- 
selves. Evil suggestions, adapted to the age and sex, the peculiar character, hab- 
its, temper, pursuits, condition ; — trials, multiplied, and varying, and various : — in 
some such form, doubt not that the attack was conducted. Then came the yield- 
ing : at first, in thought only ; but this was all the Enemy desired. He did but 
want a small advantage : a breach in the wall, through which to effect an entrance. 
At last, in an unguarded hour, he achieved his wicked purpose. The band of evil 
Spirits have overcome the man, — 

and they enter in, and dwell there : 

" Had that house been guarded by Watchfulness and Prayer, this sad result had 
been impossible. The good man watching against the thief's approach, would not 
have suffered his house to be broken through :(s) and the Devil, resisted by the 
prayer of Faith, would have fled away."^) The soul, aware of its weak points, 
and those parts of its nature against which old sins might most easily direct their 
attacks, should have kept a vigilant guard. But in the case before us there had 
been no watchfulness : no earnest cry to God, who, for Christ's sake, gives the aid 
of His Holy Spirit to all who ask Him.(?() And we behold the fearful consequence. 

and the last state of that man is worse than the first. 

" For," (as St. Peter declares,) " if after they have escaped the pollutions of the 
World, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ*- they are 
again entangled therein, and overcome, — the latter end is worse with them than 
the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of 
Righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy command- 
ment delivered unto them."(x) 

Such is the fearful commentary of the Spirit on a state of relapse into Sin. God 
of His Mercy preserve us from it ! See more in the note on the last half of St. 
Luke xi. 26. Our Lord proceeds to show the purpose with which He had delivered 
these memorable words ; applying His remarks to the case of the Jewish Nation. 

Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. 

(p) St. Luke xxii. 3. (q) St. John xiii. 27. (r) St. Mark ix. 25. 

(s) St. Luke xii. 39. (0 St. James iv. 7. 

(u) St. Luke xi. 13. Compare St. James i. 5, 6, 7 : and the places in the margin. 
(x) See 2 St. Peter ii. 20, 21, and following verses. 



118 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Like to the case of the individual just described, our Lord says would be the 
case of that "wicked generation." See the beginning of the first note on verse 43. 
The Kingdom of Heaven had come very nigh to them indeed.(y) The Enemy had 
been forcibly expelled from their borders. Fearful in proportion must be the re- 
lapse. The end of the matter was, that " the unclean spirits rushed in with seven- 
fold vigour and malignity, and made of Jerusalem before its fall a hell, of confusion 
and misery, to which the Gentile world has no parallel." 

46, 47 While He yet talked to the people, behold, His Mother and 
His Brethren stood without, desiring to speak with Him. Then one 
said unto Him, Behold, Thy Mother and Thy Brethren stand without, 
desiring to speak with Thee. 

These were our Blessed Lord's cousins. See the note on St. Matthew xiii. 55. 
Not only cousins, — but uncles and nephews, (z) and indeed all near kinsmen, were 
accounted "brethren." A wise Bishop has bid us observe that, "although His 
Mother and His Brethren be named together, yet they are never called the sons of 
His Mother ; and the question is not whether Christ had any brethren, but whether 
His Mother brought forth any more children." 

48, 49, 50 But He answered and said unto him that told Him, Who 
is My Mother ? and who are My Brethren ? And He stretched forth 
His hand towards His Disciples, and said, Behold My Mother and My 
Brethren ! For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in 
Heaven, the same is My Brother, and Sister, and Mother. 

See the concluding note on the third chapter of St. Mark's Gospel. The Reader 
is also referred to a few words on St. Luke viii. 21, — where our Lord is found to 
have repeated either the saying, or the sentiment, which He delivered on the pre- 
sent occasion. It cannot be necessary to point out that He thereby neither dis- 
claimed the Mother who bore Him ; nor spoke slightingly of the most precious of 
earthly ties. He does not disparage Relationship ; but he elevates Obedience. In 
the words of wise Bishop Pearson, — " since He came not to do His own will, but 
the will of Him that sent Him, He admits no brotherhood but with such as do 
the same." 

(y) See above, ver. 28. 

(z) Genesis xiii. 8 : xiv. 16 : xxix. 12, 15. Lev. xxv. 48, 49. 



THE PRAYER. 

Almighty God, who hast knit together Thine elect in one com- 
munion and fellowship, in the mystical Body of Thy Son Christ our 
Lord ; Grant us grace so to follow Thy blessed Saints in all virtuous 
and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys, which 
Thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love Thee: through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 



XIII.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 119 



CHAPTER XIII. 



3 The parable of the Sower and the seed: 18 the exposition of it. 24 The parable 
of the Tares, 31 of the Mustard seed, 33 of the Leaven, 44 of the hidden Treasure, 
45 of the Pearl, 47 of the Draw net cast into the sea: 53 and how Christ is con- 
temned of His own countrymen. 

This Chapter is the very Treasury of parables. Seven Parables are here found 
together. So rich a cluster, — " so many and so costly pearls," — are nowhere else 
in the Gospels to be seen " strung upon a single thread." 

1, 2 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea 
side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto Him, so that 
He went into a ship, and sat ; and the whole multitude stood on the 
shore. 

The " Great multitudes" on the shore were doubtless the cause why our Saviour 
" went into a Ship :" they must have thronged and crowded Him. Moreover, no 
position more convenient for His Divine purpose can be conceived, than the posi- 
tion which He chose. Yet, doubt not but what the act was full of mysterious sig- 
nificance as well ; for not our Lord's sayings only, but His acts were parables also. 
That Ship offers a perpetual type of the Church, — in which Christ is; and where, 
"without a parable" He may be said not to speak. But hereafter all will be made 
plain, — as was the case then also. See St. Mark iv. 34. Consider also St. Mark 
iv. 11. 

3 And He spake many things unto them in parables, saying, 

Our Lord proceeded "to open His Mouth in parables, — to utter things which 
had been kept secret from the foundation of the world." See ver. 35, and the note 
there. That is, He now delivered Divine Instruction under the form of Compari- 
sons drawn from natural objects. This method was not unusual in the East. Three 
famous specimens are supplied in the Old Testament, by Jotham's parable of the 
Trees, (a) (though that is rather a Fable than a Parable,) — Nathan's parable of the 
Ewe-lamb, (b) — and the woman of Tekoah's parable. (c) It is not asserted, indeed, 
that the Blessed Speaker had never spoken a parable before ; (for we know that 
He had;) yet is the present clearly set before us as the beginning of parables in a 
certain sense. In other words, our Lord commenced from this time the practice of 
teaching in parables ; and, as the inquiry of the Disciples in ver. 10, suggests, it 
was a new thing with Him to deliver Instruction in this form. 

The parable of " the Sower," therefore, with which the Divine Speaker com- 
mences, is entitled to very unusual attention. Its exceeding importance, its depth 
and fullness of wonder, may not for an instant be doubted: nor is it hard to per- 
ceive many of its claims thus to lie at the foundation of "all parables:" — see St. 
Mark iv. 13. It treats of the main thing of all,— God's Holy Word; and the re- 
ception which it meets with among mankind. A mirror is thus held up to us, in 
which we behold ourselves, and the dangers which surround us : at the same time, 
by the illustration which our Blessed Lord employs, we are taught what manner 
of persons we ought to be. 

(a) Judges is. 1 to 15. (I) 2 Samuel xii. 1 to 4. (c) 2 Samuel xiv. 5 to 7. 



120 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

On the present parable, only a few remarks are offered in this place. Fuller 
notes will be found in the Commentary on St. Mark's 14th chapter, — verses 3 to 9, 
and 14 to 20: and the Reader is referred, once for all, to what is there written ; as 
well as to the notes on St. Luke viii. 4 to 8, and 11 to 15. 

Behold, a Sower went forth to sow; 

"Went forth," — as did our Lord from "the bosom of the Father," at His In- 
carnation. See the note on St. Mark iv. 3. 

4 and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls 
came and devoured them up : 

Observe, it is not said that the Sower sowed the seed — by the way, on the rock, 
among thorns, and into good ground: but that it "fell" there. The Sower sowed 
well. It was the soil which was evil. 

5, 6 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth : 
and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth. 
And when the sun was up, they were scorched ; and because they had 
no root, they withered away. 

See the notes on St. Mark iv. 4 and 6. 

7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and 
choked them : 

" So then, this is not all, — to have the Word, and to hear it; as if that would 
serve our turn and save us, as we commonly fancy. Multitudes under the contin- 
ual sound of the Word, yet remain lifeless and fruitless, and die in their sins." — 
See the note on St. Mark iv. 7. 

8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an 
hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold. 

Consider what is implied thereby : namely, the abundant fruits of Faith, — the 
mighty harvest of good works, — which the Word of God is expected to produce in 
all of us, who hear ! And this is, doubtless, the view of the question which con- 
cerns us most. 

But those whose office it is to teach, will do well further to reflect, that the three 
degrees of success enumerated, are, severally, the rewards,-— (let us never be so 
presumptuous as to call them the results,) — of different degrees of care bestowed 
upon the soil by the Husbandman. Great pains and care are requisite to procure 
even the lowest rate of increase : — far more toil must be expended, if he would 
earn a double blessing. But, (in the language of the Farm,) it must be Spade- 
Husbandry, — nay more, there must be pains bestowed on each individual plant, — 
if the Spiritual Husbandman would secure the increase which attended Isaac's 
sowing. See Genesis xxvi. 12. 

See more, in the note on St. Mark iv. 8. 

9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 

In the success which the Seed met with, there had been great variety, we see ; 
yet only one Seed, — only one Sower ! " In hearing of the Word," (as a pious writer 
has remarked,) "men look usually too much upon men; and forget from what 
spring the Word hath its power. They observe too narrowly the different hands of 
the sowers, and too little depend on His hand, who is Lord of both Seed-time and 
Harvest." In other words, they think not enough of God : and they attend not 
enough to themselves. 

Let these and the like reflections be ours, as often as we read the parables of our 
Saviour Christ. So shall we best show ourselves mindful of the memorable 
warning of the Spirit, in ver. 9 : concerning which, see the note on St. Mark iv. 9. 



XIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 121 

10 And the Disciples came, and said unto Him, Why speakest Thou 
unto them in parables ? 

This took place afterwards, — in the House. See St. Mark iv. 10, and the note 
there. 

11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you 
to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not 
given. 

"What St. Matthew, throughout his Gospel, calls " the Kingdom of Heaven," — 
that, the other Evangelists call "the Kingdom of GOD." — The phrase is used with 
different shades of meaning ; but it generally denotes the Gospel Dispensation, — 
of which the Christian Church is the greatest material feature. 

" The Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven/' — denotes all those particulars re- 
specting the nature and history of the Gospel Dispensation, which has been for so 
many ages kept secret, but which were now at last about to be revealed. Consider 
the following texts, — Romans xvi. 25, 26. 1 Cor. ii. 7, 8. Ephes. iii. 9, 10. Coloss. 
i. 26. — Take notice, however, that it was through no partiality on the part of Al- 
mighty God, — no arbitrary and blind decree, — that the Apostles were given to 
know those "Mysteries." Be sure of that. The reason of this favour shown them 
by our Lord, follows in the next verse: and see the note on ver. 13. 

12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have 
more abundance ; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken 
away even that he hath. 

So that, in reward of what the Disciples " had/' — call it Faith, or Love, or Use 
of Opportunities, or Improvement of Privileges, — more and more Blessings are 
promised. The opposite state is denoted by the expression, " hath not." Something, 
indeed, even the wicked man hath, perforce ; yet is it a mere unreality, — a thing, 
which deserves not the name of a possession. Scarcely indeed can he be said to 
11 have" it. He but " seemeth to have," — as it is said in St. Luke viii. 18. What- 
ever it may be, it " shall be taken away" from him. 

A most precious promise, — a most solemn and emphatic warning also, truly ; 
which are found to have been uttered by our Lord on at least three different occa- 
sions. Compare the language of St. Luke viii. 18 ; and see the note on St. Mark 
iv. 25. 

The Jewish nation, as a body, heard our Lord's Discourses indeed, but closed 
their hearts against the Heavenly Doctrine which they contained. They beheld 
His Humanity, but refused to discern therein His Divinity. 

13 Therefore speak I to them in Parables ; because they seeing see 
not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 

It is here declared, therefore, that those who — blessed, as these men had been, 
with the sight and hearing of "things kept secret from the foundation of the 
world, "(d) — would neither see nor hear the things which concerned their peace, 
should be punished, by having the mysteries of the Gospel henceforth exhibited to 
them under a veil and darkly. As St. Mark expresses it, — " that seeing they may 
see, and not perceive ; and hearing they may hear, and not unclerstand/'( e ) I n 
other words, they were threatened with what is called judicial blindness. Thus, 
after Pharaoh, (a great example of Sin in the Old Testament,) had hardened his 
own heart five times in succession, in resistance to the Almighty, (f) — we are ex- 
pressly told that, next, God hardened his heart. (g) 

Thus, then, our Lord explains his adoption of Parables as a means of Instruc- 
tion. In reply to which, it will perhaps be thought that, in point of fact, His 
Parables were yet (in a manner) plain and clear ; — that they often set forth His 

(d) See below ver. 35, and the note there. (e) St. Mark iv. 12. 

( / ) Exodus vii. 22 : viii. 15, 19, 32 : ix. 7. 

(g) Exodus ix. 12, (compare it. 21; vii. 3,) 35 : x. 20, 27: xi. 10. 



122 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Divine meaning with greater point and force than could have "been attained by any- 
other method. Nor is this denied. But a doctrine, or a precept, or a future event, 
shadowed forth under the veil of a Parable, is yet a hidden thing, — revealed only 
to those who have " ears to hear." And in this symbolic manner, as it seems, did 
our Divine Lord set forth prophetically the course of His future treatment of the 
Jewish nation ; — as well as explain to mankind how He deals with individual 
hearts. In illustration of what has been said, it may be pointed out that the pro- 
phecy in Malachi iii. 1, — which, in a certain sense, doubtless, is yet future, was 
fulfilled, in a degree, by the incident recorded in St. Matthew xxi. 12 : and yet 
more faintly, but no less truly, in that more noiseless, yet equally sudden coming, 
described by St. Luke — ii. 22. In the same manner, our Lord's first Advent was 
symbolical of His second. 

14, 15 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, 
By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand ; and seeing ye 
shall see, and shall not perceive : for this people's heart is waxed gross, 
and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed ; 
lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their 
ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, 
and I should heal them. 

The quotation is from Isaiah vi. 9, 10 : and surely the declaration is a very re- 
markable one, that these words, — spoken originally of the Jewish people by Isaiah 
the prophet, — should have had so perfect an application to the same nation in the 
days of Messiah, that the prophecy could be said to have been then fulfilled. St. 
John and St. Paul, on two memorable occasions, so applied the words of the 
Evangelical Prophet. (h) 

Well worthy of notice are those words, — " Their eyes they have closed." The 
Spirit thus speaks because the human Will is free. If men sin, it is because they 
prefer Darkness to Light. 

" Lest they should be converted and I should heal them:" — which proves that 
Conversion, (that is, Repentance,) was possible for them ; and that Salvation would 
have followed on their Repentance. Compare the last words of St. Mark iv. 12. 

16, 17 But blessed are your eyes, for they see ; and your ears, for 
they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and 
righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have 
not seen them ; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not 
heard them. 

A wondrous statement on the lips of Him who had been " the Desire of all Na- 
tions." — whose " Day" Abraham had " seen,"(i) — and all the Patriarchs and Pro- 
phets^) had, in a manner, descried ; — but only " afar off "(I) and dimly. " Where- 
fore" (in the words of our VHth Article) " they are not to be heard, which feign 
that the old Fathers did look only for transitory promises." How bold is that say- 
ing of Ignatius, second bishop of Antioch; "Christ is the Door, through which 
enter in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Prophets, and the Apostles, and 
the Church !" 

18 Hear ye therefore the Parable of the Sower. 

Notice, by the way, that our Lord here supplies us with the title of a Parable. 
His Disciples furnish us with the title of another in ver. 36. 

19 When any one heareth the Word of the Kingdom, and under- 
standeth it not, 

These words are peculiar to the present Gospel. They describe a heart which 

(h) See St. John xii. 39, 40 : and Acts xxviii. 25 to 27. (i) St. John viii. 56. 

h) See 1 St. Peter i. 10 to 12. (0 Hebrews xi. 13. 



XIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 123 

opens not to receive the heavenly seed; "hut presents an obdurate surface. See be- 
low ver. 23 : also the note on St. Mark iv. 15. 

Observe, that the explanation of the parable begins somewhat differently in St. 
Mark's Gospel, — iv* 14 ; where see the note. 

then cometh the Wicked One, and catcheth away that which was 
sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. 

See the note on St. Mark iv. 15. 

20, 21 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is 
he that heareth the Word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he 
not root in himself, but dureth for a while : for when tribulation or 
persecution ariseth because of the Word, by and by he is offended. 

See the note on St. Mark iv. 16. 

"Anon, with joy receiveth it." Let us dwell for a moment on this picture. 
Happy they, who have not experienced its truth, in a degree, in their own persons ! 
No wonder, if the " "Word of the Kingdom," especially if skillfully and sensibly 
delivered, pleases. It hath a ravishing beauty and sweetness of its own, which 
cannot fail to please. " Let it be but a fancy/ - ' says Leighton, "yet it is a fine 
pleasant one .... The Description of the New Jerusalem, (in) suppose it to be 
but a dream, or one of the Visions of the Night, yet, it is passing fine ; it must 
needs please a mind that heeds what is said of it." As the Lord declared to Eze- 
kiel, His prophet, — "Lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath 
a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument."(w) 

But it is there added, — " They hear thy words, but they do them not." And 
so here, it is heard " with joy," and springs up presently. Men commend it, and, 
it may be, repeat some passages ; yea, possibly, desire to be like it, — to have such 
and such graces as are recommended, — and straightway think they have them. 
And to all appearance, some change is wrought ; but it is not deep enough." Con- 
sider Balaam's wish, in Numbers xxiii. 10, and compare it with Balaam's end. 

22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth 
the Word ; and the care of this World, and the deceitfulness of Riches, 
choke the Word, and he becometh unfruitful. 

" Cares" and "Riches," — these, then, are the " thorns and briars" which prove 
so fatal to the growth of the spiritual life ! " Break up your fallow ground," 
spake the Lord by His prophet, to the men of Judah and Jerusalem ; " and sow 
not among thorns" (o) 

" The deceitfulness of Riches :" — that must be because " They that will be rich, 
fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which 
drown men in destruction and perdition, (p) 

See the note on St. Mark iv. 19. 

23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth 
the Word, and understandeth it ; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth 
forth, some an hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty. 

Take notice, that this last is the case of one " that heareth the Word and under- 
standeth it :" — the opposite case, therefore, to that mentioned in ver. 19. 

And further let it be remarked, before we pass on, that there is no reason why 
the three evil states before described, should not in the end, by God's Grace, be 
brought to resemble this : even by the influence upon them of that very Word 
whose fruitfulness they, at first, prevented. " He that plougheth should plough in 
hope,"(q)—\s expressly said of the Ministerial Labourer. The barren highway 
may therefore yet become the yielding furrow. And why may not the rock be 

(m) Rev. xxi. («) Ezekiel xxxiii. 32. (o) Jeremiah iv. 3. 

(p) 1 Tim. vi. 9. (g) 1 Cor. ix. 10. 



124 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

crushed, — the thorns yet given to the burning? " Is not My "Word like a fire? 
saith the Lord ; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ?"(f) 
See the note on St. Mark iv. 20. 

24, 25 Another Parable put He forth unto them, saying, 

The parable of " the Tares" follows ; in which, a very instructive and striking 
circumstance is lost sight of, in consequence of the word here employed by our 
Translators. Tares are easily distinguished from Wheat: but the plant which 
grows among the corn so abundantly in Palestine, — (here called " Tares," because 
that is the nearest word which our language supplies,) is so so like Wheat in ap- 
pearance that a careless eye would hardly detect the difference. When closely ex- 
amined, however, the plant is found to have no corns in the ear : it is a mere barren 
bearded husk. How apt a type is thereby furnished of the wicked, — growing up 
among the just, and, outwardly at least, not to be distinguished from them ! 

But the beauty of the Divine image is yet more striking. Wheat and Tares are 
plants of a different kind: but the plant which our Lord speaks of, (here called 
Tares,) is only a degenerate kind of Wheat. Let it not be said therefore that some 
are created for the burning ; while others are destined for the Heavenly Garner, — 
" elect" from their Birth. For the present parable gives no countenance to so 
monstrous an opinion; which is, in fact, refuted by almost every page of Scripture. 

The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a Man which sowed good 
seed in his field : 

We shall be told in ver. 37, that the " man" here described is " the Son of 
Man ;" and that " the field is the World." He is called an " Householder'''' in ver. 
27. And that is because, though all the Field is God's, yet hath He a House within 
it, in which He chiefly delights to dwell. 

but while men slept, His Enemy came and sowed Tares among the 
Wheat, and went his way. 

"While men slept!" We are warned thereby against sloth and supineness, 
which give the Enemy occasion, — both in respect of others and of ourselves. 

" Soived Tares." Take notice that this was no chance growth, — the 'result of 
careless Husbandry ; as when Tares infest otir corn-fields. ("What could have 
been done more .... that I have not done?"(s) — may the Divine Husbandman 
well ask.) But the plant described above, in the first note on ver. 24, was the 
result of active mischief on the part of the Enemy. Such wickedness is said to 
be practised to this day, in some parts of the world. 

Here, then, is a prophecy of the speedy growth of error, (" all things that offend," 
— as it is said in ver. 41,) after the sowing of the good seed: — and since error can- 
not exist apart from erring men; nor sin, apart from sinners; it amounts to a 
declaration that " they which do iniquity " would soon be found in the Church, 
mixed up, and growing side by side, with the righteous. " The Children of the 
Wicked One," as it is said in ver. 38, mixed up with "the Children of the King- 
dom." — It is further declared that the Enemy, who should be the author of all this 
evil, " is the Devil." He did the mischief and departed. 

26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then 
appeared the Tares also. 

Observe, that the Tares are discovered by the fruitfulness of the Wheat ! 

Thus, then, it is prophesied that the hypocrites, and the openly wicked, shall be 
seen standing side by side with those who bring forth much fruit. And this mixed 
aspect which the Church presented from the very beginning, — has presented in all 
ages, — presents at this time, — and will continue to present to the end of the World, 
is much to be noted as one of the things which our Lord distinctly foretold ; and. of 
which he here forewarns us. It was set forth in type, — by Noah's Ark, which 
contained alike clean and unclean beasts: in vision., — by the great sheet which St. 

(r) Jeremiah xxiii. 29. (s) Isaiah v. 4. 



XIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 125 

Peter saw let down from Heaven, wherein were all manner of beasts: in compari- 
son, — by the threshing-floor, whereon is laid wheat and chaff: and by the great 
House, in which there are not only vessels of Gold and silver, but also of wood and 
of earth ; and some to honour some to dishonour:^) in parable, — by the sheep and 
the goats ; the net which contained fish of every kind ; the tares which grew among 
the wheat. 

We may not separate from the Church, therefore, on pretence of belonging to 
some holier society within it. This is Schism. We thereby, in effect, put ourselves 
out of the Church, and endanger our own Salvation. We are guilty of great pre- 
sumption, and self-conceit. We pretend to know the secrets of other men's hearts; 
whereas a little reflection might convince us that we know not the secrets of our 
own. The Lord "searcheth all hearts ;"(w) and "The Lord — knoioeth them that are 
His."(x) Let this thought suffice us. 

True indeed it is that " the King's Daughter is all glorious within :"(?/) but this 
glory of the Church is hidden from men's eyes. The Church Catholic, (that is the 
Church universal,) is also "Holy," — as we assert in the Apostles' Creed; but this 
means not that every one, visibly in communion with her, is holy also. True more- 
over it is, that into "the Holy Jerusalem/'' "there shall in no wise enter anything 
that defileth :" but only "they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life."(z) 
All this, however, will be hereafter and not now. The "Holy City, New Jerusa- 
lem," (a) the "glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," (6) 
is the Church, — not "militant," as it is "here in Earth;" but triumphant, as it will 
hereafter be, in Heaven. 

See more in the note on ver. 38. 

27 So the servants of the Householder came and said unto Him, Sir, 
didst not thou sow good seed in thy field ? from whence then hath it 
Tares? 

"The Servants of the Householder" are not the same with "the Keapers," — for 
the two are distinguished in ver. 30. These last are declared to be "the Angels," 
— to whom the care of all the field is entrusted. Compare Zechariah vi. 4 to 7 : 
Daniel x. 13, 21: xii. 1, &c. But the Servants, inhabiting the House, (c) — will be 
such as " Simon Peter, a Servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ ;"(c?) and 
"James, a Servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ ;"(e) and " Paul, a Ser- 
vant of Jesus Christ :"(/) with their successors to the end of the world. " The 
Servants of the Householder," are in fact, the faithful, generally. And take note 
that the sight of wickedness, or rather, the origin of Evil, fills these with perplexity. 
"Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares?" 
— words, which are a prophecy of the disquiet which ensued at the Church's dis- 
covery of error within her pale ; and which, in fact, nearly rent her in sunder. 

28 He said unto them, An Enemy hath done this. The servants 
said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up ? 

So zealous for God's Honour are His faithful Servants ! 

Compare the language of "the sons of Thunder," — in St. Luke ix. 54. Consider, 
again, the remonstrance of the Prophet Jeremiah, — xiii. 1 to 4: — the complaint of 
the Psalmist, — lxxiii. 12 to 14:— and, earlier yet, the inquiry of holy Job, — xxi. 7 
to 15. Take notice, further, that these "Servants of the Householder," had the 
present fate of the wicked been left to them, would assuredly have "gone and 
gathered up the Tares," forthwith. — " Up, Lord, and let not man have the upper 
hand!"(#) Such has been the impatient language of God's Saints in all ages. The 
very souls beneath the altar, "of them that were slain for the Word of God, and 
for the Testimony which they held," are found to cry, with a loud voice, — "How 
long, Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them 
that dwell on the Earth V\h) Contrast this with the voice of Angels, — Zech. i. 12 

(t) 2 Tim. ii. 20. (») 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. {x) 2 Tim. ii. 19. 

(y) Psalm xlv. 13. (z) Rev. xxi. 10, 27. (a) Rev. xxi. 2. 

. (b) Ephes. v. 27. (c) See the last note on ver. 24 (rf) 2 St. Peter i. 1. 

(e) St. James i. 1. (/) Romans i. 1. [g) Psalms ix. 19. 

(h) Rev. vi. 9, 10. 



126 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the Tares, ye root up 
also the Wheat with them. 

Partly, because there is a risk of even mistaking the one for the other ; partly, 
(and chiefly,) because there is such entanglement between the good and the wicked, 
— the one are so entwined with the other, — that to effect a severance, without 
fatally disturbing the former, would be next to impossible. 

Consider how this same doctrine is set forth by the comparison of the evil and 
the just to chaff and wheat; which cannot, in fact, be severed till "the Harvest." 
They grow on one and the same stem. In a certain sense, they make part of each 
other ; and are essential, the one to the other. 

This reply of "the Householder," therefore, recommends the Grace of Patience; 
concerning which, see the end of the note on St. Matthew iv. 7, and the references 
there. — It further suggests that a great and admitted evil must sometimes be en- 
dured, rather than the safety of that which is certainly good, should be endangered. 

30 Let both grow together until the Harvest : and in the time of 
Harvest I will say to the Reapers, Gather ye together first the Tares, 
and bind them in bundles to burn them : but gather the Wheat into 
My barn. 

Now, " the Harvest is the end of the World," — as we read in ver. 39 : "and the 
Reapers are the Angels." — the interpretation of this verse is found below, from 
verse 40 to verse 43. 

Note here, the long-suffering goodness of God: " Let both grow together." Let 
both, for the present, share the same rain, and dew, and sunshine: "for He maketh 
His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the 
unjust. ; '(0 But does this proceed from indifference on His part? God forbid? 
From some defect in the Divine contrivance, then, which makes interference impos- 
sible? Far from it. The reason of the delay is expressly given by St. Paul, in 
Romans ii. 4; — and St. Peter alludes to that passage in his "beloved brother's" 
Epistle, in 2 St. Peter iii. 9 and 15. — All this is but for a time, however. "He 
hath appointed a Day, in the which He will judge the World in righteousness."(&) 

"Into bundles.'" Does this perhaps denote the different classes of offenders? — 
Concerning the "Barn," see the latter part of St. Matthew iii. 12, and the note 
there. 

31 Another Parable put He forth unto them, saying, The Kingdom 
of Heaven is like to a grain of Mustard seed, which a man took, and 
sowed in His field : 

Seed is again made the instrument of Heavenly teaching. The same "man" also 
again comes before us, — and we are again reminded of the "Field" which was his. 
See above, the latter part of verse 24, and the note there. This Parable, however, is 
entirely given by St. Mark, — iv. 30 to 32; and has been so fully remarked upon in 
the notes there, that it becomes unnecessary to say anything concerning it, in this 
place. For its connection with what goes before, see the concluding note on the 
present Chapter. 

32 which indeed is the least of all seeds : but when it is grown, it is 
the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the 
air come and lodge in the branches thereof. 

See the notes on St. Mark iv. 31, 32. 

A parable follows, which, like the rest, also relates to the Kingdom of Heaven. 
It is found to recur, like the preceding parable, in the thirteenth chapter of St. 
Luke. See the note on St. Luke xiii. 21. 

(i) St. Matthew v. 45. (&) Acts xvii. 31. 



xiii.] on st. Matthew's gospel. 127 

33 Another parable spake He unto them: The Kingdom of Heaven 
is like unto Leaven : which a woman took, and hid in three measures 
of meal, till the whole was leavened. 

Our Lokd speaks of Himself under the image of a Woman, also in the parable 
of the Lost piece of Silver, St. Luke xv. 8. And as if to glorify all lowly occu- 
pations, on this occasion, as on that, it is a woman engaged in a poor domestic task. 
There, — she sweeps the House: here, — she mixes leaven with meal! 

Take notice, then, that she "hides" the leaven in the meal: which reminds us of 
the relation of the Church with respect to the World. At first, it was a thing 
wholly hidden; and even now, the Great Reality is wondrously obscured, — in large 
Cities especially. Notice the language of verse 44. 

Yet, what follows ? "till the whole was leavened" Here, then, is a prophecy of 
what will be hereafter; and which has already come to pass, in a degree. It is 
implied that, by virtue of the law of its nature, the Church of Christ must spread 
and make its way. As Leaven, when hid in meal, secretly and silently pervades 
the whole lump, even so does it fare with the Gospel. It possesses moreover a 
transforming power : so acting upon the thing it encounters, that, in the end, "the 
whole is leavened ;" becomes changed, and partakes of another nature. 

The property of Leaven, our Lord alluded to on another occasion, — when He 
warned His Disciples against "the Doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."(Z) 

But why is it said, " Three measures of meal?" May it be because the great 
divisions of the Earth were anciently looked upon as so many? Or is it because 
the individual Man is made up of "Spirit, and Soul, and Body?" — as we are so 
often reminded ? Or is it only because the threefold division is so favourite an one 
with the Spirit — containing, as it does, a perpetual reference to the mystery of the 
Blessed Trinity? . . . Traces of it may be found in every part of Scripture, — from 
Genesis to Revelation. 

Lastly, it is right, in considering a parable, to notice its private and personal 
teaching, — as well as its general and national application. The parable of the 
Leaven reminds us of our need of that " daily renewal " by God's Holy Spirit, 
which we pray for in the Collect for Christmas-Day. It is not enough to have 
received the Heavenly Gift in Holy Baptism. Its influence must be continual upon 
the heart and life ; until the Christian has undergone that Transfiguration into the 
likeness of his Lord, of which the Great Apostle speaks, — in 2 Corinthians iii. 18. 

34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitudes in Parables ; 
and without a Parable spake he not unto them : 

St. Mark, — iv. 33, — adds, that "with many such parables spake He the Word 
unto them, as they were able to bear it." 

35 that it might befulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, saying, 
I will open My mouth in parables ; I will utter things which have been 
kept secret from the foundation of the World. 

Surely, a most surprising statement! To read Psalm lxxviii. 2, who would sup- 
pose that the scope of the Writer reached on, so far? .... Yet is this no solitary 
example of the unexpected fulfillment of prophetic sayings. See the notes on St. 
Matthew iv. 14: St. Luke i. 27, and ii. 38, and on St. Matthew xxvii. 9, 10. 

Take notice that "the Prophet" here spoken of was "Asaph the Seer,"(w) a Le- 
vite, who lived in the time of David the King." (ft) 

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house. 

St. Mark here adds, — "and when they were alone, He expounded all things to 
His Disciples." (o) One specimen of Divine Exposition has been already given, — 
ver. 10 to 23. Another follows. It is probable that the Disciples obtained from 
our Saviour an explanation of each of His parables. 

(I) St. Matthew xvi. 6, 11, 12. (m) 2 Chron. xxix. 30. 

(n) 1 Chron. xv. 17, 19, &c. (o) St. Mark iv. 34. 



128 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

37 And His Disciples came unto Him, saying, Declare unto us the 
parable of the Tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, 
He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man : 

It seems impossible to over-estimate the preciousness of what follows. How 
perplexed should we for ever have "been, — and how uncertain as to the actual inten- 
tion of our Lord's parables, — had He not thus graciously explained two, at such 
length, Himself! 

38, 39, 40 The field is the World : 

The Field, then, (it may be said by some one who reads the note on verse 25,) 
is not the Church, but the World ! What becomes therefore of the teaching drawn 
from this parable in the note just referred to? The objection is almost as ancient 
as the parable. 

But the answer is almost as obvious as the objection, and quite as ancient. Of 
course it was the World, — not the Church, but the World, — where the seed was 
sown : but the seed was no sooner sown, than the foundations of the Church, (the 
" Kingdom of Heaven," as it is called in ver. 24,) were laid ; and when the blade 
was sprung up, since it covered the Field, there began to be a " Holy Church uni- 
versal throughout the World." Then it was that the Tares began to show them- 
selves ; — so closely resembling the wheat, and so entangled with it, that it was 
impossible to separate them. How could the admixture of evil with good, in the 
visible Church, have been more aptly set forth ? The parable testifies to the great 
Truth that all within the Church are not of it : it admits, or rather asserts, that 
many who profess and call themselves Christians, do not deserve the name : but it 
contains a no less solemn warning against those who would separate themselves 
from the Church, on the plea that it is not all Holy. It removes all ground of sur- 
prise at the sad spectacle we daily witness ; for it is nothing less than a Prophecy 
that so it would be. 

the good seed are the Children of the Kingdom ; but the Tares are 
the Children of the Wicked One ; 

To be " the children of the Kingdom," &c, means those who will inherit the 
Kingdom ; that is, the just. Consider the following texts, St. Matthew xxiii. 15. 
St. Luke x. 6 : xvi. 8 : xx. 36. 1 Thess. v. 5. 

the Enemy that sowed them is the Devil : 

He means not that their life or faculties, — but all by which they are wicked, and 
fitted for Eternal punishment, is. the work of the Evil Spirit: ''while everything 
that is good in any, and affects their growth to everlasting Salvation," is from the 
Father of Lights; bestowed on them in, and through His Son, — who is the Cre- 
ator of all things. 

the Harvest is the end of the World ; and the reapers are the Angels. 
As therefore the Tares are gathered and burned in the fire ; so shall it 
be in the end of this world. 

Compare what is said in St. Matthew xv. 13. 

41, 42 The Son of Man shall send forth His Angels, and they shall 
gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do 
iniquity ; 

" Things that offend," — ("scandals" as it is said in the margin,) — are all hin- 
drances to Salvation, literally stumbling-blocks, which are thrown in the way of 
Believers. He that tempts another to sin, is, in the language of Scripture, a 
stumbling-block in his way. Hence our Lord's awful rebuke to Simon Peter, — in 
St. Matthew xvi. 23 ; where the same word occurs which our Lord employs in 
this place. 



XIII.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 129 



42 and shall cast them into a furnace of fire ; there shall be wail- 
ing and gnashing of teeth. 

An ancient Archbishop, who spoke so eloquently that he was styled " John of 
the Golden Mouth," has a beautiful remark on this. "Behold," he says, "the 
unspeakable Love of God towards men ! He is quick to show Mercy — slow to 
punish. When He sows, [ — see above, ver. 37, — ] He sows Himself; when He 
punishes, He punishes by others, — sending His Angels to do that!" 

See the note on St. Matthew viii. 12. 

43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom 
of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 

"As the Sun:" for that is the brightest object in Creation. They will " shine 
out;" as the sun does, when the clouds have rolled away. The future condition of 
the glorified body is always spoken of as exceeding bright and glorious. Consider 
the following striking passages : — St. Matthew xvii. 2, with which compare Kev. 
i. 16, and Acts xxvi. 13. — Daniel xii. 3. 1 Cor. xv. 41. 

The parable of " the Hid Treasure" follows ; and then the parable of " the 
Pearl." Take notice, that they were delivered in the House, — unlike those which 
go before. The Disciples, alone, therefore, hear them. And it is worth observing 
that they are, so to say, of a private and personal kind. They set forth how men 
ought individually to feel towards the Gospel ; and stimulate the affections rather 
than inform the mind. 

44 Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Treasure hid in a 
field; 

" Treasure :" — consider Psalm xix. 10 : cxix. 72, 127. Proverbs viii. 10, 11, 19. 
Compare Colossians ii. 3. 

" Treasure hid:" — see the note on ver. 33. "In ajield:" — see verses 24 and 
31, and the note on the former place. 

the which when a man hath found, 

Every word here is precious. " Which when a man hath found:" but it is he 
that seeketh, who Jindeth.(p) " Yea, if thou criest after Knowledge, and liftest up 
thy voice for Understanding ; if thou seekest her as Silver, and searchest for her, 
as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the Fear of the Lord, and find 
the Knowledge of God. ;; (^) In the Book of Proverbs, Wisdom is the name of 
Christ : so that the Wise King, (like the great Apostle) here speaks of " winning 
Christ."^) Compare Job iii. 21. 

he hideth ; 

Mark the conduct of the sincere Believer. He doth not talk much about his 
Faith and Hope. He rather " hideth" the matter in his heart. Compare Psalm 
cxix. 11. Our inner life is " hid with Christ in God."(s) It is " the hidden man 
of the heart." (t) 

Not, of course, that it is the nature of true Faith to keep the knowledge of 
Christ, a secret. God forbid ! " Andrew findeth his brother Simon :" and " Philip 
findeth Nathaniel :"(u) and the woman of Samaria leaveth her water-pot, and goeth 
her way into the City, " and saith to the men, Come, see."(x) It is ever thus. But 
it is one thing to burn for the Salvation of others, and to have a mighty zeal for 
Christ ; quite another thing to relate " experiences," and to wear one's Keligion 
on one's Up, — rather than in one's heart. It should be hid, — only that it may no 
he lost. 

(p) St. Matthew vii. 8. (q) Proverbs ii. 3 to 5. (r) Phil. iii. 8. 

(s) Coloss. iii. 3. (t) 1 St. Peter iii. 4. («) St. John i. 41, 45. 

(x) St. John iv. 28/ 29. 



130 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

and for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth 
that field. 

Godliness hath " promise of the life that now is," as well as "of that which is 
to come."(y) The man in the Parable wanted to obtain the Treasure ; he obtained 
the field, (that is the World,) as well. " Seek ye first the Kingdom of God," — 
(the very thing this man was seeking!) — "and His Righteousness; and all these 
things shall be added unto you." (z) 

Take notice, however, that it was the Treasure, — and the Treasure only, — which 
the man in the Parable wanted. The field he regarded as an incumbrance, — a joy- 
less barren waste. He would have possessed himself of the Treasure by itself, if 
he could ; but he could not. Nor let us fail to observe the great truth thus set 
before us, that the two cannot be separated. We may not, on this side of Eternity, 
possess the Treasure apart from the Field, (that is, the world,) wherein it is hid. 

Observe the temper of mind in which the man in the parable divests himself of 
all his goods. He is joyous. So then, " Joy" is another attribute of the true Be- 
liever. Consider the following texts : — Romans xii. 12 : xiv. 17 : xv. 3. 2 Cor. vi. 
10. Galat. v. 22. Phil. i. 4: iii. 1 : iv. 4. 1 Thess. i. 6 : v. 16. 1 St. Peter i. 8 : 
iv. 13, &c. 

Lastly, observe what is here implied. The man must part with everything else 
which he possesses, in order that he may become possessed of this one chief Trea- 
sure : and he knows that he must. The parable assumes this fact, and implies this 
knowledge. He waits for no summons: (a) he prepares to do his part at once, with 
joy.(b) "What things were gain to me," says the Apostle, " those I counted loss 
for Christ : yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of 
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. "(c) 

But, (some one will say,) was this an honourable and a commendable course, on 
the part of him who made so singular a discovery? Was it honest to buy a 
" Field," knowing all the while that it contained a " Treasure," which made it 
worth so much more ? Doubtless it was not: neither does our Lord say that it 
was. But the morality of the man's conduct forms no part of the teaching of the 
Parable. The point of the matter is the man's eagerness to become possessed of 
the Treasure : or rather, the greatness of the Treasure of which he became pos- 
sessed. If the man's conduct is to be further scrutinized, surely it becomes an 
instructive example of the great truth which our Lord delivered on another occa- 
sion ; namely, that "the Children of this World are in their generation wiser than 
the Children of Light." (d) Nor should it escape notice that this Man pretended 
not to buy the Field for any fixed sum which might represent its value. He went 
and sold all that he had, — and the field became his. 

The parable of " The Pearl" follows. 

45 Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man, 
seeking goodly pearls : 

It is possible that a contrast may be intended between him who found in the last 
parable, — and him who seeks, in this. If so, we are here reminded that while 
some persons are brought suddenly and unexpectedly to the knowledge of the 
things which concern their peace, — there are others, (like the Merchantman,) who 
find, at last, the thing of which they had been a long time in search ; the only 
thing which can satisfy their needs, and appease their cravings. 

This Merchantman was seeking for many pearls : but it was only because he 
little expected to meet with one which would make all future search for more un- 
necessary. They were " goodly pearls" he sought; and this it was which made 
him so eager to secure " the pearl of great price" when at last he found it. He 
saw its beauty, and he knew its worth, in a moment. 

46 who when he had found one Pearl of great price, went and sold 
all that he had, and bought it. 



y) 1 Tim. iv. 8. (z) St. Matthew vi. 33. (a) See St. Matthew xix. 21. 

b) Compare St. Matthew iv. 20, 22 :.ix. 9 : xix. 27, &c. (c) Philip, iii. 7, 8. 

(d) St. Luke xvi. 8. 



XIII.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 131 



"When he hath, found;" — for, once more, "he that seeketh, findeth."(e) 

" One pearl;" for God, and Truth, and the Faith, (/) and the Church are 
one:(g) undivided and indivisible. 

A "pearl ;" — for the pearl was, by the ancients, accounted the most costly of all 
jewels. There is, however, this further difference between the present resemblance 
and that which precedes : that whereas, before, attention was invited simply to 
the value of the prize, — here, the outward splendour of Christ's Kingdom, " the 
Beauty of Holiness," is set forth as well. The pearl is for ornament. 

" Of great price ;" for " the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of 
silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold." (A) 

In the present parable, as in the former one, he that would win this greatest of 
Treasures is represented as selling all that lie hath, — in order that he may obtain 
it. See the last note on ver. 44. Whereas, however, before, the result of his sacri- 
fice was the possession of a field wherein was hid a Treasure, — here, he wins a 
single small object, which yet contains, collected within itself, the value dispersed 
before, not only throughout the Field, but throughout the several pieces of the 
Treasure also. " And as one who is possessed of a pearl," says an ancient Father, 
" himself indeed knows of his wealth, but is not known to others, — oftentimes 
concealing it in his hand, by reason of its small bulk, — so is it in respect of the 
Gospel. They who possess it, know that they are rich : the unbelievers know no- 
thing of their treasure." 

Lastly, — what is to " buy" the pearl here spoken of? It is, to make a huge 
sacrifice for it. It is, to give in exchange for it, anything which the owner may 
choose to demand, or be disposed to accept. With men, this is money. But what 
is God's requirement ? " My son, — Give Me thy heart! 7 ' [i) 

Next comes the Parable of " the Draw-net ;" which, in one respect, closely re- 
sembles the Parable of the Tares. But the two are broadly distinguished. The 
one is a prophecy of the present : the other, of the future. The one dwells upon 
the mixed aspect of the Church as it is in the World: the other describes the final 
issue, — dwells only on what will be in the end of the World. 

47 Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Net, that was 
cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind : 

How lively an appeal was this concluding parable ! How must this resemblance 
of the Kingdom to fishes and a net have kindled the imagination of the simple 
Fishermen who heard ! How must their very life and calling have seemed to them- 
selves, (as indeed it was,) all a parable ! 

Christ Himself was the Great Fisherman, — who cast the net of the Gospel even 
while He spake. It " gathered of every kind ;" for in the visible Church all classes 
of men are included. And not only all ranks, all classes ; but also, good and bad 
persons alike are contained within the Church's net. See ver. 48 : and compare 
St. Matthew xxii. 10. The same lesson which was conveyed by the parable of the 
Tares, is therefore conveyed by this concluding parable. See above, a long note 
on ver. 26 ; and another, on the first part of ver. 38. 

The " net" here spoken of is one of that very large kind with which Fishermen 
capture at once a mighty shoal, — sweeping sometimes the waters of an entire bay. 

48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and 
gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 

" When it w&sfidl;" — for it is not till God hath "accomplished the number of 
His elect," thatthe end cometh. — " The shore;" for it is not till they have "passed 
the waves of this troublesome world" that men " come to the land of Everlasting 
Life." And " now, the net holds good and bad mingled together ; but the Shore 
shall discover what the net of the Church has brought to land." — The Angels "sit 
down;" — for the work here ascribed to them will be done with exceeding vigilance 
and care. Moreover, — sitting denotes Authority : (Consider Dan. vii. 9. Joel iii. 
12. Mai. iii. 3): and Rest: (Consider Micah iv. 4. Zech. i. 11. Psalm, xcix. 1. 

( e) St. Matthew vii. 8. (/) Ephes. iv. 5. (g) Song of Solomon vi. 9. 

(h) Proverbs iii. 14; and see the following verses. [i) Proverbs xxiii. 2Q 



132 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

St. Mark xvi. 19. Ephes. ii. 6. Kev. iii. 21 : iv. 4, &c.)— They " gather the good 
into vessels ;" — for, in God's "House, there are many mansions." (k) 

It is added that " the bad" shall be " cast away." This might seem a slender 
penalty; but their fate is more fully disclosed in ver. 50. — And doubtless it is im- 
plied that this casting away shall take place first; as was expressly declared in 
ver. 30 : for observe what is said in the next verse. 

49 So shall it be at the end of the World : the Angels shall come 
forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, 

This corresponds exactly with what was said in the parable of " the Tares." 
Compare it with ver. 41 : and see the note on ver. 42. 

" So shall it be at the end of the World:" — our Lord Himself guides us to the 
point of this parable, which is a prophecy of what will be hereafter. 

50 and shall cast them into the furnace of fire : there shall be wail- 
ing and gnashing of teeth. 

This is a repetition, word for word, of ver. 42, — where reference is made to the 
note on St. Matthew viii. 12. But, as an ancient Bishop well remarks, — "to fear 
becomes us rather than to expound." And he adds, — " The torments of sinners 
are pronounced in plain terms, that none might plead his ignorance ; which would 
have been possible, had eternal punishment been threatened in obscure sayings." 

51, 52 Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things ? 
They say unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then said He unto them, Therefore 
every Scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven is like 
unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his trea- 
sure things new and old. 

This seems to mean, — Ye say that ye have understood all these sayings of Mine, 
by which ye have been instructed concerning my future earthly Kingdom ; its Ob- 
stacles, — Defilements, — Growth, — Increase, — Might, — Dignity, — Splendour, — and 
End. Be ye therefore, henceforth, like to the Householder ; who brings forth, now, 
from his old stores, — now, from his new. Ye are Scribes, taught not only the 
learning of the Ancient Law ; but the mysteries of the Gospel likewise : bring 
forth, therefore, henceforth, as occasion may require, now, an old truth, — now, a 
new one, — for the edification of " the Household of Faith."(Z) .... But the say- 
ing remains obscure and difficult. 

53, 54 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these 
Parables, He departed thence. And when He was come into His own 
country, He taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were 
astonished, and said, Whence hath this Man this wisdom, and these 
mighty works ? 

"His own Country" means the city of Nazareth. Concerning the surprise' ex- 
cited by our Lord's Discourse, see the last note on St. Matthew vii. The " mighty 
works" are again alluded to in ver. 58. Compare St. Mark vi. 2. 

Take notice, that this was a second visit to Nazareth, — distinct from that recorded 
in St. Luke iv. 16 to 30. 

55 Is not this the Carpenter's son ? is not His Mother called Mary ? 
and His Brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas ? 

"No wonder that they were mistaken in His Brethren" says an ancient writer, 
" if they were mistaken in His Father. ." Joseph was probably now dead ; and the 
" brethren" here mentioned were most likely the cousins of our Lord, after the 

(k) St. John xiv. 2. Compare the mention of "bundles/' above, in ver. 30. 
\l) Galatians vi. 10. 



XIII.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 133 



flesh : sons of another Mary, who was Wife of Cleophas, and Sister of the Blessed 
Virgin. Nothing is more certain than that our Lord Jesus Christ was the First- 
born, and only Son of His Virgin Mother. 

The "James" here mentioned, was the first Bishop of Jerusalem,(m) and the 
author of the Epistle; hut probably not an Apostle. Simon succeeded him. Their 
Brother "Judas" is " Jude ... the brother of James:" author of the Epistle, 
and one of the Twelve. See the note on St. Matthew xii. 47. 

56, 57 And His Sisters, are they not all with us ? Whence then 
hath this Man all these things ? And they were offended in Him. But 
Jesus said unto them, a Prophet is not without honour, save in his own 
country, and in his own house. 

How nearly was this the very proverb which the same Divine Speaker had al- 
ready addressed to His unbelieving countrymen, — and in the very same place ! 
See St. Luke iv. 24. The humble connections of our Blessed Lord's Mother, and 
reputed Father, proved a stumbling-block in the way of their Faith : as it is here 
expressed, it " offended" them. 

58 And He did not many mighty works there, because of their un- 
belief. 

The "mighty works" which He did, are mentioned by St. Mark vi. 5 : who adds, 
— "And He marvelled because of their unbelief!" 



The eight Parables which our Lord is declared to have delivered on the present 
occasion, all relate to the Kingdom of Christ, — that is, to His Church. The first 
parable, (that of "the Sower,") foretells the obstacles which it would meet with; — 
and which continue, to this day, to oppose its growth and progress. The next, — 
the Parable of "the Tares," is a prophecy of the appearance which the Visible 
Church would present to the eyes of men ; — a melancholy prophecy, attested and 
confirmed by every day's experience. These two parables are fully explained by 
our Lord. The gradation between them is obvious. One, describes how it would 
fare with the first planting of the Kingdom : the other, how it would fare with that 
Kingdom in its growth and increase. 

So far, then, it had been shown that only a fourth part of the seed might be ex- 
pected to prosper ; while that fourth part would spring up mixed with tares : a 
dreary picture truly, for those labourers whom the Lord of the Harvest was about 
to send forth into His Harvest ! («) Another side of the truth is therefore next dis- 
played for their encouragement. Our Saviour proceeds to deliver three briefer 
Parables ; the first of which, — (peculiar to St. Mark's Gospel,) (o) — describes the 
secret and gradual growth of the Church ; the next, its mighty increase ; the third, 
its transforming power. Its victory over all the powers of evil is thus set forth, 
together with its final triumph. 

It is sufficiently remarkable that the growth of seeds should supply the materials 
for four out of these five parables. 

Three parables yet remain to be noticed. The first two set forth the great pre- 
ciousness of Christ's Kingdom: but while one, (the parable of "the hid Treas- 
ure,") chiefly reminds us that in the World, the Church is hidden, — the other, (that 
of " the Pearl,") sets forth chiefly, its singular Beauty and surpassing "Worth. 

The Obstacles, and the mixed aspect of the Church having been thus prophetic- 
ally shadowed forth : its secret growth, — its mighty increase, — and its transform- 
ing power: its hidden character, and its outward Beauty: — last comes a prophecy 
of its wide embrace ; and a sketch of what will "be at the end of the World." 
The parable of "the Drag-net," (which is the eighth and last,) discloses the con- 
cluding scene of the Church's History : the severance of " the wicked from among 
the just," at the Last Day. 

(m) Acts xv. 13, and xxi. 18. (n) St. Matthew ix. 38. (o) St, Mark iv. 26 to 29. 



134 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



THE PRAYER. 

Lord Jesus Christ, who at Thy first coming didst send Thy 
Messenger to prepare Thy way before Thee; Grant that the ministers 
and stewards of Thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready 
Thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of 
the just, that at Thy second coming to judge the World, we may be 
found an acceptable people in Thy sight, who livest and reignest with 
the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, World without end. 
Amen. 



XIV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 135 



CHAPTER XIV. 



1 Herod's opinion of Christ. 3 Wherefore John Baptist was beheaded. 13 Jesus 
departeth into a desert place : 15 where He feedeth five thousand men with five 
loaves and two fishes: 22 He walkeih on the sea to His Disciples : 34 and landing 
at Gennesaret, healeth the sick by the touch of the hem of His garment. 

1, 2 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, 
and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist ; he is risen from 
the dead ; and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. 

At the " time" alluded to, our Saviour was performing His third great Ministe- 
rial Circuit of Galilee ; and the fame of His Miracles is found to have reached the 
ears of the Tetrarch. Herod had very recently been guilty of the murder of St. 
John Baptist, — under circumstances which the Evangelist proceeds to relate, but 
which will be found more fully given in St. Mark's Gospel, chap. vi. 17 to 29. 
That one who professed to disbelieve in the Resurrection, and the wonders of the 
unseen World, (a) should have been suddenly betrayed into the opinion here re- 
corded, will be felt to be a most remarkable and instructive circumstance. Herod 
confesses even that the body which is "sown in weakness" is to be "raised in 
power ;"(&) for John Baptist, who in his life-time did no miracles, (c) is yet sup- 
posed by him to be the author of all "the mighty works" which Christ Himself 
performed. 

3, 4 For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him 
in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John said 
unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. 

Elias rebukes Herod and Herodias with the same authority which he had for- 
merly exerted over Ahab and Jezebel. (d) St. Mark relates that Herodias "had a 
quarrel" against John Baptist in consequence, and would have slain him ; but that 
her paramour protected the stern preacher, and preserved his life.(e) It would 
seem from what follows that there came a day when he would have complied with 
her wishes had he dared; but was deterred from doing so by prudential considera- 
tions. 

5, 6 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the mul- 
titude, because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birth- 
day was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased 
Herod : 

" "Before them:" — that is, before Herod's "lords, high Captains, and chief estates 
of Galilee," to whom the Tetrarch had "made a Supper,"— as St. Mark relates. (/) 
To dance before such a company was an unmaidenly act ; and must have been re- 
garded by all present as immodest, — even as immoral. 

_ A very ancient English Writer, after pointing out that only two such celebra- 
tions of a birthday are recorded in Scripture, (that namely, of Pharaoh, and the 

(«) Herod was a Sadducee. Compare St. Matth. xvi. 6, with St, Mark viii. 15. 
'(&) 1 Cor. xv. 43. (c) St. John x. 41. (rf) 1 Kings xxi. 

(e) St. Mark vi. 20.— where see the note. (/) St. Mark vi. 21. 



136 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

present instance,) and further, that either was made an occasion of bloodshed, (g) — 
suggests that men ought rather to observe the day of their Birth with chaste and 
sober joy, than with feasting and luxury. 

7, 8 whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she 
would ask. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give 
me here John Baptist's head in a charger. 

This does not mean that Salome (the daughter,) had been instructed beforehand by 
Herodias ; for that wicked woman cannot have foreseen the infatuation of her para- 
mour. The Evangelist does but intend to say that before the maiden exacted of 
the King the fulfilment of his promise, " she went forth, and said unto her Mother, 
What shall I ask?" — as St. Mark, (A) writing afterwards, will be found in this place 
to explain. The Reader is requested to refer to the note on the passage of St. Mark 
last cited, where some remarks are offered on the conduct of Herodias, which can- 
not be here repeated. 

9 And the King was sorry : nevertheless for the oath's sake, and 
them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. 

See the note on St. Mark vi. 26. 

10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. 

This then was the end of the greatest who had ever been born of a woman ! Im- 
prisoned at the end of a Ministry of a single year's duration, in order to gratify the 
malice of a lustful woman : murdered, after two years of confinement, at the bid- 
ding of a dancing girl! Such are the instruments by which Almighty God does 
not disdain to work out the wondrous ends of His Providence ! An old writer re- 
marks, — " Let each infer from this what they shall suffer, whom He rejects ; if He 
allows such a fate to befall those whom He loves." 

11, 12 And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the 
damsel : and she brought it to her mother. And His disciples came, 
and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus. 

They found Him at Capernaum. He had, in fact, now returned from one of His 
great Ministerial Journeys: His Apostles also, from theirs, — the first which they 
had taken alone. At Capernaum they all met. It was the Spring of the year, — 
just twelve months before the Crucifixion.(^) 

The Header is referred to the notes on St. Mark vi. 28, 29, 30, for several addi- 
tional remarks. "■• 

13 When Jesus heard of it, He departed thence by ship into a desert 
place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed Him 
on foot out of the cities. 

St. Matthew seems to connect our Lord's crossing the Lake with the dismal 
tidings brought Him by the Disciples of John. The two later Gospels convey a 
somewhat different notion of the transaction. See St. Mark vi. 30, 31, 32, and the 
notes there: also, St. Luke ix. 10. The little vessel had now reached the Western 
side of the Sea of Galilee: 

14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved 
with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick. 

The Keader is again referred to the later Gospel. In the note on St. Mark vi. 34 
some remarks will be found on the glorious picture of Ministerial zeal here exhibited. 

(g) Genesis xl. 20 to 22. (h) Chap. vi. 24. 

(i) See St. John vi. 4, and the note there. 



XIV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 137 

15, 16, 17 And when it was evening, His Disciples came to Him, 
saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the mul- 
titude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves 
victuals. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye 
them to eat. And they say unto Him, We have here but five loaves, 
and two fishes. 

All this will be found exhibited, with many beautiful differences, in St. John's 
Gospel, — chap. vi. 5 to 9 ; where the Header is requested to read the notes .... 
Consider how magnificently many of the events recorded concerning our Blessed 
Saviour cast their shadows far back into the past! Fifteen hundred years before 
the present transaction, Moses had said, — "The people, among whom I am, are six 
hundred thousand footmen ; and Thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they 
may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice 
them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them?" (A:) .... 
Seven centuries more elapse, and Elisha delivers a similar injunction to his 
Servitor, — -"Give unto the people, that they may eat." To which, the other makes 
answer, — "What, should I set this," (meaning twenty loaves of barley, )before an 
hundred men?"(Z) 

For some observations on the 15th and 16th verses, the Reader is referred to the 
Commentary on St. Mark's Gospel, — chap. vi. 36, 37, 38. The Beloved Disciple 
proceeds, — "And Jesus said, Make the men sit down."(m) From the present Gos- 
pel we learn that He prefaced that command by another: 

18 He said, Bring them hither to Me. 

This command was preliminary to an act concerning which a few words will be 
found offered in the notes on St. Luke ix. 16. 

19 And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, 

"On the green grass," says St. Mark; (n) and St. John observes that "there was 
much grass in the place." (o) 

St. Mark(£>) and St. Luke(^) relate that they were distributed about "by compa- 
nies," — as the several Churches of the World are: yet, all one great company; — 
partakers all, of one and the same heavenly food, — all ministered to by the same 
Apostles, — all bound by the same tie to the same Divine Master! 

and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to 
Heaven, He blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to Mis Disciples, 
and the Disciples to the multitude. 

Impressed by the Hands of the Ckeator with a new property of growth and 
increase, the five barley loaves and two small fishes, when restored to the appointed 
instruments and channels of the Divine Bounty, were found to grow in their hands 
in exact proportion to the necessities of the multitude, (r) A portion of the bread 
was no sooner broken off for distribution, than it became instantly replaced by a 
marvellous increase in the same part; and this went on, till the needs of all that 
vast assembly had been supplied. As it follows, — 

20 And they did all eat, and were filled : and they took up of the 
fragments that remained twelve baskets full. 

"And of the fishes,"— as St. Mark adds, (chap. vi. 43, where see the note.) . . . . 
So that the quantity of bread which remained after the meal, far exceeded the origi- 
nal supply! "An apt symbol, this," (says a living Writer,) "of the Love which 

(k) 2 Numbers xi. 21, 22. (I) 2 Kings iv. 42, 43. (m) St. John vi. 10. 

(n) St. Mark vi. 39 : where see the note. (o) St. John vi. 10. 

• ( p) St. Mark vi. 39. (q) Luke ix. 14. 

(r) See the latter part of the note on St. John vi. 11. 



138 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

exhausts not itself by loving: but, after all its outgoings upon others, itself abides 
far richer than it would have done but for these. Such a multiplying there ever is 
in a true dispensing." — Bishop Sanderson has a remark to the same effect, — quoted 
in the note upon St. Mark vi. 43: and Archbishop Sandys says, — "So it is with all 
the graces and gifts of God. They grow in the hands of him that spendeth; and in 
the coffers of him that saveth, they waste." 

Several additional suggestions on this mysterious transaction, (for it is doubtless 
as full of mystery as of marvel,) will be found in the note on St. John vi. 13. The 
Reader is also referred to the Commentary on St. Luke's Gospel for some observa- 
tions on the present verse, which is almost repeated by St. Luke in chap. ix. 17. 

21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, besides 
women and children. 

So that the number of those who partook of His Royal Bounty will have 
amounted, in all, nearer to ten thousand than to Jive. See more in the note on St. 
John vi. 10 ; as well as on St. Mark vi. 44. 

22 And straightway Jesus constrained His Disciples to get into a 
ship, and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the mul- 
titudes away. 

To "send the multitudes away" was evidently more than a mere dismissal, as 
our Lord conducted it. There appears to have been some solemnity attaching to 
the act, — whether in the way of Prayer or Benediction. The Disciples are found to 
have been unwilling to leave their Divine Master on this occasion, as will be found 
remarked elsewhere. (q) One reason why He constrained them to depart is supplied 
by the history of the present transaction, as given by St. John; from whose account 
it is gathered that our Lord must have already detected a growing disposition on 
the part of the multitude il to make Him a King"{r) Very unequal to such atrial 
of their meekness and humility must the ardent followers of Messiah, at this time, 
have proved: filled as they are known to have been, till a much later period, with 
hopes of an earthly Kingdom and a temporal Prince. 

23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a 
mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, He was there 
alone. 

The Reader is referred to some remarks which have been already offered on this 
place of Scripture, in the notes on St. Mark vi. 46, 47. 

24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves : 
for the wind was contrary. 

The last time that little vessel had been similarly endangered, its inmates had 
been blessed by the visible presence of their Lord. Thus had he trained them for 
the severer trial which now awaited them. 

And here it would be wrong to overlook the rare example of strenuous obedience 
set us by these holy men. Neither the fruitlessness of the task in which they were 
engaged, (for they had been all night rowing four or five miles ;) (s) nor the terrors 
of the storm, (which were evidently great;) nor the severe labor in which they were 
actually engaged, (for "He saw them toiling in rowing;") (t) nor yet their strong 
desire to be with Christ, (for He had "constrained His Disciples to get into the 
ship,") — none of these things induced them to disobey His order that they should 
" go before Him unto the other side." „ 

25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, 
walking on the sea. 

(q) See the note on St. Mark vi. 45. (r) St. John vi. 15. 

(s) St. John vi. 19. (0 St. Mark vi. 48 



XIV.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 139 



It was now between three and six o'clock in the morning. Thus had our Lord 
by distress and danger inspired His Apostles with a more eager desire for His pre- 
sence ; while doubtless the events of the past day were brought before their memory 
in the liveliest manner by their sense of desertion, and consciousness of present 
need. "He cometh unto them," (St. Mark says,) "walking upon the sea; and 
would have passed by them." See St. Mark vi. 48, and the notes there. 

26 And when the Disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were 
troubled, saying, It is a spirit ; and they cried out for fear. 

For it is ever thus. The trial increases, when it is about to be altogether 
removed: the conflict grows hotter, as it draws towards a close: the Night is 
darkest immediately before the dawn. When Calamity seems to have reached the 

lowest ebb, then is Relief ever most near at hand Consider, that it was 

not till "Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son,"(u) 
that "the Angel of the Lord called unto him out of Heaven." Then, and not 
before, was the ram discovered, "caught in a thicket by his horns;" — not till then 
did God, "because He could swear by no greater, swear by Himself, saying, Surely 
blessing I will bless thee!"(x) .... "The water was spent in the bottle," — the 
child had been cast "under one of the shrubs," — Hagar had sat down expecting 
the death of the child, — had lifted up her voice and wept: {y) all this had happened, 
ere the reprieve came forth from God .... Consider, above all, the history which 
is recalled by such passages as the following: — St. John xx. 11 to 17: St. Luke 
xxiv. 36 to 43. 

The Reader is referred to the note on St. Mark i. 14, for a remark which applies 
equally to the present occasion. 

27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good 
cheer ; it is I ; be not afraid. 

And so, doubtless, He speaks to all whom He visits with affliction, and severe 
trials of their Faith. Under bereavement, and every other calamity, — "It is I," 
He says: " be not afraid." 

The miracle which follows is peculiar to the present Gospel. St. Mark passes it 
over in silence, (z) for a reason already suggested in the note prefixed to his Gospel. 

28 And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me 
come unto Thee on the water. 

This was, virtually, a glorious acknowledgment of our Lord's Divine Power and 
GoDhead. He knew that Christ could, if He pleased, suspend the Laws of Nature, 
and make the unsteady waves stable as a rock beneath his feet. Accordingly, he 
claimed such a confirmation of the words, "It is I," as only Christ could furnish. 
Yet was the request made in no vain-glorious spirit, but in love. His request is not 
that He may be enabled to walk upon the waves: his prayer to Christ is, "Bid me 
come unto Thee?' 

And such a desire to be with Christ, St. Peter often displayed. He professed his 
readiness to go with Him, " both into prison, and to death." (a) He followed Him 
into the High-Priest's Palace. (6) Into the Sepulchre he hastened, while St. John 
reverently halted at the entrance :(c) and he cast himself into the sea, to come to 
his Lord, when he beheld Him standing on the shore of the Lake, after His Resur- 
rection.^) 

29 And He said, Come. 

" If Thou be the Son of God," (said the Tempter,) "command that these stones 
be made bread !"(e) "If Thou be the Son of God," (exclaimed the blaspheming 

(«J Gen. xxii. 10. ( x ) Compare Hebrews vi. 13, with Gen, xxii. 16, 17. 

(y) Gen. xxi. 15 to 17. (z) St. Mark vi. 50, 51. (a) St. Luke xxii. 33. 

(b) St. Matt. xxvi. 58: St. Mark xiv. 54: St. Luke xxii. 54: St. John xviii. 16. 

(c) St. John xx. 6, Ac. ' (d) St. John xxi. 7. (e) St. Matthew iv. 3. 



140 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Jews,) "come down from the cross !"(/) "If Thou be Christ/' (cried the male- 
factor who was crucified with Him,) "save Thyself arid us!"(#) "Lord, if it be 
Thou," (answered Peter,) "bid me come unto Thee." All four required a sign: all 
four chose what the sign should be: but the first three, asked in Unbelief, — the last, 
asked in Faith. The words were similar in every instance ; but the spirit in which 
they were spoken was wholly different: whence it happened that silence or a rebuke 
followed in the case of those, — a gracious invitation, in the case of St. Peter. 
And this recalls a remark which was offered on St. Luke i. 20. 

And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the 
water, to go to Jesus. 

Marvel! the first and the last of mortal men who was ever permitted to do the 
like ! He descended the ship's side in perfect faith. He planted his foot on the 
reeling billow as if it had been a rock, — and it sustained him ! So literally true 
proved those words of our Saviour Christ, — " He that believeth on Me, the works 
that I do shall he do also!"(7i) 

The ancients often remind us of the importance of miracles like this, not only 
"for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction,"^) to the early Church, 
but for confirming the Faith of the Apostles themselves. If Peter, — one of their 
number, — may walk upon the water at God's bidding, they need entertain no doubt 
that Christ Himself is "very man," because they see Him crossing the Lake as if 
it had been " a sea of glass like unto crystal." (A;) 

30 But when he saw the winds boisterous, he was afraid : and begin- 
ning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 

Compare the forwardness of the same Peter, at a subsequent period, to profess 
readiness to follow Christ ; yet failing and falling away in the hour of severest 
trial. (I) Then, it was by a look that Christ saved him.(m) On this occasion, we 
find that He sustained His Disciple with His Hand. 

31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught 
him, and said unto him, thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou 
doubt? 

Observe, that our Saviour rebukes not the waves, nor the wind, — but him: and 
yet, not him for "coming," — but for "doubting." Moreover, the doubt is now 
passed: ("Wherefore didst thou doubt?") Already does Peter stand firmly upon 
the water! 

The act, and the occasion of it, find a striking parallel in what occurred with 
respect to the Storm on the Lake. See St. Matthew viii. 26, and the note there. 
As long as Peter had Faith, he was secure: when he began to doubt, he began to 
sink; — and but for the out-stretched Hand, and sustaining Arm of Christ, he 
would have perished. Hence the Church bids us pray evermore that in all the 
"dangers and adversities" which may befall us while passing "the waves of this 
troublesome world," the Almighty and Everlasting One would "stretch forth His 
Bight Hand to help and defend us."(ii) 

"But," (remarks an ancient Archbishop,) "as the Mother bears on her wings, 
and brings back to the nest her chick which has left the nest before its time, and 
has fallen, so did Christ." .... "When I said, My foot slippeth; Thy mercy, 
Lord, held me up !"(o) 

32 And when they were come into the ship the wind ceased. 

" The Wind," — which had so terrified St. Peter, (see verse 30,) as to cause his 
faith to fail. This time, instead of silencing the storm, our Saviour taught St. 

'/) St. Matthew xxvii. 40. (g) St. Luke xxiii. 39. (h) St. John xiv. 12. 

[*) 2 Tim. iii. 16. Ik) Rev. iv. 6. 

'I) St. Luke xxii. 33: St. John xiii. 37. (m) St. Luke xxii. 61. 

(n) Collect for the Third Sunday after Epiphany. Compare the Collect for the Third Sunday 
in Lent. (o) Ps. xciv. 18. 



XIV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 141 

Peter,— and thereby, the rest of the Apostles, — that their safety depended upon 
being with Him. Till He had re-entered the ship, the storm ceased not. 

33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, say- 
ing, Of a truth Thou art the Son of God. 

They seem to have had a faint perception of the Divine Nature of Him with 
whom they had to do ;{p) — "who treadeth upon the waves." (q) "Thou art the 
Son of God! ;; — for "Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and 
thy footsteps are not known."( r ) 

The ancient writers abound in beautiful remarks on this miracle. "In St. Peter," 
(says one,) "are figured both the strong and the weak: the strong, in that he walked 
upon the water: the weak, in that he doubted. Dost thou love God? Thou walkest 
on the sea. Dost thou love the world? It swallows thee up. "(s) 

"We need not wonder, " (remarks another,) "that the wind ceased when the Lord 
had entered into the boat ; for, in whatsoever heart the Lord is present by grace, 
there all wars cease."(0 — A third says, — "By this entrance of Christ into the boat, 
and the calm of the wind and the sea thereupon, is pointed out the eternal peace of 
the Church; and that rest which shall be, after His future return in glory. Rightly 
do the Disciples cry out in wonder, "Truly Thou art the Son of God;" for then 
shall He be confessed openly by all, in whom, now, some do not believe."(w) — "It 
is here conveyed to us," (writes the Great Father of the West,) "that His Glory 
will then be made manifest ; seeing that now, they who walk by faith, see it only 
in a figure." 

34 And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gen- 
nesaret. 

This was the name of the district west of the Lake, where Capernaum, — in the 
direction of which city our Lord had directed His Apostles to proceed, (x) — stood. 

35 And when the men of that place had knowledge of Him, they 
sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto Him all 
that were diseased: 

St. Mark says, that "they ran through that whole region round about; and began 
to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard He was." "Afliic- 
tions," (remarks an English bishop,) "like goads in our sides, troublesome as they 
are, yet serve to quicken us in our work, and make us mend our pace to Heaven,"(?/) 
— The Evangelist proceeds, "and whithersoever He entered, into villages, or cities, 
or country, they laid the sick in the streets :"(z) 

36 and besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His 
garment : and as many as touched were made perfectly whole. 

Doubt not that the people of those parts had learned from the Woman who had 
been afflicted with a bloody issue, that healing virtue flowed abundantly from the 
very robes of Christ! 

But a higher subject for meditation is supplied by a comparison of this place with 
what is prophetically said of Christ's garments, in the 8th verse of 45th Psalm. 
In explanation of wnich passage, Bishop Horsley remarks, — "The High-priest of 
the Jews was not sprinkled with a few scanty drops of the perfume of the Sanc- 
tuary ; but his person was so bedewed with it, that it literally ran down from his 
beard to the skirts of his garments. {a) The High-priest of the JeM r s, in his robes of 
office, was in this, and in every circumstance, the living type of our Great High- 
Priest? .... the perfumed garments being typical, — first, of the graces and 

(/>) For the difference between this Confession of Faith, and that other famous Confession 
recorded of St. Peter, see the note on St. Matt. xvi. 16. (</) Job ix. 8. 

(r) Ps. lxxvii. 19. (s) Augustine. (t) Rabanus. (u) Hilary, 

.(x) St. Mark vi. 45: St. John vi. 17. See also ver. 22. (y) Bp. Hopkins. 

(«) St. Mark vi. 55, 56. „ (a) Ps. cxxxiii. 2. 



142 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

virtues of the Redeemer Himself in His human character ; secondly, of whatever 
is refreshing, encouraging, consoling and cheering in the external ministration of 
the Word, and thirdly, of the internal comforts of the Holt Spirit/' 



THE PRAYER. 

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infir- 
mities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth Thy right 
hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 



XV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 143 



CHAPTER XV. 



3 Christ reproveth the Scribes and Pharisees for transgressing God's Commandments 
through their own Traditions: 11 teacheth how that which goeth into the mouth doth 
not defile a man. 21 He healeth the Daughter of the Woman of Canaan, 30 and 
other great multitudes: 32 and with seven loaves and a few little fishes feedeth four 
thousand men, beside women and children. 

1, 2 Then came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees, which were of 
Jerusalem, saying, Why do Thy Disciples transgress the Tradition of 
the Elders ? for they Wash not their hands when they eat bread. 

These two verses should be compared with the first eight of St. Mark vii. — where 
they will be found expanded in a very interesting manner. 

''The fame of Jesus had now become so great as to attract the particular notice 
of the most learned men of the nation, the Scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem ; 
who appear to have thought it worth while to come down from thence into Galilee, 
to watch His proceedings." Take notice that in reply to the inquiry of these Hypo- 
crites why the Disciples transgressed the Tradition of the Elders, — our Lord demands 
of them why, by that very Tradition of theirs, themselves transgressed the Com- 
mandment of GOD; guarded as it was by that awful injunction, — "Ye shall not 
add unto the Word which I command you, neither shali ye diminish aught from 
it. ;; (a) As it follows, — 

3, 4 But He answered and said unto them, Why do ye also trans- 
gress the Commandment of God by your Tradition ? For God com- 
manded, saying, Honour thy Father and Mother: and, He that curseth 
Father or Mother, let him die the death. 

The former of these two places of Scripture will be found in Exodus xx 12 and 
Dent. v. 16: the latter, in Exodus xxi. 17 andLevit xx. 9. 

5, 6 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to Ms Father or Ms Mother, 
It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me: and honour 
not his Father or his Mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the 
Commandment of God of none effect by your Tradition. 

Rather, — "But ye say, If any one says to his Father or to his Mother, the thing 
whereby I might have benefited you is an Offering [dedicated to God, — he is bound 
to keep his vow:] and need not honour his Father or his Mother." For an explana- 
tion of this, the reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark vii. 13. 

7, 8, 9 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This 
people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with 
their lips ; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do wor- 
ship Me, teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men. 

(a) Deut. iv. 2: with which compare Deut. xii. 32; and see Rev. xxii. 18. 



144 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The quotation is from Isaiah xxix. 13 : and the surprising discovery is made that 
these words, spoken more than seven hundred years before, had a prophetical appli- 
cation to the Jews of our Saviour's Day, no less than to the men who lived in the 
time of the Prophet. As it is said in verse 7, — "Well did Esaias prophesy of you.'' 

10 And He called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and 
understand : 

He turns away from the stiff-necked Scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem, whom 
He had put to silence ; and calls the multitude to Him, — arousing their attention to 
the Doctrine which He was about to deliver, with the words, — "Hear and 
understand:" — 

11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man ; but that 
which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. 

The truth which He here so briefly delivered, will be found expanded in verses 
17 to 20: concerning which, see the notes on St. Mark vii. 16. 

12 Then came His Disciples, and said unto Him, Knowest Thou 
that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying ? 

Consider the note on verse 10. — For the "offence" which our Lord's words were 
to the Pharisees, see what has been said on St. Matth. xi. 6. 

13 But He answered and said, Every plant, which My heavenly 
Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. 

The reference is to Doctrine, — which is often spoken of in Scripture under a simi- 
lar image: as in the Parable of the Sower. "What He intends, then, by a plant 
not planted of His Father," says an ancient Archbishop, "is, that Tradition of 
men, under cover of which the Law had been transgressed." 

14 Let them alone : they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the 
blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. 

15 Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Declare unto us this 
Parable. 

16, 17, 18, 19 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without under- 
standing ? Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at 
the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught ? But 
those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart ; 
and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, 
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies : 

Which enumeration will be perceived, in at least five particulars, to follow the 
order of the Commandments of the Second Table. Some remarks will be found in 
the note on St. Mark vii. 21 and 22, on this instructive passage. 

20 these are the things which defile a man : but to eat with unwashen 
hands defileth not a man. 

This weighty Discourse ended, an incident of the most affecting beauty and in- 
terest follows : — 

21, 22, 23 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of 
Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the 
same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, Lord, 
Thou Son of David ; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 
But he answered her not a word. 



XV.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 145 



"A woman of Canaan!" — so that there were even yet lingering in the land, 
(" The Land of Canaan,")(b) traces of its occupants in the days of Abraham. (c) 
This woman was also living within the territory of the ancient people; for "the 
border of the Canaanites was from Sidon,"(<i) — which City was mentioned in ver. 
21; and she "came out of the same coasts." It had been commanded the Isra- 
elites, in the days of Moses, indeed, — " Of the Cities of these people, which the 
Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that 
breatheth ;"(e) — hut they disobeyed God.(/) "And it came to pass, when Israel 
was strong, they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them 
out. . . . Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of . . . Zidon ; . . . but the 
Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the Land, for they did not 
drive them out."(#) — In St. Mark's Gospel,(7a) this woman is called "a Greek, a 
Syrophenician by nation." Her passionate cry to the Son of David, by the way, 
is not there recorded, but only what took place in the House ; whether our Saviour 
betook Himself, partly, as it would seem, in order to escape this Woman's impor- 
tunity. 

Take notice how the Mother, asking Health for her Child, feels that she is asking 
a favour for herself : — "Have mercy," she says, " on me. 1 " And so, lower down, 
in verse 25. With which saying of hers, compare the language of the Father of 
the lunatic child, in St. Mark ix. 22. 

"Strange !" (remarks a good man,) "that a miserable suppliant should cry and 
sue, while the God of Mercy is speechless. What! Is the fountain of Mercy dried 
up ? We have often found cause to wonder at the Saviour's words ; but never till 
now at His silence." 

And his Disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her away ; 
for she crieth after us. 

What they meant by " Send her away," — was " Grant her her petition:" whence 
it follows, — 

24 But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep 
of the House of Israel. 

In strict conformity with which declaration, He had commanded the Twelve, — 
" Go not into the way of the Gentiles ; . . . but go rather to the lost sheep of the 
House of Israel."(i) Our Lord had probably not overstepped the confines of the 
Holy Land, but had come into "the coasts," or "borders," of Tyre and Sidon; 
and this Woman had come "out of the same coasts," to the place where He was. 

Concerning delayed answers to Prayer, the Reader is referred to what has been 
written on St. Matthew vii. 8. The line of conduct pursued by our Lord towards 
this poor supplicant is doubtless meant to be full of Heavenly teaching to ourselves. 
Take notice, then, how He is pleased to try her Faith; and, for a season, to "make 
as though He heard not!"(&) 

25 Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me. 

The scene, as already hinted (at the end of the note on verse 22,) — and as more 
fully explained in the note on St. Mark vii. 26, — is no longer the road-side; but is 
here changed to the interior of the House whither our Lord had withdrawn. Take 
notice how this pious creature perseveres in the language of her former petition : 
"Lord, help me." It is, (says an ancient Writer,) "because the affliction of the 
Daughter is the affliction of the Mother." 

26 But He answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's 
bread, and to cast it to dogs. 

Now, He answers: for "He speaks to us when we worship," — silent till then, as 
though He heard not. 

So, she cries loudly after Him, (ver. 22,) and He^makes no reply. The Disciples 

(6) Numbers xxxiv. 2. (c) See Genesis xii. 6, and xiii. 7. (d) Gen. x. 19. 

'e) Deut. xx. 16. (/) See Psalm cvi. 34 to 41. 

g) Judges i. 28, 31, 32. Compare Joshua xvii. 12, 13 : also xvi. 10, 
h) St. Mark vii. 26,— where see the note. (i) St. Matthew x. 6. (k) Ps. xxviii. I. 



46 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

intercede for her, (ver. 24,) and they are refused. She petitions for herself, 
(ver. 25,) and she meets with a repulse. Yet, in spite of all, she perseveres! As 
it follows, — 

27 And she said, Truth, Lord : yet the dogs eat of the crumbs 
which fall from their Master's table. 

Her reply is as bold as it is beautiful. She retorts upon her Lord ; — wielding 
against Him, in her loving earnestness, the very weapon which was to have over- 
come her : entangling Him in His own language, by proving that the image which 
He had employed, made unanswerably in favour of her suit. She seems to say, 
with the patriarch of old, — " I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me!"(Z) And 
forget not that she wrestled with the self-same Person ; even with the eternal Son: 
that Jacob, no less than the Woman of Canaan, " wept and made supplication unto 
JSim.'\m) 

See more in the note on St. Mark vii. 28. "Learn also, hence, that Christ puts 
the strongest Faith of His own children upon the severest trials. The Trial had 
never been so sharp, if her Faith had not been so strong. Usually, where God 
gives much grace, He tries grace much/' .... "For," (as it is written,) "unto 
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required : and to whom men have 
committed much, of him they will ask the ruore."(w) 

28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, woman, great is thy 
Faith : 

"Great is thy Importunity," — some would have said: others, — "Great is thy 
Humility." But our Saviour says, "Great is thy Faith." He sees the root: we 
the branches. The Reader is referred to the last note on St. Luke vii. 

A pious writer points out that she does as our Saviour Christ did, when He 
wrought out our Salvation with "prayers and supplications with strong crying and 
tears :' , (o) "and now, beholding Himself, as it were, in this woman, and seeing 
though not the same, yet like the fervour and perseverance as His, He approves it, 
as a piece of His own coin, and sets His impress upon it. 

be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her Daughter was made 
whole from that very hour. 

"Learn hence, that nothing is so pleasing unto Christ, as to see His people fol- 
lowing Him with Faith and Importunity, when he seems to withdraw from them." 

"We may observe that we have three ascending degrees of Faith, manifesting 
itself in the breaking through of hinderances, which would keep from Christ : in 
the Paralytic, (p) — the Blind men at Jericho,^) — and this Woman of Canaan. The 
Paralytic broke through the outward hinderance of things merely external: blind 
Bartimgeus through the hinderance opposed by his fellow men : and this woman, 
more heroically than all, through apparent hinderance even from Christ Himself. 
These, in their seeming weakness, were the three mighty ones, not of David, but of 
David's Son ; who broke through the hosts of the enemy, until they could draw 
living water from the Well of Salvation."(r) So far Mr. Trench. 

Such then, is the Almightiness of Faith, — (which, as we know, can move Moun- 
tains ;)(s) and, such the Almightiness of Prayer! For, (as our Lord Himself has 
declared,) "Every one that asketh, receiveth ; and he that seeketh, findeth ; and to 
him that knocketh, it shall be opened?' if) Delay, on the part of God, is no token of 
Denial. He will have us importunate; and hath delivered more than one parable 
" to this end, — that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.'X'w) See what has 
already been written on this subject, in the notes on St. Matthew vii. 7 and 8. 

{I) Genesis xxxii. 26: concerning which mysterious wrestling take notice of what is said by 
the prophet Hosea xii. 3, 4. 

(m) Hosea xii. 4. For it is admitted by Divines that in the form of a created Angel, it was 
none other than the Second Person in the Elessed Trinity who appeared to Abraham, Jacob, 
Moses, Manoah's wife, &c. (n) St. Luke xii. 48. (o) Hebrews v. 7. 

(p) St. Markii. 4. (q) St. Mark x. 48. \r) 2 Sam. xxiii. 16. 

(s) 1 Cor. xiii. 2; where St. Paul alludes to the words of Christ recorded in St. Matthew 
xvii. 20. (*) St. Matthew vii. 8. 

(u) St. Luke xviii. 1 to 8, and xi. 5 to 10. 



XV.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 147 



For a few further remarks, see the note on St. Mark vii. 29 : and observe how 
this idolatrous "woman of Canaan," and the Gentile Centurion, become patterns 
of Faith to the Children of the Kingdom ! (x) Yet should it be observed that even 
her exceeding Faith procured for her no exemption from fleshly trials. The heaviest 
of afflictions is therefore no proof of the Divine displeasure. Rather let us learn 
what is the true office of Divine chastisement from the present History ; duly noting 
how it may be made to " work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
Glory." {y) 

29 And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the Sea of 
Galilee ; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. 

Our Saviour is found to have been at this time on the Eastern side of the Lake ; 
for St. Mark says that, "departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, He 
came through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.'Xz) 

30, 31 And great multitudes came unto Him, having with them those 
tliat ivere lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them 
down at Jesus' feet ; and He healed them : insomuch that the multi- 
tude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be 
whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see : and they glorified the 
God of Israel. 

One case of ^Healing which happened at this time is specified by St. Mark ; the 
miraculous cure, namely, which was performed on "one that was deaf, and had an 
impediment in his speech."(«) The unmeasured astonishment of the people at these 
wondrous displays of supernatural power is also noticed by the second Evangelist. 

32 Then Jesus called His Disciples unto Rim, and said, I have 
compassion on the multitude, because they continue with Me now three 
days, and have nothing to eat : 

" After two days He will revive us : in the third day He will raise us up, and 
we shall live in His sight," — says the prophet. (6) Take notice that it is " Com- 
passion" which He feels towards the multitude ; the same sentiment which, in the 
ancient Scriptures also, is so affectingly ascribed to God : as in Isaiah xlix. 15 : 
Jeremiah xii. 15 : Micah vii. 19. This is what He felt towards the untended sheep 
of His pasture,(c) — towards those who brought their sick to Him for cure,(cZ) — 
towards the Leper, (e) — towards the blind men at Jericho, (f) — towards the Demo- 
niac of Gadara(^) — and towards the widow of Nain.(7i) " Compassion" is ascribed 
also, in certain of the parables, to those who represent Christ, — as in St. Matth. 
xviii. 33 : in St. Luke x. 33 ; and in xv. 20. Whence it happens that St. Peter, 
exhorting Christians to the imitation of Christ, says, — " Be ye all of one mind, 
having compassion one of another, {i) 

and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. 

Doubtless, both miracles of feeding, — (that performed for the relief of the Five 
Thousand, and this for the relief of the Four,) — were typical of the Sacramental 
Feast, in which the True Bread is given to souls famishing in this World's Wilder- 
ness, " lest they faint in the way !" — See more in the notes on St. John vi. 4. 

33 And His Disciples say unto Him, Whence should we have so 
much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude ? 

On reading this, we are ready enough, — too ready, it may be, — to exclaim at the 
slowness of heart which could so soon forget how the same Lord had so recently 
" spread a table for them" in the same Wilderness. But are we not hereby re- 

(x) Compare St. Matthew viii. 10, with the present place. 

(y) 2 Cor. iv. 17. (z) St. Mark vii. 31. (a) St. Mark vii. 32. 

(b) Hosea vi. 2. (c) St. Matth. ix. 36. (d) St. Matthew xiv. 14. 

(e) St. Mark i. 41. (/) St. Matthew xx. 34. \g) St. Mark v. 19. 

(fc)'St. Luke vii. 13. {%) 1 St. Peter iii. 8. 



148 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

minded of our own conduct in every fresh case of doubt, difficulty, and danger? 
Are not the former mercies forgot ; and the Providence and Power, of which we 
have experienced so many proofs, altogether overlooked and mistrusted ? It hath 
ever been, it will ever be, thus. " He smote the stony Rock indeed, that the water 
gushed out, and the streams flowed withal : but can He give bread also, or provide 
flesh for His people ?"(&) 

In the meantime, two typical passages in Old Testament History may not here 
be overlooked. The first will be found in Numbers xi. 22, — where Moses replies 
to the Almighty much in the spirit of the Apostles on the present occasion. The 
second occurs in 2 Kings iv. 43, where Elisha's servitor expresses perplexity at 
having to feed an hundred men with twenty barley loaves. 

34 And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye ? And 
they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. 

The purpose of this questioning was doubtless to awaken in the Disciples a 
thorough sense of their need, and to call their attention to the Miracle which 
He was about to perform. 

"Bread" and " Fish I" — the materials of the former Miracle of feeding ; and the 
food mentioned in St. Matthew vii. 9, and 10 : St. Luke xi. 11. It was with such 
fare also that Christ received the Seven Apostles, after His Resurrection, — as St. 
John records in the 9th verse of his last chapter. 

35, 36, 37, 38 And He commanded the multitude to sit down on 
the ground. And He took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave 
thanks, and brake them, and gave to His Disciples, and the Disciples 
to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled : and they took 
up of the broken meat that was left, seven baskets full. And they that 
did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children. 

Most of the remarks which the present wondrous narrative suggests, have been 
already offered in connection with the miraculous feeding of the Five Thousand ; 
to which the foregoing History bears so striking and singular a resemblance. The 
Reader is therefore referred to the notes on St. Matthew xiv. 15 to 21 : St. Mark vi. 
35 to 44 : St. Luke ix. 12 to 17 : and St. John vi. 3 to 14. 

Concerning the present Miracle, several additional remarks will be found in the 
notes on St. Mark viii. 1 to 9. 

39 And He sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into 
the coasts of Magdala. 

Or, as it is in St. Mark's Gospel, "the parts of Dalmanutha,"(7) — the district, 
namely, to the South of Capernaum, and therefore on the Western shore of the 
Lake. 

The great Father of the West has an admirable remark on all that has gone be- 
fore :— " Surely," he says, " it will not be out of place to suggest upon this Mira- 
cle, that if any of the Evangelists who had not given the Miracle of the Five 
Loaves had related this of the Seven Loaves, he would have been supposed to have 
contradicted the rest. But because those who have related the one, have also re- 
lated the other, no one is puzzled; but it is understood at once that they were two 
separate Miracles. This we have pointed out, in order that whenever any thing is 
found done by the Lord, wherein the accounts of any two Evangelists seem irrecon- 
cileable, we may understand them as two distinct occurrences ; of which one is 
related by one Evangelist, and one by another." 

{h) Psalm lxxviii. 21. (?) St. Mark viii. 10. 



XVI.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 149 



CHAPTER XVI. 



1 The Pharisees require a sign. 6 Jesus warneth Sis Disciples of the leaven of 
the Pharisees and Sadducees. 13 The people's opinion of Christ. 16 And Pe- 
ter's confession of Him. 21 Jesus foreshoweth His Death, 23 reproving Peter 
for dissuading Him from it. 24 And admonishing those that will follow Him, to 
bear the Cross. 

1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting, de- 
sired Him that He would show them a sign from Heaven. 

The Pharisees and Scribes had already made the same demand of our Lord, {a) 
Here we find the former sect conspiring with their rivals, the Sadducees, to ensnare 
the Holy One. Take notice what readiness is found in those who are opposed to 
each other(6) in every thing else, to combine for an unholy purpose, — to unite in 
their common hostility against the Truth. Herod and Pontius Pilate are "made 
friends," when the Lord of Glory is to be Crucified, (c) The Stoics and Epicureans 
can unite in order to encounter St. Paul.(cZ) Something similar is witnessed at 
the present day in the unholy alliance which is ever and anon formed against the 
Church of these Realms by the various sects, whether of home or foreign growth, 
which are (wisely) tolerated among us. Even the unbeliever is hailed as a wel- 
come ally, when the Church of Christ is the object of active enmity. 

Concerning the " sign from Heaven" required by these evil men, the Reader is 
referred to the notes on St. Matthew xii. 38, and St. Mark viii. 11. They desired 
to see Manna descend,(e) or the Sun stand still, (/) or thunder and rain appear,(#) 
or fire come down from Heaven ;(Ji) or again, that the shadow should return back- 
ward ten degrees. (i) But, — 

2, 3 He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, 
It will be fair weather; for the sky is red: and in the morning, It will 
be foul weather to-day ; for the sky is red and lowering. ye hypo- 
crites, ye can discern the face of the sky ; but can ye not discern the 
signs of the times ? 

It is well remarked by a living writer, — " Our Lord calls them ' Hypocrites/ 
because they pretended a desire to be satisfied as to His being the Christ, while 
they were really determined not to acknowledge Him as such." See what has been 
said on this subject in the note on the last part of St. Mark viii. 11 ; and on St. 
Mark viii. 15. 

" The signs of the times," or rather, " of the Seasons," — clearly denote those 
many indications which a watchful and attentive spirit might have discovered that 
" the fullness of Time" had arrived, and that the Reign of Messiah was, at last, 
actually at hand. The preaching of the Baptist, (the promised Elijah,) — His own 
Miracles, — and the unexpected fulfillment in Himself of so many dark places of 

fa) St. Matthew xii. 38. (6) Consider Acts xxiii. 6 to 10. 

(c) St. Luke xxiii. 12.— 1 Co*, ii. 8. (d) Acts xvii. 18. (e) Exodus xvi. 4. 15. 

• (/ ) Joshua x. 12, 13. (g) 1 Sam. xii. 16 to 18. (h) 2 Kings i. 10, 12. 
(i) 2 Kings xx. 10, 11. 



150 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Prophecy, — were perhaps the chief things to which the Blessed Speaker may be 
thought to have alluded. He proceeds, — 

4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and 
there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonas. 

" This saying, St. Matthew has already given ;(&) whence we may store up for 
our information that the Lord spoke the same thing many times. Where there 
are contradictions, therefore, which cannot be explained, it may be understood that 
the same sayings were uttered on two different occasions." So far, an ancient 
Father. See the note on St. Mark viii. 12. — Strange, that the sign of His Resur- 
rection oftenest insisted upon by our Blessed Lord,— the only one to which He 
condescended to appeal, — had been exhibited by tlie first of the Prophets ! 

St. Mark introduces these sayings of our Lord, (which, however, he gives far 
more briefly,) with the statement that " He sighed deeply in His Spirit."(7) With 
the deepest sorrow, we may be sure, were the words spoken. After which, it is 
solemnly added, — 

And He left them, and departed. 

That is, He embarked with His Disciples; and crossing the Northern part of 
the Sea of Galilee, repaired to the Eastern shore, — the scene of his two recent 
miracles of feeding. See the notes on St. Mark viii. 13 and 14, concerning this 
and the next verse. 

5 And when His Disciples were come to the other side, they had 
forgotten to take bread. 

In which statement, (remarks an ancient writer,) " it should be observed how 
far the Disciples were from any longing for luxuries, when they took so small care 
even for the very necessaries of life." 

6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven 
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. 

His Human Soul was yet filled with heavy thoughts concerning the hard-hearted 
persons with whom He had so recently had to do. Not so the Disciples. Their 
hearts soared not, like Llis. The mention of " leaven" suggested to them nothing 
beyond the notion of bodily food, and anxiety concerning the scanty supply of 
bread with which they had set out from home. 

Pull of deep meaning, we may be sure, was this caution concerning " leaven" 
on our Saviour's lips. Consider Iioav it had been threatened in the ancient Law, 
that whosoever of the people ate leavened bread at certain seasons, " that soul 
should be cut off from Israel."(m) And was it not the true Israel, — the Israel of 
God, — to whom the language of the text was addressed ? . . . See more in the note 
to St. Mark viii. 15. 

7, 8 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we 
have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, He said unto 
them, 

Kather, — " And Jesus, knowing it, said to them,"(«) — 

ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye 
have brought no bread ? 

" They were perplexed about the meaning of their Master's saying, and imagined 
that He intended by it to caution them against supplying their present want with 
such leavened bread as had been made by any Pharisee or Sadducee. We are told 
that the Jews had religious scruples about the persons from whom they got their 
leaven ; and in particular that they would not take it from a heathen, or even a 
Samaritan. This may account for the mistake of the Disciples. It appears further 

k) St. Matth. xii. 39. (0 St. Mark viii. 12. (m) Exodus xii. 15. 

n) Concerning which words see the note on St. Mark ii. 8. 



XVI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 151 

that while they thought they were cautioned against procuring bread made with 
the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they were at the same time troubled 
as to what they should do for the want of bread :" having brought with them only 
only one loaf.(o) So far an excellent modern Commentary (^>) .... Our Lord 
proceeds, — 

9, 10 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of 
the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up ? neither the 
seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up ? 

From St. Mark's Gospel, we discover that the Blessed Speaker paused at the 
end of each inquiry, and obtained from the lips of His Disciples an admission that 
the number of the baskets was on one occasion " Twelve," on the other " Seven."(g) 
The difference in the kind of basket which was employed to contain the super- 
fluities of either meal, is marked with great exactness in the original Greek. Our 
Saviour proceeds, — 

11 How is it that ye clo not understand that I spake it not to you 
concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees 
and of the Sadducees ? 

He required at their hands that they should " understand" the deep spiritual 
meaning which attached to His Divine words : reproved them for taking literally 
the words which He had spoken in a mystical sense. See the note on St. Mark 
viii. 21. One of the ancients remarks, — " that you may learn what force Christ's 
reproof had upon His Disciples, and how it roused their sluggish spirit, hear 
what says the Evangelist:" 

12 Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the 
leaven of bread, but of the Doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sad- 
ducees. 

" Yet He had not interpreted this to them," proceeds the same Father.(r) " This 
instruction of our Lord, therefore, drew them away from Jewish observances, and 
made them attentive instead of careless, and raised them out of their little faith ; 
that whenever they should seem to have but small provision of bread, they might 
have no fear about food, but might despise all such things." 

Concerning the use of the term " Leaven" in this place, and the reason of it, 
enough has been said in the note on St. Mark viii. 15. The spreading and trans- 
forming influence of a little leaven, gives a lively notion of the importance of 
attending anxiously to the beginnings, whether of good or evil, in ourselves. Men 
have often traced the altered complexion of a whole life to a single conversation, — 
sometimes to a single saying. " A little leaven," (as the great Apostle hath twice 
remarked,) " leaveneth the whole lump."(s) The Enemy knows this well, and 
therefore plies us with suggestions to commit little sins. 

Our Blessed Lord, having wrought a wondrous miracle at Bethsaida Julias, (a 
different town from the Bethsaida commonly mentioned,) (t) — which miracle, St. 
Mark alone of all the Evangelists describes, (u) — proceeded in a Northerly direc- 
tion, still keeping on to the East of the Kiver Jordan, until we find him arriving 
among " the towns," or, as St. Matthew expresses it, "the parts," (here rendered 
" the coasts,") of Ceesarea Philippi. (.r) Hard by was Dan, which the proverbial 
expression " from Dan to Beersheba" indicates as the most northerly point of the 
Holy Land. The Reader will find more on this subject in the note on St. Mark 
viii. 27. 

13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Csesarea Philippi, 

— "it came to pass, as He was alone, praying, His Disciples were with Him; 
and,"(y)- 

(o) St. Mark viii. 14. (p) By Archdeacon Hale and Bishop Lonsdale. 

\q) St, Mark viii. 19, 20, where see the note. (r) Chrysostom. 

(s) 1 Cor. t. 6, and Gal. v. 9. (t) See the note on St. Mark viii. 21. 

(«) St. Mark viii. 22 to 26. 

[x) Concerning Caesarea Philippi, see the note on St. Mark viii. 27. {y) St. Luke is. 18. 



152 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

He asked His Disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son 
of Man, am? 

Concerning the title which our Blessed Lord here, and on so many other occasions 
assumed to Himself, the Reader is referred to what has been written in the note on 
St. Matthew viii. 20. ... " Thou,— the Son of Man, and therefore Very Man,"— 
(it seems to be implied by the confession which followed,) " art the Son of the 
liying God, and therefore Very God :" which was a full recognition of the Incar- 
nate Jehovah, — the Great Mystery of the Gospel. ... In the meantime the Apos- 
tles proceed to answer the question of their Lord : — 

14 And they said, Some say that Thou art John the Baptist : some, 
Elias ; and others, Jeremias, or one of the Prophets. 

The Reader is referred to the note on St. Mark viii. 28, concerning this reply. 

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am ? 

Rather, — "But ye, whom say ye that I am?" .... From which two questions 
of our Lord, (observes an excellent writer,) (z) " it is evident that neither to the mul- 
titude, nor to the Disciples, had He declared Himself to be the Christ ; and like- 
wise, that the Faith which He would elicit from the Disciples was different from 
that held by the multitude around. He had not told them, save by that Voice of 
God which speaks within ; and ' by the cords of a man/(a) by which He drew 
them on to this, the very consummation and crown of all. It was for this, He had 
been with them thus long. It was for this, that He had chosen them : for this, 
that He had ordained them. For this, He had made them witnesses of so many 
Miracles : had explained to them His Parables : had reproved their slowness of 
understanding ; that they might come to the knowledge of the Son of God. For 
' this is Life Eternal, — that they might know Thee, the Only True God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom Thou hast sent/ "(&) 

Take notice, that this inquiry is addressed to them all: the whole Apostolic body 
is questioned ; and St. Peter, in making reply, answers in behalf of the rest, as he 
had already done, once before. (c) The Fathers point out that he speaks as the 
mouthpiece of the Apostles, — as their leader, ("first, Simon," it is said in a certain 
place,) (d) — as the most ardent and forward of the Twelve. 

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God. 

There must certainly have been something in this Confession which implied a 
truer recognition of the Divine Nature of Christ than was contained in any of 
those other confessions, — glorious and adequate as they may at first appear, — 
which are found in different parts of the Gospel : else could it never have called 
forth such words of special commendation. Strange to say, however, St. Peter had 
already (at Capernaum) professed the common Faith of himself and his fellow-Disci- 
ples in the self-same form ofivords which he here employs : — ' ' We believe and are sure 
that Thou art the CHRIST, the SON of the Living GOD."{e) The words may be 
the same, however, and yet the intention of the speaker may be very different, at 
different times ; (f) and it is impossible not to suspect that it was so here. When 
the form of Confession differs, it is obvious to suspect a difference of intention. 
NathanaeFs words, for instance, — " Thou art the Son of God ; Thou art the King 
of Israel :"(g) the speech of the Disciples in the ship, — " Of a truth, Thou art the 
Son of God :"(h) the profession of Martha, — " I believe that Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of God, which should come into the world :"(i) all these may well be 
thought to be only nobler methods of expressing what the woman of Canaan, and 
the two blind men of Jericho intended, when they cried to our Saviour, saying, 
"Have mercy on us, Lord, Thou Son of David;" (A;) language which did indeed 
imply that Jesus of Nazareth was, in the speaker's opinion, the promised Messiah; 
but which was yet consistent with the belief that He was but an Earthly Deliverer, and 

(z) Rev. Isaac "Williams. (a) Hosea xi. 4. (b) St. John xvii. 3. 

c) St. John vi. 69. (d) St. Matthew x. 2. (e) St. John vi. 69. 

/) See the note on St. Luke i. 20. (g) St. John i. 49. (h) St. Matth. xiv. 33. 

i) St. John xi. 21. (k) St. Matthew xv. 22; and xx. 31. 



XVI.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 153 



a Temporal Prince. In this recognition of Christ as "the Son of the living God," 
however, it seems to be implied that He was the Only-Begotten of Him with whom 
is "the Well of Life:"(Z) concerning Whom it is emphatically declared that He 
" livetli ;"(m) and therefore, (as it is said in the Creed,) that He was "God of God, 
Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten not made, being of one substance 
with the FATHER," .... Accordingly it follows,— 

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon 
Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My 
Father which is in Heaven. 

That is, " Simon son of Jona ;" as it is said in St. John i. 42 : by which name 
also our Lord thrice addressed the same Apostle after His Resurrection. (n) It has 
been well remarked by one of the Ancients that there would be little meaning in 
this mode of address on the present occasion, unless we suppose that the Divine 
Speaker thereby intended to show that Christ is as naturally the Son of God, as 
Simon was the Son of Jonas ; that is, of the same substance as He that begat Him. 

St. Peter, like St. Paul, had " not conferred with flesh and blood :"{o) that is, hu- 
man lips had not been his instructors in the great mystery of the Gospel ; neither had 
the suggestions of Natural Reason guided him to the discovery of so great a truth. 
But he had derived his teaching directly from God Himself: and in this consisted 
his " blessedness." — Our Lord proceeds, 

18 And I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this Bock I will 
build My Church : 

" Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the World."(j:>) The 
present hour had been accordingly foreseen by our Saviour at His first interview 
with this, His highly favoured servant; for when Jesus first "beheld him, He said, 
Thou art Simon the son of Jona : thou shalt be called Cephas ;"(q) — which, (as St. 
John explains,) signifies " a stone," or " Rock." In a similar way, Jacob is found 
to have tivice received from God the new name of " Israel. "(f) 

But this memorable promise must have ran far more pointedly in the original 
language, than when it is translated into our own tongue. " Thou art a Rock 
(Cepha;) and upon this Rock (Cepha) I will build My Church." — One of the an- 
cients^) paraphrases the place thus: — Thou hast said to Me, "Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God :" therefore I say unto thee, — (and for Me to 
speak is to make it so,) — "Thou art a Rock" .... For as from Christ proceeded 
that Light to the Apostles whereby they were called " the Light of the World," (t) 
so upon Simon, who believed in Christ the Rock,(w) was bestowed the name of 
Rock. — Some of the Fathers thought that Christ, not St. Peter, is "the Rock" 
here spoken of ; and some, that not St. Peter, but his Confession, was the Rock on 
which Christ was to build His Church : but such meanings are forced and unnatu- 
ral. The obvious interpretation of the place is the true one : namely, " Upon thee, 
as upon a sure foundation, I will build My spiritual House." (x) Not that we would 
altogether exclude other meanings. We know that, in a certain sense, " other foun- 
dation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."(?/) We know, 
too, that, it was the firmness of the Apostle's Faith, — his rock-like Confession, 
therefore, — on which our Saviour Christ, " as a wise master-builder," (z) proceeded 
to build. But all this is somewhat foreign to the question. The primary meaning 

of our Lord's words is the thing to be considered Let none be afraid of the 

consequences of such an interpretation. It might be thought to make something, 
indeed, for the Church of Jerusalem: but for the Church of Rome, it makes nothing, 
— nor can make. 

- Concerning the fulfilment of this great prophecy, we shall find no more trust- 
worthy guide than our learned Bishop Pearson. " The only way" (he says,) "to 
attain unto the knowledge of the true notion of the Church, is to search the New 

(I) Psalm xxxvi. 9. 

(m) 2 Sam. xxii. 47; or Ps. xviii. 46. Job xix. 25. Jer. iv. 2 : v. 2 : xii. 16: xvi. 14, 15 : 

xliv. 26, &c. See also Deut. v. 26. Joshua iii. 10. 1 Sam. xvii. 26, 36. Jeremiah x. 10, &c. 

(«) St. John xxi. 15, 16, 17. (o) Gal. i. 16. (p) Acts xv. 18. 

( q) St. John i. 42. (r) Gen. xxxii. 28 and xxxv. 10. 

. (s) Jerome. (t) St. Matt. v. 14. (u) 1 Cor. x. 4. 

(as) Consider 1 Tim. iii. 15. (y) 1 Cor. iii. 11. (s) 1 Cor. iii. 10. 



154 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Testament, and from the places there which mention it, to conclude what is the 
nature of it. To which purpose it will be necessary to take notice, that our Saviour 
first speaking of it, mentioneth it as that which then was not, but afterwards was 
to be; as when He spake unto the great Apostle, ' Thou art Peter, and upon this 
Rock I will build My Church :' but when He had ascended into Heaven, and the 
Holy Ghost had come down, when Peter" by his Sermon on the Day of Pente- 
cost [a) "had converted three thousand souls, (b) which were added to the hundred 
and twenty Disciples," of which we heard before,(c) "then there was a Church; 
and that, built upon Peter, according to our Saviour's promise; for afterwards, we 
read, ' the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved/ " In short, 
on the first Christian Pentecost, ten days after the Ascension, " St. Peter took upon 
himself to build the Church ; which he then performed when he preached the Gos- 
pel by which the Church was first gathered." Nor was it members of the Jeioish 
nation only which he thus first wrought, like living stones, into the spiritual fabric 
of Christ's Church ; but he was sent, by special revelation from Heaven, to preach 
the Gospel to Cornelius and his family also, — who were the first Gentile believ- 
ers. (c?) .... Thus was there "laid in Sion" that precious " Corner-stone," of 
which Prophecy is so full ;(e) for in Sion was the first Church built. That Church 
of Jerusalem was the Mother of all Churches : for to tliat Church " all others since 
have been in a manner added, and conjoined ;"(/) making up together that one 
" Holy Catholic Church" in which we profess to believe, and for the good estate of 
which we pray. A gracious promise follows : — 

and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. 

The " gates of Hell" is a remarkable, and, at first sight, a perplexing expression; 
but "the gates of the Grave,"(#) and "the Gates of Death,"(7i) are found in other 
parts of Scripture. The phrase, as our Lord here employs it, most likely denotes 
"the Infernal Powers," — "the Enmity of the Unseen World," — "the arts and de- 
vices of Satan ;" — and He here promises that these shall not finally prevail against 
His Church. For "though the Providence of God doth suffer many particular 
Churches to cease," (as five out of those seven mentioned in the second and third 
chapters of the Book of Revelation,) "yet the promise of the same God will never 
permit, that all of them at once shall perish. When Christ first spake particu- 
larly to St. Peter, He sealed His speech with a powerful promise of perpetuity, 
saying, ' Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build My Church ; and the 
gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.' When He spake generally to all the 
rest of the Apostles to the same purpose, (' Go and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost/) (i) 
He added a promise to the same effect, — ' and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
the end of the World.'(A) The first of these promises assures us of the continu- 
ance the Church, because it is built upon a Rock ;" (in conformity with what our 
Lord had said at the conclusion of His Sermon on the Mount, about the manner in 
which the Wise Man built his House :) (/) " the latter of these promises giveth not 
only an assurance of the continuance of the Church, but also the cause of that 
continuance, which is the presence of CHRIS T."(?n) . . Still addressing St. Peter, 
our Lord continues, — 

19 And I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven : 
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven : 
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven. 

As, in the ordination of Priests, the bishop delivers the Bible to every one, saying, 
"Take thou authority to preach the Word of GOD," &c, so here our Lord, when He 
promises to St. Peter that He will hereafter give him the Keys of the Kingdom of 
Heaven, promises that He will give him authority to bind and to loose. 

And the power of "binding and loosing" in "the Kingdom of Heaven, (that is, 
in the Church of CHRIST,) clearly refers to the exercise of that power which be- 
longs of necessity to Rulers: a power, it should be well observed, which was after- 

a) Acts ii. 14 to 39. (5) Acts ii. 41. (c) Acts i. 15. 

d) Acts x. Note carefully Acts xv. 7. (e) Isaiah xxviii. 16. 

/) Bp. Pearson. (g) Isaiah xxxviii. 10. (h) Ps. ix. 13. 

St, Matthew xxviii. 19. [k) St. Matth. xxviii. 20. 

I) See the note on St. Matthew vii. 25. (m) Bp. Pearson. 



XVI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 155 

wards conveyed to the whole Apostolic "body, and in the self-same words: (11) whence 
an ancient Father remarks, " All we Bishops have in St. Peter received the Keys 
of the Kingdom of Heaven." (o) "When the Jewish teachers disallowed anything 
as being unlawful," (says an excellent modern Writer,) "they were said to 'bind' 
it: and when they allowed anything as lawful, they were said to 'loose' it. Our 
Lord therefore here assures Peter, that whatever rules he should lay down, or what- 
ever judgment he should pass, in the exercise of his Apostolical authority, for the 
well ordering of the Church on Earth, should be ratified and confirmed in Heaven."(p) 
The solemn assurance conveyed at the Ordination of Priests, was of course espe- 
cially implied and intended; namely, "Whose sins thou dost forgive they are for- 
given ; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained."(g) But, (as the great 
Father of the West observes,) " not Peter alone, but the whole Church, bindeth and 
looseth sins." Doubtless, only so is this power given that "the power of Authority 
rests with God alone, — who openeth by the pouring forth of His grace: the power 
of Dignity, with Christ, — who openeth through the merits of His Passion. The 
power of Stewardship, it is which rests with the Bulers of the Church, — who open 
through ministration of the sacraments." 

Let none, therefore, suppose from this promise (observes a Latin Father,) " that 
the innocent maybe condemned, or the guilty absolved;" for "what will be inquired 
into before the Lord will be, not the sentence of the priests, but the life of him that 
is judged. We read in Leviticus that the lepers were commanded to show them- 
selves to the Priests ; and if they had the leprosy, then they were made unclean by 
the Priest. Not the Priest makes them leprous and unclean, but, having knowledge 
of what is Leprosy, and what is not, he can discern who is clean, and who is un- 
clean. In the same way then, as the priest makes the leper unclean, the Bishop or 
Presbyter binds or looses, — not those who are without sin or guilt ; but, in the dis- 
charge of his function, when he has heard the varieties of their sins, he knows who 
is to be bound and who loosed." Thus far, Jerome. 

A more remarkable question, however, here awaits us, and requires a few words. 
Strange as it may appear, and monstrous as the pretension obviously is, the Church 
of Koine, (which certainly was not founded by St. Peter,) rests no small portion of 
her claims to supremacy, and authority over the other Churches of Christendom, 
on these few words addressed by Christ to His highly-favoured Apostle. Without 
engaging in a controversial discussion, (which would be out of place in these pages,) 
it shall suffice to point out, first, that although upon St. Peter, the Rock, Christ 
declared that He would found His Church, it does not by any means follow there- 
from that St. Peter was to become the Supreme Governor of that Church; still less 
does it follow that the Bishops of Rome have derived from him the same right of 
supremacy. But, in fact, the Apostles themselves, (who must needs have been the 
best judges of the meaning of our Lord's words,) discovered in them no such grant 
or promise of superior authority as is pretended: why else did they, more than 
once, dispute "which of themselves was the greatest ?"(r) Why are "James, 
Cephas, and John "(5) mentioned as "pillars" of the Church, without any notice of 
inequality between them? Why did St. Paul "withstand St. Peter to the face, be- 
cause he was to be blamed ?"(0 and St. James, not St. Peter, give sentence at the 
first Council 1(il) Precedence in Rank implies no degreee of superior Authority. — 
Touching the first building of the Church, (as one of the oldest of the Fathers(rc) 
inquires,) — "If you think the whole Church was built on Peter alone, what will 
you say concerning John, the son of Thunder, and concerning each of the rest of 
the Apostles ?" — "You say," (remarks another) "that the Church is founded on 
Peter ; but the Church is elsewhere declared to be founded on all the Apostles, ; '(?/) 
alluding to that well-known place in the Epistle to the Ephesians, "Ye are built 
upon the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being 
the chief corner-stone."(2i) 

But, in the next place, let it be observed that even if "the Keys of the Kingdom 
of Heaven" had conferred superior authority and dominion over all the rest of 
Christendom ; and if those Keys had been committed by our Saviour to St. Peter 
exclusively ; — and if St. Peter had really been the first Bishop of Rome: — under all 

(n") St. Matthew xviii. 18. (o) Ambrose. (p) Archdeacon Hale and P>p. Lonsdale. 

I q\ The Form and Manner of Ordering Priests, in the Book of Common Prayer, 
(r) St. Luke xxii. 24. St. Mark ix. 24. (s) Gal. ii. 9. (*) Gal. ii. 11. 

(u) Acts xv. 13. (cc) Origen. (y) Jerome, 

(z) Ephes. ii. 20. Compare Rev. xxi. 14. 



156 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

these combined suppositions, the Bishops of Koine in perpetuity would find it im- 
possible to make out even a probability that the like awful prerogative which they 
claim for the great Apostle, hath descended to themselves. But, in truth, these 
assumptions are found to be fallacious, at every step. For, first, the Keys cannot, 
of course, be supposed to have conferred upon St. Peter any other powers of bind- 
ing and loosing than were conferred upon the rest of the Apostles; and next, those 
powers were conveyed to the whole Apostolic body, even in the self-same words with 
which the Keys are here committed to St. Peter, — as may be seen by a reference to 
St. Matthew xviii. 18. Lastly, it is quite certain that St. Peter was never a Bishop 
of Home at all. He is reckoned indeed by a very ancient Church writer as the 
Bishop of that See; but the very same writer reckons him as the first Bishop of 
Antioch also. Now, he cannot have been both. Irenaeus, writing much earlier, (A. 
D. 177,) calls Linus the first Bishop. In fact, (as we have elsewhere pointed out,)(a) 
it is one of the marks of distinction between an Apostle and a Bishop, that the 
former was universally charged, — that is, had a general commission in all places, 
towards all persons :(b) the latter, had a several See. — This entire fiction of the 
Romanists is, in a word, the monstrous invention of a late and ambitious age. 
Nay; so far from admitting her vain and boastful pretensions, many will be found 
to inquire how a Church so corrupt and idolatrous as the Romish continues to exist 
at all? The answer to this question will be, — "Because she yet holds (God be 
praised for it!) a right Faith in respect of the great doctrine which St. Peter con- 
fessed: wherefore, even against her have not the Gates of Hell prevailed." 

20 Then charged He His Disciples that they should tell no man that 
He was Jesus the Chkist. 

After all that may be said in the way of explanation, this must be confessed to 
remain a very dark, and very mysterious statement. It is found that "as He had 
been so solicitous that the manifestation of His Divine Power should not be pub- 
lished by those He healed; as He had commanded the Evil Spirits not to make 
known His GoDhead; and as, for this Confession, He had retired with His Apostles 
to a place so distant: so now, on their return, this great truth on which the Salva- 
tion of Mankind depended, is to be as the Treasure hid in a field ;(c) or as the seed 
buried in the Earth -"(d) or as the Leaven hid in three measures of meal.(e) 

By the words which follow, our Lord seems to have intended to banish any am- 
bitious notions which may have sprung up in the minds of His followers at the 
mention of a Church to be shortly built, and a Kingdom soon to come. Expecta- 
tions of worldly grandeur may well have arisen at such a time, which could not be 
more effectually opposed than by thus unfolding the prospect of His approaching 
Sufferings and Death. Accordingly, — 

21 From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His Disciples, 
how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the 
Elders and Chief Priests and Scribes, and be killed, and be raised again 
the third day. 

Thus did He lay before them the whole mystery of what was to be hereafter^ a 
course of events for which they were little prepared, as the affectionate, yet mis- 
taken remonstrance of St. Peter, which follows sufficiently shows. 

22 Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it 
far from Thee, Lord : this shall not be unto Thee. 

The Apostle, in his warmth, — his mingled love and terror, — seems to have laid 
his hands upon the sacred person of Christ, while he spoke these words . . . "Ob- 
serve how entirely he is at a loss concerning those things which had not been 
revealed to him ! ,; remarks one of the Fathers. For it is said of our Saviour, — 

23 But He turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan : 
thou art an offence unto Me: for thou savourest not the things that be 
of God, but those that be of men. 

a) See the note on St. Luke vi. 13. (6) 2 Cor. xi. 28. (c) St. Matt. xiii. 44. 

d) St. Matt. xiii. 31. (e) St. Matt. xiii. 33. 



XVI.] 



on st. Matthew's gospel. 157 



See how sternly Christ puts him away! ''the intention," (as Bishop Sanderson 
points out) "be it granted never so good, is insufficient to warrant an action good, 
so long as it faileth either in the object, or manner, or any requisite circumstance 
whatever." May not the practical lesson to be derived from this incident be, that 
men should reject with indignation, refuse even to listen to, the suggestions of mis- 
taken Friendship which would dissuade them from treading the pathway of Duty, 
if it threatens also to prove a pathway of pain? 

Concerning the three foregoing verses, the Reader is requested to read what has 
been offered further on St. Mark viii. 31, 32, and 33. Satan, availing himself of 
the Apostle's ignorance, had impelled him to utter a saying, the tendency of which 
was to throw a stumbling-block in the way of the Son of Man. The Death and 
Passion of Christ which were to follow, — terrible, doubtless even in the remote 
anticipation, as they are known to have proved in the near prospect,(y) — were not 
to be objected against by the immediate Followers, and chosen Disciples of the 
Lamb, as unworthy of Him: or such an insinuation must be repelled, as originating 
with none other than the Father of Lies. To "savour the things of men," here 
means to have the affections set on worldly things. 

How striking is it to discover that the very man who, only a moment before was 
named a Rock, — had become already a stone of offence in the Saviour's way! 
"Wherefore let him that thin keth he standeth take heed lest he fall!"(^) "It is 
evident that the Temptations of the Devil are most strong after God's people have 
discharged some extraordinary duties to God, or have received most help from God. 
You find that immediately after the Lord's Supper, the Devil desired to winnow the 
Disciples; and he entered into one. After Christ had fasted forty days and forty 
nights, He was tempted of the Devil. No sooner, (as Bishop Hall observes,) was He 
out of the Water of Baptism, but He was in the Fire of Temptation." 

24 Then said Jesus unto His Disciples, 

Or, as it is in St. Mark, — "When He had called the people unto Him, with His 
Disciples also, He said unto them/' — (Ji) 

If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up 
his Cross, and follow Me. 

One of the ancients observes, — "Because, after the Cross, we require a new 
strength, He adds 'and follow Me.'" "And this," (remarks another Father,) "is 
because it may happen that a man may suffer, and yet not follow Christ ; that is, 
when he does not suffer for Christ's sake." 

In St. Luke's Gospel, it is "take up his Cross daily. "(i) Bishop Wilson recom- 
mends that men should every day, in some small matter, practise self-denial: per- 
form some one act, which may conform them more and more to the image of their 
Lord .... See the note on St. Mark viii. 34. 

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will 
lose his life for My sake shall find it. 

A few remarks on the sayings contained in verses 24 and 25, will be found in 
the notes on St. Matthew x. 38 and 39, — to which the Reader is referred. 

26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole World, and 
lose his own soul ? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? 

"Having thus called upon His Disciples to deny themselves, and take up their 
Cross," (says an old Writer,) "He filled them with terror. These severe tidings 
are therefore followed by more joyful:" 

27 For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of His Father with 
His Angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his 
works. 

By which words, our Lord seems to convey the blessed assurance that "He will 

(/) St. Matt. xxvi. 39. 42. (g) 1 Cor. x. 12. 

(h) St. Mark viii. 34. (t) St. Luke ix. 23. 



158 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

come hereafter with glory to recompense men abundantly for the sacrifices which 
He now calls upon them to make for His sake." — He says "the Glory of the 
Father," because " the Father hath given Him authority to execute judgment." (/c) 
It is to be observed moreover that this Discourse is so adjusted as to convey to 
the minds of the Apostles as near a view of the Truth as they were able as yet to 
receive. The mention of "a Church," and "the kingdom of Heaven," had awakened 
proud thoughts and lofty hopes : it had been accordingly followed by an outline of 
the Mystery of the Atonement, the circumstances of Pain and Humiliation which 
must first be, as the condition of Future Glory. Strangely perplexing was the pic- 
ture thus presented to the eyes of the Disciples. Our Lord therefore reconciles 
them to it by speaking of that future coming in Glory, which they had ever been 
accustomed to connect in their minds with the Advent of Messiah. And to support 
them in their expectation of this event, yet so distant, He promises, (in the next 
verse,) an immediate, sensible manifestation, as an earnest of that glorious Coming 
which might not take place till the end of the World. As it follows, — 

28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall 
not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom. 

This announcement will be found in the three first Gospels ;(7) and on each occa- 
sion it is introduced in exactly the same way. From the close connection in which 
it stands with the History of the Transfiguration, which immediately follows on all 
three occasions, it is impossible to resist the conviction that the words themselves 
refer to that great event. It is here described as the " Son of Man coming in His 
Kingdom." St. Mark's words are — " Till they have seen the Kingdom of God 
come with power." St. Luke says simply — "till they see the Kingdom of God." 
The meaning must be, that the great Dispensation which would then only be 
fulfilled when Christ should come to judge the World at the last Day, — was about 
at once to begin. A glorious foretaste of that His final coming, was about to be 
at once revealed. In the words of a learned Latin Father, — "As was His appear- 
ance on the Mount of Transfiguration, such will it be at the Day of Judgment." 

(7c) St. John v. 27. (J)ISee St. Mark ix. 1, and St. Luke ix. 27. 



XVII.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 159 



CHAPTER XVII 



1 The Transfiguration of Christ. 14 He liealetli the lunatic. 22 Foretelleth His 
own Passion, 24 and payeth tribute. 

It will be remembered that the preceding Chapter ended with the following re- 
markable prophecy: — "Yerily I say unto you, There be some standing here which 
shall not taste of Death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom." 
As already explained, these words cannot be referred to any recorded event so rea- 
sonably as to the Transfiguration of Christ, which is next brought before us : but 
the Reader must be referred on this head to what has been already offered in the 
notes on St. Matthew xvi. 28, and St. Luke ix. 27. 

The chief events which go before must be borne distinctly in mind by him who 
would profit by what is to follow. It should be remembered that during the recent 
sojourn of our Saviour and His Twelve Apostles in "the towns of Caesarea 
Philippi,"(a) St. Peter's splendid confession of the Divinity of the Son of Man had 
occurred: whereupon followed the splendid promise which was discussed at so much 
length in the last Chapter. Then came some remarkable predictions; and closely 
connected with these, (as we believe,) stands our Lord's Transfiguration. For, as 
He had been preparing the minds of His Followers for His own coming Humilia- 
tion, and their's also,(6) so had He supported them by an allusion to that final 
Advent in Glory, when He will reward the just, and in the sight of Men and Angels 
confess them to be His own. Yet more completely to build up His Apostles, and 
support their Faith, the Almighty One proceeds to give them an immediate earnest 
of His future glorious Advent :(c) by revealing Himself to three of their number as 
He is. " He took with Him three," (says an ancient Writer,) "that in the mouths 
of two or three witnesses every word might be established." St. Peter, and the two 
sons of Zebedee, (the only Disciples on whom He had bestowed a new name,) are 
accordingly admitted to a sight of His Glory, ;and to a foretaste of the brightness of 
His Kingdom. As it follows, — 

1 And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his 
brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 

If the "high mountain" which was the scene of this mysterious transaction was 
Mount Tabor, (as tradition relates,) the Blessed Company will have crossed the 
Jordan since the concluding events of the former Chapter, and travelled into 
Galilee. But there is no reason for supposing that they did so : rather the reverse.(<i) 
This event may very well have taken place on some eminence East of the Jordan, 
concerning which all Tradition has perished. It is quite the manner of the Holy 
Spirit to draw a veil over places and persons, — doubtless because the carnal heart 
is so prone to spend itself on these, instead of looking up to Him who is above all : 
and accordingly, when St. Peter, in his Second Epistle, would describe what 
occurred on the Mount of Transfiguration, it will be observed that he simply calls 
it "the Holy Mount."(e) .... Perhaps it is better that we should not know which 
the place was. Surely it would be too much to visit such a locality ! Only three 
of the Apostles were deemed fit to behold the Transfiguration. Which of ourselves 
can be thought worthy to behold even the spot where it took place ? 

For some remarks on the highly favoured witnesses of the great transaction which 

(a) St. Mark viii. 27. Compare St. Matth. xvi. 13. (b) St. Matthew xvi. 21 to 25. 

• ( c) Surely St. Peter alludes to the Transfiguration in this very point of view, — 1 St. Peter v. 1. 
(d) See St. Mark ix. 30. (e) 2 St. Peter i. 18. 



160 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

follows, the Header is referred to the note. on St. Mark ix. 2. — Jesus, then, bringeth 
His three Disciples " into an high Mountain apart," — 

2 and was transfigured before them : and His Face did shine as the 
Sun, and His raiment was white as the Light." 

The nature of the change which passed over His Divine Person, it is more easy 
to imagine than to describe : more easy to describe than to explain. The very same 
Being whom they had all along known,r-yet marvellously altered from what He 
had ever seemed, — every feature, every part of His Body, had become invested with 
glory, and shone with dazzling lustre, which His raiment was unable to eclipse or 
even to obscure. St. Matthew's words in this place, recall the appearance vouch- 
safed by Eevelation to St. John the Divine: — "His Head and His Hairs were white 
like wool, as white as snow ;(/) and His Eyes as a flame of fire : and His Feet like 
unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ; . . . and His countenance was as the 
Sun shineih in his strength.'" (jg) "His raiment was white as the Light;" for this 
was He "who covereth Himself with Light as with a Garment."^) "His Bright- 
ness/' (says the Prophet,) " was as the Light."(i) 

3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking 
with Him. 

"Who appeared in Glory," (St. Luke says,) "and spake of His decease which He 
should accomplish at Jerusalem ."(&) Concerning these mighty personages, the 
Reader is requested to refer to the notes on St. Luke ix. 31 and St. Mark ix. 4. As 
their converse confirmed what our Saviour had lately predicted concerning His 
own future sufferings, so did the Voice from Heaven which followed, confirm the 
great truth which St. Peter had lately proclaimed in his glorious Confession. 
Christ brings forth Moses and Elias, (remarks an ancient Father,) "that He may 
show the glory of His Cross, and thus soothe Peter and the other Disciples who 
were fearing His Death; for they "spake of His decease which He should accom- 
plish at Jerusalem." Wherefore He brings forward those who had exposed them- 
selves to death for God's pleasure, — Moses, in resisting Pharaoh ; Elias, in resisting 
Ahab. But it may be thought that the chief reason why these two great Saints 
appeared was because they respectively set forth the Law and the Prophets, — that 
elder dispensation which now "waxed old, " and was "ready to vanish away ;"{l) being 
fulfilled in the person of Christ. For both the Law and the Prophets "prophe- 
sied" of Him, as He Himself declares. (m) Of these two great Saints alone, it is 
recorded that they sustained a miraculous Fast of forty days,(7i) like that of Christ : 
and it seems worth noticing that a wonderful privilege seems to have been conferred, 
in the case of either, on their mortal bodies. Elijah was translated, and never saw 
Death. Moses died indeed, (o) and was buried by God ; (p) but Michael the Archan- 
gel is known to have had his body in special keeping: so that it may be thought to 
have never seen corruption. (q) 

"But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep;" for it was 
probably the dead of night. " And when they were awake, they saw His Glory, and 
the two men that stood with Him."(r) As for how they can have known the men 
who talked with our Lord to be Moses and Elias, whom they had never seen, one 
of the Ancients suggests, "that it was through the Majesty which came over them; 
whereby it is intimated that in the future glory, men will not only know one 
another, but those also whom they never before have seen." 

4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us 
to be here : if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles ; one for 
Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 

( f ) Compare Dan. vii. 9. (g) Rev. i. 14 to 16. (h) Ps. civ. 2. 

(i) Habakkuk iii. 4. {k) St. Luke ix. 31. {I) Heb. viii. 13. 

(to) St. Matth. xi. 13. Compare St. John i. 45. 

(n) Moses fasted three times for forty days : namely, Deut. ix. 9, 18, and^Exod. xxxiv. 1, 2, 28. 
(o) Joshua i. 2. {p) Deut. xxxiv. 6. 

\q) Consider St. Jude's Epistle, — verse 9; and compare that place with Hebrews ii. 14. 
St. Luke ix. 32. 



XVII.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 161 



"Not knowing what lie said:"(s) or, as St. Mark expresses it, — "for he wist not 
what to say: for they were sore afraid."(0 

And yet, the question arises, What should have induced the Apostle to propose 
such a measure ? One of the best of expositors (11) says that "seeing in this place 
great quietness and solitude, Peter thought that it would he a fit spot to take up 
their abode in ; saying, ' Master, it is good for us to be here. 7 And he proposed to 
build tabernacles;" (that is, temporary dwelling-places,) "for he concluded that if 
he did this, Jesus would not go up to Jerusalem, and suffer." . . . Take notice 
that a wish to detain the heavenly guests seems to have been St. Peter's motive in 
speaking: for it is noticed particularly that he spoke as Moses and Elias " de- 
parted."^) This falls in very well with the supposition of those who have thought 
that "Peter was so delighted at this view of the Majesty of the Lord, that forget- 
ting everything else in the World, he would have abode there forever." ... It 
seems certain that this great Apostle, notwithstanding his late Confession, notwith- 
standing our Lord's many hints concerning the nature of His coming Kingdom, yet 
dreamed of Earthly splendour. He still thought that the Kingdom of the Elect was 
to be set up here on earth. 

5. 6 While He yet spake, behold, a Bright Cloud overshadowed 
them : and behold a Voice out of the Cloud, which said, This is My 
Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye Him. And when 
the Disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. 

For some remarks on these two verses, the Header is referred to the notes on St. 
Luke ix. 34, 35, 36. St. Matthew alone mentions that this was "a bright cloud :" 
in which announcement, the contrast between the Law and the Gospel is to be dis- 
cerned ; for when tlie law was given, the Mountain burned with fire, " with dark- 
ness, clouds, and thick darkness."(?/) .... Moses learns here more than he had 
foretold concerning the " Prophet like unto himself," whom God was to raise up 
hereafter to Israel. (z) — In the meantime, the Disciples have fallen to the ground ; 
blinded by the excess of Light, and overcome by the awful spectacle and sound 
which they had witnessed. 

7 And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not 
afraid. 

This tender act of encouragement is noticed only by St. Matthew. How does it 
recall what happened in the case of the "man greatly beloved !" — "I . . . saw this 
great vision, and there remained no strength in me. . . . Yet heard I the voice of 
His words : and when I heard the voice of His words, then was I in a deep sleep 
on my face, and my face toward the ground. And behold, an liand touched me, 
which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And He said unto 
me, Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, 
and stand upright." (a) . . . Consider also how it fared with the beloved Disciple, 
when, by Kevelation, he found himself in the same awful presence : "When I saw 
Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right Hand upon me, saying unto 
me, Fear not."(6) 

8 And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save 
Jesus only. 

Such a Voice from Heaven is three times recorded to have been heard : at the 
Baptism of our Lord,(c) at the close of His Ministry,(cZ) and on the present occa- 
sion. — The saying itself has been thought to contain a reference to those words of 
Moses, — " The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet . . . like unto me ; 
unto Him ye shall hearken :(e) words which we know were fulfilled in the person of 
Christ. (/) But the drift of the Heavenly message seems to be somewhat as fol- 

(s) St. Luke ix. 33. ft) St. Mark ix. 6. 

tu) Chrysostom. \x) St. Luke ix. 33. (y) Deut. iv. 11. 
(a) Deut. xviii. 15, 18, 19. Compare Acts iii. 22. 

(a) Dan. x. 8, 9, 10, 11. See also viii. 18: ix. 21 : x. 18. 

. (b) Revel, i. 17. (c) St. Matt. iii. 17. (d) St. John xii. 28. 

(e) Deut. xviii. 15. (/) See Acts iii. 22, and vii. 37. 
11 



162 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

lows : — You have looked upon the great Lawgiver of My people ; together with 
that ancient Prophet whom I most highly honoured of all. But you behold those 
My Servants no longer. Jesus, who brings you the Gospel, is found alone. Learn 
from this that the types of the Law and the predictions of the Prophets are in Him 
fulfilled, and have, in a manner, ceased ; that from henceforth a new dispensation 
is about to begin. This is My Beloved SON: from henceforth listen to His voice, 
and obey His Teaching! 

Some hours are here passed over in silence. It was now day, — 

9 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, 
saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be risen again 
from the dead. 

Thus does He, for the second time, at the end of a week, repeat the warning-note 
of Sorrows to come which He had already uttered in the presence of all His Dis- 
ciples, when He was in the neighbourhood of Cassarea Philippi.(^) 

10, 11 And His Disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say the 
Scribes that Elias must first come ? And Jesus answered and said 
unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things : 

Elijah had appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration, and was already departed. 
Next morning, therefore, as they were coming down from the mountain, the three 
Apostles break the solemn silence by inquiring how this was to be reconciled with 
the well-known interpretation of Malachi iv. 5, 6 ? a prophecy, which, (as appears 
from St. John i. 21,) (Ji) the Jews explained of the personal advent of the Tishbite. 
Our Saviour spake freely of His own approaching Death and Kesurrection. How 
then was Elias first to " come, and restore all things ?" Listen to Him, by whose 
Spirit the Prophets spake,(Y) expounding the language of His ancient servant : — 

12, 13 but I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they 
knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Like- 
wise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them. Then the Disciples un- 
derstood that He spake unto them of John the Baptist. 

They may have remembered the Baptist's attire, (7c) which exactly resembled that 
of Elijah ; as well as other particulars which clearly pointed him out to the eye of 
Faith as the promised Elijah. Our Lord's mournful allusion to the fate of His 
Forerunner, may have also helped to convince them that it was none other than 
John Baptist of whom He spake. Or they may have remembered His express as- 
sertion, on a former occasion, that this was he of whom Malachi wrote ; and that, 
if they would receive it, this was Elias, "which was for to come."(Z) 

Notwithstanding, however, this express language of Christ, (on two distinct oc- 
casions,) and the words of Gabriel, (m) it was very generally believed by the ancient 
Church that the Tishbite will yet appear in person, before Christ's final Advent. 

Our attention is next invited to a circumstance of a wholly different nature. — The 
blessed Company, on descending the Mount of Transfiguration, find a multitude of 
persons assembled about the nine Apostles who had been left behind, (probably on 
the previous evening,) at the foot of the Mountain. 

14, 15, 16 And when they were come to the multitude, there came 
to Him a certain man, kneeling down to Him, and saying, Lord, have 
mercy on my Son : for he is a lunatic, and sore vexed ; for ofttimes 
he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to 
Thy Disciples, and they could not cure him. 

A " lunatic" means properly one whose mental malady is affected by the period- 
ical changes of the Moon. Such, at least, is the meaning of the word. But whe- 

(g) See St. Matth. xvi. 21. (h) See also Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 10. 

U) 1 St. Peter i. 11. (&) See note on St. Matth. iii. 4. 

U) St. Matth. xi. 10, (quoting Malachi iii. 1,) and 14. (m) St. Luke i. IV. 



XVII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 163 

ther St. Matthew intended to imply more than the Father spoke of his Child, in 
the ordinary language of ancient and modern times, as one afflicted with madness, 
may perhaps be questioned. All this, however, is recorded far more in detail by 
St. Mark,(«) whose Gospel should be carefully consulted in this place by him who 
desires fully to understand the sacred narrative. The Reader is referred to the 
remarks which have been already offered on this subject in the notes on St. Mark 
ix. 14 to 18. — It will be discovered that it was reserved for the second Evangelist 
to record many points of the very highest interest in connection with the present 
Miracle. 

17 Then Jesus answered and said, faithless and perverse genera- 
tion, how long shall I be with you ? how long shall I suffer you ? bring 
him hither to Me. 

See the note on St. Mark ix. 19 : and take notice that our Saviour here applies 
to the Jews the very language which Moses had applied to them so long before, (o) 
It follows, in St. Mark's Gospel, "And they brought him unto Him: and when he 
saw Him, straightway the Spirit tare him ; and he fell on the ground, and wal- 
lowed foaming/ \p) 

18 And Jesus -rebuked the Devil ; and he departed out of him : and 
the child was cured from that very hour. 

But St. Mark relates the dialogue which our Saviour held with the father of the 
child on this occasion ; and the very remarkable form of words in which our Bless- 
ed Lord cast out this evil spirit; as well as the Devil's violence on being ejected; 
and how nearly he thereby deprived the boy of life.(g) By saying that " the Child 
was cured from that very hour/' St. Matthew here implies that the Saviour's com- 
mand to the unclean spirit "never more to enter into him," (which St. Mark no- 
tices,) was strictly obeyed. 

It is quite absurd for the shallow professor of this world's wisdom to set aside 
this great miracle, or to turn away from it, with a remark that this Boy was evi- 
dently afflicted with the disease called Epilepsy. The Holy Spirit declares that 
he was possessed with a "deaf and dumb, unclean spirit." Either, therefore, his 
was not a case of (what men call) "Epilepsy;" or, what man would in his case 
have rightly called by the name of " Epilepsy," was, in point of fact, the possess- 
ion of an evil spirit. And Men are quite welcome to choose between these alter- 
natives. 

19 Then came the Disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could 
not we cast him out ? 

Not only "apart," or "privately," (as the word is translated in St. Mark's ac- 
count of the same transaction,) (r) but, (as we there also read,) "when He was 
come into the House. 7 ' The nature of this inquiry of the nine Apostles has been 
already explained in the note on St. Mark ix. 28. 

20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: 

The same cause which made St. Peter begin to sink, (s) — and the blind man of 
Bethsaida recover his sight by degrees ;(t) — the same cause which endangered the 
Restoration from Death of Ja'irus' daughter, (u) and the Healing of the Lunatic 
Child ;(x) — Unbelief it was, which made the Apostles, (like Samson shorn,) "be- 
come weak, and like any other man."(?/) ... It may be thought that the tempo- 
rary absence of their Lord, joined with the violence of His enemies, by whom they 
were surrounded, occasioned this declension of their faith. And if this could hap- 
pen in the case of Apostles, how terrible is the warning which is here conveyed to 
every one of us, when left to ourselves ; forsaken, even for an instant, by Him, 
"without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy !" 

(n) St. Mark ix. 14 to 29. (0) Deut. xxxii. 20. (p) St. Mark ix. 20. 

(q) St. Mark ix. 25 to 27. (r) St. Mark ix. 28. (s) St. Matth. xiv. 30, 31. 

(0 St. Mark viii. 23 to 25. \u) St. Mark v. 35, 36. (x) St. Mark ix. 22 to 24. 

(y) Judges xvi. 17. 



164 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

for verily I say unto you, If ye have Faith as a grain of mustard 
seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, 

(pointing to the Mount of Transfiguration, — the "high mountain," at the foot of 
which this miracle was performed ; just as He may he presumed to have pointed to 
the Mount of Olives, on the subsequent occasion, when He employed the same 
words :) (z) 

Remove hence to yonder place ; and it shall remove : and nothing 
shall be impossible unto you. 

To which wonderful words, St. Paul will be found to refer in his Chapter de- 
scriptive of the grace of Charity : "and though I have all Faith, 50 that I could re- 
move mountains." (a) — A manifest contrast is here intended between a grain of mus- 
tard-seed, "which indeed is the least of all seeds,"(5) — and a mighty mountain, 
which is the very emblem of immense bulk.(c) It is implied, moreover, that "the 
least spiritual power shall be mighty for the overthrow of powers the most formi- 
dable, which are merely of this world :"(d) as well as for the removal of those lofty 
imaginations, those proud swelling things of the heart, which are discoursed of as 
"mountains" in the prophecy which relates to St. John Baptist.(e) Our Saviour 
adds, — 

21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. 

Thereby teaching us that there are certain kinds of possession against which 
these are weapons of peculiar efficacy : that against certain of man's spiritual ene- 
mies, he may prevail only by Abstinence in respect of meat and drink, and by 
Prayer.(/) For more, see the note on St. Mark ix. 29. 

22, 23 And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The 
Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men : and they shall 
kill Him, and the third day He shall be raised again. 

This is that prophetic allusion to His future Passion, Death, and Resurrection, 
which the Angels referred to in addressing the women who visited the Sepulchre : 
" Remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee. ;; (#) For, (as 
we are told in the preceding chapter, — " from that time forth," (namely, from the 
time of St. Peter's Confession,) " began Jesus to show unto His Disciples, how that 
He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things."^) 

Take notice that on this occasion, neither Simon Peter, nor any of the rest, 
" took Him, and began to rebuke Him,(i} It is simply added, 

And they were exceeding sorry. 

St. Mark relates concerning our Saviour's journey through Galilee, alluded to 
in verse 22, — " and He would not that any man should know it." The reason 
moreover is added, — "for He taught His Disciples" concerning His coming Death 
and Passion : (k) that is, He desired to devote the opportunities afforded by this 
prolonged tour to preparing their minds for the terrible trial of their faith and con- 
stancy which was soon to follow, at Jerusalem. It is hard indeed for us, familiar 
as we have become with the Doctrine of the Atonement, to realize the greatness of 
their trial. A crucified King ! — a persecuted Saviour ! — nay more, One whom they 
knew to be "the Son of the living God,"(Z) yet liable to Death and Resurrection ! 
— this may well have perplexed them ; may well have rendered their Divine Mas- 
ter's patient teaching in private, a most necessary measure. 

24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received 

(z) St. Matt. xxi. 21, 22. St. Mark xi. 22, 23. — Take notice that our Lord is found to have 
used almost the same language on a third, and wholly different occasion : viz. in St. Luke xvii. 6. 
(a) 1 Cor. xiii. 2. (b) St. Matthew xiii. 32. (c) Is. xl. 4: xli. 15, &c. 

(d) Rev. R. C. Trench. (e) Isaiah xl. 4: quoted in St. Luke iii. 5. 

(/) On "Prayer and Fasting," see the note on St. Matthew vi. 16. 
(g) St. Luke xxiv. 6. (h) St. Matth. xvi. 21. (i) St. Matth. xvi. 22. 

\k) St. Mark ix. 31. {1} St. Matthew xvi. 16. 



XVII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 165 

tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your Master pay- 
tribute ? 

Having reached Capernaum, the tax of half a shekel, (about fifteen pence of our 
money,) which was yearly demanded of every faithful Israelite for the support of 
the Temple at Jerusalem, (m) was claimed of the Son of Man. Concerning this 
payment, it had been enacted that the rich should not give more, and the poor 
should not give less than half a shekel :(n) — a remarkable regulation, " as contain- 
ing the mystery that the same price of Redemption must be paid for all ; for this 
it represented. It was for each ' an atonement/ ' a ransom/ for his soul unto 
the Lord."(o) " They that received tribute money" applied accordingly to Simon 
Peter, — whose precedence in rank [though not in authority) may have been the 
cause why these men spoke to him rather than to any other of the Apostles. The 
question asked, sounds like a respectful inquiry addressed to all, as to what was 
the practice and pleasure of " their Master" in this respect: and there is no need 
of supposing a sinister intention, as on the memorable occasion when the Phari- 
sees and Herodians inquired whether it was " lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, 
or not?"(j») 

The two inquiries seem in fact to have been wholly distinct in their object, as 
well as in their character. That was a Civil demand ; this a Religious one. On 
both occasions indeed, "tribute" is spoken of; but perhaps on neither occasion is 
" tribute" strictly meant. A payment levied by the State, and due to the Emperor, 
(answering in nature somewhat to our Taxes,) was the subject of discussion then. 
A payment levied by the officers of the Temple, and due to God, (answering rather 
to our Church-Bates,) was the matter of inquiry now. 

These payments were further distinguished in respect of the absolute manner in 
which Caesar's tribute was exacted of the Jews by their Roman masters ; while 
the half-shekel, which was due to God, and which could not be legally enforced, 
was simply applied for, by officers of their own nation. Let it be recorded to the 
honour of the Jews, whether those of Palestine or those of the Dispersion, (q) that 
however poor they may have been, however far removed from their native land, 
they gladly and faithfully paid the yearly sum which they regarded as due to their 
God. " In almost every city, even those beyond the limits of the Roman Empire, 
there was a sacred Treasury for the collection of these dues : and then, at certain 
times, there were messengers selected from among the worthiest, to carry the col- 
lected money to Jerusalem. "(r) 

To return however to the subject more immediately before us ; — It may be that 
our Lord on His way to the House, walking in advance of His Disciples, (as His 
custom was,) had in His Divine Wisdoru, passed by the well-known officials who 
stood ready to receive the Temple-tax from every willing Israelite. Appealing to 
Simon, they seem to say, — "How then? Doth not your Master pay the half- 
shekel?" 

25 He saith, Yes. 

It cannot escape notice how promptly St. Peter, answered " Yes" to this inquiry. 
Nor is it hard to draw the obvious inference from the Apostle's answer. He knew 
that he was answering for One who never cavilled at demands such as these ; who 
"lived peaceably with all men ;"(s) who rendered "to all their dues: tribute to 
whom tribute is due ; custom to whom custom ; fear to whom fear ; honour to 
whom honour."^) How should such an One refuse to pay what was usual towards 
the support of the Temple of God ? 

Wherefore^ leaving the men, he entered the house, (his own probably,) where 
Jesus was, either in order to ascertain whether he had answered rightly, — or, 
(which seems more likely,) to convey to his Lord the tidings of what had taken 
place. 

And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, 

(m) On the authority of Exodus xxx. 13. This payment is alluded to in 2 Kings xii. 4, and 
2 Chron. xxiv. 5, 6, 9. 

M Exodus xxx. 15. (o) Rev. I. Williams. (p) St. Matthew xxii. 17. 

(q) Addressed by St. Peter in, his First Epistle,— i. 1. \r) Trench on the Parables, 

(s) Romans xii. 18. (t) Romans xiii. 7. 



166 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

What thinkest thou, Simon ? of whom do the Kings of the earth take 
custom or tribute ? of their own children, or of strangers ? 

How must it have astonished the Apostle to find himself thus in the presence of 
Him who knoweth all things ! Simon Peter had not opened his lips to speak, ere 
his Master, by the question He asked, convinced him that He was privy to what 
had been passing outside the House. 

26 Peter saith unto Him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, 
Then are the Children free. 

The high argument of our Blessed Lord on this occasion may not be overlooked. 
He reasons with His favoured Apostle thus : — These men have sent thee to ask 
Me for the money which is claimed of the people of the Land, towards the support 
of God's Temple ; thereby implying that I am as one of them. But thou well 
knowest that even the Kings of the Earth(u) take no custom or tribute from their 
own sons. Consider therefore with thyself whether I am not justly free from this 
payment which is levied in the name of the King of Heaven ; since the Temple is 
none other than the House of the Living God, — whose own Son thou hast already 
confessed Me to be. Hath He not " appointed" Me " heir of all things V\x) am I 
not "as a Son" over Mine " own House V'{y) ... It may be added, — How shall 
" One greater than the Tenrple,"(£) contribute towards the Temple's support? How 
shall He, who is to be the ransom for every other soul, give the money which Moses 
commanded, as " a ransom" for His own ?(a) — Here then, we have a distinct asser- 
tion of the GoDhead of Christ. But a direct proof follows : 

27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, 

Let the whole course of the Divine Reasoning be duly noticed. Here was a mis- 
taken and an unfair demand, — one which might have been reasonably resisted, and 
safely set aside. Nevertheless what says our Great Example ? Lest I should be 
casting a stumbling-block in their way by declaring the awful reality whereby I 
am properly exempt from this payment: lest, again, by refusing their demand, I 
should seem to be casting a slight on Religion, should awaken angry feelings and 
uncharitable suspicions, — unfounded indeed and untrue, yet injurious alike to Me 
and to them ; — " lest we should offend them," 

go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the Fish that first 
cometh up ; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a 
piece of money : that take, and give unto them for Me and thee. 

How obvious is the practical lesson here conveyed to him who desires to follow 
in his Lord's footsteps, — that a claim which may not only be disputed, but even 
proved unjust, should yet be discharged, to avoid offence ! 

With these words then, the Evangelist concludes his Divine narration. He does 
not tell us what followed : nor is it needful that he should. Simon Peter, followed 
by the Eleven Apostles, proceeded to the edge of the Lake ; and, nothing doubt- 
ing, " cast an hook." As anciently a whale, so now one of the lesser creatures 
which " pass through the paths of the seas,"(5) is prompt to obey the bidding of 
the Creator. The hook is no sooner cast, than the fish rises to the surface, and 
is captured instantly: and in his mouth is found a piece of money called a 
"stater," in value about thirty pence, with which St. Peter pays jointly for himself 
and his Lord. 

" Give unto them [as a ransom] for Me and thee." — " Here comes out the deeper 
meaning of the Lord not paying for Himself only, but for Peter, who represents 
all the faithful. He came under the same [yoke with men, that they might enter 
into the same freedom which was His."(c) 

Another excellent writer, already quoted, observes, — " As the Virgin Mother 
made the offering of the turtle-doves, though she needed no Purification from that 
Birth ; as Christ submitted to Circumcision, though He needed not mortification, — 

(«) Compare Ps. ii. 2. («) Heb. i. 2. (y) Heb. iii. 6. 

'z\ St. Matthew xii. 6. (a) See Exodus xxx. 12. (6) Ps. viii. 8. 

c) Trench. 



XVIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 167 

and to Baptism, though He needed not washing : so now does He pay the token of 
Kedemption," who came to redeem Mankind. 

Take notice that this Miracle,— (which is found only in St. Matthew's Gospel ; 
St. Mark ever omitting the transactions which redound most to St. Peter's 
honour,) (d) — is one of the three in which the second Adam asserts His " dominion 
over the fish of the sea." Was not that dominion given Him "in the beginning?" 
" the fish of the Sea," being mentioned before either " the fowl of the air," or " the 
cattle." (e) 

It is still more worthy of notice how sublime an assertion of " His eternal power 
and GoDhead,"(/) was the manner in which our Blessed Saviour satisfied the de- 
mand recorded in the text : as well as how splendidly the Miracle by which He 
paid the tax, compensated for the injury offered to His Divine Majesty , by its ex- 
action. How convincing a proof was it, of that Divine SoNship which Simon Peter 
had already confessed, (g) and which our Saviour had been just now declaring to 
Simon Peter 1(h) And it is ever thus, in the History of our Lord's Life. Some 
token of Heaven is ever found to appear, when He seems most "despised and re- 
jected," most "acquainted with grief,"(i) "a worm and no man."(&) Did not 
Angels and a Star herald His Birth in a Manger ? and the quaking Earth and 
darkened Sun give tidings that He was expiring on the Cross ? 



CHAPTER XVIII, 



1 Christ warneth His Disciples to be humble and harmless. 7 To avoid offences, 
and not to despise the little ones. 15 Teacheth how we are to deal with our Breth- 
ren, when they offend us. 21 And how oft to forgive them. 23 Which He set- 
teth forth by a parable of the King, that took account of his servants, 32 and 
punished him who showed no mercy to his fellow. 

1 At the same time came the Disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is 
the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven ? 

The " time" spoken of, will be discovered by a reference to the close of the fore- 
going chapter. It was the occasion of our Lord's return to Capernaum, after a 
prolonged absence with His Disciples. It was the Autumn of the third and last 
year of His Ministry, shortly before the Feast of Tabernacles. — When the honour 
which had recently befallen three of the Apostles, (I) and one of their number in 
particular, (m) is remembered, it will perhaps be less a matter of surprise that, 
about this time, " by the way, they had disputed among themselves who should be 
the greatest" (ri) in that Kingdom of which they had lately heard so much :"(o) and 
to an actual view of the glories of which, three of their number had been recently 
admitted. If, after the Resurrection, the Disciples could ask Him, saying, " Lord, 
wilt Thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel,"(j?) shall we wonder if they 
held wrong notions on the subject at the time spoken of in the text? 

It is worth observing that though they had been disputing among themselves 
which of the three was greatest, that is not the form which the inquiry they ad- 
dressed to our Lord assumed. He indeed asked them, " What was it that you dis- 

(d) See the note prefixed to St. Mark i. (e) See Genesis i. 26, 28. 

(/) Rom. i. 20. (g) St. Matthew xvi. 20. \h) See above, ver. 25, 26. 

(i) Isaiah liii. 3. (k) Ps. xxii. 6. 

(Z) St. Matth. xvii. 1. (m) St. Matth. xvi. 17 to 19 : xvii. 27. (n) St. Mark ix. 34. 

(o) St. Matt. xvi. 19, 28. (p) Acts i. 6. Consider St. Luke xxii. 29, 30. 



168 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

puted among yourselves Iby the way ?"(/) Conscience-stricken however, in the 
presence of One whom they knew to be so meek and lowly, they met His 
question by another. "Who" (they ask) "is the greatest in the Kingdom of 
Heaven?"; 

St. Mark says that, in reply to this question, — " He sat down, and called the 
Twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last 
of all, and servant of all :"(g) words which our Lord is found to have almost re- 
peated on two other occasions. (Ji) 

2 And Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him in the 
midst of them, 

The thrice-happy object of the Saviour's words on this occasion must have been 
more than an infant : since Christ is said to have " called Mm unto Him, and set 
Mm in the midst:" unlike that other occasion when He is merely related to have 
graciously taken the children " up in His arins. ;; -(Y) 

3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and 
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of 
Heaven. 

It requires but moderate acquaintance with little Children to perceive how lofty 
a model our Saviour Christ here sets before us. So truthful, guileless, and sim- 
ple ; so obedient and docile ; so trustful and believing ; so pure and loving ; so for- 
getful of injuries, and grateful for kindness, — would He have all His Disciples to 
be. And those who exhibit no resemblance to this picture, "shall not [even] enter 
into the Kingdom of Heaven ;" much less, occupy the place of the " greatest" in it. 

But it is clear from the context, that the special attribute of Children which our 
Saviour here recommends to the imitation of His Church, is their freedom from 
anything like Pride, and the desire of being preferred before others. Ambition is 
a passion which finds no place in their bosoms. Wherefore, little children are set 
before us evermore as patterns of Humility : and those who have allowed them- 
selves in aspiring hopes, and vain thoughts, and proud wishes, are directed by their 
Master, who "took upon Him the form of a servant,"(&) an d was "meek and 
lowly in heart "(l) to " become as little children," if they would enter into Bliss. 
They must convert, and turn themselves, — or rather, yielding to the influence of 
the Holy Spirit, must " be converted," and turned — from the temper which is so 
hateful in God's sight, if they would be highly esteemed in Christ's Everlasting 
Kingdom. As it follows : 

4, 5, Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, 
the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And whoso shall re- 
ceive one such little child in My Name receiveth Me. 

A few words will be found on this subject in the note on St. Mark ix. 37. 

6, 7 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in 
Me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his 
neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto 
the World because of offences ! for it must needs be that offences come ; 
but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh ! 

These two verses are also found connected, but in an inverted order, in a different 
part of St. Luke's Gospel. (m) With such solemn language does the Lord "make 
a hedge about"(?i) the lowly, the poor, the meek, the righteous, and the young ! 
He who " offends them," — that is, causes them to stumble or fall, — does it at his 
peril. Death by drowning were a far better portion than the bitter end which will 
be his.(o) 



f) See St. Mark ix. 33. (g) St. Mark ix. 35. (h) St. Matth. xx. 26, 27, and xxiii. 11. 

i) St, Mark x. 16. (k) Phil. ii. 7. (Zl St. Matt. xi. 29. 

m) St. Luke xvii. 1, 2. (n) Job i. 10. (o) See note on St. Mark ix. 42. 



XVIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 169 

It cannot fail, in this sinful world, but that "offences," (hinderances to Faith and 
Obedience,) should come. Woe to that man, however, by whom the hinderance 
cometh! 

8, 9 Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and 
cast them from thee : it is better for thee to enter into Life halt or 
maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into ever- 
lasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it 
from thee : it is better for thee to enter into Life with one eye, rather 
than having two eyes to be cast into Hell-fire. 

This is given even more solemnly in St. Mark's Gospel, where several remarks 
have been offered on the subject, — to which the Reader is referred. (p) 

10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones ; 

"Not one!" so minute is God's Providence. 

for I say unto you, that in Heaven their Angels do. always behold the 
Face of My Father which is in Heaven. 

Surely, the most wonderful revelation of any which our Saviour hath made to 
us concerning the dignity of Little Children! "Take heed that you offend them 
not; for their Angels," &c: as if implying that the danger of incurring the dis- 
pleasure of the Angels is, in itself, a terrible thing. 

" Their Angels/' can only mean that little children have Guardian- Angels, and 
are under the constant care of those glorious Beings whom God created upright: 
who have "kept their first estate," (q) and are ever in Heaven, where God is. 

But the words which follow prove that even more than this is implied. When it 
is said "their Angels do always behold the face of the FATHER," — it is clearly 
taught that the "little ones" of whom Christ speaks, are committed to the care of 
the highest order of the Angelic Host: to those who (like Gabriel) continually 
" stand in the presence of GoD,"(r) and gather glory from beholding the Light of 
His Countenance. The phrase seems to be taken from the Courts of Earthly Sove- 
reigns, where the Counsellors of highest rank were said "to behold the face of the 
King: ,; (s) and recalls our Lord's declaration to Nathanael concerning that free in- 
tercourse between Heaven and Earth which was about to be established : when 
Heaven should be open; and the Angels of God should freely "ascend and descend" 
between Earth and Heaven. (t) 

The question — Whether all have their Guardian Angel ? is, in part, answered by 
the text; for the guardianship of the just will not surely cease because the age of 
Childhood is past. The phrase "little ones," on our Lord's lips, denotes as many 
as have childlike hearts ; that is, the lowly, the guileless, and the pure, whatever 
their age may happen to be. And the Apostle's well-known exclamation concern- 
ing the office of the Holy Angels, — "Are they not all ministering Spirits, sent forth 
to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation V\u) must be allowed to estab- 
lish the same doctrine, beyond all controversy. But whether each individual has 
hip own several Guardian Spirit, — a Guardian Angel to himself, — as it is no where 
laid down in Scripture, and only once hinted at as a matter of Jewish belief, (a:) so 
can it only be maintained as a matter of pious opinion. Enough, surely, of a very 
surprising kind, has been revealed to us on this mysterious subject ;(?/) and the 
Apostle hath left us a solemn warning, in connection! with the Angelic order of 
beings, against "intruding into those things which we have not seen."(z) 

" He gives yet another reason, weightier than the foregoing, why the little ones 
are not to be despised:" (a) 

11 For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. 

(jo) See the notes on St. Mark ix. 43 to 48. 

(q) St. Jude, ver. 6. (r) St. Luke i. 19. 

(s) 1 Kings x. 8. 2 Kings xxv. 19: (See the margin.) Esther i. 14. 

ft) St. John i. 51. ( u ) Heb. i. 14. (x) Acts xii. 15. 

ly) See Ps. xxxiv. 7 : xci. 11. St. Luke xv. 7, 10,— where see note. 

(z) Col. ii. 18. (a) Chrysostom. 



170 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

As much as to say, See that ye despise not one of these accepted little ones ; for 
I have emptied Myself of My Glory, — "made Myself of no reputation, and taken 
upon Me the form of a Servant," (5) — in order to save a World, ruined and undone. 
The saying recurs in St. Luke xix. 20. And to this reasoning, He adds a parable, 
the intent of which is to show the Heavenly Shepherd's concern for the very least 
of His flock which has gone astray. 

12 How think ye ? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them 
be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into 
the mountains, 

Rather, " Doth he not leave the ninety and nine upon the mountains/ - ' (c) (for 
"the mountains" were grassy, and well adapted for the pasturing of sheep) "and 
goeth,"— 

13 and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he 
find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of 
the ninety and nine which went not astray. 

The Parable of The Lost Sheep was twice delivered by our Lord. St. Luke 
relates it in his 15th chapter ;(d) St. Matthew in this place. And it is observable 
that the same great point is brought out on both occasions, — namely, the excessive 
joy felt by the Good Shepherd on recovering the single sheep which He had lost: a 
subject which will be found sufficiently remarked upon in another place, (e) 

The points of difference are few, but interesting. Here, the Shepherd is seen 
tending His flock upon the Mountains: there, upon the Waste. There, the sheep 
was simply said to be lost: here, it is declared to have "gone astray;" and either 
statement is twice repeated. There, a successful pursuit was assumed; for the 
Shepherd found His sheep, — laid it on His shoulders, — came home, — and called His 
neighbours to rejoice with Him: here, a doubt as to the result is thrown out. We 
are told how the Shepherd will feel towards His sheep — "if so be that He find it." 

There seems moreover to have been a slight difference of intention on the part of 
the Blessed Speaker, on the two occasions when He delivered this Parable. Here, 
Christ's care for each individual little one, seems to be the point to which our 
attention is chiefly directed. 

14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven, that 
one of these little ones should perish. 

He has described the conduct of an earthly shepherd: "Even so," (he adds,) "is 
your Heavenly Father supremely careful for the safety of the least lamb of His 
flock." And this concludes the train of thought which began at verse 11 : for it is 
implied that men may well "take heed that they occasion not the fall of one of these 
little ones ;" to seek and to save whom, the Son of Man came into the World, — yea, 
for whom He died.(/) 

15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell 
him his fault between thee and him alone : if he shall hear thee, thou 
hast gained thy brother. 

" By which, it is made plain," (says one of the Fathers,) "that enmities are a loss 
to both sides: for Christ saith not 'Thy Brother hath saved himself;' but, — 'Thou 
hast gained thy Brother ;' which shows that both of you had suffered loss by your 
disagreement."^) "In saving another, Salvation is gained for ourselves also." 

A "Brother" in the Faith, is here intended; and it is clearly some heinous offence 
which our Lord alludes to, since He presently directs that it shalt be brought, (if 
need be,) before the authorities of the Church. 

16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two 

(6) Phil. ii. 7. (c) Compare the language of St. Luke xv. 4. 

f d) St. Luke xv. 3 to 7. (e) See the note on St. Luke xv. 7 

(/) So St. Paul argues: Rom. xiv. 15, and 1 Cor. viii. 11. (g) Chrysostom. 



XVIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 171 

more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may he 
established. 

Kather "the whole matter may be established." It was to be proved by the testi- 
mony of two or three witnesses, according to the provision of the Law: (h) and it is 
evident from what follows that these witnesses were to assist in bringing the offen- 
der to a sense of his duty. 

17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church : 

This is that rebuke " before all" of which St. Paul speaks in his First Epistle to 
Timothy.O") 

but if he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as an 
heathen man and a publican. 

By which words, our Lord is clearly giving rules for conduct among Christians. 
He alludes to wrongs sustained within Sis Church ; and speaks of that Church as 
armed with powers of her own, — powers which are accordingly found in full opera- 
tion in St. Paul's time l(k) 

The consequence of "neglect to hear the Church," (as this saying of our Lord 
clearly implies,) can be none other than exclusion from Church-membership ; being- 
cut off from the body of the faithful. Not that a man becomes thereby excluded 
from the Church's sympathy: but by becoming like "an heathen man," — (one of 
those for whose Repentance and Conversion the Church toils night and day,) — he 
loses every privilege to which Baptism entitled him. And let none suppose that 
Excommunication is a vain decree, — for, (the Lord of Heaven and Earth has 
spoken it,) — 

18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall 
be bound in Heaven : and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be 
loosed in Heaven. 

Whomsoever the Church regards as "a heathen man and a publican," she binds; 
but she looses him who, when reproved, neglects not to hear her admonition. . . . 
These memorable words will be recognized as having been addressed on a former 
occasion to Simon Peter.(Z) They contain "an allusion very intelligible to the 
Apostles, as it was a power already exercised by the Jewish synagogue ; and taken 
from them, and conferred by Christ Himself on His Church, which is to be 
to the end."(w) 

"There is a power within the Church," (observes Bishop Pearson,) "to cast those 
out who do belong to it ; for ' if any neglect to hear the Church,' saith our Saviour, 
'let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.' By great and scandalous 
offences we may incur the censure of the Church of God ; and while we are shut 
out by them, we stand excluded out of Heaven. For our Saviour said to His Apos- 
tles, upon whom He built His Church, 'Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are re- 
mitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained/" 

Not only will such sentences, passed by high and competent authority, be found 
to prevail with God ; but the requests of two or three believers gathered together 
in His name, shall be granted. As it follows, — 

19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on Earth 
as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of 
My Father which is in Heaven. 

But it concerns all Christian men rightly to understand so gracious a promise. 
Let it be observed therefore, (1st.) that, in order to prevailing Prayer, they who 
thus unite, must be righteous: for "we know that God heareth not sinners. "(w) 
Next, (2nd.) that the gifts demanded of God must be in themselves good: for God 

(h) Deut. xix 15. St. Paul has the same quotation: 2 Cor. xiii. 1. 

(0 1 Tim. v. 20. (7c) 1 Cor. v. 1 to 5, &c.j vi. 1 to 6. 1 Tim. i. 20, &c. 

(l) St. Matth. xvi. 19. (m) Williams. 

(») St. John ix. 31. Compare 1 St. John iii. 21, 22. 



172 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

is pledged only to " give good things to them that ask Him."(o) Then, (3rd.) that 
Prayer must be faithful, earnest, and persevering: for "men ought always to pray, 
and not to faint."(j9) Lastly, (4th.) that the end proposed must be just and holy: 
for St. James notes it as the special reason why men "ask and receive not," because 
they "ask amiss, that they may consume it upon their lusts."(g) 

20 For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there 
am I in the midst of them. 

Take notice that this promise is made to such only as meet in CHRIST'S Name: 
that is, to such as gather together in the manner which He has directed, and for a 
purpose which He will approve. These two verses are accordingly made the plea 
of Christ's Church, day by day, at the conclusion both of Morning and Evening 
Prayer.(r) 

The Divine Discourse having been thus concluded, St. Peter comes forward to ask 
a question, — seemingly with reference to what our Lord had said in verse 15 : for, in 
substance, what precedes might evidently be expressed in the language which is 
found on our Saviour's lips on a subsequent occasion: "If thy Brother trespass 
against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him." (s) 

21, 22 Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my 
Brother sin against me, and I forgive him ? till seven times ? Jesus 
saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until 
seventy times seven. 

St. Peter perhaps thought that he was proposing a truly Evangelical measure of 
Forgiveness ; but his Lord taught him that Forgiveness should know no bounds. 
For Christ does not here limit a number; but signifies something without limit.(^) 
"Be ye kind one to another," (says the Apostle,) "tender-hearted, forgiving one 
another, even as God for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you."(w) And it is observable 
that the self-same example of forgiveness which St. Paul thus proposes, is set be- 
fore us by our Saviour Christ in the Parable which follows. Its purpose is "to 
make clear that when God calls on man to forgive, He does not call on him to re- 
nounce a right ; but that man has in fact no right to exercise in the matter :" and 
it is difficult to imagine how this could have been more forcibly shown, than in the 
Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. 

23 Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened unto a certain King, 
which would take account of his servants. 

It is needless to point out who are represented by the " certain King," and by 
"the Servants" in this Parable. The "King of Kings "(x) "takes account" of us, 
as often as by illness or misfortune, by conscience, by His Scriptures, or in any 
other way, He brings our sins home to our remembrance ; alarms the soul, and 
awakens the sinner to a sense of his great danger. The Psalmist was thus dealt 
with, when he exclaimed, — "Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am 
not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart 
faileth me."(y) 

24 And when he had hegun to reckon, one was brought unto him, 
which owed him ten thousand talents. 

A very enormous sum; and which will seem to show that this person must have 
been one of the King's chief officers. There is no need of supposing that these 
were talents of gold: but ten thousand talents of silver even, would have been 
equivalent to about two millions of English money. It was perhaps the tribute 
due from many cities for several years, or the revenue of an entire Province, in 
respect of which he proved a defaulter. Though mention is made of "a servant," 

(o) St. Matt. vii. 11. (p) St. Luke xviii. 1. St. James i. 5, 6, 7. 

(q) St. James iv. 3. [r) See the Prayer of St. Chrysostom. 

is) St. Luke xvii. 3. Compare also the next verse. St. Matt, xviii. 22, with St. Luke xvii. 4. 
t) Compare Gen. iv. 24. (u) Ephes. iv. 32. Compare Col. iii. 13. 

x) Rev. xix. 16. \y) Ps. xl. 12. 



XVIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 173 

therefore, it is plain that the warning of the Parable is derived from the conduct of 
one who belonged to the highest rank of Society. 

" Since the Law is set forth in ten precepts," (says the great Father of the West,) 
"let us consider that the 'ten thousand talents ; which this man owed, denote all 
things which can be done under the Law." — Language derived from worldly obli- 
gation, and especially terms which are in strictness applicable only to debts of 
money, are constantly employed by our Saviour to illustrate the position in which 
we stand towards God. Consider the very language of the Lord's Prayer, as it is 
found set down in St. Matthew's Gospel : " Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our 
debtors." (z) And observe that we stand indebted to God for all His gifts "of na- 
ture, of grace, or of fortune. All opportunities of good in thought, word, and 
deed ; duties to ourselves, to our neighbours, and to God ; time, abilities, and 
spheres of influence ; education, examples, relationships ; these all are talents to 
be accounted fori" (a) The World is so well aware of this, that it has learned 
(from Scripture) to call a man's abilities, his talents. 

25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to 
be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment 
to be made. 

Neither Type nor Parable is always capable of being pressed in its minuter de- 
tails. Followed out beyond a certain point, the most obvious Type, the very plainest 
Parable, conducts us into the regions of Fancy; where wild conjecture must supply 
the place of rational criticism. In the present instance it may fairly be doubted if 
any allegorical meaning is to be sought for in this mention of the Servant's "wife 
and children ;" especially when it is remembered that the hardship which the man 
was about to incur, was the established penalty under the Jewish Law, of a Debtor 
who had not wherewith to pay. The Creditor, in such case, took his family as 
bondsmen. (b) The heavy penalty of Sin is therefore here indicated, — namely, to 
be "sold into the hands of the Enemy." (c) "Which of My creditors is it to whom 
I have sold you?" (asks the Lord by His Prophet:) "Behold, for your iniquities 
have ye sold yourselves."(d) 

26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, 
Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 

To fall down with the face to the earth, before a person high in authority, is in 
the East an usual act of homage, — or, as it is here termed, of "worship" ... In 
his terror, the servant promises to "pay all," if he may but have his sentence re- 
mitted: but the defaulter in such a sum cannot pay all. "He must let that alone 
for ever."(e) 

27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and 
loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 

The command that he should be sold, therefore, ("and his wife, and children, 
and all that he had,") " issued not of cruelty, but of unspeakable tenderness. For 
by these terrors, his lord sought to bring him to plead that he might not be sold,"(/) 
which actually happened, and with the blessed result which has been just now 
laid before us. Nay : the largeness of the creditor's Love is the thing which here 
most strikes us. The servant asked only for a short respite, and engaged to pay 
the whole of the debt in the end. But his lord grants him more than he even 
dared to ask: for he freely cancels the entire obligation, and forgives him all. 

" The severity of God only endures till the Sinner is brought to recognize his 
guilt. It is indeed only Love in disguise. Having done its work, having brought 
Man to the acknowledgment of his guilt and misery, it re-appears as grace again ; 
granting more than had either been asked or hoped ; loosing the bands of sin, and 
letting the prisoner go free." 

And yet "he did not remit the debt till he had 'taken account:' because he de- 
sired that the other might be made aware how great a debt he was forgiven ; and 
might thereby become the more merciful towards his fellow- servants." 

(z) St. Matt. vi. 12. (a) Rev. I. Williams. 

lb) Levit. xxv. 39, 41: compare 2 Kings iv. 1. (c) Consider Judges ii. 14: iii. 8: iv. 2: x. 7. 

[d) Isaiah 1. 1. Consider Ps. xliv. 12. \e) Ps. xlix. 8. (/) Chrysostom. 



174 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-ser- 
vants, which owed him an hundred pence : and he laid hands on him, 
and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 

There had been no such peremptory language used towards himself, by his lord, 
in the first instance: much less had he sustained any such savage treatment. This 
stern demand, it was reserved for him to make of his fellow-servant, on going out 
from the presence of his lord! 

Observe, that by " fellow-servant" is here meant one who, like himself, was a 
servant in respect of the "King" mentioned in verse 23. "An hundred pence" 
are to "ten thousand talents" (speaking roughly) as one to a million: and this sets 
forth, as far as numbers reasonably may, the disproportion between the trespasses 
committed against us by our fellow-men, and which we are called upon to forgive ; 
and those which Almighty God hath "frankly forgiven" us, "forasmuch as we 
had not to pay." There is, in truth, scarcely any relation between the respective 
amounts. It is as a drop of water in comparison of the boundless ocean. 

29 And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, 
saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 

The plea was the self-same which he had lately urged so successfully himself. But 
neither the recollection of his lord's kindness, nor his own recent misery, nor the 
sight of one poor as himself in trouble, — made any impression on that hard heart. 
"He does not even respect the very words which had saved himself: for it follows," — 

30 And he would not : but went and cast him into prison, till he 
should pay the debt. 

He not only failed to forgive him, but he would not even "h&Ye patience." " 'He 
went ' the way of Cain, from natural piety, and brotherly affection, — went and cast 
him into prison." (g) 

31 So when their fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very 
sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 

Kather, "declared fully" to their lord. 

"Wrath" against Sin is the proper attribute of God. (h) "Sorrow" is for men. 
The " fellow-servants "(i) tell their Lord all that is done, — "crying day and night 
unto him."(&) 

32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, 

" Called him," (as it has been remarked with obvious truth,) " by the sentence 
of Death, and bade him pass out of this "World." The Lord, at the Judgment 
day, will say unto such an one, — 

thou wicked servant, 

Observe, that the lord did not chide his servant for owing him ten thousand tal- 
ents. He neither called him "wicked," nor even reproached him: but simply was 
about to suffer him to incur the known penalty of the Law, — which is " holy ; and 
the Commandment holy, and just, and good."(Z) It is his cruel treatment of his 
fellow-servant which draws forth the language of reproach : " thou wicked ser- 
vant," — 

1 forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me : shouldest not 
thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had 
pity on thee ? 

" Thou wert forgiven : shouldest thou not at least have had compassion?" '(m) 
" Observe that the guilt laid to his charge is not that needing mercy, he refused to 
show it ; but that having received mercy, he remains unmerciful." (n) 

(g) Rev. I. Williams. (ty See below, the note on ver. 34. 

i) Rev. vi. 11. (k) St. Luke xviii. 7. 

I) Rom. vii. 12. (m) See above, the note on ver. 30. (rc) Trench. 



XVIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 175 

We are directed to say daily, " Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them 
that trespass against us." But this parable reminds us of the obligation under 
■which we lie, so to " forgive them that trespass against us ;" namely, because we 
have already been forgiven. 

Take notice, that no answer of the unmerciful Servant is recorded. He seems 
to have been " speechless.'^ ) By which, says an ancient Writer, "it is shown 
that in the Day of Judgment, all excusing of ourselves will be impossible." We 
shall be, and we shall knoiv ourselves to be, without excusebefore God. 

And so, " because kindness had not mended him, it remains that he be corrected 
by punishment. As it follows," — 

84 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till 
he should pay all that was due unto him. 

Not merely " delivered him," but " was angry" — which was not said before. As 
a debtor, he incurred a penalty: but as one who "had no pity,"(jp) he deserved a 
heavy punishment: for, it is written, "He shall have judgment without mercy 
that hath showed no mercy."(2) And "when God takes vengeance on Sinners, 
then He is said to be " wroth." 

"The tormentors" must be those evil Spirits who inhabit the "place of tor- 
ment,"^) " the Devil and his angels,"(s) as it is elsewhere said. The term is bor- 
rowed from a usage in respect of debt, to which our Law is an utter stranger. — 
And for how long was the condemned Servant delivered over to that accursed bond- 
age ? " Till he should pay all that was clue." But could this ever be ? Never, cer- 
tainly; for "there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the 
grave."(X) The Sinner on whom God denounces that awful sentence, — "Verily I 
say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the ut- 
termost farthing, "(ij) — must be condemned to everlasting torment. In this place, 
therefore, "till" has the well-known meaning, already explained, (x) and which it 
has in so many parts of Scripture, (y) It does not indicate the time when punish- 
ment will cease: but the time up to which punishment will continue. 

"God says, 'Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.' (z) /first forgave you; there- 
fore do ye ' Forgive.' But if you forgive not, I will call you back and require 
again the whole sum which before I had forgiven." So far an ancient Father :(«) 
in allusion to the obvious, and very remarkable circumstance, that the Servant was 
not imprisoned, after all, for his cruelty ; but for the very debt which, in the first 
instance he had been forgiven. This certainly opens a difficult question, in respect 
of the forgiveness of sins. The true way to meet it seems to be to point out that 
though the gifts of God are without repentance,(6) yet that when Man, by heinous 
Sin, breaks his Baptismal Covenant, and cuts himself off from Communion with 
Christ, he thereby cancels the deed which assured him of Pardon ; falls back into 
a state of Nature : and thus incurs the penalty of the old sins which were actually 
forgiven him. In this case, it is not God who revokes His gift ; but Man who re- 
fuses to accept it. 

35 So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye 
from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. 

Our Divine Master will have no pretended reconciliation. The forgiveness which 
He requires must he from the heart; or He will not allow it to be any forgiveness 
at all. — How surprising are the many injunctions we meet with in the Gospel con- 
cerning Forgiveness of Injuries ! It would seem that an unforgiving temper must 
be one of the greatest snares to which our fallen nature is exposed. The same ob- 
servation has been already forced upon us ; namely, when we were taking a review 
of our Blessed Lord's Teaching, as contained in the Sermon on the Mount.(c) 

St. Matthew xxii. 12. (p) 2 Samuel xii. 6. (q) St. James ii. 13. 

» St. Luke xvi. 28. («) St, Matth. xxv. 41. (<) Eccl. ix.10. 

u) St. Matth. v. 26. (x) See the note on St, Matth. i. 25. 

Uj) See besides St. Matth. v. 26: xxviii. 20. Ezra iv. 5, &c. 

z) St. Luke vi. 37. (a) Augustine. (b) Rom. xi. 29. 

[c) See the note on St. Matt. vii. 27, p. 69. 



176 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



2 Christ healeth the sick. 3 Answereth the Pharisees concerning divorcement. 10 
Showeth when Marriage is necessary. 13 Receiveili little Children. 16 Instructeth 
the Young Man how to attain Eternal Life. 20 And how to he perfect. 23 Telleth 
His Disciples how hard it is for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of God. 
27 And promiseth reward to those that forsake any thing to follow Him. 

1, 2 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these say- 
ings, He departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea 
beyond Jordan ; 

And thus our Lord in the course of His Ministry will be found to have traversed 
every part of the Holy Land, and for a time to have made His abode in each great 
division of the Country. Often in Galilee, and once as far as Tyre and Sidon, we 
have lately seen Him on the Eastern side of the Jordan also, as far northward as 
the ancient Dan. He traversed Samaria, and abode at Sychar.(a) In Judaea, and 
at Jerusalem, (at Bethany also,) He is often heard of: here, He is found in "the 
coasts of Judaea," whither He had proceeded "by the farther side of Jordan."(6) 
That is, He had come through Perasa, and was now in that part of Judaea which 
lay on the Eastern side of the river. 

and great multitudes followed Him ; and He healed them there. 

"And, as He was wont," (adds St. Mark,) "He taught them again : v (c) for He 

was the Physician of souls, — by His Works confirming His Words It seems 

to be well known where He was : for it follows, — 

3 The Pharisees also came unto Him, tempting Him, and saying 
unto Him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his Wife for every cause ? 

These were doubtless envoys from Jerusalem, sent by the Sanhedrin, (the chief 
Council of the nation,) with the accursed object of molesting the Holy One. Their 
present inquiry seems to have been intended to betray Him into some statement 
which might be thought contrary either to the laws of Chastity, or to the Law of 
Moses. But it can scarce be doubted that it was so contrived as to make the Di- 
vine Teacher obnoxious to a powerful section of their body; for it concerned a 
question which is known to have been much disputed in the Jewish Schools, and 
which had divided them into parties. Some of the Kabbis taught that on any pre- 
text, however frivolous, wicked, or absurd, Divorce was allowable, — provided only 
it were effected in due form. 

4 And He answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that 
He which made them at the beginning made them Male and Female ; 

Our Lord refers to what is written in Genesis i. 27, and v. 2. A learned Father 
remarks upon it, that by this text alone, our Lord convinced them of their error : 
" for He said not ' male and females? (which was what was sought by the putting 
away of the first;) but, ' male and female,' implying one tie in wedlock."(d) 

5 and said, For this cause shall a man leave Father and Mother, 
and shall cleave to his Wife : and they twain shall be one flesh ? 

(a) St. John iv. 5 and 43. [b) St. Mark x. 1. (c) St. Mark x. 1. (d) Jerome. 



XIX.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 177 

These words therefore are to he regarded as the utterance of God ; though, as 
they stand in the Book of Genesis, (e) they seem to have been actually spoken by 
Adaw.(f) Doubtless, (as St. Polycarp is thought to have remarked,) our first 
Father spake prophetically, — the Spirit of God moving him to deliver words the 
full import of which would not be seen for four thousand years. — Our Saviour here 
republishes the Law of Nature ; and sets God's earlier decree, against the permis- 
sion which was afterwards given in consequence of the hardness of men's hearts. 
Concerning the form of the expression, the Reader is referred to the note on St. 
Mark x. 7. 

" When He had thus brought forward the words and facts of the old Law, He 
then interprets with authority, and lays down a Law, saying," — 

6 wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore 
God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 

" He brings in God yet again ; showing that it is both against Nature and God's 
Law to put away a wife : against Nature, — because ' one flesh' is therein divided : 
against Law, — because God hath joined and forbidden to sunder them."(</) 

7 They say unto Him, Why did Moses then command to give a writ- 
ing of divorcement, and to put her away ? 

Referring to the precept found in Deuteronomy xxiv. 1, 2. — Our Lord explains 
that this was only in consequence of "that stubborn disposition which made them 
incapable of obeying a purer and more perfect law." 

8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts 
suffered you to put away your Wives : but from the beginning it was 
not so. 

Such was the excuse made by Christ, in His unspeakable Wisdom, for His an- 
cient Servant. "By this, He clears Moses from their charge, and retorts it all upon 
their own head." To protect a despised Wife from the cruelty of an unfaithful 
Husband, Moses had "suffered" (not "commanded") that she should be "put 
away:" "but from the beginning, it was not so." 

9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his Wife, except 
it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery : 

Whereby He not only repeals the permission given by Moses, but delivers a new 
Law with the authority of a Lawgiver: "I say unto you," — as in the Sermon on 
the Mount.(/i) The circumstance was remarkable ; and accordingly obtains special 
notice from the Apostle, when he is treating of such matters. (?) — "It is fornication 
alone which destroys the relationship of the AYife ; for when she has divided one 
flesh into two, and has separated herself by fornication from her Husband, she is 
not to be retained." (ft) 

and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. 

" He says this to the terror of him that would take her to wife ; for the Adulter- 
ess would have no fear of disgrace." Doubtless this entire sentence concerning 
Divorce was peculiarly unpalatable to the unholy men who came "tempting Him." 
Consider St. Luke xvi. 14 and 18. 

10 His Disciples say unto Him, If the case of the Man be so with 
his Wife, it is not good to marry. 

A very strange rejoinder, surely ! Had then the Jewish heart become so de- 
praved and hardened that the thought of Marriage without the privilege of Divorce, 
was intolerable ! Truly, the Disciples herein showed that they partook of the gen- 
eral blindness which had befallen their nation. 

( e) Gen. ii. 23, 24. (/) Consider Acts xxviii. 25. Heb. i. 8 : iv. 4, &c. 

{g) Chrysostom. (h) See St. Matthew vii. 29, and the note there. 

(i) See 1 Cor. vii. 10, 11. ( k) Jerome. 

12 



178 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

11 But He said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save 
they to whom it is given. 

That is, — To remain unmarried, is a precept which cannot be acted upon by all^ 
" but only by those to whom the power of abstaining from marriage is given." 
"Everyman," (says the Apostle,) "hath his proper gift of God, — one after this 
manner, and another after that." (I) 

Our Lord proceeds to mention three different ways by which men might have the 
power before alluded to, — namely, by nature ; or by violence ; or by choice. 

12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their moth- 
er's womb : and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of 
men : and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for 
the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. 

That is, "Which have denied themselves the liberty of marriage, in order to be 
enabled thereby to denote themselves more entirely to the service of Gov."(m) — 
Then, with reference to "the saying" spoken of in verse 11, our Saviour adds, — 

He that is able to reeeive it, let him receive it. 

" The meaning is, Whosoever hath the power, however given him, of living with- 
out marriage, let him use that power if it seem good to him. These are words of 
permission, not of command."(n) According to the heading of the chapter, — our 
Lord " showeth when Marriage is necessary." 

The narrative proceeds with what seems like a beautiful continuation of the same 
subject. 

13 Then were there brought unto Him little Children, that He 
should put His Hands on them, and pray : and the Disciples rebuked 
them. 

The desire that our Lord would "put His Hands on them, and pray," (that is, 
that He would bless them,) (o) may have arisen out of his commendation of little 
Children recorded in the former chapter.(jp) 

14, 15 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to 
come unto Me : for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. And He laid 
His Hands on them, and departed thence. 

The Header is referred to the notes on St. Mark x. 13 to 16, for several remarks 
on this incident. — Christ had now " gone forth into the way."(<Z) 

16 And, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what 
good thing shall I do, that 1 may have Eternal Life ? 

St. Mark says he " came running" But he addressed our Lord as if He were 
a mere man. Christ therefore answers him as if He were indeed no more. 

17 And He said unto him, Why callest thou Me good ? there is none 
good but one, that is, God : but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
Commandments. 

That is, " If thou desirest to enter into Life." 

18 He saith unto Him, Which ? 

The young Ruler evidently supposed that our Saviour spoke of some great and 
strange thing, when He bade him " keep the Commandments." And so, indeed, 
He did ; though the other had not the eyes to see it. 

(1)1 Cor. vii. 7. See also what follows. 

\m) Archdeacon Hale and Bp. Lonsdale, — referring to 1 Cor. vii. 32 to 35. 
(n) See 1 Cor. vii. 7. — The quotation is from the source last referred to. 
(o) Consider St. Mark x. 16. — This was done with Imposition of Hands. See Gen. xlviii. 
13, 14, 17, 18. (p) See St. Matthew xviii. 2 to 5. (?) St. Mark x. 17. 



XIX.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 179 

19 Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adul- 
tery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour 
thy Father and thy Mother : and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
thyself. 

Our Lord alluded to nothing new. He reminds him of the sixth, seventh, eighth, 
ninth, and fifth ; omitting only the tenth. "And if there be any other Command- 
ment," (writes the Apostle,) "it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, 
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (r) 

But why did our Lord omit the tenth Commandment ? Was it not because Covet- 
ousness was the one thing which was keeping this young Ruler from Christ ; and 
which virtually prevented him from obeying the invitation in verse 21 ? 

20, 21 The young man saith unto Him, All these things have I kept 
from my youth up : what lack I yet ? Jesus said unto him, 

How kindly the words which follow were spoken, may be inferred from St. 
Mark's statement that Jesus " beholding him, loved him."(s) It is to be supposed 
from this very circumstance that there was much of good in this young man ; but 
the reply we have just heard from his lips recalls painfully the remonstrance of the 
elder son in the parable, — " Neither transgressed I at any time Thy Command- 
ments."^) He even adds, "What lack I yet?" and "knows not that he is 
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."(w) . . . "Jesus" 
therefore said unto him, — 

If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the 
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven : and come and follow Me. 

But how was this to make him " perfect?" " Perhaps it may be that such an 
effort of Faith, capable of overcoming the great besetting sin, would carry him 
through all lesser temptations. Add to which, that our Lord's words must be 
taken in connection. ' Give to the poor/ He says ; and ' Follow Me/ This is 
surely Evangelical Perfection. The first is the love of Man ; the second is the love 
of God with all the heart. And in this, is the true and spiritual fulfillment of all 
the Commandments." 

Nor must it be forgotten that " when Christ calls it 'perfection' to sell all and give 
to the poor, He speaks according to the idiom of the Jewish nation, which thought 
it so : and He does but try whether this rich man, boasting of his exact perform- 
ance of the Law, would aspire to that ' perfection' which his countrymen so 
praised."(x) 

22 But when the Young Man heard that saying, he went away sor- 
rowful : for he had great possessions. 

Our Lord had laid His finger on the one weak point in this young man's charac- 
ter. He was loving and chaste, honest and true, dutiful also to parents ; yet had 
he made an idol of his great Wealth. He was a servant of Mammon, and there- 
fore could not serve God.(?/) How does the great Apostle seem to write of such as 
he, where he says, — " The love of money is the root of all evil : which while some 
coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with 
many sorrows, (z) On all that precedes, see also the notes on St. Mark x. 17 to 22. 

23 Then said Jesus unto His Disciples, Verily I say unto you, That 
a Rich Man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

It follows in St. Mark's Gospel, — " And the Disciples were astonished at His 
words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it 
for them that trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God !"(a) It is nearly 
one and the same thing therefore, to have riches, and to trust in them. Which 

(r) Romans xiii. 10,— quoting Levit. xix. 18. (s) St. Mark x. 21: where see the note. 

It) St. Luke xv. 29. («) Rev. iii. 17. (») Lightfoot. 

[y) St. Matth. vi. 24; and the notes on St. Mark x. 24. 
(») 1 Tim. vi. 10. (a) St. Mark x. 24. 



180 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

startling assertion, so far from revoking, or even softening down, our Lord delivers 
" again," and in yet stronger language : — 

24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through 
the eye of a needle, than for a Rich Man to enter into the Kingdom 
of God. 

This is a strong proverbial expression, denoting something which is impossible. 
Consider below, verse 26. " Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way," in the 
case of all : but to the rich man it becomes so straitened, so narrowed, as to be- 
come like the eye of a needle. He also moves slowly, (like the camel,) for he car- 
ries an unwieldy burthen. 

25, 26 When His Disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, 
saying, Who then can be saved ? But Jesus beheld them, and said 
unto them, With men this is impossible ; but with God all things are 
possible. 

Our Lord looked earnestly upon his Apostles as He said this ; and if Judas did 
not feel the power of His look, it must have been because he turned away his eyes 
to avoid it. 

Their question showed how deeply they had entered into the meaning of their 
Lord's words. They understood that the " rich" of whom He spake were not 
merely the rich in possessions, but the rich in desires, the lovers of riches, — whether 
they had them, or had them not. Thus then, out of a deeply painful sense of the 
difficulty of being really poor, they asked with amazement, " Who then can be 
saved V'{b) 

On all that precedes, see the notes on St. Mark x. 17 to 27 ; and on St. Luke 
xviii. 27. 

27 Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Behold, we have for- 
saken all, and followed Thee ; what shall we have therefore ? 

Simon, seeing the young Ruler depart, " very sorrowful : for he was very rich, ;, (e) 
asked this question, — surely not one which the maturer Saint would have approved ! 
Yet, note the gracious answer : 

28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which 
have followed Me, in the Regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit 
in the Throne of His Glory, ye also shall sit upon Twelve Thrones, 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 

He says not " Ye twelve;" but "Ye which have followed Me," {ft) — thereby ex- 
cluding Judas. The " sitting upon thrones" denotes that the Apostles should reign 
with Christ, and share His glory : and it is promised that they should "judge the 
twelve tribes of Israel," because they, the twelve heads of the spiritual Israel, 
would, by their Faith in Messiah, condemn the unbelief of the nation which had 
formally rejected Him. 

All this is to be " in the Regeneration :" that is, at the end of the World, — when 
" the Heavens, being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with 
fervent heat ; ,; " the Earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned 
up ;"(e) and God will create " new Heavens and a new Earth."(/) 

Nay, we ourselves, at the sound of the Archangel's trump, shall be raised incor- 
ruptible, and be changed. It will be the Regeneration therefore ; the birth-pangs of 
Nature will have been felt, (g) and forgotten : (h) "old things will have passed 
away ; behold all things will have become new" (i) 

Into so awful a subject as Judgment to come, it is safest not to pry curiously. 
We know nothing more than hath been revealed, nor can know. The magnificent 

(b) Augustine, referred to by Trench. (c) St. Luke xviii. 23. 

Id) And see St. Luke xxii. 28. (e) 2 St. Peter iii. 10, 12, 13. 

(/) Compare Isaiah lxv. 17 : lxvi. 22. Key. xxi. 1, 27. 

(g) St. Matth. xxi v. 8, (where see the note) : Rom. viii. 22. 

(k) St. John xvi. 21 (i) 2 Cor. v. 17. 



XIX.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 181 



outlines traced in such passages as the present by the Hand of Christ Himself 
(" the Judge of all") (k) may well content us. It shall suffice further to remind 
ourselves of that exclamation, — "Know ye not that we shall judge Angels ?"(Z) 
to point out that it proceeded from one who, though not numbered with the Twelve, 
was not behind the very chiefest Apostles ;"(m) and to suggest, with the greatest 
of the Fathers, that " in the number of Judges, therefore, are included as many as 
have left their all to follow Christ." (n) 

29 And every one that hath forsaken Houses, or Brethren, or Sis- 
ters, or Father, or Mother, or "Wife, or Children, or Lands, for My 
Name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit Ever- 
lasting Life. 

See on St. Mark x. 30, and on St. Luke xviii. 30. 

30 But many that are first shall be last ; and the last shall be first. 

Our Blessed Lord may be considered to have used this saying three times ; 
namely, in St. Luke xiii. 30, — here(o) — and in the 16th verse of the ensuing chap- 
ter. For though, at first sight, these two latter instances might be considered to 
reckon as only one, — occurring as they do, the one at the beginning, the other at 
the end, of the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, — yet, on closer examina- 
tion, it will be perhaps found that they are by no means to be certainly so regarded. 
On either occasion, the proverb seems to have a distinct meaning ; and we are re- 
minded here, (as so often elsewhere,) that our Lord's words are like those precious 
stones which possess the singular property of presenting a different colour accord- 
ing to the different position in which they are displayed. The saying in question, 
which is very nearly repeated in chap. xx. 16, must doubtless be viewed on either 
occasion by the light of the sayings which go before it ; and these are, (at least 
they seem to be,) very different. 

When the proverb occurs in the next chapter, it seems to mean that the last hired 
shall fare like the first, and the first hired like the last.(^>) But in this place it 
seems unmistakably to have a somewhat different application. It sounds like a 
note of solemn warning. The proverb here, seems, in fact, to fulfill the same office 
which it fulfills in St. Luke xiii. 30 : namely, to convey a caution, {much needed, 
no doubt, by us all,) against supposing that the estimation in which men are now 
held will of course prevail hereafter. Was Judas Iscariot the only one who from 
being "first" became " last?" or was Lazarus (in the parable) the only one who, 
from being last, became first? — It seems scarcely a bold suggestion that, after St. 
Peter's inquiry, — "What shall we," (that is, we Twelve Apostles,) "have there- 
fore?"^) and the promise about the twelve thrones, which follows, — our Lord 
should have added this word of warning with a special eye to the Traitor Judas, — 
being " one of the Twelve."(r) 

The saying in question therefore, may perhaps be thus paraphrased : — 

But beware how ye, who were the first to be hired into My Vineyard, presume 
thereupon ; as if entitled to a higher reward, from having endured a greater share 
of heat and fatigue. As many as I shall call, to the end of the World, are destined 
to enter into one and the same state of Bliss. Nay, beware how ye build your 
hopes of future Happiness, at all, on your present privileges ; and let as many as 
shall come after you, beware also. My promises are wholly conditional. When I 
come in the Evening of the World to reckon with My Servants, many of those who 
were first called, and occupied the first place in this Life, will find themselves 
thrust down into the lowest room ; while those who were called latest, and regarded 
as least, will be exalted to the highest honors. (s) 

- Then follows a Parable, which seems to have special reference to the time when 
men are sent into the Lord's Vineyard. See the note on verse 16 of the ensuing 
chapter. 

(*) Heb. xii. 23. (I) 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. (m) 2 Cor. xi. 5. 

in) Augustine. (o] Parallel to St. Mark x. 31. 

{p) See the note on St. Matt. xx. 16. (q) St.Matt. xix. 27. 

{>•) St. Matthew xxvi. 47. St. Mark xi. 10, &c. See above the note on ver. 26: also on St. 
Matthew xxii. 12. (s) See the note on the last part of St. Luke xviii. 14. 



182 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER XX, 



1 Christ, by the similitude of the Labourers in the Vineyard, showeth that God is 
debtor unto no man. 17 Fortelleth His Passion. 20 By answering the Mother of 
Zebedee's Children, teacheth His Disciples to be lowly: 30 and givethtwo blind men 
their sight. 

The parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, with which this chapter begins, 
seems at first sight one of the easiest of the parables ; yet, on examination, it proves 
to be one of the hardest, if not the very hardest of all. The truth is, that while the 
narrative is of the simplest kind, its application is by no means obvious ; even with 
the help which our Blessed Lord has Himself supplied in the short proverbial sen- 
tence with which it concludes. 

Nearly the same saying goes immediately before the parable, if it was not actu- 
ally meant to preface and introduce it; and the circumstance is far too remarkable 
to be overlooked. It is "as if it were intended that, by the Moral of it being thus 
given twice, at its beginning and again at its end, all who read or hear it should be 
sure of seeing and understanding the lesson which Christ meant that it should 
teach."(a) By the light of that saying, then ("a lamp shining in a dark place," (6) 
as St. Peter speaks,) let us study the parable. The words alluded to, and which 
conclude St. Matthew's 19th chapter, are these: "Many that are first shall be last; 
and the last shall be first." 

For the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Man that is an house- 
holder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into His 
Vineyard. 

Who the Householder was, who, "as soon as it was day," went out to hire 
labourers into His Vineyard, scarcely requires telling. But the remark so often 
brought before us, is again recalled, — that God loves under the image of an Hus- 
bandman to speak of Himself in His dealings with mankind.(c) The "Vineyard" is 
the Church, — as our Lord Himself hath shown by more than one parable. (d) His 
Disciples were familiar with this image from the writings of their ancient 
Prophets, (e) 

2 And when He had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, 
He sent them into His Vineyard. 

The Roman Denarius is spoken of, being in value about eightpence of our money. 
" Everlasting Life" (f) doubtless intended thereby, — the common reward of all 
who have wrought in the Vineyard ; of all, that is, who have served God faithfully 
in their generation. 

3 And He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing 
idle in the market-place. 

That is, the place of general concourse and public resort. As contrasted with 
the Vineyard, which represents the Church, the Market-place must stand for the 
World. 

(a) Rev. W. Jacobson, D. D. (b) 2 St. Peter i. 19. 

(c) See the note on St. Luke iii. 17. (d) See St. Matth. xxi. 33 to 43. 

(e) Is. v. 1 to 7. Jer. xii. 10. Ps. lxxx. 8 to 15. 

(/) St. Matth. xix. 29 : St. Mark x. 30: St. Luke xviii. 30. 



XX.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 183 

4, 5 And said unto them ; Go ye also into the Vineyard, and what- 
soever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again He 
went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 

He entered into covenant with those whom He hired at six in the morning. The 
labourers whom He hired at 9, at 12, and at 3, left Him to decide what their reward 
should be; and verily they found, at evening, that they had been serving a most 
bounteous Master. — It wanted only one hour to sunset when He went forth for the 
last time: — 

6, 7 And about the eleventh hour He went out, and found others 
standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle ? 
They say unto Him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto 
them, Go ye also into the Vineyard : and whatsoever is right, that shall 
ye receive. 

From this part of the Transaction, the " eleventh hour" has passed into the ordi- 
nary language of mankind! It seems to have been generally assumed that the 
parable is of individual application; and that the close of a man's life, is the 
"eleventh hour" of which Christ speaks. 

But since the Parable teaches that they who were hired at the eleventh hour re- 
ceived exactly the same reward as those who sustained the whole burden and heat 
of the day, — the further belief has arisen that provided a man does but bestir him- 
self, at however late a period of his life, he will prove equally blessed in the end, 
with the most faithful of God's servants. — It may seem scarcely worth while to 
advert gravely to a notion like this, — vaguely held, at best, and maintained seriously 
by none but the very weak or the very wicked: yet it is to be feared that such 
notions are more widely spread, have taken deeper root, and are wont to influence 
conduct more fatally than is generally believed. 

Let it be pointed out therefore, that whatever truth there may be in the proposed 
application of the Parable, the condition of bestowing the penny at the close of the 
day, must never be lost sight of. The excuse of those who were found standing 
idle at the eleventh hour, was, that No man had hired them. They were doing 
nothing, only because they had nothing to do. Let none therefore who begin to 
labour at the eleventh hour, presume to look for the reward of the labourers in the 
Parable, unless they are able to offer their excuse also. And how can that excuse 
find a place on the lips of any living in a Christian land? .... But to return: — 

8 So when even was come, the Lord of the Vineyard saith unto His 
Steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from 
the last unto the first. 

"Last" and "first:" — those words evidently supply the key-note of the entire dis- 
course. So in verses 10, 12, and 14. — Christ is "the Steward" set over God's 
Household. 

The labourers are paid at evening, according to the law that "the wages of him 
that is hired should not abide" with his employer "all night until the morning."(#) 
And judgment will come in like manner, at the end of the World. 

9, 10 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, 
they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they sup- 
posed that they should have received more ; and they likewise received 
every man a penny. 

The first hired seem to have approached the Steward with thoughts like those of 
Simon Peter in ver. 27 of the preceding chapter, — "Behold, ice have done such and 
such things: what shall ive have therefore?" But there the resemblance ceases. 
"The labourers received every man a penny." 

11, 12 And when they had received it, they murmured against the 

(g) Levit. xix. 13. Compare Deut. xxiv. 15, and Job. vii. 2. 



184 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

goodman of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, 
and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden 
and heat of the day. 

The very terms of their complaint reveal their unworthiness. They are dis- 
pleased at finding "these last" "made equal" unto themselves: they magnify their 
toil: they even "murmur against the Goodman of the House." Their conduct 
recalls the behaviour of the elder son in the parable of "the Prodigal." Indeed 
the two parables present some striking points of resemblance. What follows is not 
unlike the Father's reply to the elder Son's remonstrance : — 

13, 14, 15 But He answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do 
thee no wrong : didst not thou agree with Me for a penny ? Take that 
thine is, and go thy way : I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 
Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with mine own ? Is thine eye 
evil, because I am good? 

That is, Dost thou look upon me with a jealous and an evil eye, because I am 
bountiful to others, and just to thyself? — Whereby, as the heading of this chapter 
states, — "Christ showeth that God is debtor unto no man." 

The parable having thus been brought to a close, the Divine Speaker is graciously 
pleased to subjoin a sentence which declares the drift of His mysterious teaching: 
on which, see St. Matthew xix. 30. 

16 So the last shall be first, and the first last : for many be called, 
but few chosen. 

And yet, when the parable is considered, no such inference as this readily 
presents itself. "The first" and "the last" have not exchanged places, — as the 
proverb seems to imply, and it is probably actually intended to imply on the other 
two occasions when our Lord employs it. Still less have any that were "called" 
not been "chosen;" for all have been rewarded, and all have been rewarded alike. 
We are compelled therefore to add a few words in order to remind ourselves of what 
seems actually to have been His precious meaning: namely, — that, in respect of 
Everlasting Life, the last shall be [rewarded like the] first, and the first [like the] 
last. Or, yet more briefly, that "The last shall be [as the] first, and the first [as 
the] last." For, — (according to that saying, "Many be called, but few chosen,") — 
the result shall falsify the expectation. Many who deem themselves favored with a 
special call, will find in the end that they are not chosen to the exalted privilege 
which they promised themselves. 

Out of this, however, arise many hard questions. We are tempted to inquire, 
Did our Lord then deliver the parable simply to teach that? What bearing can 
such a lesson be supposed to have on the Discourse which preceded? Above all, 
Is it then really so, that the same reward will be to all alike? Will Abraham and 
Moses, will St. John and St. Peter, drink no fuller cup than he who was assured of 
pardon on the cross, (at "the eleventh hour," as we say,) or any other accepted 
sinner mentioned in the Gospel? It is said elsewhere that "one star differeth from 
another star in glory." (h) 

Further difficulties also present themselves. Is the parable of national, or 
of individual application? What is meant by the several hours of the day? And 
how does it happen that all the labourers are rewarded? 

Satisfactorily to solve so many difficulties is evidently a hopeless task : but most 
of them admit of a sufficient answer. The Parable must be taken in connection 
with the four concluding verses of the former chapter ; and, (as already explained 
in the note on St. Matthew xix. 30,) it seems to have been designed, in the first 
instance, to repress any proud thoughts which the promise of "twelve thrones" 
might have excited in the Apostles : showing that the last hired shall be as the first ; 
and the first as the last. The reward is one. 

But a reward, though one and the same in itself, is not therefore one and the same 
to those who receive it. Meat and drink are a great gift to the hungry and thirsty: 
to those who neither hunger nor thirst, meat and drink afford small gratification. 

{h) 1 Cor. xv. 41. 



XX.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 185 



"Truly the Light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the 
Sun :"(?') but only if they be in a healthy state. The Light is torture to an eye 
diseased. Every pleasure, in short, is greater or less according to a man's capacity 
for enjoying it: and "if the vision of God constitute the blessedness of Heaven, 
then, they whose spiritual eye is most enlightened will drink in most of His Glory/' 
In the meantime, "what the Lord said to Abraham, He says to all — 'I am thy 
exceeding great reward;' and He has no other reward to impart to any save this, 
namely Himself. ""(k) 

Concerning the application of the Parable, it seems safer to suppose that it may 
have at once a national and an individual bearing. Viewed in the former aspect, 
the Jews will be "the first;" those, namely, with whom a covenant was made, who 
were hired " early in the morning," and sent into the Vineyard : [I) and the dispo- 
sition shown in verses 11 and 12, (where see the note,) well accords with what we 
know of the temper of that remarkable people, (m) The Parable would therefore 
set forth the same general lesson which is conveyed by the preference so often given 
to the younger son over the elder.(w) The ultimate acceptance of the Gentiles, and 
their admission to equal privileges with Israel, is here prophetically shown. 

Considered as of personal and private application, it may be thought that the 
divisions of the Day alluded to, are periods of Human Life: in which case, 
Timothy, — who "from a child knew the Holy Scriptures, ,; (o) and had been nursed 
in the Faith of the Gospel, (p)— would be an example of one hired early; while the 
Repentant Malefactor is the best example which presents itself of one hired "at the 
eleventh hour/' And the blessed assurance will then be conveyed that a converted 
and baptized Heathen, however advanced in years, if he does but faithfully perform 
His Master's work while yet it is day, cherishes a well grounded hope of entering 
hereafter into perfect Bliss. Remember however what was said above, on verse 7. 

But a more obvious individual bearing of the Parable is suggested by the con- 
text. The object seems to have been rather to discourage presumptuous hopes in 
the Apostles. They had been hired early; but they were not therefore to presume. 
The same everlasting portion awaited all who should ever be hired into the Vine- 
yard of their Lord, even to the end of the World. And this, if we may humbly 
offer an opinion, seems to be the true scope and intention of the Parable. 

Lastly, — as for all the Labourers obtaining a reward, — it really need not create 
perplexity. The present Parable evidently differs from those which contrast the 
end of the wicked and of the righteous. Labourers entitled to reward are supposed 
throughout. We must beware of inventing difficulties; or even going out of our 
way to discover them, when they are foreign to the main scope of our Lord's Dis- 
course. Thus, the murmuring of those hired early, is a feature of the narrative 
which probably ought not to be pressed. It cannot be thought to exhibit a feeling 
which finds place in Heaven. Rather is it a lively way of expressing the anticipa- 
tions of living men with respect to the Life to come. And finally, since so little is 
said about those who were hired at the third, the sixth, and the ninth hour, neither 
surely need we make much of them either. Our attention is specially invited only 
to "the first" hired and "the last;" and a short sentence both at the beginning and 
the end of the Parable, conveys a warning respecting these, which, as it concerned 
the Apostles, so doubtless will it concern the Church of Christ to keep steadily in 
view, to the end of Time. 

17 And Jesus going tip to Jerusalem. 

For the last time during His earthly Ministry, — 

18, 19 took the Twelve Disciples apart in the way, and said unto 
them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem ; and the Son of Man shall be be- 
trayed unto the Chief Priests and unto the Scribes, and they shall con- 
demn Him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and 
to scourge, and to crucify Kim : and the third day He shall rise again. 

The "spiteful entreatment," — the very "spitting on," — is mentioned in the other 
Gospels. (a) See on this subject the note on St. Mark x. 34. 

( i) Eecl. si. 7. (k) Trench on the Parables. 

[l) Consider St. Matth. xxi. 28 to 31, &c. \m) Consider Acts xxii. 21, 22, &c. 

In) See the note on St. Luke xv. 32. (o) 2 Tim. iii. 15. 

{p) 2 Tim. i. 5. (q) See St. Mark x. 34, and St. Luke xviii. 32. 



186 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

20 Then came to Him the Mother of Zebedee's children with her 
Son's, worshipping Him, and desiring a certain thing of Him. 

Our Lord's recent allusion to the Thrones which the Twelve were destined here- 
after to occupy(r) propably led to this remarkable incident ; which shows with what 
ambitious thoughts His followers were filled at this time. (s) Salome,(f) — whose 
husband Zebedee was probably now dead, (since she is called " the Mother of the 
sons of Zebedee/') — brought her two sons James and John to Christ. 

21 And He said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto Him, 
Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy Right Hand, 
and the other on the Left, in Thy Kingdom. 

Her sons urged the same petition; whence our Lord addresses His reply to them: 

22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are 
ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized 
with the Baptism that I am baptized with? 

Implying that the place of highest honour is reserved for those who have been 
"made conformable to His Death." (it) Hence St. Paul declares it to be "a faith- 
ful saying," — "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him."(a;) '"The Cup' and 
'the Baptism' are said with reference to the Two Sacraments by which we are, 
through His Passion, made one with Christ."(?/) 

They say unto him, We are able. 

"When the Mother stood with her sons beholding Christ on the Cross, she better 
understood what it would be to be on His Right Hand, and on His Left, in His 
Kingdom," — says a pious writer. 

23 And He saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of My Cup, and 
be baptized with the Baptism that I am baptized with : but to sit on My 
Bight Hand, and on My Left, is not Minejto give, but it shall be given 
to them for whom it is prepared of My Father. 

Rather — " Not Mine to give, save [to them] for whom it is prepared." . . . But 
what a wonderful statement is that which goes before ; namely, that St. John and 
St. James were to drink indeed of Christ's Cup of Suffering, and to share His Bap- 
tism of Blood! It might have been expected from this, that a bloody martyrdom 
awaited both Brothers; yet are their histories, on the contrary, remarkably con- 
trasted. St. James fell at once by the sword, (z) — the first of the Apostolic Body to 
suffer, or indeed, to die. St. John survived all the Apostles, and died a natural 
death, (it is thought,) in extreme old age. This declaration of our Saviour proves 
therefore, (as St. Polycarp is thought to have remarked long since,) that the 
Martyr's crown may be earned by those who have been Martyrs in will though not 
in deed: by those who have suffered long, and silently; who have distributed the 
bitterness of their Master's cup over years of banishment, persecution, and distress; 
and whom He has caused to share His Baptism of Blood, by methods known only 
to Himself — and them. 

24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation 
against the two Brethren. 

"For the ambition of one creates envy in others who partake of the same feeling." 

25, 26 But Jesus called them unto Him, and said, Ye know that the 
princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are 
great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you : 

(r) See St. Matth. xix. 28. («) Consider St. Matth. xix. 27. St. Mark ix. 33, 34. 

(t) Compare St. Matth. xxvii. 56, and St. Mark xv. 40. (u) Phil. iii. 10. 

(x) 2 Tina. ii. 12. (y) Williams. (z) Acts xii. 2. 



XX.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 187 

"That is, not content to rule over their subjects, they are severe and oppressive. 
But among you, who are mine, these things shall not so be."(a) 

27, 28 but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minis- 
ter ; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant : 
even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minis- 
ter, and to give His life a ransom for many. 

"Men become masters in this world, that they may reduce their inferiors to sla- 
very, and emply them for their own profit and glory. But men become governors 
in the Church, that they may serve those who are under them; minister to them 
whatever they have received of Christ; and not refuse even to die for their 
sake," (6) if need so require. 

The Reader will find the saying in verses 26, 27, repeated in chap, xxiii. 11. The 
sentiment has already been met with in St. Mark ix. 35, — where see the note. 
"How much soever you humble yourself," (says Chrysostom,) "you cannot descend 
so far as did your Lord." 

29, 30 And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude fol- 
lowed Him. And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when 
they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, 
Lord, Thou Son of David. 

St. Mark mentions only one of them, — whose name was Bartimseus,(c) and who 
was doubtless the more conspicuous of the two. Somewhat remarkable it may be 
thought that, on a previons occasion also, two blind men followed our Saviour with 
the same cry, and were healed in the same manner as now, — namely, by a touch. (d) 
We make their petition our own, as often as we repeat the suffrages at the end of 
the Litany.(e) 

31 And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their 
peace : but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, Lord, 
Thou Son of David. 

Such are the hinderances which will be sometimes thrown in the way of those 
who desire to come to Christ. See on St. Luke xviii. 39, 40. 

32, 33 And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will 
ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes 
may be opened. 

"Jesus, therefore, (the same who said 'To him that knocketh it shall be opened/) 
stands still, touches them, and gives them sight." As it follows, 

34 So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes : and 
immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him. 

"They followed Him;" perhaps all the way to Jerusalem, — and there availed 
themselves of their recovered powers to behold the most wondrous spectacle which 
ever Men or Angels looked upon. 

Concerning this miracle, the Header may think it worth while to refer to what 
has been offered in the places referred to at the foot of the page.(/) 

(a) Origen. (b) Pseudo Chrysostom. (c) St. Mark x. 46. 

- (d) St. Matth. ix. 27. 29. (e) The Reader is referred to the note on St. Matth. ix. 27. 

(/) On St. Mark x. 46 to 52, and St. Luke xviii. 35 to 43. 



188 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



1 Christ rideth into Jerusalem upon an ass. 12 Driveth the buyers and sellers out of 
the Temple. 17 Curseth the Fig-tree. 23 Putteth to silence the Priests and Elders. 28 
And rebuketh them by the similitude of the two Sons. 35 And the Husbandmen, who 
slew such as were sent unto them. 

Our Lord, having journeyed along the wild mountain road(a) which conducts 
from Jericho to Jerusalem,— followed by a large multitude of persons, among whom 
was "blind Bartim£eus/ ; whom He had so lately restored to sight, — at last reaches 
the district, east of Jerusalem, to which the name of Bethphage and Bethany was 
assigned. The Mount of Olives begins at that place. Accordingly, it is said, — 

1, 2 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to 
Bethphage, unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two Disciples, 
saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway 
ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with J^er : loose them, and bring 
them unto Me. 

Everything begins to teem with mysterious import. Not without a reason, be 
sure, does St. Matthew, (addressing his Gospel especially to the Jews, lay stress 
upon the Ass, as well as her Colt, which our Saviour now required. He was about 
to enter His Capital; and He saw fit to do so, "meek, and sitting upon an ass, and 
a colt the foal of an ass ; v (b) the former, representing the Jewish Nation, which had 
long borne a yoke: the latter, the Gentiles, — wild as yet and unbroken, "whereon 
never man sat."(c) "For the Jewish nation is spiritually the Mother of the 
Gentiles." (d) 

The sending of the Apostles is, in itself, a significant circumstance. Christ 
called the Gentiles by the ministration of His servants, — who brought them to Him. 
He proceeds, in this place, to give the two Disciples their commission. 

3 And if any man say aught unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath 
need of them ; and straightway he will send them. 

Not " Our Lord," or " Your Lord/' but " The Lord :" — He who is supreme Over 
all Creation, to whom all things belong, and whom all things serve; He "hath need 
of them." 

4, 5 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken 
by the Prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King 
cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of 
an ass. 

The Prophet here quoted is Zechariah — ix. 9 ; but the first six words are from 
Isaiah lxii. 11. In Zechariah, the passage begins, "Kejoice greatly, Daughter 
of Sion; shout, Daughter of Jerusalem:" which jubilant words cannot have been 
changed for others by the Spirit, without a profound reason, — whether imparted 
to the Evangelist or not. 

It has been beautifully remarked, (e) that " as our Lord is now coming as King, 

i) See the note prefixed to St. Mark xi. (b) See below, ver. 5. 

?) St. Mark xi. 2, and St. Luke xix. 30. (d) Jerome. (e) By Williams. 



XXI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 189 

and to claim His Kingdom, tliat one of His attributes is selected from Prophecy, to 
which alone of the Beatitudes the promise of an earthly inheritance is attached: 
" Thy King cometh unto thee, meek.'" His subjects are they to whom He has said, 
"Learn of Me, for I am meek:"(f) and these shall reign with Him; for it is writ- 
ten, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth/ "(g) 

Here then was an act which, while it fulfilled prophecy, was in itself prophetical. 
Chrysostom observes, "It is not merely on account of the mystery,^ however, 
"that our Lord rode on the ass; but in order to afford us a lesson of Humility." 

6, 7 And the Disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 
and brought the ass, and the colt, 

The ass and her colt came together. It was on the colt, (not on the ass,) that 
Christ rode, (for it was the Gentiles who were now about to submit to the easy 
yoke and light burden of Christ ;) but the disciples brought both the ass and her 
colt; as botJi ships were needed at the second miraculous draught of fishes. (h) 

8 and put on them their clothes, and they set Him thereon. And a 
very great multitude spread their garments in the way ; others cut down 
branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way. 

Some remarks on these verses will be found in the notes on St. Mark xi. 7 and 
8. The people are found to receive Christ coming to the Feast of the Passover, 
with a solemnity which belonged to the Feast of Tabernacles. 

9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, 
saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he that cometh in the 
name of the Lord ; Hosanna in the highest. 

It is St, Matthew who alone mentions that the people shouted "Hosanna" (that 
is, "Save now") "to the Son of David;" as he is the Evangelist who specially 
records our Lord's descent from that Monarch. In the fulness of their rapture, they 
poured forth a sentence from the 118th Psalm, verses 25 and 26. All the latter 
part of that Psalm, in fact, seems descriptive of our Lord's coming. See what is 
written on this subject in the notes on St. Mark. 

"Hosanna in the highest" is explained by the language of the 148th Psalm: — 
" Praise Him in the heights: praise ye Him, all His Angels: praise ye Him, all 
His hosts." With which may be compared the language of the Angelic. Hymn, — 
" Glory to God in the highest "(i) Indeed, St. Luke says that the multitude, on this 
very occasion, cried (as the Angels did on the Night of the Nativity,) " Glory in 
the highest." (k) 

10 And when He was come into Jerusalem, all the City was moved, 
saying, Who is this ? 

"Who is this King of Glory?" is also the cry of wonder when He enters the 
Heavenly Jerusalem. So remarks an ancient Father, (?) alluding to the language 
of one of the Psalms used on Ascension-Day."(w) 

11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth 
of Galilee. 

So effectually did the prophecy that He should "be called a Nazarene" find ful- 
fillment. It has been already pointed out that the name of His Mother's City 
followed Him from the cradle to the grave. (n) 

12 And Jesus went into the Temple of God, and cast out all 
them that sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the tables of 
the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 

"Among all the miracles wrought by our Lord," (says an ancient Father,) "this 



(/) St. Matth. xi. 29. (g) St. Matth. v. 5. (fc) St. Luke v. 7. 

(i) St. Luke ii. 14. (k) St. Luke xix. 38. {I) Origen. 

(to) Psalm xxiv. 8, 10. (n) See the note on St. John i. 45. 



190 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

seems to me the most wonderful ; that one man, so humble in His worldly estate, 
and while the Scribes and Pharisees were exasperated against Him by seeing their 
gains thus cut off, was able to cast out such a multitude. Surely a flame darted 
from His eyes, and the majesty of the GoDhead was radiant in His countenance !"(o) 

It will be remembered, that this was the second cleansing of the Temple 

effected by our Lord. The first, marked the beginning of His Ministry : (p) the 
present occasion marks its close. By the recurrence of so striking and significant 
a transaction we are reminded that, (like "the dream which was doubled unto Pha- 
raoh twice,' ; ) "the thing was established by GOD"(q) Besides its mystical import, 
elsewhere noticed, (r) the act was symbolic of one purpose of Christ's coming; 
namely, to purge away iniquity from His Church and people. He came " suddenly 
to His Temple/'' as had been foretold ; and by the alarm He inspired, set forth in 
type the terrors of that Second Advent to which the Church directs the eyes of her 
children, and concerning which the prophet had written, — " But who may abide 
the Day of His Coming ? and who shall stand when He appeareth?"^) . . . The 
Reader will find more on this great subject in the note on St. John iii. 15, to which 
he is referred. 

St. Mark adds here, that Christ " would not suffer that any man should carry 
any vessel through the Temple :"(t) 

13 and said unto them, It is written, My House shall be called the 
House of Prayer ; but ye have made it a den of thieves. 

Concerning these quotations from the ancient prophets, (u) the Reader is referred 
to the notes on St. Mark xi. 16. 

14 And the Blind and the Lame came to Him in the Temple ; and 
He healed them. 

Most significant, truly, is this exquisite record. These were indeed the days of 
Messiah, of which it had been written — " Then the eyes of the Blind shall be 
opened: then shall the Lame man leap as an hart."(x) The eyes were opened "in 
the Temple," (that is, in the Church,) "to see the way;" (y) and there, also, were 
the feet made strong that they might walk therein. " Open Thou mine eyes, that 
I may see the wondrous things of Thy Law. ;, (z) " Show me Thy ways, Lord ; 
teach me Thy paths :"(a) " cause me to know the way wherein I should walk. ,; (6) 
" I will run the way of Thy Commandments when Thou hast set my heart at lib- 
erty ."(c) . . . By such symbolic language did the Law anticipate the Gospel: and 
by such symbolic acts does the Gospel interpret the Law ! 

Consider how many acts of Divine Power are hinted at, not described, in this 
short verse. 

15, 16 And when the Chief Priests and Scribes saw the wonderful 
things that He did, and the Children crying in the Temple, and say- 
ing, Hosanna to the Son of David ; they were sore displeased, and 
said unto Him, Hearest Thou what these say ? 

These Children, who had perhaps caught up the sound of the acclamations they 
had already heard, (d) "were regardless of the frown of the Pharisees: for their 
simplicity of heart gave them a courage which many weak believers, more ad- 
vanced in age, had not; and inspired them to do what others would not have 
dared." Thus were little Children at first, His martyrs ;(e) next, the pattern which 
He set before His Church ;(f) and now, at last, they are heard singing His praises 
in the Temple. " His own Priests are silent, or only break silence to blaspheme 
His Name ; but little children cry ' Hosanna to the Son of David !' Over His own 

o) Jerome, — who seems to be recollecting what he had read in Origen. 

p) See St. John ii. 14, 15; and the notes there. (q) Genesis xli. 32. 

r) See the note on St. Mark xi. 16. (s) Malachi iii. 2. 

t) St. Mark xi. 16. (u) Isaiah lvi. 7, and Jeremiah vii. 11. 

x) Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6. \y\ Acts ix. 2 (see the margin) : xix. 9, 23, &c. 

a) Ps. cxix. 18. (a) Ps. xxv. 4. (6) Ps. cxliii. 8. 

c) Ps. cxix. 32. \d) See above, verse 9. (<?) St. Matth. ii. 16. 

/ ) First in St. Matth. xviii. 1 to 4. Next in St. Mark x. 13 to 16. 



XXI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 191 

people He weeps, but with these babes He rejoices. Even the women, He bids to 
'lament for themselves ;' but He encourages the little Children to rejoice." (g) 

And Jesus saith unto them, Yea ; have ye never read, Out of the 
mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise ? 

"I suppose," (says an ancient Writer,) "that they who praised, knew not what 
they praised; but the Spirit, who suddenly inspired them, poured forth the words 
of Truth." This seems indeed to have been the case. Consider St. Matthew xi. 
25. The quotation is from Psalm viii. 2 ; by adducing which, our Lord seems to 
say, " Be it so. It is it My fault that these cry thus. But is it my fault that, a 
thousand years ago, the Prophet foretold that so it should be V'(7i) Take notice that 
in directing the attention of His enemies to that beautiful Psalm, the Holy One 
referred them to one of the most glorious declarations in Prophecy, of His own 
entire dominion over all created beings in Heaven and Earth, (i) 

17 And He left them, and went out of the city into Bethany ; and 
He lodged there. 

" Seeking, surely, to rest His Body where His Spirit also found repose. For so 
it is with all holy men : they love to be, not where sumptuous banquets are, but 
where Holiness abounds."(&) 

To retire to Bethany seems to have been the practice of our Divine Lord on every 
Evening during the Holy Week.(7) The blessed Company may have withdrawn 
first, to the garden of Gethsemane,(m) which lay at the foot of the Mount of Olives: 
and thence proceeded to the village of Bethany, which lay, at the distance of about 
half an hour, on the other side of the Mount, (n) 

An ancient writer says, — " It is to be understood that our Lord was in so great 
poverty, and so far from having courted any one, that He had found in all Jerusa- 
lem neither entertainer nor abode ; but He made His home at Bethany, in the 
house of Lazarus and his sisters."(o) 

18, 19 Now in the morning as He returned into the City, He hun- 
gered. And when He saw a Fig tree in the way, He came to it, and 
found nothing thereon, but leaves only; and He said unto it, Let no 
fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the Fig tree 
withered away. 

The Evangelist is relating an incident which had happened on the previous morn- 
ing, — Monday. What follows, belongs to the History of Tuesday. 

Concerning the highly symbolic character of this Transaction, no doubt can be 
entertained. It has been elsewhere shown to relate to the fortunes of the Jewish 
nation ; with whom Christ found leaves only, — the tokens of fruit, which yet was 
wholly wanting, — and whose Day of Grace had now hopelessly passed away. The 
Reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark xi. 12 to 14, for some remarks on this 
subject. 

20 And when the Disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon 
is the Fig tree withered away ! 

This exclamation, then, the Apostles uttered on the next morning, when they 
beheld the fulfillment of the sentence pronounced the day before on the Fig tree. 
Or rather, it is a question. They ask inquiringly, — " How is it that the Fig tree 
has immediately withered away?" 

. The Reader who is struck with the strangeness of the turn which the present 
transaction takes in the ensuing verses, is referred to a remark on the subject, in 
the note on St. Mark xi. 23. 

21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Yerily I say unto you, If 

(g) Williams. (7t) Pseudo Chrysostom. (i) Consider Hebrews ii. 6 to 8. 

(k) Pseudo Chrysostom. (I) St. Matth. xxi. 17; St. Mark xi. 11, Ac. 

(m) St. John xviii. 2. Compare St. Luke xxi. 37, and xxii. 39. 
(n) St. John xi. 18. (o) Jerome. 



192 A PLAIN COMMENTAEY [CHAP. 

ye have faith., and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to 
the Fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou re- 
moved, and be thou cast into the sea ; it shall be done. 

22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye 
shall receive. 

This must "be a weighty saying, for we have already met with it in St. Matthew's 
Gospel ;(p) and, (with a slight difference,) in St. Luke's also.(^) When our Lord 
said " this Mountain," He may "be supposed to have pointed to the Mount of Olives, 
along the side of which He was proceeding. It has been remarked that, from these 
verses, "we learn that Prayer, as well as Faith, was necessary even for the Apos- 
tles, in order to the full exercise of their miraculous powers. Consider St. Matthew 
xvii. 19 to 21."(r) 

23, 24, 25 And when He was come into the Temple, and the Chief 
Priests and the Elders of the people came unto Him as He was teach- 
ing, and said, By what authority doest Thou these things ? and who 
gave Thee this authority? And Jesus answered and said unto them, 
I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell Me, I in likewise will tell 
you by what authority I do these things. The Baptism of John, whence 
was it ? from heaven, or of men ? 

Some remarks on what precedes will be found in the notes on St. Mark xi. 28 
and 30. 

26, 27 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, 
From Heaven ; He will say unto us, Why did ye not believe him ; but 
if we shall say, Of men ; we fear the people : for all hold John as a 
prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And 
He said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. 

Take notice that they could tell, but would not. Our Lord puts His answer into 
the shape which theirs would have assumed, had they spoken the Truth. 

He proceeds to deliver three parables in succession, — the first and third of which 
are peculiar to the present Gospel. The two last are highly prophetical ; but all 
three contain a solemn warning. It will be observed that the first is closed with a 
short question, to which it was impossible for the enemies of Christ to return 
the answer, "We cannot tell." 

28 But what think ye ? A certain Man had two Sons ; and he came 
to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my Vineyard. 

"We are evidently hearing of the same Father whose sons' conduct forms the sub- 
ject of the parable related in St. Luke xv.(.s) His "Vineyard" we have also heard 
of before, — as in the preceding chapter, (f) and in St. Luke xiii. 6 : and it receives 
conspicuous mention lower down, in verse 33. It is here explained to mean "the 
Kingdom of Heaven,"(n) as that Kingdom begins here on Earth. 

"To 'work in the Vineyard' is to do Righteousness. To cultivate the whole 
thereof, no man is sufficient." (cc) 

29, 30 He answered and said, I will not : but afterward he repented, 
and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he 
answered and said, I go, Sir: and went not. 

Observe the contrast between the very style of their answers. " I will not," — is 
not only undutiful but rude: "I go, Sir," — sounds not only dutiful, but even very 
respectful. 

( j>) St. Matth. xvii. 20. (q) St. Luke xvii. 6. (r) Archd. Hale and Bp. Lonsdale, 

(s) See St. Luke xv. 11. (t) St. Matth. xx. 1. (u) See below, verse 31. 

(x) Jerome. 



XXI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 193 

31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father ? They say 
unto Him, The first. 

It is reasonable to suppose that the present parable is fairly capable of a national 
and prophetic application. The Gentiles had refused at first to work in the Lord's 
Vineyard : but already they had repented, and were prepared to go. God's chosen 
people made abundant professions, (y) but did no ivork. This however is certainly 
not the immediate purpose and tendency of our Saviour's words. 

These " two Sons" stand for two different classes among the Jews. " The Pub- 
licans and harlots" (z) represent "the first" Son: the Pharisees were specimens of 
" the second." The Publicans and harlots by their wicked, dissolute lives, in reply 
to God's invitation that they would serve Him, had plainly said that they "would 
not." The. Pharisees, by their fair professions, and lip-service,(a) had as plainly 
declared their readiness to work. They were men, however, who " said, and did 
not." (b) Wherefore, as it follows, — 

32 Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans 
and the harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you. For John 
came unto you in the way of Righteousness, and ye believed him not: 
but the publicans and the harlots believed him : and ye, when ye had 
seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him. 

Thus then, our Lord Himself in part explains His own parable : at least, He 
here informs us whom He intended by the " Two Sons." But, (as usual,) His ap- 
plication of His own words is strange and unexpected. The Baptist's summons, 
the Pharisees obeyed not : but the Publicans and harlots did obey it. Thus the 
Divine Speaker reverses the characters He has been hitherto portraying : and in- 
stead of reproaching his assailants with their wickedness in saying " We go, Sir," 
and yet failing to go, — He bids them mark the contrast which their characters and 
conduct had respectively presented. The Publicans and harlots, when the Baptist 
invited them to walk in the way of Righteousness, had said " We go, Sir," — and 
iliey had actually gone. But the Pharisees, who, (like " the first" son in the Para- 
ble,) had said " We will not," failed to imitate that son in Jiis repentance likewise. 
Nay, though they "had seen" the obedience of the others, they "repented not 
afterward /" 

33 Hear another parable : There was a certain Householder, which 
planted a Vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine- 
press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went 
into a far country : 

The owner of a Vineyard was careful to encircle his property with " a hedge," 
(which probably denotes a stone wall ;) the object being not so much to prevent 
" those that pass by the way" from " plucking," as to protect the fruit from the in- 
cursions of foxes, (c) and of wild boars. (d) The " wine-press" was placed above 
the " wine-fat,"(e) — which consisted of a pit dug in the earth and lined with ma- 
sonry, or hewn out of the solid rock. The " Tower" was for protection. He who 
dwelt there was expected to keep watch over the Vineyard. 

Concerning the mystical interpretation of the present parable, the Reader is re- 
ferred to the notes on St. Mark xii. 1 to 8. God of course is the Husbandman, and 
His Church is the Vineyard, " and the men of Judah His pleasant plant." 

34, 35 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his ser- 
vants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And 
the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, 
and stoned another. 

[y) Consider Exodus xxiv. 3 and 7. (z) See below, verse 32. 

(a) See Isaiah xxix. 13. (6) St. Matthew xxiii. 3. 

(c) Song of Solomon ii. 15- (d) Psalm Ixxx. 13. 
(e) St. Mark xii. 1. 

13 



194 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

They beat one, — as Jeremiah ;(/) and stoned another, — as Zechariah the son of 
Jehoiada. (<7) 

36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first ; and they did 
unto them likewise. 

Very apposite is the language of the Old Testament itself to the transactions here 
related in the way of parable. " I sent unto you" (says the Great Householder), 
" all My Servants the Prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh do not 
this abominable thing that I hate."(7i) " Nevertheless," (exclaims a righteous mem- 
ber of the same nation,) " they were disobedient and rebelled against Thee, and 
cast Thy Law behind their backs, and slew Thy Prophets which testified against 
them to turn them to Thee: and they wrought great provocations."^') 

37 But last of all he sent unto them his Son, saying, They will 
reverence my Son. 

This is said, not with reference to God's Foreknowledge, but to Man's Free-will. 
God declares hereby what ought to be. Men ought to have reverenced His Son. 

38, 39, 40, 41, 42 But when the husbandmen saw the Son, they said 
among themselves, This is the Heir ; come, let us kill him, and let us 
seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of 
the Vineyard, and slew Mm. When the Lord therefore of the Vineyard 
cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen ? They say unto him, 
He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his Vine- 
yard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their 
seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, 
The Stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of 
the corner : this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes ? 

He asks them whether they had never read the Prophecy concerning Messiah 
in Psalm cxviii. — where He is spoken of as a Stone, which was rejected indeed by 
the Builders, (even as the Heir of the Vineyard was rejected by the Husbandmen,) 
but which became " the Head of the corner." By His further reference to Isaiah, 
(in verse 44,) He teaches them that utter destruction will prove the consequence of 
their wicked conduct. See more in the note on St. Mark xii. 11. 

43 Therefore say I unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken 
from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 

" In their Seasons," — as those miserable men, uttering a terrible prophecy against 
themselves, had truly spoken.(fc) Namely, at Advent, Watchfulness and Prayer ; 
at Epiphany, Faith : Humiliation and Repentance during Lent : Newness of Life 
at Easter : and all " the Fruit of the Spirit" (Z) at Whitsuntide. 

44 And whosoever shall fall on this Stone shall be broken : but on 
whomsoever It shall fall, It will grind him to powder. 

That is, — He shall experience sore injury to whomsoever the Doctrine of Christ 
crucified proves "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence." To reject Him, is 
to be broken. But the man on whom Christ, after years of long-suffering patience, 
shall execute judgment, will be utterly destroyed thereby; will become "like the 
chaff of the summer threshing-floors."(m) 

Our Lord's allusion in the first words of verse 44, to what is written in Isaiah 
viii. 15, is unmistakable.(w) The latter part of the sentence recalls an ancient 

(/) Jer. xx. 1 to 6, Ac. (g) 2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 21. (h) Jer. xliv. 4. 

\i) Neh. ix. 26, — quoted by Trench. See also Dan. ix. 6, 10, &c. 

(k) See above, ver. 41. (0 Gal. v. 22, 23. (m) Dan. ii. 35. 

(n) A remarkable portion of prophecy, truly ; for, from Is. viii. 12 to 18, there are no less 
than five places quoted or referred to in distinct places of the New Testament, viz. 1 St. Peter 
iii. 14, 15: Rom. ix. 33 and 1 St. Peter ii. 8: Heb. ii. 13, (two quotations): and the present 
place. 



XXII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 195 

Greek proverb : — " The mill-stones of Heaven grind the corn slowly ; "but they grind 
it to very powder." 

45, 46 And when the Chief Priests and Pharisees had heard His 
parables, they perceived that He spake of them. But when they sought 
to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitude, because they took Him 
for a Prophet. 

Accordingly, " they left Him and went their way :"(o) but in what a temper and 
disposition of mind, the subsequent History best shows. _ They thirsted for His 
blood ; and gladly accepted the offer of Judas to betray Him into their hands " in 
the absence of the multitude ."(p) 



THE PBAYER. 

From all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion ; from all false 
doctrine, heresy, and schism ; from hardness of heart, and contempt of 
Thy Word and Commandment, Good Lord, deliver us. 



CHAPTER XXII 



1 The Parable of the Marriage of the King's Son. 9 The vocation of the Gentiles. 
12 The punishment of him that wanted the wedding garment. 15 Tribute ouglit 
to be paid to Caesar. 23 Christ confuteth the Sadducees for the Resurrection. 
34 Answereth the Lawyer, ivhich is the first and great commandment. 41 And 
poseth the Pharisees about the Messias. 

The Parable of "the Marriage of the King's Son," with which the present chap- 
ter commences, and which is peculiar to St. Matthew's Gospel, bears considerable 
resemblance to the parable of " the Great Supper," which is related by St. Luke. (a) 
The parables are however wholly distinct. The key-note to what follows is sup- 
plied by verse 43 of the former chapter. 

1, 2, 3 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, 
and said, The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain King, which 
made a marriage for His Son ; and sent forth His servants to call them 
that were bidden to the wedding : and they would not come. 

It is quite evident that God is the " King" here spoken of. The " Marriage 
which He made for His Son," can be none other than that espousal of the Church 
to Christ(6) which is discoursed of from the beginning of Genesis(c) to the end of 
Revelation ;{d) and of which Marriage itself is but a type or symbol. (e) The Pro- 

(o) St. Mark xii. 12. (p) St. Luke xxii. 6. 

(a) St. Luke xiv. 16 to 24. (6) See the note on St. John ii. 1. 

(e^ Gen. ii. 24, compared with 1 Cor. vi. 16, and Eph. v. 31. (d) Rev. xxii. 17. 

(e) As the Church twice asserts in her Marriage Service. 



196 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

phets, generally, will be the servants " sent forth to call them that were bidden" 
(that is, the Jewish nation,) "to the wedding." Take notice, that they are sent 
" to call them that were called:" the very form of the expression implying that the 
invitation had been made, all along, to the Jews : that they, from the beginning, 
had been " called to be saints.'^/) 

4 Again, He sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are 
bidden, Behold, I have prepared My Dinner : My oxen and My fat- 
lings are killed, and all things are ready : come unto the Marriage. 

The terms in which the invitation is conveyed remind us that a splendid Festival 
is spoken of; and one which lasted many days. This must be borne in mind, or 
the parable will be scarcely intelligible. Such festivals anciently attended great 
marriages ; and the figure has this special fitness, that convivial notions were mixed 
up in the minds of the Jews with the coming of Messiah's Kingdom. (g) Our Lord 
Himself will be found to have employed a kindred image when discoursing on the 
same subject. (Ji) 

When the Apostles were sent forth, and commanded to "preach, saying, The 
Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,"(?) — what did they say in effect but, " I have pre- 
pared My Dinner ; all things are ready : come unto the Marriage V They, in fact, 
(and those sent by them,) are the "other servants" here spoken of; for Christ had 
come into the World, — the great Victim had been slain,(A-) — and all was now ready ! 
Whence, the difference between the terms of the message in verses 3 and 4. We 
may, however, if we please, consider St. John Baptist, the Twelve, and the Seventy 
as the Servants first sent ; and all who have preached the Gospel since the sacrifice 
of the Death of Christ, as intended by the " other servants." 

Either way, there is truth in the remark of a pious living Writer, that this Para- 
ble " extends beyond the other parables delivered on the same occasion, into deeper 
manifestations of God's wonderful Mercy. For, in the last parable, (that of "the 
Vineyard,") He sent His Servants again and again to be slain, and then His Son. 
But here, when His Son is killed also, He sends forth to say that His Dinner is 
prepared : that His choicest victims and fatlings are killed. Instead of destroying 
them for their wickedness, He calls them to a Feast, (to feed on His Son whom 
they had killed !) but they refuse to come. Nor is this all ; but they evil entreat 
and kill His servants also."(0 See more, below, in the note on verse 8. It 
follows, — 

5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, 
another to his merchandise : 

They do not make polite excuses, as in the Parable of "the Great Supper," — a 
parable distinct from this indeed, yet bearing so strong a resemblance to it.(ra) 
That may be because the other parable was delivered at an earlier period of our 
Lord's Ministry, when the outward show at least of civil bearing was maintained 
towards the Gospel message. Take notice that while St. Luke's parable is the 
Gospel for the Second Sunday after Trinity, the present parable is accordingly re- 
served till eighteen Sundays later. 

6 and the remnant took His servants, and entreated them spitefully, 
and slew them. 

If the terms in which the invitation was conveyed, (in verse 4,) as well as the 
manner in which it was received, (as related in verse 5,) recall the Parable of " the 
Great Supper" in St. Luke's Gospel, (ii) scarcely less forcibly is the parable of 
" the Vineyard let out to Husbandmen" brought to our remembrance by the verse 
which precedes and that which follows. (o) It may indeed seem an extraordinary 
way of showing unwillingness to come to a festival, thus to maltreat the servants 
who bring the invitation : yet does the very monstrousness of the course pursued 

(/ ) Eoiii. i. 7. (g) St. Luke xiv. 15. 

(h] See St. Matth. viii. 11 : St. Luke xxii. 30. (i) St. Matth. x. 7. 

{k) See the note on St. Luke xv. 23. And consider Isaiah xxv. 6,— the "mountain" being 
" the mountain of the Lord's House." See Isaiah ii. 2, 3. 

I) Williams. (m) See St. Luke xiv. 18, 19, 20. 

n) See St. Luke xiv. 17, 18, 19. (o) See St. Matth. xxi. 35 and 41. 



XXII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 197 

but set forth the more truly " the monstrous fact, that men did so maltreat and 
slay the messengers of God's grace, the ambassadors of Christ, who came to them 
with glad tidings of good things."(p) 

7 But when the King heard thereof, He was wroth : and He sent 
forth His armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their 
City. 

The meaning is obvious. "By ' His armies' we understand the Romans under 
Vespasian and Titus, who, having slaughtered the inhabitants of Judaea, laid in 
ashes the faithless city."(?) By which interpretation, we do not, of course, exclude 
those "legions of angels" (r) which "the Lord of Hosts" has ever at command, 
and which effectually do His bidding. This then is a remarkable example of Pro- 
phecy contained in Parable. 

8 Then saith He to His servants, the Wedding is ready, but they 
which were bidden were not worthy. 

Notice the continued prophetic character of the present Parable ; and the fur- 
ther development it contains of the Divine Mercy, which was noticed above in the 
last note on verse 4. 

The declaration of Paul and Barnabas, addressing the Jews of Antioch in Pisidia, 
is here brought to mind: — "It was necessary that the Word of God should first 
have been spoken to you ; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves un- 
worthy of everlasting Life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles : for so hath the Lord com- 
manded us."(s) 

9, 10 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall 
find, bid to the Marriage. So those servants went out into the high- 
ways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and 
good : and the Wedding was furnished with guests. 

" Be it known . . . that the Salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and they 
will hear it."(t) 

Take notice that the guests which were " gathered," are said to have been " as 
many as they found : both bad and good." This brings to mind some remarks 
which were offered in the note on St. Matthew xiii. 26, concerning the mixed aspect 
which the Church now presents. It prepares the mind also for the incident which 
follows ; and which forms, in fact, the second part of the Parable. (w) We have 
heard till now of the Rejection of the Feast. It remains that we hear the fate of 
the Unworthy Guest. 

11, 12 And when the King came in to see the guests, He saw there 
a man which had not on a wedding garment : and He saith unto him, 
Friend, how earnest thou in hither not having a wedding garment ? 

"He calls him 'Friend/ because He had invited him to the wedding ; but He 
charges Him with want of manners in polluting by his filthy dress the elegance of 
the wedding entertainment."(x) 

The King of Kings comes in to examine His guests, (that is, " those who sit at 
His Table,") at all times ; but it may be thought that He comes in a special man- 
ner on certain great occasions, — as on Festival Days, during Sacred Seasons, and 
at the Services of the Sanctuary generally. Our Church accordingly, in one of her 
Exhortations to the Holy Communion, requires her Children " so to search and ex- 
amine their own consciences that they may come holy and clean to such a heavenly 
feast in the marriage garment required by GOD in Holy Scripture." And indeed 
the reference to the Holy Eucharist is so obvious, that we almost assume it, in 
reading the parable. — Take notice that only one person, out of the entire asseni- 

( p) Trench. (q) Jerome. See St. Matth. xxiv. 2 : St. Luke xxi. 6, and the notes there. 

[r) St. Matthew xxvi. 53. (s) Acts xiii. 46, 47. (0 Acts xxviii. 28. 

\u) See the heading of the chapter. The parable of "the Prodigal Son" consists, in like 
manner, of two parts. See the note on St. Luke xv. 25. 
(as) Jerome. Consider Zephaniah i. 7, 8. 



198 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

blage, is supposed unworthy, — perhaps in order to bring the matter treated of, at 
once home to the breast of every man. ''Lord is it I?" Judas asked the question 
afterwards. May it not have been the special intention of his merciful Lord that 
the Traitor should have asked the question now? 

We need not dispute concerning the meaning of the " wedding garment :" at- 
tempting to decide whether it be Charity,(y) or Humility,(Y) or any other Christian 
grace in particular. It is an expression the propriety of which all must feel. 
Christ says by Revelation to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea, " I counsel 
thee to buy of Me . . . white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the 
shame of thy nakedness do not appear." (a) And the Elder, in reply to his own 
inquiry, " what are these which are arrayed in white robes V makes answer, — 
" These are they which . . . have washed their robes, and made them white in the 
blood of the LAMB. "(b) To "put on CHRIST;\c) "to be found in Him, not 
having our own Righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the 
Faith of Christ, the Righteousness which is of God by Faith -"(d) — such expres- 
sions seem purposely set on record in order to make the general teaching of the 
text unmistakable. 

But, besides its reference to this World, there is an evident allusion in this part 
of the parable to the Final Judgment ; and it may be thought that what follows 
particularly favours such an interpretation. Notice first, the effect which Christ's 
question has on the offender : 

And he was speechless. 

The Sinner, arraigned before the Bar of God, finds himself without excuse. He 
is struck dumb, — and by his very silence, condemns himself. The Angels(e) are 
straightway called upon to execute the sentence of the Righteous Judge : 

13 Then said the King to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and 
take him away, and cast him into outer darkness ; there shall be weep- 
ing and gnashing of teeth. 

With "hand," "foot," and "eye," men chiefly offend :(f) wherefore the sinner 
is not only bound " hand and foot," but consigned to " darkness" also. The 
Reader will find the rest of the verse discussed already in the notes on St. Matthew 
viii. 11, 12. 

14 For many are called, but few are chosen. 

This saying has come before us already ; namely, at the close of the parable of 
"the Labourers in the Vineyard:" but the remark which it elicited on that occa- 
sion is not altogether applicable to it here.(</) We may observe however that, in 
both places, it seems to apply only in a broad and general way to what goes before. 

15, 16, 17 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they 
might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent out unto Him their dis- 
ciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that Thou art true, 
and teachest the Way of God in truth, neither carest Thou for any 
man : for Thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, 
What thinkest Thou ? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not ? 

The Pharisees and the Herodians, then, conspire for this accursed purpose. It 
is worth observing that these sects held opposite tenets in respect of the particular 
question which they here bring before our Lord. The Pharisees held the very 
calling of a Publican in abhorrence ; calling by the name of SinnersQi) as many 
as farmed the revenue. Very hateful, therefore, in their eyes was the payment of 

(y) Col. iii. 12. (z) 1 St. Peter v. 5. (a) Rev. iii. 18. 

ib) Rev. vii. 13, 14. Consider, further, iii. 4, 5: iv. 4 : vi. 11: vii. 9, &c. 
c) Gal. iii. 27. See Rom. xiii. 14, Eph. iv. 24, Col. iii. 10. 
d) Phil. iii. 9. (e) Consider St. Matthew xiii. 41, 49. 

(/) Consider St. Mark ix. 43, 45, 46 : and see the note on the place. " If my step hath turned 
out of the way," (says righteous Job,) "and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any 
blot hath cleaved to mine hands." Job xxxi. 7. (g) See the note on St. Matth. xx. 16. 

(h) St. Luke xix. 7. And see St. Mark ix. 15. 



XXII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 199 

tribute to Csesar. Not so the Herodians ; concerning whom, we know little in- 
deed; except that they were adherents of Herod, (i) and, as such, must have been 
mainly concerned to uphold the Roman dominion in Judaea, to which the family of 
Herod, alien by descent, was indebted for the maintenance of its power and 
authority. That these two opposite sects should have united on this occasion, as 
both St. Matthew and St. Mark(&) relate, need produce no surprise. The Gospel 
supplies other examples of the same thing.(Z) " Our Lord's triumphant entry into 
Jerusalem a few days before, as the Son of David, and His daily wonders, had ex- 
asperated and alarmed them both; and led them eagerly to seek that destruction, 
which they soon after succeeded in accomplishing. And it was expedient for their 
hateful object, that persons who took opposite sides on this particular question 
should appear to be concerned in propounding it : for the intention was, either way, 
to turn the answer to our Lord's prejudice."(m) See the note on St. Luke xx. 22. 

18, 19, 20, 21 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why 
tempt ye Me, ye hypocrites ? show Me the tribute money. And they 
brought unto Him a penny. And He saith unto them, Whose is this 
image and superscription ? They say unto Him, Caesar's. Then saith 
He unto them, Render therefore unto Csesar the things which are Cae- 
sar's ; and unto God the things that are God's. 

22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left Him, 
and went their way. 

Several remarks will be found on this entire incident in the Commentary on St. 
Luke's Gospel. (n) Our Lord's next assailants are the unbelieving Sadducees ; who 
are found to experience far gentler treatment than their rivals at His hands. 

23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 The same day came to Him the Sadducees, 
which say that there is no Resurrection, and asked Him, saying, Mas- 
ter, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall 
marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with 
us seven brethren : and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, 
and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother : likewise the second 
also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died 
also. Therefore in the Resurrection whose wife shall she be of the 
seven ? for they all had her. 

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the 
Scriptures, nor the power of God. 

For to qitote the Scriptures is not to know them. 

30, 31, 32 For in the Resurrection they neither marry, nor are given 
in marriage ; but are as the Angels of God in Heaven. But as touch- 
ing the Resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was 
spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the 
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? God is not the God of the 
dead, but of the living. 

33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at His 
Doctrine. 

This highly instructive incident will be found discussed at considerable length in 
the notes on St. Mark's Gospel :(o) the Reader is therefore requested to refer to 
that portion of the Commentary. It may be useful to point out that this is the only 
place in the Gospel where the Sadducees are related to have addressed a question 
to our Lord : though they are elsewhere found to have demanded of Him " a sign 

( i) See the note on St. Mark iii. 6. (k) St. Mark xii. 13. (I) See note on St. Matth. xvi. 1. 
fro) Dr. W. H. Mill. (») St. Luke xx. 20 to 25. 

(o) See the notes on St. Mark xii. 18 to 27. 



200 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

from Heaven.Q?) After the Kesurrection, however, the Sadducees are found to 
have been the principal enemies of the Religion of Christ, (q) 

With reference to the Discourse which precedes, a pious Writer says — "And 
now, having kindled in us the desire of Eternal and Angelic Life, our Lord pro- 
ceeds to point out the way to attain it, — by Love. Thus the contentions of men 
serve to bring forth the truths of the Kingdom ; and from out these discordant ele- 
ments does our Lord mould the harmonious perfections of His New Temple ' not 
made with hands.' "(r) 

34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 But when the Pharisees had heard that He 
had put the Sadducees to silence, thej were gathered together. Then 
one of them, which was a Lawyer, asked Him a question, tempting Him, 
and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the Law? 
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first 
and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt 
love thy Neighbour as thyself. 

"Seems it not rather a contrary commandment? Whereas in the former, the 
whole stream of Love is directed in one undivided current towards God, this sec- 
ond commandment seems to cut out a new channel for it, and to turn a great part 
of it to men; 'thy neighbour as thyself/ No, they are not contrary, if we take 
them right : yea, they do not only agree, but are inseparable. They do not divide 
our love, but set it in its right course : first, wholly to God, as the sovereign good ; 
and then, back from Him, according to His own Will, it is derived downwards to 
our neighbour. For then only do we love both ourselves and others aright, when 
we make our love to Him the reason and rule of both. So then, our love is not to 
be divided between Him and our Neighbour, or any creature : but is first to be be- 
stowed on Him ; and then He diffuses, by way of reflection, so much upon others 
as He thinks fit. Being all in His hands, it is at His disposal ; and that which He 
disposes elsewhere, (as here, ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself/) it is not 
taken off from Him, but abiding still in Him, as in its natural place, flows forth 
from Him as beams flow forth from the sun and enlighten the air ; and yet are not 
cut off from it. 

" So then, the second is like unto the first, because it springs from it, and de- 
pends upon it. It commands the same affection : love, in the former, placed on 
God, — and in this, extended from Him to our Neighbour. And it is like unto it in 
this, too : that, as the former is the sum of the first Table, and so the first and 
great Commandment ; so, this is the sum of the second Table, and therefore next 
unto it in greatness and importance." (s) 

40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. 

"From these two Commandments are derived all the particulars of duty to God 
and Man, taught in the Law of Moses, and by the Prophets who have enforced 
that Law."(tf) 

The Reader will find several remarks on this question of the Lawyer or Scribe, 
who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, in the Commentary on St. Mark's Gos- 
pel; to which he is referred, (w) 

41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 While the Pharisees were gathered together, 
Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ ? whose Son is 
He ? They say unto Him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, 
How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord ; saying, The Lord said 
unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies 
Thy footstool? If David then call Him Lord, how is He his Son? 
And no man was able to answer Him a word : neither durst any man 
from that day forth ask Him any more questions, 

(p) St. Matth. xvi. 1. (?) See Acts iv. 1 : v. 17, 24, Ac. (r) Williams, 

.s) Apb. Leighton. (t) ArcM. Hale and Bp. Lonsdale. 

u) See the notes on St. Mark xii. 28 to 34. 



XXIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 201 

"From whence it is evident," (remarks Bishop Pearson,) "that the Jews of old, 
even the Pharisees, the most accurate and skilful amongst them, did interpret this 
Psalm(a;) of the Messias: for if they had conceived the Prophecy belonged either 
to Abraham, or David, or any other, they doubtless would have answered our Sa- 
viour that this belonged not to the Son of David." 

The concluding portion of the present chapter, which occurs in all the three 
Gospels, will be found fully commented on in the notes on St. Luke's Gospel ; 
whither the Reader is referred.(y) 



CHAPTER XXIII 



1 Christ admonisheth the people to follow tJie good doctrine, not the evil examples, of 
the Scribes and Pharisees. 5 His Disciples must beware of their ambition. 13 
He denounceth eight woes against their hypocrisy and blindness. 34 And prophe- 
sieth of the destruction of Jerusalem. 

To read the Discourse contained in the ensuing chapter with profit, the circum- 
stances under which it was delivered should be borne in mind. In the chapters 
which immediately precede, we have seen our Lord refuting His assailants, — Chief 
Priests and Elders, Pharisees and Herodians, Sadducees and Scribes. At last, He 
silenced them with a hard question. "No man was able to answer Him a word; 
neither durst any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions. "(a) But 
" the common people heard Him gladly."(6) 

At such a juncture, — speaking in the audience of the Pharisees, His own Dis- 
ciples, and the multitude, — we feel that nothing of ordinary interest coidd have 
proceeded from the lips of the Divine Speaker. It was the closing scene of His 
public Ministry. He was ready to be sacrificed in three days. He had borne 
with the contradiction of sinners long enough ; and was no longer obliged, as here- 
tofore, to consult for His own personal safety. He was about to be withdrawn from 
the eyes of that multitude also, which had hitherto hung delighted on His words ;(c) 
and which may well have desired to be informed by Him how they were henceforth 
to think of their Teachers, and of Him. Verily, He did not keep them long in 
suspense, or send them away, finally, in doubt! Hear Him; and consider how 
"the Scribes and Pharisees" must have quailed beneath the withering denuncia- 
tions which follow, and which their own monstrous wickedness had drawn down 
upon their heads ! Is it possible, however, to read the present chapter, and not to 
feel that its warnings (like so many in the Gospel,) are addressed to the Church of 
Christ for ever ; and especially to the Teachers of Religion, — the successors of 
those who "sat in Moses' seat?" 

1, 2, 3 Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to His Disciples, say- 
ing, The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: all therefore 
whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do ; 

To " sit in Moses' seat," is to expound with authority the Law of Moses. By 
these words, our Saviour eternally exhorts and rebukes as many as make the un- 
worthiness of their Teacher a pretext for their own neglect : " in the greatness of 
His wisdom and foresight requiring His Church to look to the seat of authority, 
whatever may be the character of those who occupy it."(<2) 

(x) Ps. ex. 1. (y) See the note on St. Luke xx. 40 to 44. (a) St. Matth. xxii. 46. 

(b) St. Mark xii. 37. (c) See the note on St. Luke xix. 48. (d) Williams. 



202 A PLAIN COMMENTAEY [CHAP. 

But when it is considered on whose lips those words are found, as well as to 
whom they were addressed, they will be perceived to contain besides, a striking 
intimation of the entire agreement which subsists between the Law and the Gospel. 
On another occasion, our Saviour declared that He had "not come to destroy" the 
Law, "but to fulfil"^) it; and accordingly He is here found to enjoin upon His 
Disciples obedience to whatsoever the Scribes and Pharisees bade them observe. 
This must have been because coming from one and the same Divine Author, the 
spiritual intent of the Law and the Gospel was the same, though the letter was so 
different. Consider Romans ii. 28, 29. 

but do not ye after their works : for they say, and do not. 

" What can be more pitiable," (asks an old Writer,) (/) " than a Teacher, to 
imitate whom is ruin, — to refuse to follow whom, is salvation ?" . . . Our Saviour 
proceeds to explain what He means when He says of the Scribes and Pharisees 
that "they say, and do not." 

4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay 
them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with 
one of their fingers. 

That is, " they exact without any allowance the utmost rigour of Life from those 
that are put under them, while they allow themselves unbounded license : the very 
reverse of which should be the practice of the good Ruler, — namely, to be to him- 
self a severe judge, to others a merciful one."(#) To "bind burdens," is to gather 
traditions from every side ; whereby to burden the conscience, and to make the 
"yoke" of the Law(7i) unbearable. See the note on St. Luke xi. 46, where these 
words are found repeated: and consider the contrast between what these men 
taught, and the " easy yoke" and " light burden" of our Saviour Christ. (i) 

5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men : 

This is the sinful temper against which our Lord especially warns us in that part 
of his Sermon on the Mount, where he gives directions concerning Almsgiving, 
Fasting, and Prayer. Not that the desire of human praise is sinful in itself: (/v) 
but it is a grievous Sin, when human applause is made the end and object of ac- 
tions which are professedly done to the honour of God. Consider St. Matthew vi. 
1, 2, 5, 16, 17, 18, and the notes thereon. 

they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their 
garments, 

" Phylactery" is a Greek word, — denoting "a preservative:" showing that those 
two parchment labels which the Jews wore, one on their wrist, the other on their 
forehead, in obedience to the strict letter of God's command, (I) and inscribed with 
a sentence of the Law, — were regarded in the light of amulets, charms, or spells. 
The Pharisees, — wholly overlooking the spiritual intention of the precept referred 
to, and which obviously was, that God's Law should be the rule of every action, 
the subject of meditation, day and night, (m) — made their phylacteries unusually 
broad and visible, in order to win for themselves a higher reputation for piety with 
the people. 

That command of the Law will further be remembered, by which it was ordained 
that the children of Israel should " make them fringes in the borders of their gar- 
ments, . . . and put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:" the inten- 
tion being that they might "look upon it, and remember all the commandments of 
the Lord, and do them."(w) Such a "fringe" and "ribband of blue" we have 
already had occasion to notice as worn on the outer garment of the Saviour.(o) 
It was not the wearing of this, therefore, which our Lord condemned; but the en- 

(e) St. Matthew v. 17, 18. (/) Origen. (g) Chrysostom. (h) Acts xv. 10. 

h) St. Matth. xi. 30. (k) For consider St. Luke xiv. 9, 10, 29, and the notes there. 

U) See Deut. vi. 8: xi. 18. Also, Exod. xiii. 9, 16. 

(m) Joshua i. 8, &o. — Consider this in connection with the Eye and the Hand to be so care- 
fully guarded, — the one as the chief avenue, the other as the chief instrument of sin : St. Mat- 
thew v. 29 and 30. (») Numbers xv. 38, 39. Deut. xxii. 12. 

(o) See the note on St. Matt. ix. 20. 



XXIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 203 

largement of it, by which the Pharisees assumed the outward badge of extraordi- 
nary piety and of uncommon obedience to the Divine Commandment. Nor, — when 
it is discovered that both St. Mark and St. Luke concur in this place in preserving 
those additional words of reproach, "ivho love to walk about in robes,"(p) — is it pos- 
sible to avoid suspecting that besides their gross hypocrisy, these miserable men 
practised a contemptible foppery in respect of their vestments, also. It is certain 
that our Lord is here speaking of the appetite for human praise and admiration; 
for He adds : 

6, 7 and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the 
synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, 
Rabbi, Rabbi. 

To repeat the title twice, was a mark of especial respect.(g) The disposition 
which delights in this description of praise, our Saviour elsewhere denounces as 
inimical to the spirit of Faith. " How can ye believe," (he asks,) " which receive 
honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only ?"(r) 

The ambition of the Pharisees to occupy " the uttermost rooms at Feasts," (that 
is, the places of highest honour at an Entertainment,) must have been notorious 
and prevalent; for when our Blessed Lord on a certain occasion "went into the 
house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath Day," we find that 
" He put forth a parable to those which were bidden, wlien lie marked how tliey 
cliose out the chief places." (s) The "chief seats in the Synagogues" are alluded to 
by St. James in his Epistle. (t) 

8 But be not ye called Rabbi : for one is your Master, even Christ ; 
and all ye are brethren. 

Oar Lord here delivers a caution against the same sin which St. Paul condemns 
in those who said "I am of Paul: and I, of Apollos"(w) . . . The word rendered 
"Master," properly means "Teacher:" and the course forbidden is that which St. 
Paul alludes to in his second Epistle to Timothy; (a:) and which St. James forbids 
in the biginning of his 3rd Chapter, — "My Brethren, be not many Masters ;" that 
is, "Teachers." The Jews were divided not only into two great sects, but also 
into opposite schools, and contending parties, — their leading Rabbis erected them- 
selves into "Leaders," and putting forth their own private opinions with authority, 
as doctrines to be received by their followers, and Disciples. It is this to which our 
Lord here refers, and which He condemns. 

^ Not but what St. Paul often calls himself a " Teacher,"(?/) and on many occa- 
sions makes allusion to the title or office: but when he uses the term in a very 
different sense from that referred to by our Lord. He calls himself and others, 
"Teachers," only because they taught the Religion of CHRIST, — not as the 
founders of new sects, or the advocates of sectarian opinions. Thus because all are 
pupils in the one school of Christ, all, perforce, are "Brethren." 

9 And call no man your Father upon the earth : for one is your 
Father, which is in Heaven. 

" Father" is a title of the same class as " Teacher ;" and in that particular sense 
in which the Jews applied it to their principal Doctors, and Founders of Schools, 
our Saviour forbids its use among Christians. But that there is a sense in which 
it may be fitly used by ourselves, — St. Paul has shown. (z) As a loftier appellation 
than Teacher, the Eternal Son assigns it to the Eternal Father. 

Take notice in how many other places our Saviour, by implication, repeats the 
assurance which is contained in the last few words. See St. Matthew v. 16, 45, 48 : 
vi. 1, 9: vii. 11. St. Mark si. 25, 26, &c. 

If any sectaries do reject the use of distinctive titles in addressing their fellow- 
men, on the plea that Christ Himself hath forbidden the practice, let them be con- 
sistent, and call no man on Earth their Father, either. Kather, let them learn from 

(p) St. Mark xii. 38. St. Luke xx. 46. 

(?) See St. Matthew vii. 21, 22; xxv. 11; St. Mark xiv. 45. 

(r) St. John v. 44. ( s ) St. Luke xiv. 1 and 7. (0 St. James ii. 2, 3. 

(u) 1 Cor i. 12. (x) 2 Tim. iv. 3. 

(y) 1 Tim. ii. 7. 2 Tim. i. 11, &c. (z) 1 Cor. iv. 15. 



204 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

the last-named injunction to interpret the others according to their spirit, and not 
according to their letter ; and so, to interpret them rightly. 

10 Neither be ye called masters ; for one is your Master, even Christ. 

Rather, — "Leaders," (or "Guides:' 7 ) "for one is your Leader," (or "Guide.") 
See above, on verse 8; and below, on verse 16. 

11, 12 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased : and he that shall 
humble himself shall be exalted. 

The injunction in verse 11, is found also in St. Matthew xx. 26, 27, — where see 
the notes. Verse 12 contains a famous saying, which has already been discussed 
in the Commentary on the latter part of St. Luke xviii. 14: and take notice that it 
is either to that place, or to the present, which St. Peter alludes in his First Epis- 
tle.^) "What indeed are all these sayings, but comments on that one, 'Learn of 
Me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart ?'(&) What are they but modes of access to 
Christ? And why is it the universal Law, 'that he that humbleth himself shall 
be exalted/ but because He, 'being in the form of God, . . . took upon Him the 
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and humbled Himself unto 
Death: wherefore God hath exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above 
every name?' . . . Even so will He, according to this Law, exalt every one 
in Christ, who after the same example humbles himself." So far generally : but 
take notice that the special warning contained in verse 11, is addressed to persons 
in the Ministry. Our Divine Master here requires those who are set highest in the 
Church, to consider themselves as burdened with the heaviest stewardship. Thus 
titles of honour become transformed into notes of ministerial responsibility. 

"Our Lord now turns to address the Pharisees themselves in words of awful 
judgment, which seems to anticipate the dreadful voice of His final sentence:" "de- 
nouncing eight(c) Woes" in succession "against their hypocrisy and blindness," — 
(as it is remarked in the heading of the Chapter;) corresponding with the Eight 
Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. And thus, "His Ministry, which com- 
menced with Beatitudes, ends with Woes; like too many passages of Human Life, 
which go forth in promise and terminate in self-reproach."(c?) Take notice that St. 
Matthew alone of the Evangelists records either the Blessings or the Curses: the 
former of which were delivered to "the lost sheep of the House of Israel,"(e) "the 
poor in spirit," on a Mountain in Galilee; — the latter, on "the Mountain of the 
Lord,"(/) and in the Temple, to the proud Professors of the Jewish Keligion, and 
its "most straitest sect."(#) How are we thus reminded of the many singular and 
imexpected ways in which the Law finds its counterpart in the Gospel 1(h) 

The Holy One had been hitherto addressing "the multitude and His Disciples." 
He proceeds: 

13 But Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye 
shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men : for ye neither go in 
yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 

Our Saviour here speaks of them as having the means of opening and shutting; 
whether it be "the Key of Knowledge"^') of which He chiefly speaks, or "the 
Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven."(/f) His words may therefore be understood in 
many ways. To the Scribes appertained the interpretation of the Law; but by 
their vain glosses and merely human Traditions, these "blind guides" had partially 
taught, or had wrongly explained, and so, had in effect actually closed the Divine 
Oracles ;[T) for their wickedness in which respect, He who gave the Law proceeds 
now to reproach them in the severest manner. (m) This does not seem a very 
obvious interpretation of the place : but he who compares what our Lord here says, 
with what is recorded of Him in St. Luke xi. 52, will probably think that it must 

[a) 1 St. Pet. v. 6. (6) St. Matth. xi. 29. 

\c) See verses 13, 14, 15, 16, 23, 25, 27, 29. (d) Williams. 

St. Matth. x. 6, &c. (/) Is. ii. 3. (g) Acts xxvi. 5. 

li) Consider Deut. xxvii. 11 to 26. (i) St. Luke xi. 52. 

[k) St. Matthew xvi. 19. (I) See on St. Mark vii. 5. 

(m) See below, ver 16 to 22. See also St. Matth. xv. 3 to 9, &c. 



XXIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 205 

be the very thing which our Lord intended. Then, further, the Government of the 
Church rested with the Scribes and Pharisees: but, as we have already seen, they 
availed themselves of their authority to "bind heavy burdens, and lay them on 
men's shoulders."00 To them was committed the power of excluding or restoring 
to visible Church-membership; but, (as in the case of the parents of the man born 
blind,) they shamefully abused their power. (o) "I am the Door," (declares our 
Blessed Lord;) "by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved :"(p) but if these 
wicked men, while they ascribed His miracles to Beelzebub, (q) denied His Teach- 
ing, (r) and rejected Him themselves, — "agreed, that if any man did confess that 
He was Christ, he should be put out of the Synagogue :"(s) the terror of which 
sentence deterred many members of the Sanhedrin from openly professing their be- 
lief in the Saviour, (t) Nor did their wickedness in this respect cease with our 
Lord's death.(tt) — "No man can stand or fall alone," (says an excellent writer;) 
"much less a minister of Religion. As no man can go to Heaven, but by His good 
example he will lead others there ; so he, who by his evil life enters not in, shuts 
out others also."^) 

14 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye devour 
widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye 
shall receive the greater damnation. 

Our Lord charges these hypocrites with "making long prayer as a pretext" for 
their avarice, (or, as St. Paul expresses it, a "cloke of covetousness :")(?/) and point 
out that the peculiar circumstances which rendered their villany so monstrous in 
His sight, was, that they plundered the Widow, whom He had recommended for ever 
to the protection of His Church. Take notice that of the whole of this prolonged 
invective, filling an entire chapter in St. Matthew's Gospel, verses 6 and 14 are the 
only portions of which St. Mark and St. Luke were guided to preserve the 
record also. 

"Pretenders to Holiness," (says an ancient writer,) "practice most upon women, 
who are less apt than men to see through their hypocrisy ; and are easily inclined 
to love them on the ground of Religion."^) But consider how God reveals Him- 
self throughout Scripture as the God of the Widoio:(a) singling her out as the very 
type of weakness, on more than one occasion. (6) 

15 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye com- 
pass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make 
him twofold more the child of Hell than yourselves. 

The same sins which were condemned in the former verse, are the subject of 
this. It was no zeal for God's honour, no love of souls, which induced the Phari- 
sees to take unwearied pains, or, (as our Lord proverbially expresses it,) to 
"traverse sea and land to make one convert" to the Jewish Faith; but covetous- 
ness, — the sin of Judas: avarice, — disguised, as before, under the mask of 
Religion, (c) 

How fearful must have been the system on which so terrible a sentence could be 
passed by Him who is "the Way, the Truth, aud the Life" itself! 

16, IT Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall 
swear by the Temple, it is nothing ; but whosoever shall swear by the 
gold of the temple, he is a debtor ! Ye fools and blind : for whether 
is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold ? 

(n) See above ver. 4. 

(o) St. John ix. 34, — where see the margin. Compare St. John vii. 13, xvi. 2, and xix. 38. 
p) St. John x. 9. (q) St. Matth. ix. 34: xiii. 24, Ac. 

N St. John ix. 16, &c. &c. (s) St. John ix. 22. (*) St. John xii. 42. 

'u) For consider 1 Thess. ii. 16, and the places in the margin. (x) Williams. 

[yS 1 Thess. ii. 5. (z) Pseudo-Chrysostom. Consider 2 Tim. iii. 6. 

[a) As in Deut. x. 18: xiv. 29: xxvii. 19. Ps. clxviii. 5: cxlvi. 9. Is. i. 17. Jer. vii. 6: 
xxii. 3. Ezek. xxii. 7. Zech. vii. 10. Mai. iii. 5, &c. &o. 

[b) 1 Kings xvii. 9 and see the note on St. Luke xviii. 3. (c) See St. Luke xvi. 14. 



206 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The Pharisees, in their vain-glorious pride, assumed to themselves the title of 
"Guides of the blind," — as will be found pointed out in the note on St. John iii. 
10. Our Lord therefore repeatedly reproaches them with their own blindness. 
"They be blind leaders of the blind," He says:(d) and again, below, in ver. 24, 
"Ye blind guides!" 

"Blind" indeed, and worse than blind: "for" (says a learned Latin Father,) 
"when, in any dispute, or quarrel, or ambiguous cause, one swore by the Temple, 
and was afterwards convicted of falsehood, he was not held guilty. That is what 
is meant by 'Whosoever shall swear by the Temple, it is nothing:' — that is, he owes 
nothing. But if he had sworn by the gold of the Temple, he was immediately com- 
pelled to pay down that by which he had sworn."(e) By which words, take notice 
that not the gold which overspread the building,^) is meant; but the gold in the 
Treasury, which was called Corban.(g) For the Jews held that if any one swore 
thus, — "By the Temple," (or "By the Altar,") "my goods shall not be yours," — 
it was lawful for him, if he pleased, afterwards to alter his mind: but if he swore 
thus, — "Corban, my gold is for the Temple;" or, "Corban, my cattle are for the 
Altar," — this was a vow which he might by no means neglect to perform. Thus, 
it will be perceived that the same wickedness, in part, is here alluded to which was 
formally denounced by the Lord of Heaven and Earth in St. Matthew xv. 5, 6, and 
more clearly in St. Mark vii. 11 to 13, — where the Reader is requested to see 
the notes. 

18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the Altar, it is nothing; but 
whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. 

Or rather, "he is a debtor," — as in verse 16. 

19 Ye fools and blind ; for whether is greater, the gift, or the Altar 
that sanctifieth the gift ? 

The Temple therefore does sanctify the gold ; the Altar does sanctify the gift : as 
it is written in the Law, — "Whatsoever touched the Altar shall be jholy."(%) Let 
this be remembered in connection with the furniture of Churches. Consider Num- 
bers xvi. 37 to 39.(0 

"Fools and blind," indeed! and as such, our Lord condescends to reason the 
point with them in verses 17, 19, and the three following. But it was wilful blind- 
ness. They had put out the candle of the Lord within them.(/c). And observe, 
that the motive of their wickedness was apparent ; for " the gold" and " the gift" 
enriched themselves. 

20, 21, 22 Whoso therefore shall swear by the Altar, sweareth by 
it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the Temple, 
sweareth by it, and by Him that dwelleth therein. And he that shall 
swear by Heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by Him that 
sitteth thereon. 

For, as the less is contained in the greater, so, in the oath which is sworn by the 
Temple and the Altar, is contained the oath by the gold and the gift. Moreover, 
since no inanimate thing can be supposed to be the witness of an oath, he who 
swears by the Altar, by the Temple, or by Heaven itself, must be understood to 
swear by Him to whom all these belong. And thus, on quite another ground, our 
Saviour convicts the Pharisees of blindness. 

Wherefore, it is said in another place, " Swear not at all: neither by Heaven, for 
it is God's throne ; nor by the Earth, for it is His footstool." (I) 

23 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay 
tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier 

(d) St. Matth. xv. 14. (e) Jerome. 

(/) Concerning the gold of the first Temple, see 1 Kings vi. 21, 22. 

g) St. Matth. xxvii. 6, in the original. (h) Exod. xxix. 37. 

i) See also Leviticus xxvii, 28. Joshua vi. 19, in connection with vii. 15 to 26. 

k) Consider St. Luke xi. 34 to 36. (I) St. Matth. v. 34 to 37, and the notes thereon. 



XXIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 20T 

matters of the Law, Judgment, Mercy, and Faith : these ought ye to 
have done, and not to leave the other undone. 

That is, " To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy GOD,"(m) 
is what the Lord chiefly requires of thee ; (to which words of the Prophet Micah, 
our Lord surely refers in this place) : and yet thou art not at liberty to omit ex- 
actness in the most trifling matter of tithes, either : whether to be paid by thyself, (n) 
or to be received of others. (o) 

But take note, that the tithing of " mint, anise, and cummin" took place in pur- 
suance of no precept of the Law of God. It was an addition made by the Scribes : 
and yet we find that it here obtains the sanction of Christ himself; for He tells 
the men of His day, — " Ye ought not to leave it undone." So that this is one of 
the many instances to be found in the Gospels where our Lord teaches men to con- 
form to Ecclesiastical rules, — even though no express warrant for them is to be 
found in the Bible. He here illustrates the saying with which he began his dis- 
course : — " The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore, what- 
soever they bid you observe, that observe and &o."(p) 

24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 

Kather, " Which strain out :" a proverbial saying, which seems to refer to the 
practice of those who in the preparation of their drink are careful first to strain it ; 
and which has an obvious application to as many as, being highly scrupulous in 
regard to trifles, are yet found to allow themselves freely in monstrous crimes. 
The Camel is selected in this and another sacred proverb(g) as the very emblem, to 
an Eastern eye, of what is huge, cumbrous, and unwieldy. 

The " Woe" which follows is only another example of the Hypocrisy denounced 
in ver. 23. The Pharisees were over-scrupulous in " the washing of pots and 
cups:" but the precept " Wash you, make you clean," they quite neglected: — as 
it follows, — 

25 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye make 
clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are 
full of extortion and excess. 

" The cup" is for drink, and "the platter ,, for meat: reference is therefore here 
made to daily food ; and it is declared that the Pharisees furnished forth their 
tables by extortion and unrighteousness. Woe to them for their sin ! and woe for 
the hypocrisy which could suppose that by " the washing of cups and pots,"(r) — 
the cleansing of "the outside of cup and platter," — they could win for themselves 
acceptance with God ! 

26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup 
and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 

How this was to be done our Saviour explained on the other occasion when he 
delivered a very similar discourse : namely, " Bestow in alms the things which are 
within." See St. Luke xi. 41, and the note there. At the same time, there is 
doubtless conveyed an injunction to cultivate inward personal purity and holiness; 
as in St. Luke xi. 39, 40, — which see: for there, instead of " they are full of extor- 
tion and excess," (namely the cup and platter,) (s) it is said, — " your inward part 
is full of ravening and wickedness." 

And this contrast of the inward impurity of the Pharisees with their fair exterior 
is what our Lord proceeds to denounce a further " Woe" upon. 

27, 28 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are 
like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, 
but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even 



( m) Micah vL 8. (n) See St. Luke xviii. 12, and the note there. 

[o) As the same word is translated in St. Luke xi. 42. (p) See above, verses 2, 3. 

(q) See St. Matth. xix. 24, and the note there. (r) St. Mark vii. 4 and 8. 

(s) See above, ver. 25. The same word is rendered "extortion" in one Gospel, and "raven- 
ing" in the other. 



208 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full 
of hypocrisy and iniquity. 

And "the Lord seetli not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward ap- 
pearance ; but the Lord looketh on the heart "(f) 

The point of this rebuke evidently consists in the contrast between the outside 
and the inside of a sepulchral chamber. Outwardly, whitened with chalk and 
adorned with colours, the sepulchres of the Jews " appeared beautiful ;" but within, 
they were full of defilement. And such, as our Lord declares, were the Scribes 
and Pharisees! . . . He had said something very like this on another occasion,(it) 
but it was not the same thing. The comparison in the text was, (as might be ex- 
pected,) in common use among the Jews. See Acts xxiii. 3, and consider Psalm 
v. 9. . . . Observe the transition to what follows. Our Lord's speech is still among 
the graves. 

29, 30, 31 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! be- 
cause ye build the tombs of the Prophets, and garnish the sepulchres 
of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, 
we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Pro- 
phets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the 
children of them which killed the Prophets. 

The Reader should compare these verses with St. Luke xi. 47 and 48 and read 
the notes thereon. 

By professing that they would not have shared the guilt of their Fathers in slay- 
ing the Prophets, the " Scribes and Pharisees" admitted that they were the children 
of those ioho slew the Prophets; and it is implied that they had inherited the mur- 
derous disposition of their sires also. The meaning is, in fact, partly illustrated 
by the expression " generation of vipers," in ver. 33; that is, "offspring of 
vipers :" by which it is implied that these men derived from their Fathers, — in- 
herited by their very birth, — a satanic nature. As our Lord elsewhere says, — 
" Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the lusts of your Father ye will do. He 
was a murderer from the beginning/ '(x) 

32 Fill ye up then the measure of your Fathers. 

As indeed, in three days, they did : yea, they filled it to overflowing. But, till 
their "iniquity" (like that of the Amorites of old) " was full," God withheld his 
judgments. (y) In the meanwhile, it was because Christ was well aware of the 
murderous course they were bent upon pursuing, not only towards himself, but 
towards Disciples likewise, that he thus bitterly denounced the hypocrisy with 
which they affected grief while they garnished the sepulchres of the Prophets 
whom their Fathers had already slain. Consider by all means 1 Thessalonians 
ii. 14 to 16. 

33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the 
damnation of Hell? 

" Serpents," — for they resembled " that old Serpent, which is the Devil, and 
Satan: ;; (;s) and "generation of vipers," (as both He and his Forerunner had 
already called them,) (a) for a reason assigned in the note on ver. 31. As they 
partook of the deeds of the Evil One, how could they escape his end ? 

With which terrible words, our Lord gathers up all the awful denunciations 
which go before. And if, in the opinion of any, these should appear not altogether 
in accordance with the sayings of Christ elsewhere recorded, — let the occasion be 
first considered: (5) and next, let it be observed, that "throughout these dreadful 
declarations, it is the cause of the "Widow, and of His martyred Apostles, and of 
his Father's Honour, which kindles in our Lord the Divine charity which burned 
forth in these judgments."(c) But above all let us remember that we know nothing 

(t) 1 Sam. xvi. 7. («) See St. Luke xi. 44, and the note. (x) St. John viii. 44. 

(y) Consider Gen. xv. 16 and 1 Thess. ii. 16. See also St. Mark ii. 6, 7, 8; and the notes there. 
\z) Rev. xx. 2 : xii.. 9. (a) St. Matth. iii. 7 : St. Luke hi. 7 1 St. Matth. xii. 34. 

(b) See the note prefixed to the present chapter. (c) Williams. 



XXIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 209 

concerning Him, nor can know, save what He hath himself seen fit to reveal. 
Long-suffering He is ; but only in order to bring men to Repentance. (d) Kind and 
gentle, also ; but only with the merciful and upright. " With the froward, Thou 
wilt show thyself froward."(e) When the season of probation is ended, our Lord 
reveals himself no longer as a merciful Savioue, but as a terrible Judge :(f) and 
we only deceive ourselves if we rely on one of the Divine Attributes to the exclu- 
sion of the others. 

34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you Prophets, and "Wise men, 
and Scribes : 

When our Lord employed the sayings which follow, on a different occasion, 
(which St. Luke alone records,) He prefaced them with the words, "Therefore also 
said the Wisdom of GOD. "(g) Christ is therefore " the Wisdom of God ;" and it 
is He who " sent" Prophets, (that is, men divinely inspired to declare the mind of 
God and His will,) — Wise men, (that is, persons full of Divine Wisdom,) — and 
Scribes, (that is, persons authorized to interpret and teach the Law of Christ's 
Kingdom,) (Ji) — in order to make the wickedness of the nation undeniable, and 
without excuse. Instead of " Prophets and Wise men and Scribes," it is (in St. 
Luke) " Prophets and Apostles." 

and some of them ye shall kill and crucify : and some of them shall 
ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city : 

Thus St. Stephen was stoned :(i) St. James was slain with the sword :(&) St. 
Peter was crucified :{l) the Apostles were imprisoned with scourging :(m) St. Paul 
and Barnabas were persecuted from city to city.(w) — Take notice of the propriety 
with which from ver. 34 to the end of this chapter, has been selected as the Gospel 
for St. Stephen's Day. 

35 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the 
earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias 
son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the Temple and the Altar. 

That our Saviour should have reckoned " righteous Abel" as the first of His 
Martyrs, is what we should expect ; but who is this Z acharias, whom He mentions 
as if he were the last? Zechariah, (one of the Twelve minor Prophets, B. C. 520,) 
was indeed "the son of Berechiah ;"(o) but it is nowhere recorded concerning him 
that he suffered martyrdom. On the other hand, there is an account in the Book 
of Chronicles of the martyrdom of a Zechariah, which corresponds entirely with 
what our Saviour here declares ; but then the Zechariah there spoken of is de- 
scribed as " the son of Jehoiada the priest."(^>) Moreover, he was slain in the time 
of King Joash,(<2) and does not seem in any sense to have been the last of that 
" noble army" to which he belonged. On the whole,, however, it seems reasonable 
to suppose that this was the person to whom our Saviour here makes allusion. The 
recorded name of his father is no real obstacle, as we have elsewhere repeatedly 
shown :(r) while his remarkable dying words, (" The Lord look upon it, and re- 
quire it !) («?) even suggest the high probability that one who so fell " in the Court 
of the House of the Lord," should have been in some special way avenged by 
Him " who helpeth them to right, that suffer wrong."(f) " The voice of his blood" 
may well have " cried unto God from the ground,"(w) as in the case of Abel .... 
" That Thou mayest take the matter into Thine hand," (saith the Psalmist,) " the 
poor committeth himself unto Thee.(x) 

(d) Rom. ii. 4, and 2 St. Peter iii. 9, 15. (e) Ps. xviii. 26. 

(/) See the note on St. Luke xix. 44: also on St. Matth. xxi. 44. 

(g) St. Luke xi. 49, where see the note. (h) As in St. Matth. xiii. 52. 

(i) Acts vii. 59. (k) Acts xii. 1 to 3. (?) Consider St. John xxi. 18, 19 : 2 St. Pet, i. 14. 

(m) Acts v. 18, 40. (n) Acts xiii. 50 : xiv. 5, 6, 19, 20. 

(o) Zech. i. 1. (p) 2 Chron. xxiv. 20. (q) About B. C. 840. 

(r) See the notes on St. Luke iii. 23, (on the words "son of Heli;") and on ver. 27, (on the 
words "son of Salathiel;") above all, on ver. 36, on the words "son of Cainan." Consider 
also how frequently the Jews bore two names. Of this, the Gospel contains many instances : 
as St. Matth. x. 2, 3 : Acts iv. 36 : xii. 12, 25 : xiii. 9, &c. 

(s) 2 Chron. xxiv. 22. (0 Psalm cxlvi. 6. 

(u) Gen. iv. 10. Consider the allusion to that cry in Heb. xii. 24. (x) Ps. x. 14. 

14 



210 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

A remarkable circumstance remains to be mentioned in connection with these 
words of our Lord. The Jewish Historian, Josephus, relates that an eminent and 
most excellent citizen, named " Zacharias, the son of Barucli" was actually slain 
in the Temple, immediately before the destruction of the city ; his only offence be- 
ing that he denounced the wickedness of his countrymen. This event, at the time 
of our Lord's speaking, was yet future, and therefore cannot be thought to be the 
particular event to which He alludes. The suggestion, however, may be permitted, 
that since this man's murder must have been very present to the mind of Him who 
spoke the words of the text, (for " precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of 
His Saints ;"(?/) and He " calleth those things which be not, as though they 
were :") (z) — He will have so divinely shaped his words that they obtained a double 
fulfillment. And thus, besides other blessed consequences, the first Believers, 
calling to mind His saying, will have found in the event, when it took place, a 
striking confirmation of their Faith in the Divine Speaker ; whose words will have 
proved, like those of His ancient prophets, capable of repeated accomplishment. 
In this way, Abel and Zacharias will have been literally the first and the last of 
the Martyrs whose blood was avenged by the destruction of Jerusalem. 

36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this 
generation. 

The allusion in the text is obviously to the Destruction of Jerusalem : and as 
previously on approaching the city He had wept over it,(a) so now does He also 
take leave of it, or rather of his enemies, with a similar exclamation of pity. 

37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and 
stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered 
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her 
wings, and ye would not ! 

Rather, " How often have I zoished!" .... "The same Spirit speaks which 
taught David to address Him with this allusion, ' hide me under the shadow of 
Thy wings ;' and gave him the solemn promise — ' He shall cover thee with His 
feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust.' ;; (5) 

38, 39 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto 
you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He 
that cometh in the Name of the Lord. 

And with those words, He " went out, and departed from the Temple ;"(c) leav- 
ing the House " desolate" indeed, for He, its Glory, had departed! 

The self-same lamentation over Jerusalem had already flowed from the same 
blessed lips on altogether a different occasion, (d) Its concluding words seem to imply, 
" Ye shall not see Me, until ye shall be willing to recognize in Me your Messiah !" 
whereby the Divine Speaker refers to the Day, yet future, when He will gather to- 
gether the outcasts of Israel ;(e) and those words of the cxviii. Psalm which were 
lately heard on the lips of a few faithful persons, when the Saviour entered his 
Capital, (/) shall be poured forth in welcome by the inhabitants of the New Jeru- 
salem, and become the spontaneous utterance of every tongue. (g) 

" Be it so that these things are marvellous in our eyes, and that we discover ho 
traces of their approach. Is anything too hard for God ? What if the iniquity of 
His people should be removed in a day, (A) and a nation be born at once ?(t) What 
if ' at the second time,' He should make himself known to His brethren ?(&) Then 
peradventure will be accomplished what cannot without violence be understood 
either of the destruction of Jerusalem, or of the Day of Judgment ; then shall they 
look on Him whom they pierced, (I) and say Blessed is He that cometh in the Name 
of the LoRD."(m) 

(y) Ps. cxvi. 15. (z) Rom. iv. 17. 

(a) Williams; quoting Ps. xvii. 8: xci. 4: and see lvii. 1, and lxi. 4. (b) Ibid. 

(c) St. Matth. xxiv. 1. (d) See St. Luke xiii. 34, 35. 

(e) Consider Is. xlix. 20 to 22 : lx. 4: lxvi. 12. (/) See St. Matth. xxi. 9, 15. &c. 

(g) See Philip, ii. 10. (h) Zech. hi. 9. 

(i) Isaiah lxvi. 8. (k) Acts vii. 13. 

(I) St. John xix. 37, quoting Zech. xii. 10. Compare Rev. i. 7. (m) Churton. 



XXIV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 211 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



1 Christ foretelletli the destruction of the Temple. 3 What and how great calami- 
ties shall be before it. 29 The signs of His coming to Judgment. 36 And because 
that dag and hour is unknown, 42 we ought to watch like good servants, expecting 
every moment our Master's coming. 

The attentive Header of the Gospel will be careful to approach the present chap- 
ter with the solemn tenor of the preceding one full in his recollection. After our 
Lord's stern leave-taking of the Scribes and Pharisees, — (those hypocrites who had 
either led astray or devoured "the people of His pasture and the sheep of His 
hand/') — it follows : 

1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the Temple : and His 
Disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings of the Temple. 

The blessed Company, in departing, are found to have lingered about the Porch. 
Their Master's recent intimation of approaching judgments which were to overtake 
the City, and the unusual solemnity of His discourses throughout this eventful day, 
may well have suggested remarks on the massive proportions, and gorgeous splen- 
dour of the edifice they were leaving, and which seemed as if it had been built for 
Eternity ; but which must perforce share the destruction of Jerusalem itself. They 
" spake," (says St. Luke,) " of the Temple, — how it was adorned with goodly stones 
and gifts ;"(a) and " one of His Disciples," (St. Peter perhaps,) " saith unto Him, 
Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here. J '(5) Thereupon, 
repeating a solemn declaration which He had already uttered, (c) and as if in allu- 
sion to that saying of the prophet Haggai, "before a stone was laid upon a 
stone,"(d) — it is added : 

2 And Jesus said unto them. See ye not all these things ? verily I 
say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that 
shall not be thrown down. 

And so it actually came to pass, when Jerusalem was at last taken by the Eo- 
mans, after a five months' siege ; the Temple was destroyed by fire, and the confla- 
gration raged with such fury, that it seemed as if not only the Temple but the very 
hill itself on which it stood, was about to be consumed. Consider our Lord's pro- 
phetic allusion to this event, in St. Matthew xxii. 7. Not one stone of the Temple 
was left upon another ; for the plough passed over its site : according to the pro- 
phecy of Jeremiah, quoting by name the words of a yet older prophet, — "Micah 
the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah King of Judah, and spake to 
all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Zion shall be ploughed 
like afield, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the House as 
the high places of a forest/'(e) See more in the note on St. Mark xiii. 2. 

We trace the Saviour's footsteps from the city gate in the direction of the Mount 
of Olives ; where he took his seat, and thence surveyed the beautiful spectacle 
which the city presented. The Temple, in particular, was conspicuous from that 
s P ot ;(/) covered with plates of gold, and of a most dazzling whiteness, — which 
must now have reflected the glories of the setting Sun. " The time and circum- 

(a) St. Luke xxi. 5. (5) St. Mark xiii. 1; where see the note. 

(c\ See St. Luke xix. 44. (d) Hag. ii. 15. 

(e) Jer. xxvi. 18, quoting Micah iii. 12. (/) St. Mark xiii. 3. 



212 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

stances were such as rendered it the most solemn evening that the world has ever 
witnessed before or since, when we consider what the words were which had been 
last spoken, — the scene, — and the persons who were now assembled."^) Four of 
the Disciples, — St. Peter, St. James, St. John, and St. Andrew, (h) — at last ap- 
proached Him with a twofold question ; in reply to which, the Holy One delivered 
his tremendous predictions respecting both the destruction of Jerusalem and the 
consummation of all things. 

3 And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the Disciples came unto 
Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be ? and what 
shall he the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the World ? 

As already intimated, this was a twofold question ; and twofold, in like manner, 
was the answer. Unless this be attended to, all that follows will seem hopelessly 
confused, — having reference, now, to the Fall of the City; now, to the End of the 
World. The Disciples ask, (firstly,) "When shall these things be?" "and what 
sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? ;; (i) — (which phrase, it 
should be observed, denotes that overthrow of "these great buildings, "(k) to which 
our Saviour had been making recent allusion:) and (secondly,) "What shall be 
the sign of Thy coming, and of the End of the World?" 

On all this it has been well remarked, — " These eager inquirers, not understand- 
ing things to come, knew not even how to ask information about them, with that 
distinctness of thought and meaning which we learn from looking back upon the 
history. Through ignorance, they coupled together two questions really quite dis- 
tinct. In truth, it must have seemed very strange to them, Jews as they were, and 
expecting the Kingdom of Heaven as the glory of God's people Israel, to hear of 
the magnificent and costly buildings of the Temple being thrown down. They 
must have felt as Joshua did, when he said to the Lord, 'And what wilt Thou do 
unto Thy great Name V(J) For if Jerusalem was to be destroyed, they knew not 
how to think where the Kingdom of God was to be, or how the prophecies of its 
glories were to be fulfilled. Nothing less than the End of the World, it seemed to 
them, could be the occasion of such an overthrow. So they asked at once about 
the destruction of the earthly Jerusalem, and the final coming of our Lord at the 
end of the World."(m) 

And yet, "in this their ignorance or confusion of thought," (remarks a pious 
writer,) "they were still wiser than the most learned: for they seem to have gath- 
ered from some of our Lord's sayings that there was some intimate connection be- 
tween the two events ; though how to separate the type from the antitype, the les- 
ser from the more full accomplishment, they knew not. Thus did they, in their 
ignorance, as babes, surpass the wisdom of the wise."( ra ) 

Our Lord commences his reply to the inquiry of the Disciples, in the next verse; 
and His reply occupies the whole of the present and the following chapter. 

4, 5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no 
man deceive you. For many shall come in My Name, saying, I am 
Christ ; and shall deceive many. 

"And the time draweth near," (it is added in St. Luke's Gospel;) "go ye not 
therefore after them."(o) This then is the first " sign" to which our Lord directed 
the attention of His Church ; and we shall find that he recurs to it, in verse 23. 
In the Acts, one remarkable instance of the foretold imposture is recorded in the 
history of Simon Magus ;(p) and profane historians relate others. " It may be 
observed, ,; (says a thoughtful writer,) (?) "that as Josephus records the abundant 
fulfillment of all these things in the primary sense, the Bevelation of St. John 
shadows forth the same as again to be fulfilled in the latter days."(r) Our Lord 
proceeds to give His Disciples a second token in the two next verses, which are 
found in all the three Gospels,(s) — containing in each instance the same caution to 
the Disciples not to be terrified. 

[g) Williams. (h) See St. Mark xiii. 3. (i) St. Luke xxi. 7. 

( k) St. Mark xiii. 2. (I) Joshua vii. 9. 

m) From a MS. Sermon by the Eev. C. Marriott. (») Williams. 

o) St. Luke xxi. 8. (p) Acts viii. 9 to 11. (q) Williams. 

r) See Rev. xiii. 13, 14, &c. («) St. Mark xiii. 7, 8. St. Luke xxi. 9, 10, 11. 



XXIV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 213 

6, 7 And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars : see that ye be 
not troubled : for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not 
yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against king- 
dom : and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in 
divers places. 

"And fearful sights and great signs shall there be from Heaven," — it is added 
in St. Luke's Gospel; where see the note.(tf) 

8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 

Rather, " of birth-pangs." (u) The expression is remarkable, and in the highest 
degree suggestive, — recalling those many other places of Scripture where Creation 
is spoken of in kindred terms: now, as groaning and travailing, (x)— now, as des- 
tined to undergo a process of " Regeneration."^) It seems here to be implied that 
the beginning of that glorious change, — the birth-day of the new Creation, (2) — was 
already close at hand. ' 

9, 10 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill 
you : and ye shall be hated of all nations for My Name's sake. And 
then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall 
hate one another. 

This will be found given much more fully by St. Mark, — to whose Gospel the 
Reader is referred. (a) 

11, 12 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 

Rather, " of the many ;'? that is, " of most." Our Lord, therefore, here says, that 
while many will renounce the Faith, (for that is the " offence" spoken of in verse 
10 ;) and many will pervert it, (for that is the work of the "false prophets" noticed 
in verse 11 ;) the love of the larger number will experience decay. And St. Paul 
marks the fulfillment of his Lord's words in several places. (6) 

These "false prophets" (together with the "false Christs," in verse 5,) will be 
found named again in verse 24. It is instructive to compare the place with 1 St. 
John iv. 1, and 2 St. Peter ii. 1. 

18 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 

This is the perpetual counsel and promise of the Gospel. To patience there must 
be added perseverance, — Endurance, to the end. See the note on St. Matthew x. 
22, (where the same saying is found to recur;) and consider how large a share of 
notice, so much larger than might have been supposed by one who had never at- 
tended to the circumstance, this grace of Patience, Endurance, or "Abiding, (for the 
word in every case is the same,) obtains in the Gospel. "The Lord direct your 
hearts into the Love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ," (c) is almost 
a summary of the second Epistle to the Thessalonians.(d) 

14 And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the 
World for a witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come. 

"The end," namely, of Jerusalem, — already referred to in ver. 6. When He de- 
clared that " the Gospel must first be published among all nations,"(e) our Lord's 
words are not to be narrowed to suit our notions of what may be effected by ordi- 
nary human exertions. "Of the labours and success of the Apostolic body, what 
may we not infer, when St. Paul alone fully preached the Gospel almost throughout 
the Roman Empire, from Arabia to Damascus, from Jerusalem to Illyricum, in 

(t) On St. Luke xxi. 11. (u) Consider St. John xvi. 21. (x) Rom. viii. 22. 

(y) See St. Matthew xix. 28, and the note there. 

(z) See the note on St. Matthew iii. 17, &c. 

(a) See St. Mark xiii. 9 to 13, and the notes there. 

(6) See 2 Tim. i. 15 : iv. 10, 16. Hebrews x. 25. (c) 2 Thess. iii. 5. 

(d) See also the references in the foot note on St. Matth. iv. 7. (e) St. Mark xiii. 10. 



214 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Italy and in Spain ?(/) Scarcely a city of eminence in Asia Minor, in Macedonia, 
or in Greece, but was blessed with his presence, and enlightened by the doctrine of 
this great Teacher of the Gentiles. In Home itself, he bore witness to the Truth; 
and in the palace of the Emperor, he was not without his converts. "(jg)- From his 
Epistle to the Colossians, we learn that already had the Gospel been "preached to 
the whole Creation which is under Heaven :" that it had presented itself to the 
Colossians, as to " all the World." (h) "Have they not heard?" (he asks;) "Yes 
verily, their sound" — (meaning the voices of the Apostles, and thus interpreting a 
Prophecy,) — "their sound went into all the Earth, and their words unto the ends 
of the "YVorld. ; '(*') And even such a world-wide commission did their Divine Master 
give them, before His Ascension.(&) 

Having hitherto foretold the remote signs of the fall of Jerusalem, our Lord 
proceeds to describe the immediate tokens of its downfall. See the note on St. Luke 
xxi. 21. 

15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken 
of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth let 
him understand :) 

The place referred to, — Daniel ix. 27, (I) is obscure and difficult; but our Lord 
here helps us to fix the meaning of His prophet: for His words, as St. Luke relates 
them, were, — " When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know 
that the desolation thereof is nigh."(m) The allusion therefore, is to the standards 
of the Roman army, (which were held in " abomination" by the Jews both on 
account of the representations of the Emperor which they bore, and because the 
soldiers were known to offer sacrifice to them :) and it is foretold that the day was 
coming when those hateful ensigns of desolation should be seen standing on holy 
ground, "where they ought not;"(w) that is, compassing "the Holy City,"(o) round 
about. 

Thus then our Blessed Lord, having foretold in the preceding verses, first, what 
should be the remote signs of the destruction which was coming upon Jerusalem ;(jf) 
— and next, the afflictions which must first befall His Church ;(q) — begins, in this 
place, to describe what should be the signal that the judgments of Heaven were 
close at hand ; and to indicate to the believers what measures they should take in 
the hour of danger, to secure their own personal safety. 

It will be perceived that the few words which our Lord adds parenthetically, 
("let him that readeth understand, ") are intended to recall the first words of Daniel 
ix. 25. 

16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains : 

"And let them which are in the midst of it," (that is, of Jerusalem,) "depart 
out." So it is added in St. Luke's Gospel, — where see the notes, (r). It is there 
shown that a marvellous escape for the people of God was duly contrived by Divine 
Providence, even after the city was "compassed with armies" for the first time: 
as well as what an unmistakable token of coming danger was afterwards finished, 
when Titus finally encircled the city with a wall. 

17, 18, 19 let him which is on the housetop not come down to take 
anything out of his house : neither let him which is in the field return 
back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and 
to them that give suck in those days ! 

These three verses will be found discussed in the notes on St. Mark xiii. 15, 16, 17. 

20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the 
Sabbath day : 

And doubtless the Christian did make both these petitions theirs; doubtless also 

(/) See Gal. i. 17. Rom. xv, 19, 24, 28. (g) Churton,— quoting Phil. i. 13,; iv. 22. 

h) Col. i. 6, 23. (tj Rom. x. 18, quoting Ps. xix. 4. 

k) See St. Mark xvi. 15, (I) Compare Dan. xi. 31 : xii. 11. 

to) St. Luke xxi. 20. (n) St. Mark xiii. 14. (o) St. Matth. iv. 5: xxvii. 53. 

p) Verses 4 to 8. (q) Verses 9 to 14. (»•) On St. Luke xxi. 21 and 22. 



XXIV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 215 

in respect of both they were heard. As to the season of their flight, we know what 
happened: for the events alluded to in the note on St. Luke xxi. 24, which put it 
into the power of any one who pleased to leave the city, took place in the beginning 
of October, a. d. 66, — when the weather was yet mild, and favourable for travelling. 
Or, if any remained behind till the beginning of the final siege, which took place 
four years later, the result will have been still more striking: for that event belongs 
to the months of April or May. 

The Law which forbad more than "a Sabbath-day's journey" on the Sabbath- 
day, (s) was accounted binding by the Christian converts from Judaism ; at the time 
of the siege of Jerusalem; for the sanctions of the ceremonial Law, though they 
could not be any longer considered binding on the conscience, might not be all at 
once disregarded, — simply because Light and Immortality had been brought to light 
in the Gospel.(^) Thus we find St. Paul testifying his desire to keep the Jewish 
feasts at Jerusalem :(w) and conforming to the usages of the Law in many 
respects. (x) But it is clear that flight from the City to the distance of a single mile, 
(and "a Sabbath-day's journey" was no more,) would have been no boon while an 
enemy occupied the country, and there was a hostile party within the walls, ready 
to overtake and destroy the fugitives. Hence, then, the motive of the firstChris- 
tians for praying that their clay of flight might not be found to correspond with the 
Sabbath-day. 

21 for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the 
beginning of the World to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 

The argument is, — I bid you flee for your lives, escaping to the mountains ; and 
exhort you to pray that, when that hour arrives, neither feebleness of body, nor the 
severity of the season, nor the impediment of the Sabbath, may prevent you from 
availing yourselves of the timely warning: "for then shall be great tribulation." 

Josephus, after going over a sickening enumeration of the several horrors of ^the 
siege, (which will be found noticed more in detail in the note on St. Mark xiii. 19,) 
says that finding it impossible to go distinctly over every instance of these men's 
iniquity, he will remark briefly that neither did any other city ever suffer such 
miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than 
this, from the beginning of the world. " The blended horrors of war and sedition, 
of famine and pestilence, were grievous and astonishing, beyond example and 
beyond conception; and if we except the days when the Deluge overwhelmed a 
whole world of sinners, never did there perish so many of the human race in so 
short a period of time."(y) 

22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh 
be saved : but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 

See a long note on this, in the Commentary on St. Mark's Gospel.(2) " Many 
have shown how very accurately all things were fulfilled at the taking of Jerusalem: 
and the fulfillment was no doubt highly striking and remarkable ; for of course the 
circumstances were as exact as if our Lord's words had been historical and not pro- 
phetical." But, as the same writer with much truth adds, — "It is easier to see 
such literal fulfillments than to follow out what higher meanings our Lord's 
language may contain ; nor indeed is the pursuit of the former in itself so impor- 
tant; but being more sensible and palpable, the literal fulfillment of prophecy is 
better calculated for those weak believers who require such evidence."(a) In the 
highest degree interesting it must however be allowed to be, and ever worthy of our 
attention ; though the testimony of History to the Truth of Christ's words can of 
course add nothing to the Faith of him who entertains right notions of God. "Yea, 
let God be true, but every man a liar."(6) 

Our Lord then again takes up the subject of the false Christs, with which He had 
begun His Discourse, (c) False claimants to be the anointed Kedeemer of Israel 
were to arise; and the vain, but most seductive pretensions of these Impostors, was 

(s) Ex. xvi. 29. Compare Acts i. 12. (t) Consider Rom. xiv. 5, Gal. v. 3, Ac. 

(«) Acts, xviii. 21 : xx. 16. (x) Acts. xxi. 20 to 2Q. (y) Churton. 

(z) St. Mark xiii. 20. (a) Williams. (&) Rom. iii. 4. 

(c) See above, verses 4 and 5,— and the note. 



216 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

the special sign with which He both began and ended His reply to the inquiry, 
" What sign will there be when these things shall come to pass V'(d) 

By this however it is not meant that the four next verses belong to the former 
half of the present prophecy, — that is, are to be referred to the destruction of Jeru- 
salem rather than to the end of the World. We think, on the contrary, that the 
transition is made at this very place, and that it is made by the word li tlten" — with 
which verse 22 commences. (e) But "then" is a word of ambiguous signification: 
sometimes implying " at that same time:" sometimes, "next in order of time/' — 
which last we suspect, is in the main its meaning here: yet not exclusively, as is 
shown in the notes on verses 25 and 26. — It will be perceived therefore, that, 
besides a prediction of the remoter (/) and the nearer (g) signs of the Destruction 
of the City ; our Lord may be thought to have supplied His Church with a predic- 
tion of the remoter, (h) as well as the nearer (i) signs of his second Advent. That 
the same signs should be appealed to, in either case, need create no surprise. We 
know from other parts of Scripture that the signs will actually be the same. (A;) 

23, 24 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or 
there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false 
Prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders ; insomuch that, if it 
were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 

"Bather "so as to," (that is "in order to")(7) "deceive, if possible, even the 
elect ;" that is, the Christians. 

25 Behold, I have told you before. 

"The description of the seducers who should be the ruin of multitudes, was not 
so minute and full as the Holy Jesus, in compassion to those who believed on Him, 
and to those who did not, saw to be expedient. This point therefore, He graciously 
resumes ; and in the verses already quoted, and some which follow, delineates the 
impostors with such particularity, that they who had read the prediction, (and it 
was published early, that all might read it,) must have been blind not to see 
its accomplishment, if it ever was accomplished; and mad, to be deluded, if they 
did behold it. His admonition was:" 

26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the 
desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers: believe 
it not. 

"And the Jewish Historian Josephus, as if it had been his design to illustrate 
this passage, informs us that false prophets and impostors prevailed on multitudes 
to follow them into the desert, promising there to display prodigies and signs ; but 
that those who listened to them suffered the just punishment of their folly, and were 
either slain or dispersed by the Roman governor." One such case of imposture on 
the part of an Egyptian, is found alluded to in the Acts.(m) Other pretenders 
arose in Jerusalem itself. "Even at the last, when the Temple was in flames, mul- 
titudes of all ages flocked thither from the city, upon the proclamation of a false 
Prophet; and of six thousand assembled there, on this occasion, not one escaped 
the fire or the sword." (n) 

It is presumed, however, that by thus recurring to the subject of the " false 
Christs and false prophets" who should appear about the time alluded to, our 
Saviour referred to the impostors who should arise immediately after the destruc- 
tion of the city,(o) even more than to those whose boastful pretensions attended 
that event. Nay, the words of such a wondrous Speaker, may reasonably be sus- 
pected of yet greater depth and fullness ; may be thought to include in their far- 
sighted scope and intention the remote, no less than the immediate future, — so that 
the reference will be general, and extend to the whole of those "signs and lying 

(d) St. Luke xxi. 7. (e) And so St. Mark xiii. 21. (/) Ver. 4 to 14. 

(g) Ver. 15 to 22. (h) Ver. 23 to 28. \i) Ver. 29 to 33. 

(k) See on St. Mark xiii. 32. (I) Compare St. Mark xiii. 22. 

(m) See Acts xxi. 38, and the marginal note. 

(.n^ Churton. (o) See 1 St. John ii. 18. 



XXIV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 217 

wonders" of -which St. Paul speaks as reserved for the days of " the Man of Sin" 
which are to precede the final Advent of Christ. (p) 

Many indeed have thought that from ver. 23, onwards, has reference only to the 
end of the World ; but, as it seems, without sufficient reason. A view strictly in 
accordance with the nature of prophetic language in general would rather be, that 
while the warning was capable of a direct application to the days of the siege, and 
the period which came immediately after, our Lord's language was divinely con- 
trived to be also descriptive of events yet more remote, (q) Thus he is found to 
have fashioned his predictions of the Destruction of Jerusalem, (r) and of the De- 
struction of the World, (s) unmistakably on the same type, — in language which is 
intended to recall the History of the Destruction of Sodom. In which divine 
method there is no ambiguity, but there is wondrous depth and fullness, as well as 
a large amount of implied (and, it may well be thought, of unsuspected) doctrine. 
Doubtless, had our Saviour pleased, He could have specified the hour and the day, 
the month and the year, when the events He spoke of should occur: but would the 
Church then have been as watchful, as we know she was, — always "looking for, 
and hasting unto the coming of the Day of God ?"(/) She is purposely kept in 
ignorance of " the clay" and " the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh,"(z«) in 
order that she may "watch." 

On the whole, therefore, we assume that, in ver. 23, our Lord makes a transition, 
and proceeds to the second part of his reply. He explains that his final Coming, 
(concerning the signs as well as the time of which the Disciples had asked Him,) 
would neither be so remote as to require a journey into " the desert," nor so ob- 
scure as to be confined to "the secret chambers;" but would be known from one 
end of the World unto the other: — 

27, 28 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth 
even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man 
be : for wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered 
together. 

This proverbial saying, like so many others employed by our Lord, is not with- 
out difficulty. It seems here to imply, that as the place where a carcass has fallen 
is discoverable at once by the concourse of birds of prey which troop instantly to 
the spot, — (for as Job says of the eagle, "her eyes behold a-far off; her young 
ones also suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is she:")(x) — even so, at the 
end of the World, there will be no doubt or question as to the place where Christ 
is to be found. {if) The Lamb which was slain will be discoverable at once by the 
thousand thousands who will be congregated around Him. Where He is, there 
will the Saints(2) be gathered together. 

" The extraordinary instinct in birds of prey," (as one has remarked,) " by which 
they gather together from all quarters, even from beyond seas, to where a carcass 
falls, has often been observed as if it were something supernatural. It appears to 
be Nature's emblem of the manner in which, beyond all that can be accounted for 
by human reason, the good of all ages and countries flock together round the Body 
of Christ crucified."(a) 

At the same time we are disposed to believe that the Divine Speaker shaped his 
prediction in this striking language not without reference to the victorious eagles 
of the Koman army which should flock about the many slain of Jerusalem, in the 
day of her downfall : for the destruction of that city is obviously to be regarded at 
once as a type and an earnest of that final Coming of Christ to take vengeance on 
his enemies, of which he is here speaking. The capture of Jerusalem by the Ro- 
mans is foretold by Moses in language truly apposite to the present occasion : 

(p) 2 Thess. ii. 1 to 10. Consider however 1 Tim. iv. 1 to 3: 2 Tim. iii. 1 to 5: iv. 1 to 4. 
2 St. Peter ii. 1. 1 St, John ii. IS: iv. 1, 3. Jude ver. 17, 18, &c. 

(q) Consider such places of prophecy as Mai. iii. 1, 2, 3: Zech. xii. 10 : St. Luke xiii. 35. 

f r) Consider verses 16 to 18, above : and see the note on St. Mark xiii. 16. 

(s) Consider St. Luke xvii. 28 to 32. 

(0 2 St. Peter iii. 12. See also 1 Cor. i. 7. Tit, ii. 13, &c. 

(w) St. Matth. xxv. 13. See xxiv. 42, 44. St. Mark xiii. 33, 35. St. Luke xii. 39, 40 : xxi. 
36. 1 Thess. v. 2. 2 St. Peter iii. 10, &c. (x) Job xxxix. 29, 30. See also Habakkuk i. 8. 

Ly) Consider St. Luke xvii. 37.- (0 See Isaiah xl. 31. («) Williams. 



218 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

" The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the Earth, 
— as the eagle flieth."(b) 

With reference to the days of the Destruction of Jerusalem, and the great tribu- 
lation^) which should then prevail, our Lord proceeds : — 

29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be 
darkened, and the Moon shall not give her light, and the Stars shall 
fall from Heaven, and the Powers of the heavens shall be shaken : 

"Immediately," — in the sight of God: with whom "one day is .... as a 
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (d) But in truth, the word 
here rendered " immediately," means rather "straightway" or " in due course." 
Almost eighteen hundred years since the beginning of " those days" have elapsed 
already ; and the end is not yet. 

And this is almost all we shall offer on the language or the imagery of the text ; 
the frequent recurrence of which, in the Old Testament, is certainly very remark- 
able, (e) Its precise meaning, since the events alluded to belong to the department 
of unfulfilled prophecy, the result must be left to determine. True indeed it is 
that Sun, Moon, and Stars are often spoken of figuratively, — are sometimes put 
symbolically for Christ, and his Church, and his Saints : true also it is, that, as at 
our Saviour's Birth it was foretold that " every valley should be filled, and every 
mountain and hill should be brought low,"(y) — words which do not admit of being 
understood literally, — so may the present place be rightly explained by those many 
ancient Fathers who interpret it altogether in a figurative manner. For ourselves, 
we prefer to take our Lord's words in the most literal sense they will possibly 
bear ; suggesting only that beneath that literal sense and literal fulfillment, there 
may lie a mystical intention also.(#) If the Sun " put on mourning" at the Cruci- 
fixion, why may he not "be darkened" at the second Advent? But it is safer to 
meditate on the mysterious predictions of the text, than to pretend to explain them. 

30 and then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven : 
and then shall all the tribes of the Earth mourn, 

Thus far is peculiar to the present Gospel. " The sign of the Son of Man" is 
generally explained to be the Cross : but does it mean more than " the Son of 
Man?" The mourning of " the tribes of the Earth" is from Zechariah xii. 12. 

and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven 
with power and great glory. 

The Reader should compare this description of Christ's final Advent to judg- 
ment, with Daniel vii. 13, and Revelation i. 7.{h) " Those clouds," (says Bishop 
Pearson,) "were anciently expounded by the Jews of the glorious attendance of 
the Angels waiting upon the Son of Man."(i) 

31 And He shall send His Angels with a great sound of a trumpet, 
and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one 
end of Heaven to the other. 

He shall " send forth his Angels ;" for these are the ministers of his, that do His 
pleasure." (k) Moreover there will be " a great sound of a trumpet ;" " for the 
Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God."(Z) " The four winds" are spoken of, as there 
are said to be "four corners of the Earth." (m) 

(b) DeuA xxviii. 49. This must not be thought conclusive however : for see Jer. xlviii. 40: 
xlix. 22. Lam. iv. 19. Ezek. xvii. 3, 12. Hos. viii. 1, in none of which places the Romans 
are spoken of. (c) See above ver. 21. {d) 2 St. Peter iii. 8. 

(e) See Isaiah xiii. 10, Ezek. xxxii. 7. Joel ii. 31, 32 : iii. 15, 16. Amos viii. 9. 

{/) St. Luke iii. 5, from Isaiah xl. 4. 

(a) Compare Rev. vi. 12, and especially 14, 13, with Is. xxxiv. 4. See Rev. viii. 10, 11, 12 : 
ix. 1 : xii. 4. See also Is. xiii. 13. Heb. xii. 26, 27. Again Dan. xii. 3. 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42. 
Phil. ii. 15. (h) Also St. Matth. xvi. 27: xxvi. 64. 

(t) Compare Heb. xii. 1. (&) Ps. ciii. 21. Consider St. Matth. xiii. 39, 41, 49. 

(0 1 Thess. iv. 16. So 1 Cor. xv. 52. .. 

(m) See Is. xliii. 5, 6 : also St. Matth. viii. 11. Ezek. xxxvii. 9. Zech. n. 6. Rev. vn. 1. 



XXIV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 219 

32, 33 Now learn a parable of the fig tree ; when his branch is yet 
tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh : so like- 
wise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even 
at the doors. 

Not, " it is near," but " He," that is, the Judge spoken of in ver. 30, " is near/' 
St. James alludes to this place when he says, "Behold, the Judge standeth before 
the door."^) The Reader is referred to the note on St. Mark xiii. 29, for some 
remarks on the preceding verses. 

" Thus far, then, Christ speaks of the end of the World and its signs, as he had 
spoken of the Destruction of Jerusalem and its signs. He next proceeds to reveal 
as much as seems good to Him concerning the time when the two events should 
respectively take place. Observe that He still speaks of " these things" as the 
words are used in the question put to Him, — namely, as concerning the Destruction 
of Jerusalem, which He had foretold; and by doing so, had caused the question to 
be put to Him."(o) His words were,— 

34, 35 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all 
these things be fulfilled. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My 
words shall not pass away. 

This very solemn assurance which is found repeated in all the three Gospels,(jp) 
clearly had reference to the existing race of the nation which our Lord addressed. 
See on St. Mark xiii. 31. 

Thus far then of " these tilings." Our Lord proceeds to speak of the other Day 
about which He had been asked, — " the Day of His Coming, and of the end of the 
World." He says,— 

36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the Angels of 
Heaven, but My Father only. 

Concerning this verse, see on St. Mark xiii. 32. 

37, 38, 39 But as the days of Noe ivere, so shall also the Coming of 
the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood 
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until 
the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood 
came, and took them all away ; so shall also the coming of the Son of 
Man be. 

A similar reference to " the days of Noe," as typical of the final overthrow of 
the World, will be found to have been already made by our Lord on another occa- 
sion.^) Then, he proceeded to recall the History of Sodom also :(?•) but not now, 
because the fate of that guilty city has been already brought before us.(s) 
_ Take notice that it would appear from what precedes, as if, although fearful 
signs, " are to precede the last Judgment, yet that Day itself will come in a time 
of thoughtless security ; which seems to be intimated by the eating and drinking, 
marrying and giving in marriage ; and still more so by the buying and selling, 
planting and building, " as in the days of ~Lot."{t) 

40, 41 Then shall two be in the field : the one shall be taken, and 
the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill ; the one shall 
be taken, and the other left. 

Some remarks on this place will be found in the note on St. Luke xvii. 36. 

42, 43, 44 Watch therefore : for ye know not what hour your Lord 

(n) St. James v. 9. See also Philip, iv. 5. 
(o) From a MS. Sermon by the Rev. C. Marriott. 

(p) St. Mark xiii. 30, 31. St. Luke xxi. 32, 33. (?) St. Luke xvii. 26, 27. 

(r) St. Luke xvii. 28 to 32. . (s) See above, ver. 16 to 18, where see the notes. 

0) Williams. 



220 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had 
known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, 
and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be 
ye also ready : for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man 
cometh. 

This warning is of perpetual recurrence, (u) and of general obligation: "but what 
follows, to the end of the chapter, is addressed more particularly to those who are 
"made rulers over the Lord's Household." (x) The place is to be compared with a 
portion of St. Luke's twelfth chapter; of which, ver. 38 will be found a fitting 
introduction to ver. 42, above ; while verses 39 and 40 of St. Luke correspond with 
verses 43 and 44 of the present chapter. A question asked by St. Peter follows in 
St. Luke's Gospel, — "Lord, speakest Thou this Parable unto us, or even to all ?"(?/) 
— out of which naturally arise the sayings which are found in the ensuing seven 
verses of the present chapter, and which also occur in St. Luke. (2) This must be 
allowed to be a very surprising circumstance ; well deserving of our most reverent 
attention. 

45, 46, 47 Who then is a faithful and wise Servant, whom his Lord 
hath made ruler over his Household, to give them meat in due season ? 
Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so 
doing.- Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all 
His goods. 

Every word here is suggestive. Take notice that he who is set over the House- 
hold, is but a Servant, after all: and of him it is required that he be not only 
faithful, but wise also. To zeal there must be added discretion. A "ruler" he is ; 
yet what is his office? Even, like a good Pastor, to feed the sheep and the little 
lambs of Christ's fold,(a) giving to each the "milk" or the "strong meat,"(&) "in 
due season:" "seasonably dispensing the Word of Life to a Household which is to 
be nourished with the food of Eternity ."(c) What words shall describe the blessed- 
ness of the " servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing?" "Well 
done, thou good and faithful servant," (it will be said;) " thou hast been faithful 
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the 
joy of thy Lord!"(cZ) — words which recall, if they do not help to explain, what is 
read above, in ver. 47. 

48, 49, 50, 51 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My 
Lord delayeth His coming : and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, 
and to eat and drink with the drunken : the Lord of that servant shall 
come in a day when he looketh not for Him, and in an hour that he is 
not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion 
with the hypocrites : there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

Concerning the last words, see the end of the note on St. Matthew viii. 12. With 
those which precede, compare 2 St. Peter iii. 3 to 10. — Take notice that Teachers 
of the Gospel are here addressed; who, if they neglect their duty, will have the 
same punishment as those who pretended to believe, but were in fact " unbe- 
lievers." (e) Then follows the parable of "the wise and foolish Virgins," — which is 
again succeeded by the parable of "the Talents." Both are fitly introduced by the 
word of exhortation which is found above in ver. 42; or by that which St. Mark 
preserves in this place, — "And what I say unto you, I say unto all, — Watch !"(/) 

i) See above, the latter part of the notes on ver. 26, together with the reference. 
\x) See below, ver. 45 : also 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2 : Tit. i. 7 : f St. Peter iv. 10. 
\y) St. Luke xii. 41. (z) St. Luke xii. 42 to 46. (a) St. John xxi. 15, 16, 17. 

b) Heb. v. 12, 14. (c) Hilary. [d) St. Matth. xxv. 21. 

' St. Luke xii. 46. (/) St. Mark xiii. 37. 



XXV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 221 



CHAPTER XXV 



1 The parable of tlie Ten Virgins. 14 And of the Talents. 31 Also the descrip- 
tion of the last Judgment. 

The parable of "the Ten Virgins" with which the present chapter "begins, and 
which is peculiar to the present Gospel, sets forth and enforces the duty of Watch- 
fulness; taking up the solemn train of Exhortation with which the preceding chap- 
ter concludes. Christ is here the Bridegroom, while the Church, (as throughout 
the Song of Solomon,) is His Bride. This image has come before us repeatedly, 
already: in truth it gives a colour to the language both of the Old and the New 
Testament, (a) The time spoken of is the End, — whether of Life, or of the World. 
It need not perplex us that the Church, here, is represented both by the Bride and 
the Virgins; for, as all must perceive, and as we have so often remarked, neither 
Type nor Parable may be so pressed as if it were the very thing it signified. It is 
also to be observed that, as if to preclude any confusion of thought, the Bride is not 
once mentioned throughout the present Parable. "We should ever in expounding a 
Parable, hold fast, throughout, the Lesson which it was chiefly intended to convey ; 
and concerning which we are seldom left in doubt. (b) 

Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten Virgins, 
which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the Bridegroom. 

This is scarcely intelligible without reference to the method of performing the 
Marriage Rite among the Jews. The Bride was conducted at evening by the 
Bridegroom from her Father's House to his own, — where a Feast awaited their 
arrival: and this act of bringing the Bride home, was the completion of the 
Marriage. She was attended by a company of Virgins, according to the allusion in 
the 45th Psalm ;(c) and it is plain from the course of the present narrative, that it 
was the office of at least some of these to wait for the approach of the Bridal pro- 
cession, — even though its arrival might be delayed till midnight. But it was at 
least dark; so that the Virgins were perforce furnished with lamps. 

Ten Virgins do not so much represent the whole body of Christian men who 
expect Christ's Coming, as two great sections of Believers. (d) — The Jews saw a 
singular propriety in the number ten, which was the number of "a company." 
Virgins are named, — because as many as wait for the Lord Jesus Christ, and pro- 
fess to "love His appearing," (e) are professors of a pure Faith. 

2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 

The two characters which were contrasted at the end of our Lord's Sermon on 
the Mount, are thus brought before us.(/) Take notice that three out of four suffer 
loss in the Parable of "the Sower:" while here, half are rejected: in the parable 
of "the Talents," it is one in three: in the parable of "the Pounds," it is one in 
ten:(g) while, in the parable of "the Marriage of the King's Son," it is one out of 
an infinite number.Qi) The intention of this seems to have been to repress the 
inquiry, "Lord, are there few that be saved V'(i) 

(a) See the notes on St. Matt. xxii. 3: St. John iii. 1, &c. 

(b) Consider St. Matthew xx. 16, and the note prefixed to that chapter: St. Luke xviii. 1, and 
9. See also below, ver 13. (e) Ps. xlv. 14, 15. 

(d) See below, the last note on ver. 4. (e) 2 Tim. iv. 8. 

(/) See St. Matth. vii. 24, 26. (g) St. Luke xix. 13, 20. 

(h) St. Matth. xxii. 11. (i) St. Luke xiii. 23. 



222 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

3, 4 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with 
them : but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 

In this, then, consisted their wisdom or their folly. It has been much disputed 
what is implied by the supply of oil spoken of here, and in verse 9. But surely we 
may be content with the explanation which most obviously presents itself. To 
"have our loins girded about, and our lights burning, and to be ourselves like unto 
men that wait for their Lord when He will return from the Wedding," — is the 
injunction delivered by Christ Himself to His Church.(ft) Elsewhere, the Saints 
are termed the Light of the World :(7) they are compared to a lighted lamp or 
candle ;(m) and they are commanded to "let their light shine before men."(?i)" It 
is clear that men's " sufficiency, " in all these respects, "is of God."(o) The gifts 
and graces of the Spirit, (of which Oil hath ever been an essential symbol,)(p) are 
evidently the Light we have to display. Nor will it suffice to exhibit this spectacle 
for a few days or hours. The lamp must be replenished, (as man has need of daily 
renewal,) or its flames will grow feeble, and at last expire. 

Negligence, therefore, in obtaining supplies of grace, — a slothful service, — is 
clearly that against which the present Parable is specially intended as a warning. 
We shall read the same lesson in the Parable "of the Talents," which follows; and 
in the Parable of "the Pounds," which St. Luke records. A solemn warning, 
surely, to as many as imagine that nothing but open Sin will exclude from accept- 
ance with God. The fault of the five foolish Virgins was, not that they had no 
oil, but that they had not enough; so that, at the end of a few hours, they were left 
in darkness. As already remarked, therefore, it is not so much the whole body of 
the Church which is represented by these two companies of Virgins, as the earnest 
and careful, on the one hand, — the slothful and careless, on the other. And 
observe, the foolish Virgins were not distinguishable from the wise, at first. Like 
the Tares among the wheat, (q) and the House described at the end of our Lord's 
Sermon on the Mount,(r) the outward show of all was equally promising, when they 
went forth to meet the Bridegroom. But he delayed his coming ; and — 

5 While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 

The meaning of the original is that from a state of drowsiness, they fell into sound 
slumber. They expected the Bridegroom, — who hath now tarried for more than 
eighteen hundred years. Meanwhile, first one, then another falls asleep; {s) and 
even those few who shall be alive at Christ's coming, since they will be taken by 
surprise, may be spoken of as roused from slumber by the Bridegroom's approach. 
Sleep moreover is the condition of too many at all times ; whence the Apostolic 
Exhortation, — "Now is it high time to wake out of sleep, for now is our Salvation 
nearer than when we believed."(0 

6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the Bridegroom 
cometh; go ye out to meet Him. 

"A cry," — for the Lord "will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice 
of the Archangel, and with the trump of God."(m) And this takes place " at mid- 
night," (when a loud cry sounds loudest!) — because "the Day of the Lord so cometh 
as a thief in the night," (x) — and because Christ will appear "in an hour when Men 
look not for Him"(y) But there is no reason why we should doubt that Christ will 
come at midnight, literally. 

7 Then all those Virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 

But five of them "trimmed their lamps" to no purpose. It was useless to raise 
and cleanse the wick, unless they had wherewith to feed the expiring flames 

[7c) St. Luke xii. 35, 36. (1) St. Matth. v. 14. Compare Phil. ii. 15. 

m) St. Matth. v. 15, and St. Mark iv. 21, (where see the notes.) 

'«) St. Matth. v. 16. Consider Joh xviii. 6: xxi. 17. (o) 2 Cor. iii. 5. 

*p) Consider Exod. xxx. 25 to 31. Zech. iv. 11 to 14. Heb. i. 9. 1 St. John ii. 20, 27, &c. 

\) See the first note on St. Matth. xii. 24. (r) See the first note on St. Luke vi. 49. 

\s) Consider St. Matth. ix. 24, St. John xi. 11. 1 Cor. xv. 18, &c. &c. (*) Rorn. xii. 11. 

[«) 1 Thess. iv. 16. (as) 1 Thess. v. 2. 

{y) See St. Matt. xxiv. 44, 50, and St. Luke xii. 46. 



XXV.] 



ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 223 



also . . . The hasty preparation of the soul in the great and terrible day, to meet 
its God, (2) is here obscurely hinted. Thrice happy he, who in that dreadful hour 
shall prove, like the Spouse in the 45th Psalm, "all glorious within!" {a) 

8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of jour oil; for our 
lamps are gone out. 

Or rather, "are going out," — as in the margin. Little hand-lamps are spoken of, 
calculated to burn for a very short time. At the beginning, all were bright; but 
the Bridegroom had delayed his return from the Wedding, and the slender supply 
of oil was by this time exhausted . . . The miserable wish of the wicked, in the 
last day, (miserable, because so unavailing!) to supply their own lack of Light from 
the brightness of the just, — who will then be about to " shine forth as the Sun in 
the Kingdom of their Father, "(6) — is here foretold. 

9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so ; lest there be not enough 
for us and you : but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for your- 
selves. 

They answer abruptly and briefly, for the time is short : not unkindly, but hum- 
bly. Their answer implies, first, that there is no superfluous stock of merit among 
the Saints, which may be applied to remedy the shortcomings of the less holy sort, 
"lest," (in the words of the Parable,) "there be not enough for us and you." Nay, 
"there is none that doeth good, no, not one '"(c) but " when ye shall have done all 
those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants."(<2) 
Next, it is implied that he who needs, must buy;(e) and further, that he who would 
bug, must not look to his fellow-men, — to beings, weak and poor, and dependent as 
himself, — but must "go to those who sell:" to Him, in short, who alone hath an 
ample store, and who inviteth all to come and buy of Him ; without money indeed 
and without price,^) yet not without earnest prayer and hearty endeavour. How 
fruitlessly those who, in their lifetime, have neglected opportunities, will seek to 
repair the omission " in the hour of Death and in the Day of Judgment," — the 
conclusion of the Parable sets forth in calm but fearful language. 

10 And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came ; and they 
that were ready went in with Him to the Marriage : and the door was 
shut. 

Concerning the shut door, the Reader is referred to the last note on St. Luke xi. 
7. The phrase "they that were ready" supplies, as it were, the key-note of the 
Parable ; and connects it closely with the warnings of the former chapter, — par- 
ticularly with that in verse 44. But how shall language adequately suggest what 
is implied concerning the happiness of those who having waited long for their 
Lord, at last " went in with Him to the Marriage ?" " Mysterious and blissful 
words !" (exclaims a pious Writer ;) " Here is the union of Earth with Heaven ; 
the consummation of all spiritual joys, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. Here is ' the Marriage 
supper of the Lamb/ (g) the Marriage feast which has been so often spoken of, — 
where is the good wine which the Heavenly Bridegroom hath kept to the last I" (h) 
. . . Thither are " the Wise" admitted : " the foolish," excluded from the festive 
scene, find themselves in "outer darkness ;"(i) and this "near miss of happiness," 
(as Leighton remarks,) " is the greatest misery." 

11, 12 Afterward came also the other Virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, 
open to us. But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know 
you not. 

Even thus, " Many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. 
When once the Master of the House .... hath shut to the door, and ye begin to 

See Amos iv. 12. (a) Ps. xlv. 13. Consider St. Luke xi. 36, Ac. 

'b) St. Matth. xiii. 43. (c) Ps. xiv. 3, quoted in Rom. iii. 12. 

d) St. Luke xvii. 10. Consider 1 St. Peter iv. 18. 

,e) Consider St. Matth. xiii. 44 and 46. (/) Is. Iv. 1. (g) Rev. xix. 9. 

[h) Williams. (i) See the notes on St. Matth. viii. 11 and 12. 



224 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us : and 
He shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are." (7c) 

Our Saviour Christ is said not to " know" those whom He doth not approve, 
and acknowledge to be his. Consider St. Matthew vii. 23, where see the note. — 
The knowledge thus hinted at is not only deep and intimate, but mutual also. (7) 
The Door is now set wide open, and all are invited, almost compelled to come in;(w) 
but the day of Probation comes to an end, and the Door is then shut, — never more 
to be opened. (n) "No one's penitence, no one's prayer, no one's groaning, shall 
any more be admitted. That door is shut which received Aaron after his Idolatry, 
— which admitted David after his Adultery and Homicide ; which not only did not 
repel Peter after his threefold denial, but even delivered the keys to hini."(o) 

What then is the sum of the matter? " The Day of the Lord so cometh as a 
thief in the night .... Therefore let us not sleep, as do others ; but let us watch 
and be sober." (p) And so it follows, 

13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein 
the Son of Man cometh. 

" Neither the day nor the hour:" as it is also said elsewhere.(g) And with these 
words, our Blessed Lord concludes his Parable. 

" The Virgins were represented above, as waiting for their Lord; while in the 
Parable which follows, we behold the Servants working for Him : — there, the inward 
spiritual rest of the Christian was described, — here, his external activity/' (r) 

The Parable of "the Talents," to which our attention is next directed, resembles 
in many respects the Parable of "the Pounds;" but the two are wholly distinct. 
While St. Matthew alone gives the present Parable, the other is found to be pecu- 
liar to St. Luke's Gospel. (s) 

14, 15 For the Kingdom of Heaven is as a Man travelling into a far 
country, ivho called his own servants, and delivered unto them his 
goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to an- 
other one ; to every man according to his several ability ; and straight- 
way took his journey. 

Even so Christ, when He returned to the Father, "gave some, Apostles; and 
some, Prophets ; and some, Evangelists ; and some, Pastors and Teachers," &c.:(t) 
for " there are diversities of gifts, but the same SriRiT."(w) And take notice, that 
as we are elsewhere reminded that "all these worketh that one and the selfsame 
Spirit, dividing unto every man severally as He ioill,"(x) so are we here assured 
that to every man He giveth "according to his several ability." Every one, there- 
fore, is entrusted with as many advantages, as many of God's gifts, as he is able to 
bear ; and from this Parable we have learned to call one class of those gifts by the 
very name of " Talents." 

The contrast between the present Parable and that of "the Pounds," begins im- 
mediately to strike us ; for, in the other, the sum entrusted to each servant was one 
and the same.(y) 

16, 17 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded 
with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that 
had received two, he also gained other two. 

Surely, the calling of the Merchant and the Banker hath been ennobled by the 
use to which the Lord of Heaven and Earth applies it ! 

The contrast already noticed continues to strike us. Instead of the same sum 
multiplied in different proportions, we are here presented with different sums which 
multiply in the same proportion. One of the servants in St. Luke's Parable, who 

(7c) St. Luke xiii. 24, 25. 

(I) Consider St. John x. 14. 2 Tim. ii. 19. See also Phil. iii. 10. 

(m) See St. St. Luke xiv. 21 to 23. (n) Consider St. Luke xix. 41, 42 : also xvi. 26. 

(o) From an ancient Homily, quoted by Trench. (p) 1 Thess. v. 2, 6. 

(q) St. Matth. xxiv. 50, and St. Luke xii. 46. (r) Trench. 

(s) St. Luke xix. 12 to 27. (*) Eph. iv. 11. («) 1 Cor. xii. 4. 

(x) 1 Cor. xii. 11. (y) St. Luke xix. 13. 



XXV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 225 

had a pound entrusted to him, comes before his Lord, saying, " Lord, thy pound 
hath gained ten pounds ;" and another, who had been entrusted with the same 
sum, announces a gain of "five." But here, the gain is in exact proportion to the 
sum entrusted : the five talents have grown into "other five;" and the two, into 
two more. Thus, while St. Luke's Parable reminds us that in spiritual matters, as 
in temporal, splendid success may be the result of strenuous exertion and bold 
" ventures of Faith," St. Matthew's sets forth the equally important truth, that to 
whomsoever God hath entrusted much, of them he will require the more. (z) Three 
classes of men are exhibited by the Parable of " the Pounds :"(«) only two by the 
Parable of "the Talents." 

18 But he that had received one, went and digged in the earth, and 
hid his Lord's money. 

How striking is the warning here conveyed ; and which seems specially addressed 
to those censorious ones, who, lamenting their own limited opportunities, neglect 
them also! It is discovered that the servants who were entrusted with the ten tal- 
ents and the five, fully availed themselves of their advantages. Not so " he that 
had received one" He alone it was who did nothing: but "went and digged in 
the earth, and hid his Lord's money!" . . . "His Lord's money," not his own; for 
it was their Lord's goods which were distributed among them."(&) 

And yet it may well be thought strange that the parable should run thus : for 
certainly every man's experience must rather suggest the belief that large opportu- 
nities are often misused or neglected; while an inferior stewardship is more com- 
monly turned to excellent account. But does not the force of the warning perhaps 
consist in this, — namely, that every man, whatever may be his opportunities of 
serving God, is prone to look upon those opportunities as small, compared with 
those of others? to assume that he has been entrusted with only "one Talent?" 
The man of business persuades himself that want of leisure is what makes him un- 
fruitful: he who is unfettered by business, on the contrary, attributes all his faults 
to his idleness. The man of fortune, because he finds that he moves among tempta- 
tions, discourses of virtuous poverty ; and is convinced that Virtue may be easily 
practised in a cottage. Surrounded by just as many temptations, (though of a 
wholly different kind,) the poor man reckons up all the miracles of goodness he 
would certainly perform, if he had but the means ! ... It ever hath been, it ever 
will be so. 

19, 20 After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh, and 
reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came 
and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, Thou deliveredst unto me 
five talents : behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. 

The language is not the same which invites our attention in St. Luke xix. 16. 

21 His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful ser- 
vant : thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler 
over many things : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 

He had been "good" as well as "faithful," — showing his Faith by his Works:(c) 
and great was his reward, — "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" for, "in His 
presence, there is fullness of joy.(cZ) " It is but little we can receive here," (says 
Leighton, beautifully ;) "some drops of Joy that enter into us: but there, we shall 
enter into Joy, — as vessels put into a Sea of Happiness." 

22, 23 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, 
Thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other 
talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and 
faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make 
thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 

(z) See St. Luke xii. 48. (a) See the note on St. Luke xix. 19, 

(6) Williams. _ (c) St, James ii. 14 to 26. 



(d) Psalm xvi. 11. Compare xxi. 6. 



15 



226 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

" In the joyful coming forward of the faithful Servants, we see an example of 
' boldness in the Day of Judgment.' (e) They had something to show."(jO 

24, 25 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, 
Lord, I knew Thee that Thou art an hard man, reaping where Thou 
hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed : and I was 
afraid, and went and hid Thy talent in the earth : lo, there Thou hast 
that is Thine. 

" If only he may roll off a charge from himself, he cares not for affixing one on 
his Lord." The churl regards his Lord as churlish also ; " for every one's thoughts 
of God are according to his own character. The just man apprehends His Justice ; 
the merciful man, His Mercy ; the pure in heart, His Holiness. But the wicked 
man judges of God according to his own wickedness."^) 

He has hard thoughts of him, as if he were such an one as himself -,(Ji) and 
" does not believe in his gracious acceptance of the work with all its faults, which 
was done with a sincere desire to please Hhn."($ 

26, 27 His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and 
slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and 
gather where I have not strawed : thou ought est therefore to have put 
my money to the exchangers, and then at My coming I should have 
received Mine own with usury. 

That is, — Thou knowest (sayest thou) that I am unfair in my dealings, and un- 
reasonable in my expectations: shouldest thou not then have been the more scru- 
pulous and painstaking? If thou wert incapable of undertaking any of those 
bolder ventures of Faith, which, for every hundred embarked, yield a hundred 
more, — wherefore didst thou not at least avail thyself of one of those ordinary 
methods of investment which yield some increase, however small ? Tell me not of 
risk and insecurity,. The principal sum, with its increase, I would have come and 
claimed, in person. The risk would have been all my own. . . . Take notice that 
" Usury" is the old word for " Interest." 

" Those timid natures which are not suited to independent labour in the King- 
dom of God are here counselled at least to attach themselves to other stronger 
characters, under whose leading they may lay out their gifts to the service of the 
Church."(T) 

28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which 
hath ten talents. 

For " the privileges and gifts of God are not lost, but transferred from him that 
has abused them to one more worthy : from Esau to Jacob, from Saul to David, 
from Judas Iscariot to St. Matthias, from Israel to the Gentiles." (I) " Hold fast 
that which thou hast," (saith the Spirit,) " that no man take thy croiun."{m) 

The striking resemblance of the five preceding verses to as many in the parable 
of " the Pounds" in St. Luke's Gospel, will be found pointed out in a note on St. 
Luke xix. 24. 

29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have 
abundance : but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that 
which he hath. 

This saying will be found fully discussed in the Commentary on St. Mark iv. 25. 
See also on Matthew xiii. 12. 

30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness : there 
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

(e) 1 St. John iv. 17. (/) Consider 1 Thess. ii. 19. Compare 2 Cor. i. 14, and Phil. v. 1. 

(g) Williams. (h) Psalm 1. 21. (i) Trench. 

(k) Olshausen. (0 Williams. (m) Rev. iii. 11. 



XXV.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 227 

What this expression denotes, may be discovered "by a comparison of St. Matthew 
viii. 12, and xxii. 13, (n) with xiii. 42 and 50. 

This then is the doom of "the unprofitable servant;" whose sins were those of 
omission, not of commission. What severity of Judgment must therefore await 
the man who lustfully squanders the talent committed to his keeping ; if " outer 
darkness" is the punishment of him who slothfully buries it in the Earth !(o) 

What (once more) is the sum of the matter? "Having then gifts, differing 
according to the grace that is given to us, whether Prophecy, let us prophesy 
according to the proportion of Faith ; or Ministry, let us wait on our ministering ; 
or he that teacheth, on teaching," &c. In fine, " not slothful in business ; fervent 
in spirit ; serving the Lord."(j?) 

Then follows a very remarkable passage, which ends the chapter ; and may be 
considered, in some sort, as the solemn Commentary of the Spirit on the two 
parables which precede. 

31 When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory, and all the holy 
Angels with Him, 

Alluding to the language of Zechariah xiv. 5. As He appeared on Sinai, (g) so 
will He appear at the end of the world, (r) This is what is meant by that " coming 
in the clouds," of which the Prophet Daniel, our Lord himself, and the beloved 
Disciple speak. (s) " Those clouds/' (says Bp. Pearson,) " were anciently expounded 
by the Jews of the glorious attendance of the Angels waiting upon the Son of 
Man."(Y) When He cometh, — 

32, 33 then shall He sit upon the throne of His Glory : and before 
Him shall be gathered all nations : and He shall separate them one 
from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats : and 
He shall set the sheep on His Eight Hand, but the goats on the Left. 

The remark has been already made,(«) that under such images, the Heavenly 
Husbandman delights to discourse of his dealings with his people. There seems 
to be a reference here to the language of Ezekiel xxxiv. 17. Concerning " the 
Eight" as the place of Honour, see the note on St. Luke i. 11. 

34, 35, 36 Then shall the King say unto them on His Right Hand, 
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for 
you from the foundation of the World : for I was an hungered, and ye 
gave Me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink : I was a stranger, 
and ye took Me in : naked, and ye clothed Me : I was sick, and ye 
visited Me : I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. 

Of all the Christian graces, the grace of Mercy is singled out in this striking 
manner, as if to be the type of all the rest : and the six Acts of Mercy thus speci- 
fied four times in succession, are, — Feeding the Hungry, Giving Drink to the 
Thirsty, Receiving the Stranger, Clothing the Naked, Visiting the Sick, and Going 
after the Prisoners. 

This enumeration of the actions on which the Decision of the Great and Terrible 
Day is described as depending, will be regarded as a very striking circumstance, — 
when it is considered that they are such acts as a heretic and unbeliever might 
practise. One reason why so much stress is laid upon them may be, that, (unlike 
martyrdom and acts of herioc virtue,) they are within the reach of all. "And 
although a man may give all his goods to feed the poor, and yet not have Charity;" 
yet he can scarcely practise these works consistently, without Charity, or the Love 
of Christ : they are of themselves the best preparation of the heart to receive that 
love : and although persons may practise all these, and yet admit false doctrine 
from unavoidable ignorance, yet, if they practise them conscientiously, and as 

(n) See the remarks on St. Matthew viii. 11 and 12. (o) Augustine. 

(p) Rom. xii. 6, 7, 11. (q) Deut. xxxiii. 2. 

(»■) See St. Matth. xvi. 27. 1 Thess. iii. 13, and 2 Thess. i. 7. Also St. Jude 14. 

(s) Dan. vii. 13, alluded to in St. Matth. xxiv. 30 and xxvi. 64 ; Rev. i. 7. 

(t) Consider the expression in Heb. xii. 1. («) See the note on St. Mark iii. 17. 



228 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Christ has commanded them to be done, they indicate such a love for the Truth 
that they will receive it when it is brought before them. 

37, 38, 39 Then shall the Righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, 
when saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee ? or thirsty, and gave 
Thee drink? when saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee ml or 
naked, and clothed Thee f or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and 
came unto Thee ? 

The surprise they are made to testify, expresses in a lively manner the feeling 
of wonder with which the Righteous will hear their Divine Masters recognition of 
their virtuous endeavors, " in that Day." See more below, in the note on ver. 44. 

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto 
you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My 
Brethren, ye have done it unto Me. 

So entirely does our Great Head identify himself with the very least of these His 
members !(x) 

41 Then shall He say also unto them on the Left Hand, Depart 
from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and 
his angels : 

Note the contrast between what is said of "Everlasting Fire," in this verse, and 
what is stated in verse 34 concerning " the Kingdom." That Kingdom was pre- 
pared "before the foundation of the World:" not so, the pains of Hell. The 
misery of any of His creatures formed no part of God's design in Creation. But 
Man's Happiness, on the contrary, was designed from the beginning: Xi inherit," it 
is said, (that is, take as your right,) (y) "the Kingdom prepared for you from the 
foundation of the World." " Everlasting Eire," though it is the portion of the 
disobedient, was " prepared" only u for the Devil and his angels." 

42, 43 for I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat : I was 
thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink : I was a stranger, and ye took Me 
not in : naked, and ye clothed Me not : sick, and in prison, and ye 
visited Me not. 

Take notice, (for it is very striking,) what was the character of the heavy sin of 
those on the left : — not acts of cruelty, or deeds of lust : not disobedience, or dis- 
honesty : not evil speaking, or covetousness : no great crime, in a word, or open 
vice. It consisted altogether in omissions and neglects. Lazarus had hungered, 
and they had given him no meat. Their "lamps" had gone out. They had buried 
their " Talent" in the earth, — had hid their " Pound" in a napkin. They had led 
selfish lives. They were unprofitable Servants. 

" It is to be observed how, in this description our Lord dwells expressly and 
minutely on each particular by itself: He was hungry, — thirsty, — a stranger, — 
naked, — sick, — and in prison. Perhaps this implies that great particularity of the 
Judgment, which is elsewhere signified by the intimation that ' even a cup of cold 
water given for His sake, shall not lose its reward ;'(z) and that ' God shall bring 
every work into Judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether 
it be evil :'(«) and that for every idle word, men shall give account in the Day of 
Judgment." (6) 

44 Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we 

(x) Consider Acts ix. 4. The same gracious assurance is met with in St. Matthew x. 40 : 
xviii. 5, St. Luke x. 16, St. John xiii. 20 : and in St, Matthew x. 42, and St. Mark ix. 41, it is 
promised that the slightest acts of Mercy performed in time, shall in no wise lose their reward 
throughout the ages of Eternity. " For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and 
labour of love, which ye have showed towards His Name, in that ye have ministered to the 
Saints, and do minister." Heb. vi. 9. 

(y) See St. Matth. v. 5, and the note there. Compare Rom. viii. 16, 17. 

(z) St. Matth. x. 42. (a) Eccles. xii. 14. (b) Williams,— quoting St. Matth. xii. 36. 



XXVI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 229 

Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in 
prison, and did not minister unto Thee ? 

" The Righteous, in their answer,(c) dwelt on each particular; in respect of each, 
finding themselves wanting. Whereas the unrighteous, in their reply, pass over 
all these neglected duties in a more summary, self-confident way."(c/) 

Self-confidence, indeed, constitutes a remarkable feature in the character of all 
those whom God rejects. Samson, after his broken vow, says, " I will go out as 
at other times before. . . . And he wist not that the Lord was departed from 
him. ;; (e) "Blessed be thou of the Lord," says Saul to Samuel, after his act of 
disobedience: " I have performed the commandment of the LORD."(f) Gehazi, 
after his villany, " went in, and stood before his master. "(g) " Have we not pro- 
phesied in Thy Name ?" is the inquiry of them " that work iniquity," in the Ser- 
mon on the Mount.(ft) The unprofitable servant in the parable of " the Pounds" 
comes forward without fear.(i') The Pharisee hesitates not to set himself above the 
Publican. (k) The guest unprovided with a wedding garment, takes his place at 
the Supper without concern. (7) "On the contrary, they who are accepted of 
Christ, are full of misgiving, and scarce believe their own acceptance, in the great- 
ness of their surprise and sense of unworthiness."(m) 

45 Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, In- 
asmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to 
Me. And these shall go away into Everlasting punishment : but the 
righteous into Life Eternal. 

Concerning the Eternity of future Rewards and Punishments, see the notes on 
St. Mark ix. 48. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



1 The rulers conspire against Christ. 6 The woman anointefli His head. 14 Judas 
selleth Him. 17 Christ eateth the Passover. 26 Instituteth His Holy Supper. 
36 Prayeth in the Garden. 47 And being betrayed with a hiss. 57 Is carried to 
Caiaphas. 69 And denied of Peter. 

It will be remembered that the 24th chapter was occupied by our Lord's 
prophecy concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the World: the 
25th, by His Parables of "the wise and foolish Virgins/' and of "the Talents;" 
together with a picture of the Son of Man sitting "upon the Throne of His Glory." 
Our Saviour who has hitherto been exhibited as our Great Prophet and Teacher, is 
now about to reveal Himself as our Great High Priest. 

1, 2 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, 
He said unto His Disciples, Ye know that after two days is tlw feast 
of the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. 

"Ye know,"— for He had forewarned them. (a) But by the form of His present 
address, He directs their attention to that fulfillment of the Law which was to take 
place in His person. St. Paul expresses this in three words, — " Christ our Pass- 
over" (b) .... It is not needful in this place to enter into any account of the Pas- 

(c) See above, verses 37, 38, 39. (d) Williams. (e) Judges xvi. 20. 

(/) 1 Sam. xv. 13. \g) 2 Kings v. 25. (h) St. Math. vii. 22. 

(i) St. Luke xix. 20. (k) St. Luke xviii. 11. (0 St. Matth. xxii. 11, 12. 

(m) Williams. (a) See St. Matthew xx. 17 to 19. (6) 1 Cor. v. 7. 



230 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

chal ceremony :(c) "but it is right to observe how plain a type was the Paschal victim 
of "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the World."(^) Not only did 
the manner of roasting the Lamb represent the affixing of a man to the cross ; but 
the very command concerning the Passover foretold the manner of Chkist's Death: 
for the direction not to "break a bone thereof,"( e ) having reference to Him, clearly 
implied that the Saviour of the World should suffer that death to which the 
breaking of the bones belonged; and that, according to the constant custom in 
Judaea, was Crucifixion^/) 

The words of our Lord in ver. 2, are therefore none other than a great Pro- 
phecy; — where delivered, we know not; but most probably at Bethany, whither He 
certainly proceeded after the sayings with which the preceding chapter concluded. 
Take notice how the predictions which our Saviour delivered concerning His own 
approaching Death and Passion increase in clearness as the event approaches,^) 
until He actually fixes the very day on which He is to suffer, and the person who is 
to betray Him. (h) 

3, 4, 5 Then assembled together the chief Priests, and the Scribes, 
and the Elders of the people, unto the palace of the High Priest, who 
was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by sub- 
tilty and kill Him. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be 
an uproar among the people. 

Rather, "Not in the Feast;" that is, during the seven days it lasted. — Thus did 
"the rulers take council together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed/ \i) 
But their purpose was in part frustrated by the sudden proposal of Judas to deliver 
his Master into their hands ; whereby, not only during the Feast, but on the great 
day of the Feast, in fulfillment of many an ancient type and prophecy, our Saviour 
suffered. The Council's dread of an outbreak of the populace reminds us of the 
statement that "the common people heard Him gladly," (k) and hung with delight 
and attention on His words ;(l) clearly showing that the Holy One had "much 
people" in Jerusalem, (to) though they durst not confess Him. 

Then follows a beautiful incident, (the Supper at Bethany,) which belongs how- 
ever to an earlier day, — and is accordingly referred to its actual historical place by 
St. John in his Gospel. (n) Both St. Matthew and St. Mark, however, agree in re- 
lating the transaction here : and it is because they are about to describe the part 
which the Traitor took in the conspiracy of the chief Priests, Scribes, and Elders; 
and wish us to connect the treachery of Judas, (the account of which follows in 
verse 14,) with the covetous spirit he manifested when the ointment was poured on 
our Saviour's Head.(o) The reader is referred to the third paragraph of the note 
on St. Luke iii. 20. 

6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 

That is, of Simon who had been a leper: for with a leprous person none might 
eat. How this man was related to Lazarus and his sisters, — or indeed, if he was 
related at all, — is not known. 

7 There came unto Him a woman having an alabaster box of very 
precious ointment, and poured it on His head, as He sat at meat. 

Ignatius, first Bishop of Antioch, remarks that "the Lord received the myrrh 
upon His head in order to breathe into His Church incorruption." 

8, 9 But when His Disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, 
To what purpose is this waste ? for this ointment might have been sold 
for much, and given to the poor. 

The chief speaker is found to have been Judas Iscariot.Q?) The "Woman" was 



(c) See Exod. xii. 1 to 27 and 43 to 49: Deut. xvi. 1 to 8. 

\d) St. John i. 29. (e) Exod. xii. 46. (/) From Bp. Pearson. 

(g) Examine the following texts: St. Matth. xvi. 21: xvii. 22, 23: St. Mark x. 33, 34,- 
where see the notes. (h) See below the note on ver. 21. (i) Ps. ii. 2. 

Ik) St. Mark xii. 37. (I) St. Luke xix. 48. (to) Acts xviii. 10. 

{n) St. John xii. 1 to 8. (o) See St. John xii. 4, 5. (p) St. John xii. 4. 



XXVI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 231 

Mary, the sister of Lazarus, (who was one of the guests,) and of Martha, who waited 
upon her Lord as He sat at meat.(^) 

10, 11, 12, 13 When Jesus understood it, He said unto them, Why 
trouble ye the woman ? for she hath wrought a good work upon Me. 
For ye have the poor always with you ; but Me ye have not always. 
For in that she hath poured this ointment on My Body, she did it for 
My burial. Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be 
preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath 
done, be told for a memorial of her. 

These memorable words are found only in the two first Gospels, and their singu- 
lar fulfillment has been noticed in every age of the Church. The Reader will find 
a few remarks on the foregoing incident in the Commentary on St. Mark's 
Gospel :(r) but he is chiefly referred to the notes on St. John. 

"Then" (says St. Luke) "entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of 
the number of the Twelve." (s) It follows : 

14, 15 Then one of the Twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the 
chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will de- 
liver Him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces 
of silver. 

"I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So 
they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver."(Y) So had it been said five hun- 
dred years before! Judas leaves the chief Priests to name the price for which he 
shall betray the Holy One into their hands ; and they set upon Him the price of a 
slave, (w) Thus the Traitor discovers that he has to do with persons covetous and 
vile as himself. 

Consider how, not only in Prophecy but in Type also, this tremendous crime had 
been shadowed forth long before. Thus, when Joseph was sold by his brethren 
into Egypt, "Come," (another Judas had said,) "let us sell him." "And they 
lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces 
of silver."(a;) The difference of the sum may have arisen out of the difference of 
the age of the victim in either case. Joseph was 17 years old when his brethren 
conspired against him. Now the Law in a certain place runs thus : "fromj^ye even 
unto twenty years old, thy estimation shall be of the male twenty s7ieMls."(y) 

16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. 

That is, — " in the absence of the multitude."" (z) And here we lose sight of the 
Traitor, and his accursed enterprise, until he asks the question "Is it I?" at the 
Paschal Supper, (a) What precedes took place on Wednesday in the week of our 
Lord's Passion. The whole interval, until Thursday evening, seems to have been 
spent by our Lord and His Eleven Disciples, at Bethany, in deep retirement: nor 
is anything related concerning either Him or them throughout that period, except 
what is contained in the next three verses. 

17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the Disciples 
came to Jesus, saying unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we prepare for 
Thee to eat the Passover? 

Por our Lord kept the Jewish feasts with religious punctuality. Kightly to 
understand this inquiry of the Disciples, it must be remembered that the prepara- 
tion for eating the Passover was a work of labour, requiring no small exactness. 
Great care was taken to rid the apartment of every particle of leaven, in pretended 
or supposed obedience to the Divine Command in Exod. xii. 15, 19, (the spiritual 
intention of which St. Paul explains in a well known passage;) (5) moreover couches 

(q) St. John xii. 2. (»•) St. Mark xiv. 3 to 9. (*) St. Luke xxii. 3. 

(*) Zech. xi. 12. See St. Matth. xxvii. 9, 10. \u) Exod. xxi. 32. 

(x) Gen. xxxvii. 26 to 28. . (y) Levit. xxvii. 5. \z) St. Luke xxii. 6. 
(a) See below, ver. 25. (6) 1 Cor. v. 7. 



232 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

for the guests had to be prepared, the sundry articles required for the repast to be 
procured and cooked, and the chamber itself to be got in readiness. On the present 
occasion it is discovered from St. Mark's Gospel that "a large upper room furnished 
and prepared, (c) was divinely provided ; and the two Disciples, for it was St. Peter 
and St. John(d) who were charged with this blessed office, had merely to get the 
Paschal Supper in readiness there. 

18, 19 And He said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto 
him, The Master saith, My time is at hand : I will keep the Passover 
at thy house with My Disciples. And the Disciples did as Jesus had 
appointed them ; and they made ready the Passover. 

"The name of this blessed individual who had the honour to receive Christ into 
his house, on this the greatest of all occasions, (like that other favoured one whose 
colt the King of Heaven deigned to ride,) is not mentioned on Earth; but we may 
well suppose that it is known and honoured in Heaven. Christ knows those that 
are His, and where they are to be found, and how. ;; (e) By reference to the two 
later Gospels, it will be seen that the Disciples were furnished with an exact account 
of what would befall them on entering the city.(/) 

20 Now when the even was come, He sat down with the Twelve. 

And to know what immediately followed, you must read St. Luke xxii. 15 to 18, 
and then St. John xiii. 2 to 20. Those words of Love and that act of Humiliation 
ended, the Paschal Supper went on in the manner which the blessed Evangelist St. 
Matthew proceeds to describe. 

21 And as they did eat, He said, Verily I say unto you, that one of 
you shall betray Me. 

He had often before predicted to His Apostles that he should be betrayed. (g) 
Now, for the first time, he declares that one of themselves shall prove the Traitor. 
"Then the Disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. ;, (^) 

22 And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them 
to say unto Him, Lord, is it I ? 

How surprising is all this ! It appears then that the Eleven, though they had 
companied with Judas for years, like brethren, knew nothing of his hidden black- 
ness, to the very last. Did he then add consummate hypocrisy to all his other 
vices ? Or are we not perhaps rather to behold in the scene before us an evidence 
of the simplicity and goodness of the Apostles; so full of that charity which "think- 
eth no evil/'(0 — so unwilling to judge their neighbour,(7c) — that they can more 
readily suspect and judge themselves? Nay, when our Lord whispers to Judas, 
and the Traitor rises to leave the table, his hand the while upon "the bag;" so far 
from suspecting the devilish errand on which he is bent, they think that surely he 
has gone to buy something which they would have need of against the feast ; or 
that he is gone to give something to the poor 1(1) . . . . In the meantime, the 
Eleven Apostles are questioning to which of themselves their Divine Master may 
have alluded. 

23, 24 And He answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with 
Me in the dish, the same shall betray Me. The Son of Man goeth as 
it is written of Him : but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man 
is betrayed ; it had been good for that man if he had not been born. 

" Fearful indeed, and tremendous words ! enough to have arrested the Traitor, 

(c) St. Mark xiv. 15. (d) St Mark xiv. 13 : St. Luke xxii. 8. 

(e) Williams. The Reader may refer to the note on St. Mark xi. 3. 

(f) See St. Mark xiv. 13 to 15 ; and St. Luke xxii. 10 to 12. 

\g) See St. Matth. xvii. 22: xx. 18: xxvi. 2. See above, on ver. 2, the last words of the 
note. 

(70 St. John xiii. 22. (i) 1 Cor. xiii. 5. 

(Je) St. Matth. vii. 1, where see the note. (I) See St. John xiii. 29. 



XXVI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 233 

and to have shaken him to the depth of his inmost soul."(m) But few things strike 
us more forcibly in the course of this wondrous narrative than the hardening effect 
of sin persevered in. We probably miss the intended warning if we ascribe this 
terrible result specially to the sin of covetousness ; though that appears indeed to 
have been the sin of Judas. Every form of sin has a deadening effect upon the 
heart. Judas repents not ; though he is warned that the pit of Hell even now gapes 
for him. Nay, we read : 

25 Then Judas, which betrayed Him, answered and said, Master, is 
it I ? He said unto him, Thou hast said. 

What can have moved the miserable man to ask the question ? Was it perhaps 
the dread of detection, if he alone remained silent? 

"And now, as it is ever the custom of God, when He takes anything from His 
elect, to restore it unto them in another form, and in infinite abundance ; and as of 
that Paschal Supper, and the Cup of the Old Covenant, He was to drink no more ; 
He proceeds to establish the New Covenant, which was no less than His own Body 
and Blood/'OO See more in the note on St. Mark xiv. 21. 

26 And as they- were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and 
brake it, and gave it to the Disciples, 

He "took Bread," — as all the Evangelists solemnly record.(o) He "brake it," 
to set forth the breaking of His own Human Body; whence, according to St. Paul's 
account of this great transaction, besides "This is My Body which is given for 
jo\i,"(j)) He said " This is My Body which is broken for you."^) By breaking the 
Bread Himself, he showed that it was by his own free will that he laid down his 
life.(r) 

and said, Take, eat ; this is My Body. 

Mysterious words ! the interpretation of which hath moved no small controversy 
in the Church of Christ. Let us rest content with that view of their meaning 
which the judgment of all antiquity hath approved, and which the purest branches 
of the Church Catholic have faithfully retained. Our own Hooker has declared 
this view of the words " This is My Body," in the following terms : — " This hallow- 
ed food, through concurrence of Divine Power, is in verity and truth unto faithful 
receivers, instrumentally a cause of that mystical participation, whereby as I make 
myself wholly theirs, so I give them in hand an actual possession of all such saving 
grace as My sanctified Body can yield, and as their souls do presently need, — this 
is to them and in them, My Body." ..." The Bread which we break," (asks the 
great Apostle,) "is it not the Communication of the Body of Christ ?"(.?) 

27 And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, 
saying, Drink ye all of it ; 

m " And" (St. Mark records,) " they all drank of it."(0 " Strange, that any indi- 
vidual or any Church(w) should cut itself off from a privilege so exceeding great, 
casting aside thereby the arm of the Great Comforter! For as he had said, 'Ex- 
cept ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in 
you -/(x) so also to his Church He hath said, ' Drink ye all of it/ — ' and they all 
drank of it.' "(y) 

28 for this is My Blood of the New Testament, 

Rather "of the New Covenant:'''' and it is called "the New Covenant," (as the 
Prophet Jeremiah had named it long before,)^) in allusion to that elder one con- 
cerning which Moses, after he had " sprinkled both the book and all the people," 

(m) Williams. (n) Williams, 

(o) See the end of the note on St. Luke ix. 16. (p) St. Luke xxii. 19. 

(q) 1 Cor. xi. 24. (r) St. John x. 18. (s) 1 Cor. x. 16. 

(*) St. Mark xiv. 23. (u) As the Romish. 

(x) St. Johnyi. 53. (y) Williams, 

(z) Jer. xxxi. 31 to 34 : along with which should be read the Apostle's reasoning in Hebr. 
viii. 8 to 13: x. 16 to 22. 



234 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

said, "This is the blood of the Testament" (or 'Covenant/) "which God hath en- 
joined unto you/'(») The Old Covenant had been made with "the blood of goats 
and calves ;" but the New Covenant was to be ratified by " the blood of Christ."^) 
And take notice that of the blood, anciently, none might drink on pain of death : 
but "Drink ye all of this," it is said. 

which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 

For "without shedding of blood, is no Remission."(c) But "it is not possible 
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."(^) By this saying of 
our Blessed Lord it is therefore implied that what the Law was powerless to effect, 
would be achieved by His own most precious blood-shedding. 

" The Cup of Blessing which we bless, is it not the Communication of the Blood 
of Christ ?"(e) The Body and Blood of Christ are thus " verily and indeed taken 
and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper." . . . . " Let it therefore be 
sufficient for me, presenting myself at the Lord's Table, to know what I there re- 
ceive from him, without searching or inquiring of the manner how Christ perform- 
eth his promise : let disputes and questions, enemies to piety, abatements of true 
devotion, and hitherto in this cause but over-patiently heard, — let them take their 
rest ; let curious and sharp-witted men beat their heads about what questions them- 
selves will ; the very letter of the words of Christ giveth plain security that these 
mysteries do as nails fasten us to his very Cross, that by them we draw out, as 
touching efficacy, force, and virtue, even the blood of his gored side ; in the wounds 
of our Redeemer we there dip our tongues : we are dyed red both within and with- 
out ; our hunger is satisfied and our thirst for ever quenched ; they are things won- 
derful which he feeleth, great which he seeth, and unheard of which he uttereth, 
whose soul is possessed of this Paschal Lamb, and made joyful in the strength of 
this new wine : this bread hath in it more than the substance which our eyes be- 
hold ; this cup hallowed with solemn benediction availeth to the endless life and 
welfare both of soul and body, in that it serveth as well for a medicine to heal our 
infirmities and purge our sins, as for a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving ; with touching it 
sanctifieth, it enlighteneth with belief, it truly conformeth us unto the image of 
Jesus Christ. What these elements are in themselves it skilleth not ; it is enough 
that to me which take them they are the Body and Blood of Christ : His promise 
in witness hereof sufticeth, his word he knoweth which way to accomplish. Why 
should any cogitation possess the mind of a faithful Communicant but this, my 
God Thou art true, my soul thou art happy ."(f) 

29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of 
the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's 
Kingdom. 

Our Blessed Lord refers most likely to that mysterious Festival, — twice (as it 
seems) alluded to,(#) nowhere (probably) described, — of which He partook with 
His Disciples after His Resurrection. " The Kingdom of God,"(7&) or as St. Mat- 
thew says, " of the Father," had then come, — not indeed in all its fullness, but in 
all its essential outlines. There was then a new Creation : " old things had passed 
away, behold, all things were become new."{i) And "the whole World, which by 
the transgression of the first Adam was made subject to vanity, partook in the 
deliverance wrought by the second Adam. In this new state therefore, in this state 
of liberty, whatever related to the Kingdom now given to the Son of Man, or to its 
blessed and sovereign Lord, might, agreeably to the Scriptural use of the word, be 
denominated ' New.' So, at least, Wine might be called, if our gracious Redeemer 
vouchsafed to partake of it, not for the refreshment of mortal nature, but for another 
and a higher purpose ; to show the reality of His precious Body, and the certainty 
of His triumph over Death and the Grave." — The words are Churton's. 

30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount 
of Olives. » 

(a) Exod. xxiv. 8, quoted in Heb. ix. 19, 20. 

(6) Heb. ix. 12, 14. Consider Zecb, ix. 11. (c) Heb. ix. 22. 

(d) Heb. x. 4. (e) 1 Cor. x. 16. (/) Hooker. 

(g) Acts i. 4 and x. 41. (h) St. Mark xiv. 25. (t) 2 Cor. v. 17. 



XXVI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 235 

Rather, — "and -when they had hymned," or "sung;" but -whether one hymn, or 
many, is not expressly stated. Since, however, the Paschal Supper was commonly 
closed by the singing of certain known Psalms, — namely, from the cxv. to the 
cxviii. inclusive, (the cxiii. and cxiv. having been sung in the course of the repast,) 
— it is reasonable to suppose that the same Psalms were sung at the present Fes- 
tivity, and that allusion is made to the established usage of the nation Take 

notice that after partaking of the Lord's Supper, we, in like manner, say or sing 
" Glory be to God on High," &c. — The blessed Company, (eleven Apostles and their 
Lord,) were now moving in the direction of the Mount of Olives, being lighted on 
their way by the full Paschal moon. 

31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of 
Me this night : for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the 
sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. 

In a chapter of the prophet Zechariah which abounds in mysterious allusions to 
the Passion of our Blessed Saviour, it is written, "Awake, sword, against my 
Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts : smite 
the Shepherd, and the sheep shall ~be scattered." (k) To this the Good Shepherd here 
refers : adding, 

32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. 

Whereby He still speaks of Himself as a Shepherd, "going before" His sheep. (Z) 
See St. John x. 4: and take notice that the Angel afterwards referred to these very 
words of Christ, when addressing the women at the Sepulchre. (in) Concerning 
this prophecy of one of our Lord's appearances, see the note on St. Matthew 
xxviii. 16. 

33, 34 Peter answered and said unto Him, Though all men shall be 
offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said 
unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, 
thou shalt deny Me thrice. 

St. Peter had said that he would never be "offended" because of Christ : his Lord 
foretells that he will, on the contrary, deny even that he knew Him ; and this, not once, 
but three times. — "Never will I be offended/' St. Peter had said. But our Saviour 
declares that the fall of his servant would take place on that very night, before the 
second cock-crow.(») — His words imply a presumptuous confidence in himself be- 
yond all the rest. His Lord tells him that while all will be scattered, he will be 
the one even to deny. 

35 Peter said unto Him, Though I should die with Thee, yet will I 
not deny Thee. Likewise also said all the Disciples. 

Rather " Though it were required that I should die with Thee." . . . The Blessed 
Company were now well advanced on their way, — for the 15th, 16th, and 17th 
chapters of St. John's Gospel belong to this interval. They had left the city-gate, 
and had crossed or were crossing the brook Cedron, — the same which David, our 
Lord's great type and ancestor after the flesh, had crossed in sorrow one thousand 
years before ! (o) 

36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, 

."Where was a Garden, into the which He entered, and His Disciples. And 
Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place : for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither 
with His Disciples." {p) Christ repaired therefore to the accustomed spot. 

37 and saith unto the Disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray 
yonder. And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, 
and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. 

(k) Zeeh. xiii. 7. See also verses 1 and 6. (I) Consider St. Mark x. 32. 

(hi) See St. Matth. xxviii. 7. ' («) Compare St. Mark xiv. 30. 

[o)2 Sam. xv. 23. (p) St, John xviii. 1, 2. 



236 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

"With St. Peter, St. James, and St. John, ("the choice ones of the chosen," as 
one of the Fathers speaks,) (q) the Saviour withdrew to a remoter part of the Gar- 
den. These, who had once been the select witnesses of his Almighty Power,(r) 
and once, of his greatest Glory, (5) are now chosen to be the witnesses of his lowest 
Humiliation. Concerning "the anguish of his soul/' here noticed, more will be 
found in the notes on St. Mark xiv. 34, and St. Luke xxii. 44. 

38 Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even 
unto death : tarry ye here, and watch with Me. 

In the pains of the Body, (says Bishop Andrewes,) some sorrow like unto His 
might peradventure be found: "in the sorrow of the Soul, I am sure none. And, 
indeed, the pain of the body is but the body of pain : the very soul of sorrow and 
pain is the soul's pain and sorrow." 

Our Redeemer here addresses the three Disciples in words which must have re- 
called to their memories two remarkable places in the Book of Psalms. (£) Lest 
they should not fully apprehend the excess of his sorrow, he adds "even unto 
Death :" as if (says Bp. Pearson) the pangs of Death already encompassed Him, 
and as the Psalmist speaks, the pains of Hell had got hold upon Him. But how 
mysterious was His request that they would "watch with him!" Very man, he 
leans upon the men he loved ; and looks to them in his hour of agony, for support 
and kindness. 

39 And He went a little farther, and fell on His face, and prayed, 
saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me : 
nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt. 

This was done, as St. Paul records, "with a strong cry, and tears."(w) "And 
there appeared an Angel unto Him from Heaven, strengthening him. And being 
in an agony He prayed more earnestly : and his sweat was as it were great drops 
of blood falling down to the ground." (x) This awful and most mysterious portion 
of his sufferings ended, the Holy One "rose up from prayer," — 

40, 41 And He cometh unto the Disciples, and findeth them asleep, 
and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with Me one hour ? 
watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation : the spirit indeed is 
willing, but the flesh is weak. 

42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, My 
Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, 
Thy will be done. 

A moment since we heard Him exhorting His Apostles to pray, — " Leadus not 
into Temptation ;" as St. Polycarp remarks in his Epistle to the Philippians. — 
Another petition of the Lord's Prayer is already found on His own Divine lips, 
It is not of course implied that His own "will" was at variance with that of His 
Father : but the Son of Man had a human ivill; and the practice of high Virtue 
in Him was by no means unattended with difficulty, even by reason of the opposi- 
tion of the strongest, and at the same time the most innocent instincts of Humani-. 

ty.(y) 

43 And He came and found them asleep again : for their eyes were 
heavy. 

Thrice He came to them ; seeking consolation for himself, safety for them. But 
they slept; and St. Luke says that it was "for sorrow."(z) The same three Dis- 
ciples slept also on the Mount of Transfiguration; and howis it possible to read 
such things, and not to connect them with our Lord's prophetic intimations of what 
will be hereafter ? (a) 

44, 45 And He left them, and went away again, and prayed the 

(q) Clement of Alexandria. (r) St. Mark v. 36 to 43. (s) St. Matth. xvii. 1 to 9. 

h) The places referred to are Ps. xlii. 5, and cxvi. 3. (u) Heb. v. 7. 

\x) St. Luke xxii. 43, 44: where see the notes. (?/) The hint is from Dr. W. H. Mill. 
(z) St. Luke xxii. 45. (a) See St. Matth. xxv. 5, 6, &c. 



XXVI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 237 

third time, saying the same words. Then cometh He to His Disciples, 
and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest : behold, the 
hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sin- 
ners. 

The meaning seems to be that "Henceforth," or "Hereafter," the Apostles might 
sleep and take rest, if they would : but that the hour for which He had so long 
"been preparing them had now arrived. Wherefore our Lord adds, 

46, 47 Rise, let us be going : behold, he is at hand that doth betray 
Me. And while He yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the Twelve, came, and 
with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief 
Priests and Elders of the people. 

All the three Evangelists, both when they describe the intended and also the ac- 
tual betrayal of our Saviour by Judas, mention him as "one of the Twelve? '(6) an 
expressive way of denoting the exceeding greatness of his crime, — on which they 
yet make no comment whatsoever. Take notice that along with the multitude, 
came the " chief priests, and captains of the Temple, and elders" in person, (c) 

48 Now he that betrayed Him gave them a sign, saying, Whomso- 
ever I shall kiss, that same is He : hold Him fast. 

"And led Him away safely," — it is added in St. Mark's Gospel; where see the 
note.(d) Was this not he of whom it had been said, — ■" The words of his mouth 
were smoother than butter, having war in his heart ?"(e) It is indeed greatly to 
be observed, (says one,) how much there is in the Psalms respecting Judas, 
throughout. 

49 And forthwith he came to Jesus and said, Hail, Master ; and 
kissed Him. 

It seems to be implied that he gave his Divine Master a kiss of earnest affec- 
tion.^) " The signal agreed upon" (remarks the excellent Writer last quoted) 
"is much to be noticed on the present occasion, as indicating the very affectionate 
and friendly footing on which our Lord was wont to receive this wicked man ; and 
is of the same character as that of His eating at Supper out of the same dish with 
him, and washing his feet on this very night. Such tokens of love and gentleness, 
habitually afforded to so evil a man, can only be equalled by that forbearance and 
goodness which the same Divine Master ever shows in his natural Providence ; 
whereby He makes His Sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and continues to 
benefit the unthankful." (g) 

50 And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? 
Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took Him. 

"Friend 1" It was thus that the Householder remonstrated with the servant 
who murmured at his liberality ; and thus that the King bespoke the guest that 
had not on a wedding garment. (Ji) No where else in the Gospel do we meet with 
this mode of address. — The next words are not words of inquiry, but of remon- 
strance. Well did our Divine Lord know "wherefore Judas had come \"(i) 

51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out 
Ms hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high Priest's, 
and smote off his ear. 

St. Peter had doubtless aimed at the man's head, and narrowly failed of effecting 
his purpose. " Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And He touched his 
ear, and healed him."(&) *Ejj.t.. Luke (the Physician) alone it is, who records this 

(b) St. Matthew xxvi. 14: St. Mark xiv. 10 and 43 : St. Luke xxii. 3 and 47. See also St. 
John vi. 71. (c) St. Luke xxii. 52. (d) On St. Mark xiv. 44. 

(e) Psalm lv. 21. (/) The word recurs in St. Luke vii. 45 : xv. 20. Acts xx. 37. 

(g) Williams. (K\ St. Matth. xx. 13 : xxii. 12. 

(i) Compare St. Luke xxii. 48. (k) St. Luke xxii. 51. 



238 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

miraculous act of healing : while St. John adds, " the servant's name was Mal- 
chus."(Z) 

52, 53 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his 
place : for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 
Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall 
presently give Me more than twelve legions of Angels ? 

" Twelve," because that was the number of His weak unarmed Apostles. How 
does this allusion to the powers of the unseen World kindle the fancy : at once re- 
minding us of the surpassing honour to which one of the Angelic order had alread3 T 
been appointed ;(m) and suggesting the ardour with which the rest of the amazed 
and adoring Body must have longed to rush forth to avenge the cause of their Cre- 
ator and their God ! 

By our Saviour's allusion to the chief division of the Roman army, it seems to 
be hinted that [the bright ranks of the Heavenly Host have discipline and order, 
courage and strength, subordination of offices, union under a common Leader, and 
whatever else appertains to a large and well-disciplined Army. See the note on 
St. Luke viii. 30 ; and Consider Daniel vii„ 20, and 2 Kings vi. 17. 

54, 55 But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it 
must be ? In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come 
out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take Me ? I sat 
daily with you teaching in the Temple, and ye laid no hold on Me. 

Day by day, throughout the previous week, as we have seen, our Lord had taught 
openly in the Temple. Why then had they come upon Him thus by Night? 
Again, His only attendants were a few unarmed followers. Why then had they 
come out with swords and staves, as if against some desperate robber? — The 
Evangelist remarks. 

56, 5T, 58 But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the Prophets 
might be fulfilled. Then all the Disciples forsook Him, and fled. And 
they that had laid hold on Jjesus led Him away to Caiaphas the High 
Priest, where the Scribes and the Elders were assembled. But Peter 
followed Him afar off unto the High Priest's palace, and went in, and 
sat with the servants, to see the end. 

All this is given far more particularly in St. John's Gospel, — to which the Reader 
is referred. (n) 

59, 60 Now the chief Priests, and Elders, and all the council, sought 
false witness against Jesus, to put him to death ; but found none : yea, 
though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. 

That is, " none" by whose evidence they might persuade Pilate " to put Him to 
death." 

61 At last came two false witnesses, and said, This felloiv said, I am 
able to destroy the Temple of God, and to build it in three days. 

How striking it is, at the close of our Blessed Lord's Ministry, to be thus re- 
minded of a saying which came before us at the commencement of it, and which 
we had begun, as it were, to lose sight of! The occasion when the words were 
spoken, to which these wicked men allude, will be seen in the second chapter of St. 
John's Gospel ; — where, in answer to the demand for " a sign," our Lord foretells 
his Death and Resurrection, saying, " Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will 
raise it up."(o) 

Not far removed from the Truth, it will be seen, was the statement of the wit- 
nesses, (they were of necessity two ;){p) whom nevertheless St. Matthew and St. Mark 

(Z) St. John xviii. 10. (m) St. Luke xxii. 43. 

(n) See St. John xviii. 15 to 18. (o) St. John ii. 19. 

(p) See Deut. xvii. 6 : xix. 15. 



XXVI.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 239 

concur in calling "false witnesses." Wherein then consisted their falsity? It 
consisted in their ascribing to our Saviour the intention{q) of destroying and then 
rebuilding the Temple, — " this Temple that is made with hands," as St. Mark ex- 
presses it. What he had said, was, "destroy ye, and I will raise up:" by charg- 
ing Him with the vaunt of power over the material shrine, and with the intention 
of making a display of that power, they had entirely altered the character of his 
words. — But even so, their witness did not agree, as St. Mark declares ;(r) where- 
upon Caiaphas lost patience : 

62, 63 And the High Priest arose, and said unto Him, Answerest 
Thou nothing ? what is it which these witness against Thee ? But 
Jesus held his peace. And the High Priest answered and said unto 
Him, I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us whether Thou 
be the Christ, the Son of God. 

The witness who kept silence after such an adjuration, the Law pronounced 
guilty. (s) Accordingly our Saviour, who until now "asa sheep before her shearers 
is dumb, so opened not He his mouth," (t) — hereupon makes answer; showing 
thereby His reverence for the Law, and for the sacred office of the wicked man who 
addressed Him. See the note on St. Matthew xxvii. 12. 

64 Jesus saith unto Him, Thou hast said : nevertheless I say unto 
you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand 
of power, and coming in the clouds of Heaven. 

Kather, " Moreover," or " What is more, I say unto you," &c. ..." Christ is 
said to sit down at the Eight Hand of the Father, in regard of that absolute power 
and dominion which He hath obtained in Heaven." (u) 

Concerning this wondrous prophecy, the Reader is referred to what has been 
already offered in the notes on St. Matthew xxiv. 30. — The conduct of the High 
Priest on hearing these words, (which the Evangelist proceeds to describe,) shows 
clearly enough that he entirely understood our Saviour's allusion to a famous 
passage in the Book of Daniel ;(x) as well as his implied claim to be that Son of 
Man described by the Prophet, and whom the Jews interpreted as the Messiah. 

65, 66 Then the High Priest rent his clothes, 

This was done to aggravate our Lord's offence, and to add weight to his own 
words of condemnation^?/) Hypocritically indeed, was it done ; " but it is awful 
to think that God fulfills in earnest what men do against Him in mockery. Thus 
the High Priest rent his clothes for a light purpose, but God rent them for him in 
very deed and truth : they arrayed Christ in royal robes, and a crown, and a 
sceptre, and proclaimed Him King of the Jews in derision ; but God made Him all 
these in a Divine reality, and in a manner infinitely substantial. As Caiaphas 
prophesied, though he knew it not ; and the false witnesses, though they knew it 
not, in lying spake truth ; so now the High Priest in rending his garments, acted 
a real and deep tragedy for himself, for he thus declared that the order of Levi, the 
Jewish Priesthood, was rent, and already no niore."(z) 

saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we 
of witnesses ? behold, now ye have heard His blasphemy. What think 
ye ? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. 

."0 amazing and stupendous extent of man's guilt and blind folly," (remarks the 
same writer,) "that he should come to this! But from greatest evil comes, by 
God's mercy, greatest good to His distressed creatures : they condemned Him to be 
guilty of death, but the condemnation of Him who was guiltless hath released us, 
who were worthy of death, from condemnation." 

(q) See St. Mark xiv. 58. (r) St, Mark xiv. 59. 

h) Levit, v. 1. (t) Is. liii. 7: quoted in Acts viii. 32. 

(u) Bishop Pearson. See Ps. ex. 1, and Acts vii. 55, 56. (x) Dan. vii. 13. 

(y) Chrysostom. (z) Williams. Consider 1 Sam. xv. 27, 28, and 1 Kings xi. 30, 31. 



240 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

67 Then did they spit in His face, and buffeted Him ; and others 
smote Him with the palms of their hands, 

So literally were the words of the Prophet fulfilled, — " I gave My back to the 
smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair : I hid not My face from 
shame and spitting "(a) To this monstrous indignity, (the spitting,) which was 
afterwards repeated,(6) it will be observed that both St. Matthew and St. Mark 
assign the foremost rank ;(c) as indeed it is found to occupy a distinct place in our 
Saviour's own predictions of His approaching humiliation. (d) To request the 
Eeader's reference to Isaiah liii. 3 to 6, in illustration of such a text as the pre- 
sent, seems obvious. — These miscreants therefore smote Him, — 

68 saying, Prophesy unto us, Thou Christ, Who is he that smote 
Thee? 

The meaning of this act of wickedness is made plainer, by St. Mark's statement 
that "they covered his face ;"(e) but it is St. Luke who explains the matter fully, 
saying, " And ivhen they had blindfolded Him, they struck him on the face,"^) 
and gave him the blasphemous challenge recorded in the text. For " to prophesy" 
is not only to foretell future events ; but to declare miraculously whatever cannot 
naturally be discovered. Thus Moses " prophesied" when he described the Crea- 
tion, and the Fall of Man, no less than when He foretold the Captivity, and the 
Siege of Jerusalem, (g) 

The three denials of St. Peter follow; which will be found more fully commented 
on in the notes on St. Mark's Gospel.(7*) 

69, 70, 71, 72, 73 Now Peter sat without in the palace : and a dam- 
sel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But 
he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And 
when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said 
unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Naza- 
reth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. 
And after a while came unto Mm they that stood by, and said to Peter, 
Surely thou also art one of them ; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. 

Or, as it is is expressed in St. Mark's Gospel, " for thou art a Galilcean, and thy 
speech agreeth thereto." (i) See the note on the place. 

74 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the 
man. 

Take notice how he who at first (in ver. 70) had simply denied his Lord, — and 
(in ver. 72) had denied Him "with an oath," — now at last begins "to curse and to 
swear, saying, I know not the man." So rapid is the growth of Sin ! 

And immediately the cock crew. 

" And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter." 

75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, 
Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. And he went out, 
and wept bitterly. 

" "We have so often deeply wounded ourselves with medicines," (says Hooker,) 
" that God hath been fain to make wounds medicinal ; to cure by vice where virtue 
hath stricken ; to suffer the just man to fall, that, being raised, he may be taught 
what power it was which upheld him standing. I am not afraid to affirm it boldly, 
with Augustine, that men, puffed up through a proud opinion of their own sanctity 
and holiness, receive a benefit at the hands of God, and are assisted with His 

(a) Isaiah i. 6. (6) St. Matth. xxvii. 30. (c) See St. Mark xiv. 66. 

(d) See St. Mark x. 34, and St. Luke xviii. 32. (e) St. Mark xiv. 65. 

(/) St. Luke xxii. 64. (g) Leut. xxviii. 32 to 38 and 49 to 68. 

(h) St. Mark xiv. 66 to 72. (i) St. Mark xiv. 70. 



XXVII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 241 

Grace when with His Grace they are not assisted, but permitted, and that grievously, 
to transgress ; whereby, as through over-great liking of themselves they fell, so the 
dislike of that which did work their fall may establish them afterwards the surer. 
Ask the very soul of Peter, and it shall undoubtedly make you itself this answer : 
My eager protestations, made in the glory of my ghostly strength, I am ashamed 
of; but those crystal tears, wherewith my sin and weakness was bewailed, have 
procured my endless joy; my strength has been my ruin, and my fall my stay." 



CHAPTER XXVII, 



1 Christ is delivered hound to Pilate. 3 Judas hangeth liimself. 19 Pilate, ad- 
monished of Ms wife, 24 washeth his hands: 26 and looseth Barabbas. 29 
Christ is crowned with thorns, 34 crucified, 40 reviled, 50 dieth, and is buried. 
66 His sepulchre is sealed, and watched. 

The former Chapter ended with an account of St. Peter's three denials of his 
Lord, — and of his repentance. The Holy One was in the meantime undergoing 
the mock solemnity of a trial at the hands of the wicked men who had already de- 
termined upon His Death. He had been hurried from the Garden of Gethsemane 
to the House of Annas, — thence to the Palace of Caiaphas, the High Priest. (a) 
The whole night long had been one continued scene of insult and cruelty. It was 
now the morning of Friday. 

1 When the morning was come, all the Chief Priests and Elders of 
the people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death : 

St. Luke alone describes the manner of their proceeding. See his Gospel,(5) for 
an account of what took place when the Holy One was brought before the high 
Court of Sanhedrin. 

2 and when they had bound Him, they led Him away, and delivered 
Him to Pontius Pilate the governor. 

# For they judged it expedient, on every account, to transfer to Pilate the execu- 
tion of their own sentence. How the Roman Governor conducted himself towards 
the Holy Jesus, we shall be told in the 11th and following verses ; in the meantime, 
it would appear as if Judas, terrified at the success of his own villainy, had been 
watching the progress of events with remorse and horror. The Council of " Chief 
Priests and Elders" had probably been held in the Temple. Accordingly, it is 
added : 

3, 4 Then Judas, which had betrayed Him, when he saw that He was 
condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of 
silver to the Chief Priests and Elders, saying, I have sinned in that I 
have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us ? 
see thou to that. 

" In the Temple he makes his Confession, and offers restitution ; but they in the 
Temple, who ought to receive the penitent, are the partners of his guilt. It is the 

(a) St. John xviii. 13, 24. (b) St. Luke xxii. 66 to 71. 

16 



242 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

voice of the children of Cain which answers ' What is that to us V ' Am I my 
brother's keeper?' "(c) Very striking and fearful is the picture contained in the 
words which follow : 

5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the Temple, and departed, 
and went and hanged himself. 

Thus does Judas himself bear evidence to the innocence of Him, whose death he 
had been so carefully contriving. He is visited also with pangs of fruitless Repent- 
ance ; confesses his crime ; and after a miserable fashion seeks to make restitution : 
for when he dashed down the money on the floor of the Temple, — (which act of his 
had not failed to arrest the keen glance of ancient Prophecy,) (d) — he doubtless in- 
tended that it should be applied to some sacred use. But his was not that godly 
sorrow spoken of by the Apostle, — (sorrow like Simon Peter's,) — which " worketh 
Repentance to Salvation: .... but the sorrow of the World," which "worketh 
Death. "(e) Judas "went and hanged himself," (as Ahithophel, David's "compan- 
ion" and "own familiar friend,"^') had done before him :)(<?) whereupon, as St. 
Luke informs us, he fell forward upon his face, burst asunder, " and all his bowels 
gushed o\xi."(h) 

It seems impossible to reach the close of the history of this most miserable of 
men, without reflecting with awful interest on what had probably been his course 
of life. And it may be regarded as certain that the character of Judas, (from the 
blackness of which we have learnt to recoil with horror,) occupies far too small a 
share of men's attention. A few remarks on this subject have been already offered 
elsewhere ;(i) and this is not the proper place to pursue such a train of thought. 
We may not here discuss the nature of his peculiar sin, — its rapid growth, — and 
its hardening tendencies. It shall but be remarked that he will do well and wisely 
who shall set himself to gather up the many hints which, from first to last, fell from 
our Lord's lips on the subject of Covetousness ; and to which the crime of Judas, 
at the close of the Gospel, supplies the obvious clue. Nor should the many warn- 
ings which the traitor continued to receive to the very last, escape our notice either; 
for they not only show the long suffering patience and love of Christ, but they fur- 
nish a comfortable assurance that no one should be deemed irreclaimable so long 
as he liveth. 

Some will be found to inquire, Might not even Judas have repented ? Doubtless 
the door of Mercy is never closed against the true penitent: and the blood of 
Christ is powerful to cleanse from all sin. " But then," (as it has been truly re- 
marked,) "it appears equally clear from the whole analogy of Scripture, that true 
Repentance becomes more and more difficult, according to the degrees of grace re- 
jected ; and after a certain point, impossible. Thus it may be observed that St. 
Paul never intimates that Repentance is in any case unavailable ; or that the door 
of pardon is closed against those who are 'renewed unto repentance.' But he does 
say, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that it is impossible ' to renew unto repentance' 
those who have grievously fallen away, after great privileges. So that if the words 
'though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red 
like crimson, they shall be as wool,'(&) describe the unbounded extent of God's 
mercies in the Gospel covenant ; yet notwithstanding this, the state of probation 
under the Gospel is described in a certain sense by those other words, — 'Can the 
Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good, 
that are accustomed to do evil :'(l) and, 'he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. '(w) 
Numerous, in short are those expressions which describe the Mercy promised to 
Repentance, yet not less numerous are those which speak of Repentance becoming 
more and more difficult, and at length, impossible, after the rejection of Grace 
given."(n) 

The end of this very wicked man, as recorded in verse 5, must evidently be re- 
ferred to a somewhat later moment. He may have even delayed adding the guilt 
of suicide to his other tremendous crimes, until he had witnessed the final issue of 
his machinations against his Divine Master. But the incident which the Evangel- 
ist proceeds next to record, certainly belongs to a much later period : 

(c) Williams, quoting Gen. iv. 9. (d) See below, on ver. 10. (e) 2 Cor. vii. 10. 

(/) Ps. Iv. 14. See also Ps. xli. 9. (y) 2 Sam. xvii. 23. (h) Acts i. 18. 

(t) See the notes on St. Matth. xxvi. 22 and 24. (k) Is. i. 18. 

(I) Jer. xiii. 23. (m) Rev. xxii. 11. (n) Williams. 



XXVII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 243 

6 And the Chief Priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not 
lawful for to put them into the Treasury, because it is the price of 
blood. 

Take notice of their miserable inconsistency and superstition. How often are 
religious scruples thus found to dwell with men who have sold themselves to work 
all manner of iniquity ! The Treasury had probably furnished the very pieces of 
silver which it is now deemed so sinful to replace there. 

7, 8 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, 
to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, The field of 
blood, unto this day. 

Thus does God overrule man's wickedness to his shame. Had these evil persons 
simply replaced the silver pieces, their crime would hardly have transpired: but 
by taking counsel, and buying a field with the money, their crime obtains many 
witnesses, besides a public monument. 

The narrative is full of wonder and interest at every step. These wicked men 
thought that the Gentile strangers who happened to die at Jerusalem would be fitly 
provided for, if the price of a criminal's blood were bestowed in the purchase of a 
field wherein to bury them. But that criminal was Christ, — the Saviour of the 
Gentiles : so that, (as in the case of Abraham of old,) a burial-place, (and that, 
bought with Christ's blood,) became the first possession of the Gentile Church ; 
and it was theirs, at a time when God gave them none inheritance in the Land, no, 
not so much as to set their foot on ; though He had promised that He would give 
them the whole Earth for a possession. (o) 

The transaction here recorded, is noticed in a very remarkable manner in the 
Acts. Judas is there represented as purchasing the field with the reward of ini- 
quity : the dead man is spoken of as the agent ; and the money he had returned, is 
declared with terrible significancy to have remained still his.(jt?) 

A pious writer remarks, — " The price of Christ's blood was not to enrich the 
Temple of the Jews, but to supply a resting place for the Gentiles ; to receive their 
bodies till the general Resurrection. St. Jerome, who had been at the place, men- 
tions that they showed this field in his time : that it lay to the south of Mount 
Sion ; and that they buried there the poorest and meanest of the people."^) The 
spot is said to be clearly distinguishable to the present day. 

9, 10 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the pro- 
phet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of 
Him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value ; 
and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me. 

The words are found to stand thus in the Old Testament: "And I said unto 
them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed 
for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the 
potter : a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces 
of silver, and cast them to the potter in the House of the LoRD."(r) With such 
wonderful distinctness and precision was the sin of Judas described, five hundred 
years and upwards before it was actually committed ! The difficulty occasioned by 
this statement of the Evangelist is well known: for it is Ztchariah, not "Jeremy 
the prophet," who delivers the prophecy under consideration. It is hard to see, 
however, where the supposed difficulty exists ; if it be but believed that the same 
Spirit who inspired God's ancient Prophets guided His Evangelists likewise. St. 
Matthew does but inform us that this prophecy of Zechariah had been delivered by 
Jeremiah, about one hundred years before : and the information, however it may 
kindle gratitude, need excite no surprise. First, because many words must have 
been spoken by holy men of old as the Spirit gave them utterance, which were 
never committed to writing: (s) next, because the later prophets often repeat the 
prophecies of those who went before theni;(7) and lastly, because Zechariah is 

(o) Consider Gen. xxiii. Acts vii. 5. 

(p) Acts i. 18, 19, — which (take notice,) are St. Luke's words; not St. Peter's. 

(q) Williams. (r) Zeeh. xi. 12, 13. (s) For instance St. Jude, verses 14, 15. 

(0 Thus Is. xi. 9, is repeated in Hab. ii. 14: Mic. iii. 12, in Jer. xxvi. 18, Ac. &c. 



244 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

found to have spoken many things which recall the language of Jeremiah's prophe 
cies.^) It is not, of course, denied that something of divine mystery attaches to 
the prophecy in question, which has never been explained : hut there is no room 
for captious cavil concerning the words of the Evangelist. 

Our attention is invited, however, to something of a widely different character. 
The Jewish Rulers having conducted our Saviour before Pilate, (as recorded in 
verse 2,) bring against Him an accusation which they know will arouse the atten- 
tion and excite the jealousy of the Roman Governor. " They began to accuse Him, 
saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute 
to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ a King."(a;) Pilate accordingly asks 
a question, which all the four Evangelists agree in relating in the self-same words. 

11 And Jesus stood before the governor : and the governor asked 
Him, saying, Art Thou the King of the Jews ? and Jesus said unto 
him, Thou sayest. 

This is that "good Confession" of which St. Paul reminded Timothy long after, 
as witnessed by Christ Jesus before Pontius Pilate.(?/) The echo of the appella- 
tion thus claimed for Himself by our Saviour will be found never to die away 
throughout the judicial proceedings which follow, until Pilate deliberately affixes 
it, as a title, to the Cross. 

12 And when He was accused of the Chief Priests and Elders, He 
answered nothing. 

To the false accusations brought against our Blessed Lord, " He answered 
nothing :"(z) but when Pilate, in verse 11, asked Him whether He were a King, 
He answered at once: just as in the former Chapter, He is found to have answered 
the question of the High Priest, whether He were the Christ, the Son of God? (a) 

13, 14 Then said Pilate unto Him, Hearest Thou not how many things 
they witness against Thee? And He answered him to never a word; 
insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. 

"It is evident/' (says Origen,) "that Pilate was kindly disposed towards Christ, 
but yet he had no settled judgment, and was wavering." " He marvelled, that be- 
ing a Teacher of the Law, powerful and eloquent, our Blessed Lord did not by His 
answers refute the charges brought against Him, but rather, calmly sustained 
them."(6) "We may also suppose that there was something in His manner and 
words, so different from what is usual in a criminal, that the Judge felt something 
of awe and wonder before him. "(c) ... To know what followed, the Reader must 
refer to chap, xxiii. of St. Luke's Gospel, and read from ver. 4 to ver. 16. 

15, 16 Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the 
people a prisoner, whom they would. And they had then a notable 
prisoner, called Barabbas. 

Concerning whom, St. Mark supplies in this place some particulars.^) The 
custom alluded to in ver. 15 was probably of recent date, and of Roman origin ; but 
it had evidently become absolute. (e) St. Mark adds that the populace with loud 
cries demanded of Pilate that "he would do as he had ever done unto them." 

17, 18 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto 
them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus 
which is called Christ ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered 
Him. 

(w) Thus Zech. i. 4, recalls Jer. xviii. 11, and xxxv. 15. Zech. iii. 8. recalls Jer. xxiii. 5. 

(x) St. Luke xxiii. 2. {y) 1 Tim. vi. 13. 

(z) See also St. Matth. xxvi. 63, and the note there. (a) St. Matth. xxvi. 63, 64. 

(b) Theophylact. (c) Williams. (d) St, Mark xv. 7. 

(e) See St. Luke xxiii. 17. Also St. Mark xv. 6, 8. 



XXVII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 245 

Even so the Patriarchs, "moved with envy," delivered Joseph, (an eminent type 
of Christ,) into the hands of his enemies.(/) 

19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his Wife sent unto 
him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just Man: for I have 
suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him. 

This remarkable incident is related only by St. Matthew. Judas, Herod Antipas, 
and Pilate, exhibit three remarkable types of Sin in the New Testament; and it is 
very striking to observe how many recorded warnings they obtained in the course 
of their downward career. Pilate receives a warning even from his own wife ! 

20, 21, 22, 23, 24 But the Chief Priests and Elders persuaded the 
multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The 
governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye 
that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, 
What shall I do then with. Jesus which is called CiiRrsT? They all 
say unto him, Let Him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, 
what evil hath he done ? But they cried out the more, saying, Let 
Him be crucified. 

When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a 
tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the mul- 
titude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person : see 
ye to it. 

Pilate is the very type of the weak, wavering, temporizing statesman: quick to 
see the right course, — yet afraid to pursue it: striving, if possible, to reconcile sup- 
posed interest with certain duty; and in the end, making a miserable sacrifice of 
both. The ceremony which he is here described as performing, was well under- 
stood by the Jewish nation ;(</) but it was probably common to other nations 
besides, as expressive of innocence. 

Pilate testifies extraordinary anxiety to remove from himself the guilt of being 
accessory to our Saviour's murder: yet has the Church in her Creed, from the very 
earliest time, linked the Crucifixion of Christ with his name only: "crucified — 
under Pontius Pilate" 

25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and 
on our children. 

Thus fulfilling the sentence of the Psalmist, — "Let the mischief of their own lips 
fall upon the head of them that compass Me about." (h) .... The notes on our 
Lord's prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem may convey some notion of the tre- 
mendous curse which these terrible words entailed upon its sinful inhabitants. (i) 
Josephus relates that so many were crucified at the time of the siege, that "room 
was wanted for the crosses, and crosses for the bodies.'' The Jews became from 
that day forward a despised and scattered, a persecuted and degraded race, — a 
reproach among all the nations of the Earth. 

26 Then released he Barabbas unto them : and when he had scourged 
Jesus, he delivered Rim to be crucified. 

This monstrous outrage meets with a special notice in the prophetic outline which 
our Lord Himself so often drew of His approaching Humiliation. (A;) It is also 
solemnly described by the Evangelical Prophet; "He was wounded for our trans- 
gressions: He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was 
upon Him ; and with His stripes we are healed."(7) A pious writer conceives that 
tliis is that bloody baptism which the Saviour declared was in store for Himself.O^) 
The exceeding cruelty of the terrible infliction alluded to, is surely obvious to any 

(/) See Acts vii. 9, referring to Gen. xxxvii. 28. (g) Deut. xxi. 6 to 8. 

(h) Ps. cxl. 9. ({) See St. Matth. xxiv. (k) St. Matth. xx. 19. 

(0 Is. liii. 5: quoted in 1 St. Peter ii. 24. ' (m) St, Luke xii. 50. 



246 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

who will attend to the sacred narrative. The robing and unrobing which followed, 
must have materially aggravated the suffering; while the perfection of His sinless 
Humanity may well be thought to have sharpened every pain, and rendered the 
torture in fact intolerable. 

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common 
hall, and gathered unto Him the whole band of soldiers. 

In the original, what is here called "the Common-Hall," "the Judgment- 
Hall/'^) and "the Governor's House,"(°) is simply "the Prastoriuni.-" 

28, 29 And they stripped Him, and put on Him a scarlet robe: and 
when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head. 

"The perpetrators of this action designed by it nothing beyond the gratification 
of their wanton cruelty. But when we call to mind that the Second Adam was at 
this very time submitting Himself to the curse of God, — and couple with this the 
recorded fact that the thorn and the thistle were the fruits of that curse, as it took 
effect upon the ground, — we cannot resist the inference that the cruel device was 
overruled by God to the expression of a truth which He would have us discern and 
ponder. Being the immediate produce of the curse, the thorn was an appropriate 
decoration for the Man of the curse. But more than this. The endurance of the 
Thorn was the endurance of Sin's penalty as it visited not the transgressor but the 
place of his residence. Now, the endurance of a penalty by Christ in His 
vicarious character, involves and must ultimately issue in the cancelling of the 
penalty. And accordingly the circumstance of our Lord's having worn and suffered 
from a Crown of Thorns would seem to intimate that a revocation of the sentence 
which was passed upon the soil(^>) is in God's design, — a revocation which may 
possibly involve the fulfillment in a literal sense of the prediction, that "instead of 
the thorn, shall come up the fir tree; and instend of the brier shall come up the myrtle 
tree.' ; '(<2) These miscreants then, put such a crown upon His Head; 

and a reed in His right hand : and they bowed the knee before Him, 
and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews ! 

By such conduct, "in addition to what He had already undergone, inflicting ex- 
cruciating agony as well as mockery, on His most sacred person : and thus was He, 
not in colour and appearance only, but in reality, 'with a vesture dipped in 
blood ;'(?■) coming 'with dyed garments from Bozrah; and stained in all His 
raiment.' "(.§) 

30 And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on 
the Head. 

Concerning the disgusting outrage thus committed for the second time on the 
sacred person of our Lord, see the note on St. Matthew xxvi. 67. 

"Thus was he crowned, and this was His Coronation Day. The Hall of Judg- 
ment was His Kingly Court, and these kneelers were His Courtiers. There was no 
part of His most adorable person but was marked with suffering and indignity. 
His head was bleeding with the Crown of thorns, and beaten with the reed : His 
Divine Countenance, from the brightness of which Angels hide their eyes in adora- 
tion, before which the Heavens are not clean, was defiled with spitting and bruised 
with blows: His back was mangled with the scourging of rude soldiers: His knees 
were already weak through fasting. And worse than the iron which held Him in 
chains, or which presently pierced His hands, were those words which, 'like the 
piercings of a sword/ enter the soul. For bodily inflictions we can in ordinary 
cases estimate, but not so the wounds of a righteous soul on beholding and hearing 
the deeds of the wicked."(£) 

31 And after that they had mocked Him, they took the robe off from 

(n) St. John xviii. 28, 33 : xix. 9. (o) See the margin. (p) Gen. iii. 18. 

(q) Goulburn, quoting Is. lv. 13. Consider, in connection with the remark in the text, Gen. 
iii. 19 and St. Luke xxii. 44. (r) Rev. xix. 13. 

(s) Williams, quoting Is. lxiii. 1 and 3. (0 Williams. 



XXVII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 247 

Him, and put His own raiment on Him, and led Him away to crucify 
Sim. 

"Affd He," (the true Isaac,) "bearing His cross, went forth."(w) This prelimi- 
nary act of cruelty was the common punishment of malefactors: but so exhausted 
was our Saviour with what he had already undergone, that on reaching the gate of 
the city, He could no longer endure the burden. It follows, therefore, 

32 And as they came out they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by 
name : him they compelled to bear His Cross. 

And thus attended, He took His painful way to Calvary, followed by "a great 
company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him."(x) 
Nor was this part of His Passion without a mystical intention: for as "the bodies 
of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the High Priest for sin, 
and burned without the camp," "Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with 
His own blood, suffered without the gate." Such is the Commentary of the Spirit 
on this incident; and it is added, with reference to the very scene here depicted, 
"Let us go forth therefore unto Him, without the camp, bearing His reproach." (y) 

Bat who was the "man of Cyrene" of whom we here read? "What good deed of 
faith had he done to Christ, or to Christ's little one's, that he, of all the sons of 
Adam, should have been deemed worthy to be admitted to this, the first and 
greatest of all earthly honours? Who he was, excepting by name, we know not; 
nor what he had done ; for God withdraws from the sight of men, and hides in His 
own presence, those whom He most delights to honour. ,; (z) See the note on St. 
Mark xv. 21. 

33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to 
say, a place of a skull, 

A place "nigh to the City;' ; (a) which may be thought to have derived its name 
from the hideous tokens of mortality with which it abounded, as an ordinary scene 
of suffering. There, 

34 they gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall : and when He 
had tasted thereof, He would not drink. 

35 And they crucified Him. 

At once the most painful, and the most ignominious of Roman punishments: and 
it was done, in order that He might "redeem us from the curse of the Law, being 
made a curse for us ;"(b) for it is written, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a 
tree."( c ) Not that suspension was one of the capital punishments prescribed by 
the Law of Moses; but such as they punished with death, were ofttimes after death 
exposed to the ignominy of the gibbet ; and those who, being dead, were so hanged 
on a tree, were accursed by the Law. " Now though Christ was not to die by the 
sentence of the Jews, . . . yet the Providence of God did so dispose it, that He 
might suffer that death which did contain in it the ignominy to which the legal 
curse belonged, which is, the hanging on a tree.'^d) 

While we make such remarks concerning the history of Christ's Death, as well 
as concerning the many striking circumstances of His Passion, let us not fail to re- 
member the spiritual agencies which were besides at work, — urging the enemies of 
the Redeemer to words and deeds of unparalleled wickedness ;(e) sharpening every 
torture ; and assailing Him by every avenue of Pain. For Satan, who, after the 
Temptation, departed from the Holy One "until a season, "(/) beheld that his hour 
had now at last arrived, — as our Saviour Himself declared, (g) He it was who 
brought about the Crucifixion of Christ ; vainly expecting that he should triumph 
over his formidable Enemy if he could succeed in bringing Him into subjection to 
the Law of Death. The union of the Divine and Human Natures in the one person 

(«) St. John xix. 17. (x) St. Luke xxiii. 27, where see the note. 

(y) Heb. xiii. 11 to 13. (z) Williams. (a) St. John xix. 20. 

(b) Gal. iii. 13. (c) Deut. xxi. 23. (d) Bp. Pearson. 

(e) See below, on rer. 38. - (/) St. Luke iv. 13, where see the note. 

(a) St. Luke xxii. 53. 



248 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

of Christ was a mystery far beyond the wisdom of the Old Serpent ; so that, 
(to quote a favourite expression of the Fathers,) the Cross proved the trap in which 
he was effectually taken. He perceived not till it was too late, — till, in fact, the 
Seed of the Woman was about to bruise his head; and the Second Adam, by sub- 
mitting to Death, overcame Death, — that the Cross was to be the instrument of 
Christ's Triumph, and the scene of His final victory : never else, (as St. Paul in a 
certain place remarks,) would he and his accursed agents "have crucified the Lord 
of Glory ?"(/*) And these remarks, which it is no digression to offer in this place, 
furnish an explanation of that famous saying of Ignatius, first Bishop of Antioch: 
"The Prince of this World was baffled by the Virginity of Mary, — by her Child- 
bearing, — and likewise by the LOBD'S Death: three crying Mysteries which were 
wrought in the secresy and silence of God!" The early Fathers were familiar with 
this thought, of which we find many traces in their writings. See below, the note 
on ver. 40. 

His enemies crucified Him therefore, 

and parted His garments, casting lots : that it might be fulfilled which 
was spoken by the prophet, They parted My garments among them, 
and upon My vesture did they cast lots. 

Very surprising is the exactness of this fulfillment of ancient Prophecy. David 
is found to have written thus in Psalm xxii. 18 ; but the Psalmist cannot have fore- 
seen the issue of his own words : he cannot have known that while the garments 
of the Saviour would be hereafter divided into four parts by the four soldiers who 
were appointed to guard His Cross, His seamless coat, (as St. John records,) would 
be spared; and lots cast upon it, in order to decide to whom it should belong !(i) 

Like every other very momentous transaction in the history of the adorable Re- 
deemer, the fate of the garments which covered His most sacred Person, is related 
by all the four Evangelists. (&) 

36, 37 And sitting down they watched Him there : and set up over 
His head His accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF 
THE JEWS. 

It was customary with the Romans to set a title over the heads of those who were 
condemned to death. But take notice that the Providence of God, (which overrules 
all words and actions of men,) caused the Saviour's accusation, which was meant 
in bitter ridicule, to convey nothing but the truth. See more in the note on St. 
Luke xxiii. 38: see also on St. Matthew xxvi. 65. 

38 Then were there two thieves crucified with Him, one on the right 
hand, and another on the left. 

Whereby was fulfilled that prophecy of Isaiah, " and He was numbered with the 
transgressors ;" as St. Mark notes. (I) Concerning the men here called " thieves," 
see the note on St. Luke xxiii. 32. 

It has been well remarked that all "the evil designed by the enemy, was turned 
into the glory of God by Christ. In order to ridicule and degrade the Holy One, 
he suggests to the Jews to place Him between two thieves : it redounded to the 
highest glory of the Kingdom of Mercy. (m) He instigated them to crucify the 
Redeemer: no other death would have so much reached to the fullness, — to the 
breadth, and length, and depth, and heighten) — of our misery. The Devil urged 
Pilate to the scorn and ridicule of that title on the Cross : it is a name written in 
Heaven, and bears witness to Christ's Eternal Kingdom. He urged the people 
and their rulers to mock Him : but all they said fulfilled the prophecy. He insti- 
gated them to add to His torments, but it only made His Atonement perfect. And 
it has passed into a Law for Christ's subjects and followers, that the evil designed 
against them, is by Him made their chief good, if they adhere to Him. ;; (o) 

(h) 1 Cor. ii. 8. (t) See St. John xix. 23, 24. 

(k) St. Mark xv. 24: St. Luke xxiii. 34: St. John xix. 23, 24. 

(l) St. Mark xv. 28, quoting Is. liii. 12. (m) St. Luke xxiii. 43. 

(n) Alluding to Ephes. iii. 18. (o) Williams. 



xxvii.] on st. Matthew's gospel. 249 

It had been said prophetically, " I became a reproach unto them ; when they 
looked upon Me, they shaked their heads."(j9) Accordingly it is added : 

39, 40 And they that passed by reviled Him, wagging their heads, 
and saying, Thou that destroy est the Temple, and buildest it in three 
days, save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the 
cross. 

They revive the accusation which they had already fruitlessly brought against 
Hini,(g) — based upon the Divine saying, recorded in St. John ii. 19 ; and in chal- 
lenging our Lord to perform a miracle in proof of His Mission, they show the pop- 
ular expectation the Messiah, when He came, would work Miracles. Consider St. 
John vii. 31. The form which their language assumes, recalls the language ad- 
dressed to Christ by the Tempter. (r) The best of the Fathers, indeed, have not 
scrupled to assign the speech to him on this occasion ; instigating his agents to 
obtain, by whatever means, our Lord's descent from that Cross whereon He was 
already clearly a Conqueror. 

41, 42 Likewise also the Chief Priests mocking Him, with the Scribes 
and Elders, said, He saved others ; Himself He cannot save. If He 
be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we 
will believe Him. 

They choose their sign ; but they have been already warned that they shall be 
favoured with none, save that of the prophet Jonas. (s) This insult is the echo of 
what we met with above, in verse 40 : concerning which, see the note on St. Mat- 
thew xiv. 29. "He might indeed have come down," remarks Bp. Pearson, "and 
in saving himself have never saved us." — They proceed : 

43 He trusted in God : let Him deliver Him now, if He will have 
Him : for He said, I am the Son of God. 

Had not this also been the subject of express prophecy? " All they that see Me 
laugh Me to scorn : they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted 
on the Lord that He would deliver Him ; let Him deliver Him, if He delight in 
Him."(t) "Carnal man," remarks Bp. "Wilson, "cannot comprehend that God 
loves those whom He permits to suffer: but Faith teaches us that the Cross is the 
gift of His love and the foundation of our hope, the mark of His children, and the 
title of an inheritance in Heaven." 

44 The thieves also, which were crucified with Him, cast the same 
in His teeth. 

They were both blasphemers, at first ; but one of the two proved a Confessor in 
the end, and received a gracious assurance of his acceptance from the lips of 
Christ himself.(w) The Evangelist proceeds to notice the supernatural darkness 
which from noon till about three o'clock covered the land ; and which may well be 
supposed to have wrought a change in the thoughts of many concerning the Cru- 
cified. 

45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land 
unto the ninth hour. 

This was no eclipse of the Sun; for it took place at the Passover season, when the 
Moon was at the full. The darkness was altogether supernatural; "an awful 
token of the withdrawing of the light of God's countenance from the land in which 
the Son of God was hanging upon the Cross." (x) 

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, 

(p) Ps. cix. 25. (q) See St. Matth. xxvi. 61. (r) St. Matth. iv. 3, 6. 

(s) St. Matth. xii. 39. (t) Psalm xxii. 7, 8 : the last words, from the margin. 

(u) See St. Luke xxiii. 39 to 43, and the notes there., 
(x) Archd. Hale and Bp. Londsdale. 



250 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani ? that is to say, My God, My God, why 
hast Thou forsaken Me ? 

Thus did our Blessed Saviour accept the application of the 22d Psalm, already 
made by the Chief Priests and Scribes ;{y) quoting the first prophetic words of that 
Psalm, and acknowledging them to be fulfilled in His own Person. " The Son of 
David," says Bp. Pearson, " shows in whose person the father spake it." 

He was bereft of Divine Consolation, too, on this day, (says holy Bishop An- 
drewes,) "and that was His most sorrowful complaint of all: not that His friends 
upon Earth, but that His Father from Heaven had forsaken him : that neither 
Heaven nor Earth yielded Him any regard; but that between the passioned powers 
of His soul and whatsoever might in any way refresh Him, there was" a barrier 
set, " and He left in the state of a weather-beaten tree, all desolate and forlorn ; — 
evident, too evident, by that His most dreadful cry, which at once moved all the 
Powers in Heaven and Earth, ' My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me V — 
Weigh well that cry; consider it well, and tell me if ever there were cry like that 
of His . . . The Powers of Darkness let loose to afflict Him, — the influence of Com- 
fort restrained from relieving Him, — never was there sorrow like unto His sorrow I 
It cannot be expressed as it should, and as other things may. In silence we may 
admire it, but all our words will not reach it." 

47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This 
Man calleth for Elias. 

The words resemble each other, and might easily have been mistaken, especially 
by those who spake not in the peculiar dialect of the Hebrew, which our Blessed 
Saviour is thought to have used. 

"After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the 
Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst." (z) 

48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a springe, and filled 
it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink. 

Was it not written of old, — "They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My 
thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink ?"(a) For " the tender mercies of the wicked 
are cruel."(6) 

49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save 
Him. 

For a very general belief prevailed among the ancients, both before the time of 
our Lord and since, that Elijah was to return in person: a subject which has been 
already adverted to in the note on St. Matthew xvii. 11 and 12. These wicked 
brethren of a greater than Joseph, see "the anguish of His soul,"(c) and add insult 
to Him who is already in the very depth of Distress : " which barbarous and brut- 
ish inhumanity of theirs," says Bp. Andrewes, "must needs pierce deeper into His 
soul, than even did the iron into His side." 

50 Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up 
the ghost. 

He said "It is finished ;"(d) and, "Father into Thy hands I commend My 
Spirit :"(e) which were the two last of the seven recorded sayings of Christ upon 
the Cross. 

As there had been signs in Heaven going before this tremendous event, so were 
there now signs on the Earth, yea, and under the Earth, following it. 

51 And, behold, the Veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the 
top to the bottom : 

Whereby, it is evidently implied, that not only had our Saviour entered into the 
Holy of Holies, " into Heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us ;" but 

(v) See above, ver. 42, 43. (a) St. John xix. 28. (a) Ps. lxix. 21. 

(6) Prov. v. 10. (c) Gen. xlii. 21. (d) St. John xix. 30. 

(e) St. Luke xxiii. 46. 



XXVII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 251 

also that the veil was removed by which we were excluded, and that henceforth we 
might follow Him thither. For we have " boldness," says the Apostle, " to enter 
into the holiest by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through 
the Veil, that is to say His flesh.'\f) 

" Nor does it merely signify our admission into Heaven after Death ; but also our 
having access now into the Holy of Holies, through the Blood of Christ with which 
we are sprinkled ; for it is in this sense that St. Paul applies it in this passage."(#) 
It seems to be further implied, that in Christ, the distinction between Jew and 
Gentile was to be done away ; that the mysteries of the Law should henceforth be 
uncovered ; and that the Divine Protection which had so long defended the Holy 
Place from outrage and pollution, was henceforward to be withdrawn. 

52 and the Earth did quake, and the rocks rent : and the graves 
were opened, 

" All the Creatures in Heaven and Earth seemed to hear this His mournful com- 
plaint, and in their kind to show their regard of it : the Sun in Heaven shrinking 
in his light, — the Earth trembling under it, — the very stones cleaving in sunder, as 
if they had sense and sympathy : sinful Man only not moved with it ! And yet it 
was not for the creatures, this was done to Him ; to them it pertaineth not : but for 
us it was done, and to us it doth pertain. And shall we yet not regard it ? Shall 
the creatures regard it, and not we ? If we do not, it may appertain to us, but we 
do not pertain to it. None pertain to it but they that take benefit by it ; and none 
take benefit by it, (no more than by the brazen Serpent,) but they that fix their 
eyes on it"(Ji) The graves were opened, 

and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose, 

Marvels attend the Saviour from the Cradle to the Grave. At the loud cry with 
which He breathed out His human Soul, the Saints of God stir in their shrouds : as 
if by anticipation of that dreadful hour " when they are in the graves shall hear the 
Voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. ;; (f) "We may suppose," 
(says a pious writer,) " that His dying Voice did penetrate into the furthest regions 
of the dead ; that, together with that Earthquake, all they that were in their graves 
were moved, and some great change was wrought in their condition : and perhaps 
by Christ Himself, the great atoning Victim, at that moment appearing among the 
dead and going down to Hell." (A,) But it is obvious that the Evangelist is antici- 
pating what was of later occurrence when he says that "many bodies of the Saints 
which slept arose." Those words must in fact be taken with the words which 
follow : 

53 and came out of the graves after His Kesurrection, and went into 
the Holy City, and appeared unto many. 

For it is not to be supposed that any of the Saints arose before the King of 
Saints was risen. " Christ the first-fruits ; afterwards they that are Christ's. ; '(Z) 
But surely it was fitting that He who at this time " descended into Hell," and 
" preached to the Spirits in safe keeping/'^) should conduct with Him, when He 
rose from Death, a kind of first-fruits of those ancient Saints of His who had fallen 
asleep in His perfect Faith and Fear. Was not the event here recorded a blessed 
earnest of that " Resurrection of the Body/' which was to be hereafter, and in 
which the whole Church professes to " believe?" 

Take notice that guilty Jerusalem is still called "the Holy City." Even so we 
speak of "the Holy Catholic Church," though it be true that Iniquity abounds 
therein. 

54 Now when the Centurion, and they that were with him, watching 
Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they 
feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. 

(/) Heb. x. 20. ( g ) Williams. 

(h) Bp. Andrewes, alluding to Numb. xxi. 8, 9. See also the note on St. Mark xv. 38. 

(i) St. John v. 28. (jfc) Williams. 

(0 1 Cor. xv. 23. (m) 1 St. Pet. iii. 19. 



252 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

A very extraordinary confession, surely, on the lips of those who uttered it; and 
who cannot have known the full meaning of what they said. But they had heard 
our Saviour claim this wondrous appellation, and they had seen Him punished for 
it. They had also witnessed enough to convince them that no title was too lofty 
for such an one as they had been appointed to guard. 

55, 56 And many women were there beholding afar off, which fol- 
lowed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto Him : among which was 
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the Mother of James and Joses, and the 
Mother of Zebedee's children. 

That is, "besides Mary of Magdala, there was Mary, (the sister of the Blessed 
Virgin,) and Salome, the Mother of St. James and St. John. 

It was now drawing near the time of Sunset, at which time the Sabbath-day would 
begin. But the Jewish law farbad that the body of one hung on a tree should hang 
there all night.(?i) Accordingly, it is added : 

57, 58 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arima- 
thgea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: he went to 
Pilate and begged the Body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the 
Body to be delivered. 

unspeakable privilege ! He asked for nothing less than the Body of Christ : 
and nothing less than the Body of Christ is given him. 

59, 60 And when Joseph had taken the Body, he wrapped it in a 
clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn 
out in the rock : and he rolled a great stone to the door of the Sepul- 
chre, and departed. 

Thus did our Saviour make " His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in 
His death :"(p) the meaning of which prophecy seems to be, that " His grave icas 
appointed with the wicked," — that is, with the two thieves. Joseph of Arimathasa 
did not perform this act of piety alone. Nicodemus, another member of the High 
Court of Sanhedrin, (the same who had at first came to Jesus by night,) waxing 
bolder and stronger in the Faith, had been his helper :(p) and thus, He who was 
transfigured, and crucified, with two, — whose resting place was guarded by two, — 
and at whose Ascension, two were sent with a message to the Twelve,(g) — the same 
is now conveyed to His grave in the garden by two, likewise. It was " a sepulchre 
that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid:"(r) and the circum- 
stance recalls a remark which was offered in the notes on St. Matthew ii. 2, and St. 
Luke xviii. 39. 

61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting 
over against the Sepulchre. 

That is, Mary the Mother of Joses, (s) mentioned above in ver. 56. These two 
seem to have lingered at the sepulchre, as if absorbed in grief. Well may the first 
named woman have been selected to be the earliest witness of the Resurrection !(/) 

62, 63 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, 
the Chief Priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, 
we remember that that Deceiver said, while He was yet alive, After 
three days I will rise again. 

" Even in death and after death to be called a " Deceiver," as if no other descrip- 
tion could express Thee ! Thy humiliations, and wounds, and shame, are not yet 
over or exhausted, but flow on still even beyond the grave, to the healing of our 
sick souls, and the strengthening of our weak faith ; teaching us that not even in 

(n) Deut. xxi. 22, 23. (o) Is. liii. 9. 

(p) St. John xix. 39 to 42. (?) See the note on St. Luke ix. 30. 

(/■, St. Luke xxiii. 53. (») St. Mark xv. 47. (*) St. Mark xvi. 9. 



XXVII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 253 

death are we to seek for a good name for ourselves, but that when reviled we shall 
have Thy shame to cover us."( M ) 

Bat when had " the faithful and true Witness"(a;) said this thing? Never in their 
hearing, certainly, on any recorded occasion. Had they then obtained the state- 
ment from Judas, or from some other of the Twelve? But they say "we remem- 
ber." Did they then so well understand the dark sayings of our Lord concerning 
"this Temple/'(*/) anc ^ "the sign of the Prophet Jonas"^) as to venture thus bold- 
ly to interpret it ? — They proceed : 

64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the 
third day, lest His Disciples come by night, and steal Him away, and 
say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall 
be worse than the first. 

That is, The popular delusion concerning Christ will thereby become more fatal 
and hopeless than it was before. (a) There is surely something of bitter irony in 
Pilate's reply : 

65, 66 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch : go your way, make 
it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the Sepulchre sure, 
sealing the stone, and setting a watch. 

They did indeed " set a watch" or " guard ;" but it is reasonable to suspect that 
the Evangelist does not here say so. Instead of " setting a watch," it should per- 
haps rather be, — "with the guard." That is, the band of Roman soldiers which at 
such seasons was placed at the disposal of the chief Priests, attended them with the 
Pharisees when they went to seal the stone of the sepulchre : so that He who in 
His lifetime was condemned both by Jews and Gentiles, has witnesses of either 
nation also in His Death. As once before, "a stone was brought, and laid upon 
the mouth of the den ; and the King sealed it with his own signet, and with the 
signet of his lords, that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel, "(b) 
— so also is it done now. But lo, a greater than Daniel is here: even He of whom 
it is written, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the 
dragon shalt Thou trample under feet."(0 

And now, in exchange for the loving hearts which we lately heard of at the sepul- 
chre of our Blessed Redeemer, Roman soldiers are keeping guard there : " for if 
' Love is strong as Death, Jealousy,' also adds the holy canticle, ' is cruel as the 
Grave.' "(d) Those afflicted ones had gone sorrowing to their homes: but they were 
destined to experience the blessed truth that though "weeping may endure for a 
night," yet "joy cometh in the morning."(e) 



THE PRAYER. 

Grant, Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of Thy 
Blessed Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, so by continual mortifying 
our corrupt affections we may be buried with Him ; and that through 
the grave, and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection ; 
for His merits, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, Thy 
Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

(u) Williams. (x) Rev. iii. 14. 

{y) St. John ii. 19. (z) St, Matt. xii. 39, 40. 

(a) A proverbial saying, which recurs in St. Matth. xii. 45 and 2 St. Peter ii. 20. 

(b) Dan. vi. 17. (c) Ps. xci. 13. Consider Gen. iii. 15. 
(d) Williams, quoting Song of Sol. viii. 6. (e) Ps. xxx. 5. 



254 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 






CHAPTER XXVIII. 



1 Christ's Resurrection is declared by an Angel to the women. 9 He Himself ap- 
pear eth unto them. 11 the High Priests give the soldiers money to say that He 
was stolen out of His sepulchre. 16 Christ appeareth to His Disciples, 19 and 
sendeth them to baptize and teach all nations. 

The former Chapter ended with an account of the interment of Christ, the seal- 
ing of the Sepulchre, and the " setting a watch." These are the only recorded 
events of the last Jewish Sabbath, — on which day Christ rested in the grave from 
the work of Redemption, as " in the beginning" He had rested on that day from 
the work of Creation. "The obligation of the Sabbath/' says Bishop Pearson, 
" died and was buried with Him ; but, in a manner, revived again at His Resur- 
rection. And well might that day, which carried with it a remembrance of de- 
liverance from Egyptian servitude,(a) resign all the sanctity or solemnity due unto 
it, when that morning once appeared upon which a far greater Redemption was 
confirmed." A stronger reason, therefore, henceforth transferred the obligation of 
the Sabbath to another day : " and as there was a change in the year at the coming 
out of Egypt, by the command of God, (Jj) so, at this time of a more eminent de- 
liverance, a change was wrought in the weekly account."(c) 

1 In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first 
day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the 
sepulchre. 

" The other Mary" was " Mary the mother of James(eZ) and Joses,"(e) our Lord's 
cousins : that is, she was the wife of Clopas, and sister to the Blessed Virgin. (f) 
Joanna, {g) and Salome, (the mother of St. James and St. John,) belonged also to 
the same company of women who visited the sepulchre " very early in the morning, 
the first day of the week, .... at the rising of the sun," — as St. Mark says :(h) 
or rather, as St. Mark ex-plains ; for the statements of the later Evangelist are often, 
as here, explanatory. Thus the same blessed Writer, will be found to explain that 
the object of these holy women in coming thus early to the grave was to anoint the 
dead Body of their Lord, — to bestow upon it that customary anointment previous 
to burial, which, by reason of their haste, Joseph and Nicodemus had not been able 
to provide ; but which nevertheless the Son of Man had not lacked : for, as His 
own lips had declared, (but probably not in their hearing,) the sister of Lazarus 
had already thus anointed His Body.(i) 

Take notice that the great event with which the present chapter commences took 
place on " the first day of the week." Christ, "who is the true Light,"(&) comes 
forth on the same day in which He had anciently said — "Let there be Light!" . . . 
The New Creation(7) begins on the same day as the Old. 

It was now, in fact, the beginning of " the third day," and therefore, " after 
three days," according to the well-known sacred method of speech, which it is not 
necessary here to illustrate by examples. This period is prophetically shadowed 
out in many an ancient history ; but in none so clearly as in that of Jonah, — to 
whose fate, as distinctly typical of His own descent into Hell and Resurrection 

(a) Deut. v. 15. {b) Exod. xii. 2. (c) Bishop Pearson. 

(d) St. Mark xvi. 1. (e) St. Mark xv. 47, compared with verse 40. 

(/) See the note on St. Mark iii. 31. (g) St. Luke xxiv. 10. (h) St. Mark. xvi. 2. 

(i) Sec St, Matth. xxvi. 12: St. Mark xiv. 8: St. John xii. 7. (k) St. John i. 9. &c. 

(I) See the note on St. Matthew iii. 17 : xxiv. 8 : xxvi. 29. St. John ii. 1, &c. 



XXVIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 255 

from the dead, our Lord himself appealed on a famous occasion.(m) The great 
type in respect of the Day on which our Saviour rose, was the waved sheaf in the 
feast of the first-fruits. (n) The Priest was required to wave that sheaf, (the first- 
fruits of the Harvest,) before the Lord, " on the morrow after the Sabbath :" and 
all the sheaves of the field became holy by the acceptation of that; "for if the 
first-fruits be holy, the lump is also holy."(o) " By which, thus much was foretold 
and represented, — that as the sheaf was lifted up and waved, so the promised Mes- 
sias was upon this Day to be lifted up and raised from the dead ; or rather to 
shake, and lift up, and present Himself to God, and so to be accepted for us all : 
that so, oar dust might be sanctified, our corruption hallowed, our mortality con- 
secrated to eternity.'X^) 

But the Evangelist is describing the visit of the women to the Sepulchre on the 
morning when the great antitype of the wave-sheaf was revealed : 

2, 3, 4 And, behold, there was a great earthquake : for the Angel 
of the Lord descended from Heaven, and came and rolled back the 
stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like light- 
ning, and his raiment white as snow : and for fear of him the keepers 
did shake, and became as dead men. 

This is, of course, the account of what took place shortly before the women 
arrived, — the description of what had terrified the soldiers who, as the concluding 
verses of the former chapter explain, were set to guard our Lord's sepulchre. And 
well may such a spectacle have inspired them with terror. The men were already 
possessed with a sense of misgiving as to the awful nature of Him who slept within ; 
for they had probably been witnesses of His Crucifixion. But the descent from 
Heaven of such a glorious being as the Evangelist describes, must have surpassed 
all expectation. The bright aspect, and the robe of dazzling white, we meet with 
on other occasions,^) as belonging to visitants from the unseen World. With the 
feat of " power and might" performed by this angelic being,(r) compare what is 
related, and in very similar language too, of Jacob, — in Genesis xxix. 10. 

Take notice that the descent of the Angel is not to be regarded as the signal, or 
the instrument, of our Lord's awaking : much less is the rolling back the stone 
from the mouth of the sepulchre to be looked upon as an act intended to assist our 
Lord's coming forth, on his waking from death. He was already risen before the 
angel came. He had raised himself ;(•?) with calm majesty, had divested himself of 
the linen clothes in which Joseph and Nicodemus had wound His lifeless body ;(f) 
and had come forth. But it was in order to make the Resurrection known alike to 
friends and foes, that an Angel was sent on this glorious errand. Christ raised 
himself from death, according to His own express prediction:^) for " the union of 
the two Natures (the Divine and Human) still remained ; nor was the Soul or the 
Body of Christ separated from the Divinity ; but still subsisted as they did before, 
by the subsistence of the Second Person of the Trinity." (a:) 

The women then, on reaching the sepulchre, found the place unguarded ; and the 
stone rolled away from the door. They therefore drew near with wonder, in order 
to discover what had become of the body of the Lord. 

5 And the Angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye : 
for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 

" Fear not ye;" it is said with marked emphasis. Let the soldiers " shake, and 
become as dead men" through fear ; but " fear not ye." It is worth observing how 
eager the Holy Angels ever show themselves to comfort the timid hearts of faithful 
mortals. See the places referred to below, (y) 

6 He is not here : for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place 
where the Lord lay. 

(m) St. Matth. xxii. 40. (n) Concerning which, see Leviticus xxiii. 10 to 12. 

(o) Romans xi. 16. (p) Bishop Pearson. 

(q) Compare Dan. x. 6: and see the note on St. Luke ix. 29. (r) 2 St. Peter ii. 11. 

(s) St. John ii. 19, 21. (t) Compare St. John xx. 6, 7, and xix. 40. 

(«) St. John ii. 19, 21. {x) Bishop Pearson. 

ly) Judges vi. 23. Dan. x. 12, 19. St. Luke i. 13, 30 : ii. 10. Acts xxvii. 24. Compare 
Rev. i. 17. 



256 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

"As He said," — on so many occasions :(z) but the chief occasion which the Angel 
referred to is found in St. Matthew xvii. 23 ; where see the note. This appears 
from St. Luke's Gospel, where it is added, — "Remember how He spake unto you 
when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the 
hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. "(a) 

The Angel was not sitting on the stone when he spoke these words, as many 
persons imagine. He was within the sepulchre. There were in fact " two men in 
shining garments," (&) who had stationed themselves, (like the Cherubim on the 
Mercy-seat,) " the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of 
Jesus had lain. ;; ( c ) St. Matthew may be thought to record the address of the 
principal Speaker ; the same, doubtless, of whom we heard inverses 2 to 4. St. 
Mark says that he was " a young man, sitting on the right side, clothed in a long 
white garment." (d) He continues to address the astonished women in the words 
which follow : 

7 And go quickly, and tell His Disciples that He is risen from the 
dead ; and, behold, He goeth before you into Galilee ; there shall ye 
see Him : lo, I have told you. 

Concerning the appearance in Galilee, foretold by Christ, (e) — announced here 
by an Angel, — and presently promised by Himself (f) — see below the note on 
verse 16. 

8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great 
joy ; and did run to bring His Disciples word. 

" Since Death began from the female sex, to lier first is given the seeing and an- 
nouncing the glory of the Resurrection."^) "Woman, who came before like an 
evil Angel to Man, now returns to him even as an Angel of good."(7z) 

St. Mark says that, " when Jesus was risen early, the first day of the week, He 
appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils. "(0 
This then was His first appearance after His Resurrection. His second recorded 
appearance follows. But the exact order in which the subsequent appearances of 
the risen Saviour took place, (for ten, in all, are recorded ;) and how the course of 
events on this, the most evenful Morning in the World's History, may most satis- 
factorily be adjusted — we shall not here attempt to ascertain. Such inquiries, 
however delightful and important, (as how can the attention be possibly given to a 
worthier subject?) cannot be conducted without a minute discussion of difficulties, 
and a lengthy examination of existing opinions, which would be altogether out of 
place in a Commentary like the present. 

" I love them that love Me," saith the Lord by his prophet ; " and those that 
seek Me early shall find Me."(^') It proved so now ; for it is added, 

9 And as they went to tell His Disciples, behold, Jesus met them, 
saying, All hail. And they came and held Him by the feet and wor- 
shipped Him. 

"Thus their obedience to the Lord of the Sabbath, which had kept them till now 
at their homes, brought about that, instead of embalming a dead body, they should 
embrace a living one:"(Z) as the Spirit had said prophetically long before, — "I 
found Him whom my soul loveth: I held Him, and would not let Him go." (to) It 
will be observed that our Lord permitted, in the case of the company of Women, 
the act of love and homage which He had already forbidden in the case of Mary 
Magdalene, saying "Touch Me not:" the meaning of which mysterious words will 
be found assigned in the note on St. John xx. 17. 

10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid : go tell My Brethren 
that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me. 

(z) As St. Malth. xii. 40 : xvi. 21 : xx. 19. (o) St. Luke xxiv. 6, 7. 

(b) St. Luke xxiv. 4. (c) St. John xx. 12. (d) St, Mark xvi. 5. 

(e) St. Matth. xxvi. 32. (/) See below, verse 10. (g) Hilary. 

(h) Williams. (i) St. Mark vi. 9. (k) Prov. viii. 17. 

(I) Williams. (m) Song of Sol. iii. 4. 



XXVIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 257 

See above, on ver. 7; and below, on ver. 16. By His "Brethren," in this place, 
our Lord cannot mean exclusively His Kinsmen after the flesh ; for we find that the 
Women carried the message to the Disciples, generally.(n) It is probable that He 
speaks of the little band of Believers, under this endearing name, — being Himself 
"the first born among many Brethren.'\o) 

11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into 
the City, and showed unto the chief Priests all the things that 
were done. 

It seems then that what induced the guard to take this step was the visit of the 
women. The soldiers had ascertained that He was departed, whose sepulchre they 
had been set to watch: they had already seen His female followers make their 
appearance at "the place where the Lord lay;" indeed, the women were even now 
running towards Jerusalem with the news that Christ had risen from the dead. It 
was manifest that no time was to be lost: accordingly, "while [the wome?i] were 
going, behold, some of the guard" hastened into the city; and thus were the first 
to bring thither the unwelcome tidings of what had so recently occurred: unless 
indeed, (which seems very likely,) those bodies of the Saints, (whose rising was 
related in the preceding chapter,) had already "gone into the Holy City, and 
appeared unto many."(j?) It happened therefore that the very mischance which the 
high Priests had rendered impossible by setting a guard, they were obliged to bribe 
the soldiers to declare had actually taken place \(q) And why? Because they had 
to do with Him who "taketh the wise in their own craftiness ;"(r) and by whose 
Spirit it had been said prophetically, — "they have digged a pit before Me, into the 
midst whereof they are fallen themselves."^-) 

12, 13, 14 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had 
taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, 
His Disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept. 
And if this come to the Governor's ears, we will persuade him, and 
secure you. 

So much then for the supposed value of evidences, as they are called, for the truth 
of the Gospel. Could more unexceptionable witnesses of the Resurrection than 
these, have been imagined? Yet we see how their testimony was treated. Their 
words wrought no conviction: nay, they caused men to harden their hearts the 
more. Those wicked Rulers who heard not Moses and the Prophets, would not be 
persuaded (according to our Lord's true prophecy,) "though One rose from the 
dead."(tf) — Of the soldiers meantime it is recorded, — 

15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught : and this 
saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. 

The Evangelist now proceeds with the narrative which was suspended at ver. 8 : 
but he passes over a considerable interval of time. How much, cannot indeed be 
certainly ascertained ; but it was more than seven days, and less than forty. 

16 Then the eleven Disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain 
where Jesus had appointed them. 

It is quite remarkable what a prominent place the appearance of our Lord to His 
Disciples, in Galilee, occupies in St. Matthew's Gospel. It is recorded as the great 
event, — almost the only event, — after the Resurrection. Nothing else is said con- 
cerning the mysterious forty Days which followed the first Easter. The very As- 
cension of our Lord into Heaven does not obtain the slightest notice. On the other 
hand, the Angel in the Sepulchre said, "Behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; 
there shall ye see Him :"(w) — our Saviour repeated the same assurance shortly 

(n) See St. Luke xxiv. 9, 10. (o) Rom. viii. 29. 

(p) St. Matth. xxvii. 53: where see the note. 

q) Compare St. Matth. xxvii. 64, with ver. 13 of the present chapter. 

r) Job v. 13. (s) Ps. lvii. 6. (0 St. Luke xvi. 31. 

(u) See above, ver. 7. 

17 



258 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

after, — "Go tell My Brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see 
Me:"(x) — and the sacred narrative hastens on to relate that "then the eleven Dis- 
ciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them." 
In fact this meeting, which was of our Lokd's express appointment, must be 
regarded as an event of unusual dignity and importance; having been the subject 
of distinct prophecy,(?/) — as indeed it was the only appearance which our Saviour 
is recorded to have foretold. 

"Here therefore He is now, with His glorified Body, where he had been so often 
in His Humiliation. It would seem to indicate that human sympathies and natural 
attachments were still existing in the condescensions of our risen Lord. It is as if 
He took to Himself and hallowed such natural sympathies of humanity. As, in St. 
John's Gospel, He is found at the accustomed Lake with a few chosen Disciples, (z) 
so is He now among the Mountains, where He had so often been with them before ; 
and with the people, as before, gathered around Him and them." (a) For it cannot 
be doubted that this was that appearance to " above five hundred brethren at once," 
of which the Apostle Paul speaks in a well-known place. (6) 

Which Mountain this was, is not known; neither can it be declared when our 
Blessed Lord appointed it to the Disciples at the place where He would meet them. 
A promise that, after His Resurrection, He would go before His little flock into 
Galilee, we have indeed lately met with:(c) and when He made that promise, He 
may have also fixed the actual scene of their future meeting: or the Angel who 
addressed the women in the sepulchre, may have spoken more words than are 
recorded in ver. 7 above, and have designated the exact locality where it was the 
will of their risen Lord to manifest Himself to their longing eyes. The entire 
transaction however, as already observed, evidently belongs to a period much sub- 
sequent to the Day of the Resurrection. 

17 And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him: but some 
doubted. 

Not some of the "eleven Disciples," of course. Of them, it is expressly recorded 
that "when they saw Him, they worshipped Him." The last words of the verse 
should in fact rather be translated "but others doubted;" others, namely, of those 
five hundred brethren, and upwards, who were doubtless present on this occasion. (d) 

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given 
unto Me in Heaven and in Earth. 

"The first of the sayings of the great forty days, is that which asserts the Royalty 
of our Blessed Lord Himself. It is the first in place, for it occurs as the first in the 
first of the Evangelists; and it is the first also in its own proper order and meaning: 
for, from the Royalty of Christ, the existence of the Church, with all her powers, 
privileges, and hopes, is directly derived. As a King, He founded His Kingdom: 
as a King, He commissioned His Ministers: as a King, He laid out the limits and 
constitution of His Kingdom, according to His own will. . . . Let it, then, be ob- 
served, that this Royalty is first fully given in the Resurrection: 'And Jesus came 
and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in 
Earth/ "(e) 

Thus was the prophecy of Daniel fulfilled, that there should "be given Him Do- 
minion, and Glory, and a Kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should 
serve Him."(jf) All that Satan had once offered Him on the condition of sinful 
compliance, (g) was now His own by right, — a part only of His great "inheri- 
tance;"^) and which he surveys, as at the Temptation He did, from "a Moun- 
tain;" — and yet, not (as it would appear) from the mountain in Galilee. 

"All power is given unto Me," — saith our Saviour Christ. "Now, a dominion 
thus imparted, given, derived, or bestowed, cannot be that which belongeth unto 
God, as God, founded in the Divine Nature; because whatsoever is such, is absolute 
and independent. Wherefore His Lordship thus imparted or acquired appertaineth 

(x) See above, ver. 10. (?/) St. Matth. xxvi. 32. (z) St. John xxi. 1, &c. 

(a) Williams. (6) 1 Cor. xv. 6. (c) St. Matth. xxvi. 32. 

(d) See 1 Cor. xv. 6: referred to above, in the note on ver. 16. 

(e) Moberly. (/) Dan. vii. U. (g) See St. Matth. iv. 8. 9. 
(h) Consider Ps. ii. 8: St. John iii. 35: Rom. viii. 17: Heb. i. 2. 



X 



XXVIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 259 

to the Human Nature, and belongeth to our Saviour as the Son of Man. . . . This 
dominion thus given unto Christ in His Human Nature was a direct and plenary 
power over all things; but was not actually given Him at once, but part while He 
lived on Earth, part after His Death and Resurrection. For though it be true that 
"Jesus knew/ before His death, 'that the Father had given all things into His 
Hands / yet it is observable that in the same place it is written, that He likewise 
knew 'that He was come from God, and went to God-/ and part of that power He 
received when He came from God, — with part He was invested when he went to 
God: the first, to enable Him, — the second, not only so, but also to reward Him. 
' For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord 
both of the dead and living.'(t) After His Resurrection, He said to His Disciples, 
'All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in Earth/ 'He drank of the brook in 
the way, therefore He hath lifted up His Head/ (7c) Because, 'He humbled Him- 
self, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross, therefore God 
also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every 
Name/' ; (0 

By virtue of this entire authority, therefore, which he was at liberty to delegate 
how, and when, and to whomever He would, the Holy One proceeds to give to His 
Eleven Apostles their great Charge and Commission :— 

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the 
Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : 

"Rather, — "and make disciples of all nations, by baptizing them." In which 
words, the largeness of the Apostles' Commission is first to be observed, — not con- 
fined, as formerly to "the lost sheep of the House of Israel ;' ; (m) but wide as the 
World. t • 

Next, the necessity of Holy Baptism in order to becoming Christ's Disciple,, and 
therefore to Salvation, is to be noticed, as clearly implied in the very terms of our 
Lord's Commission to His Apostles,. That the Baptism of Infants no less than that 
of Adults was intended by the Divine Speaker, is abundantly plain from the testi- 
mony of Scripture and of Antiquity : but a convincing argument is supplied by the 
established usage of the Jews themselves with respect to children. It is a striking 
fact that the Baptism of Infants no less than of full-grown proselytes, was constantly 
practised. Our Lord made no express mention of Infants therefore, when He 
charged the Apostles to make Disciples by Baptism; because express mention was 
superfluous in the case of the persons whom He was addressing. 

" From this sacred form of Baptism," says Bishop Pearson, " did the Church de- 
rive the rule of Faith ; requiring the profession of belief in the Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, — before any could be baptized in their Name." 

It might indeed be thought by unlearned persons, from the frequent mention (in 
the Acts) of baptizing " in the name of the LORD JJESU$,"(n) that the form of 
words prescribed by our Saviour was not invariably observed by His Apostles. 
But besides that the testimony of all Antiquity establishes the direct contrary of 
this, it is observable from the very tenor of Scripture itself that it must be a mis- 
take to entertain such an opinion. When the disciples of Ephesus, in reply to 
St. Paul's inquiry — " Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" made 
answer, " We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost," the 
Apostle is found straightway to have rejoined — " Unto what then were ye bap- 
tized?" "intimating," as the learned writer last quoted, remarks > " that if they 
were baptized according to the rule of Christ, they could not be ignorant that there 
is an Holy Ghost ;" since they must perforce have been baptized into His Name. 
They made answer, — " Unto John's Baptism." Whereupon, it is straightway 
added — "they were baptized in the name of the LORD JJE8US."(o) 

" The power of governing the Church which our Lord left with his Apostles and 
their successors, to the end of the world, (but so that He, according to his promise, 
is always present with them at the execution of it,) — follows : for here, our Lord 
gives commission not only to baptize, but likewise to teach those who are His Dis- 
ciples, to observe whatsoever He had commanded. Whereby the persons whom He 
addressed, and their successors after them, are empowered both to declare what are 



i) Bom. xiv. 9. (k) Ps. ex. 1.. 

J) Phil. ii. 8, 9. See also Ephes. i. 20, 21. The quotation is from Bp. Pearson. 
(m) St. Matth. x. 5, 6. (n) See Acts ii. 38 : viii. 16 : x. 48 : xix. 5. (o) Acts xix. 1 to 5. 



260 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

those commands of Christ which men ought to observe, —and also to use all means 
to prevail on men to observe them."(j?) 

20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you : 

All nations therefore are to be made Disciples of Christ. " And this is to be 
done in two ways ; first, by baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost, and so bringing them into the Church ; secondly, by teaching 
them to observe all things whatsoever Christ hath commanded : that so they may 
be His Disciples indeed ; and not only outwardly profess the Faith which He hath 
taught, but likewise sincerely obey all the commands which He hath enjoined." (q) 

It may be presumed therefore that our Lord, — specially during those great forty 
days, during which He is said to have " spoken of the things pertaining to the 
Kingdom of God," (r) — gave commandment to His Apostles concerning the future 
constitution, government, and instruction of His Church ; and to these commands 
He may be thought here particularly to allude. Such a rite as Confirmation, He 
may be thought to have now ordained, — which we find presently enjoying Apos- 
tolic sanction. (s) Such an institution as the Holy Order of Deacons, He may be 
thought to have now appointed, which is observed immediately afterwards to arise.(tf) 
Those Doctrines and Divine Truths He may be thought to have now set forth, which 
the Apostolical Epistles lay down, and enforce, and explain. 

But of what avail was this great Commission, unless power and authority were 
at the same time given, which should enable those who were sent to fulfill their 
errand? "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth 
the children of Israel out of Egypt ?"(w) was the remonstrance of Moses of old: 
" and therefore, as God answered Moses, saying, ' Certainly I will be with thee \\x) 
so does our Saviour here encourage His Apostles, adding,"(y) 

and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the World. Amen. 

He says, " Lo \" — for every word which follows is weighty and important. " I," 
the Eternal Son, — who have all power in Heaven and Earth committed to Me, — 
"Jam with you." Not " I will be with you ;" but " I am with you:" reminding 
them thereby of His Divine Essence and Power, to which all things are present. 
And therefore, as He elsewhere said, "Before Abraham was, I am,"(z) so here He 
says, " I am with you at all times, to the end of the World, as really as at this pre- 
sent :"(a) — which last words were added, "lest, when the inspired Apostles died, 
their imperfect and uninspired successors should, in the midst of the strife of 
worldly tongues, and the abundance of sin, be tempted to doubt whether the mys- 
terious delegation, with all its sacred powers, were continued to them."(6) 

Thus speaks our Emmanuel, that is, " God with us ;" (for He hath " dwelt among 
us ;"(c) and when He departed from the Earth, He said to His Disciples that He 
would be with them for ever :) — thus does He promise to abide eternally with His 
Church. On a former occasion, to St. Peter, He sealed His speech concerning that 
Church with a powerful promise, — namely, that " the gates of Hell shall not pre- 
vail against it."(c?) On this occasion, He adds a promise to the like effect, — "And 
lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the World." " The former of these 
promises assures us of the continuance of the Church because it is built upon a 
Rock :(e) the latter giveth not only an assurance of the continuance of the Church, 
but also the cause of that continuance, which is the presence of Christ, (f) 

" In short, our Saviour here promises his Apostles that he will always be with 
them to the end of the World, by His Holy Spirit accompanying and assisting 
them in the discharge of their Apostolical Office : . . . . which amounts to nothing 
less than this ; even that Christ, having constituted such an office in his Church, 
for the government and edification of it to the end of the World, here promiseth 
that He himself, by his Holy Spirit, will be always present at the execution of 

(p) Beveridge. (q) Beveridge. (r) Acts i. 3. 

(s) Acts viii. 5 to 17 : xix. 1 to 6. Consider also Heb. vi. 1, 2. (t) Acts vi. 1 to 6. 

(«) Exod. iii. 11. (x) Exod. iii. 12: iv. 12, 15, &c. (y) Beveridge. 

(z) St. John viii. 58. (a) From Bishop Beveridge. (b) Moberly. 

?c) See St. John i. 14. (d) St. Matth. xvi. 18. 

(e) See the note on St. Matthew vii. 25. (/) Bishop Pearson. 



XXVIII.] ON ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 261 

that office, so as to make it effectual to the great ends and purposes for which it 
was designed." (g) 

Such is, doubtless, the primary purport and intention of our Saviour's promise. 
It was addressed to those whom He set over his Family and his Household ; and is 
the Charter of all their successors for ever. This promise gives them Confidence as 
well as Authority. In the Name of Christ, they act ; and their acts are valid 
because they are done in, and through, and by Him. ... At the same time, these 
words are in another and inferior, but still in a real sense, the common property of 
every member of that Society, and will remain so, " even unto the end of the 
World." The Blessed Speaker says more than that he is with us " always :" in the 
text, He declares that he is with us " every day," — or rather, " all [our] days :" 
by which words the gracious assurance seems to be conveyed that the Holy One 
and True will be the support and strength, alike of shepherd and of sheep, in all 
those many unforeseen trials to which " the days of the years of man's life" are 
exposed : those cares of which St. Paul speaks, and of which he felt the weighty 
burden, because, as he confesses, they came upon him daily :Qi) — those petty trials 
and private griefs again, which are the common heritage of all ; and which, though 
little in themselves, yet become great, because according to our Lord's true predic- 
tion, they are of daily occurrence, (i) 

And this promise, as it is the ground of all a Christian's confidence in Life, so is 
it the very rod and staff of his soul, in the hour of Death likewise. " Though I 
walk through the valley of the shadow of Death," says the Psalmist, " I will fear 
no evil — for Thou art with me!"(k) 

" Christ promised his presence to the Apostles ' until the end of the World ;' 
who ever made so unhappy a construction as to infer from thence, that for ever 
after, He would he absent from them ?"(Z) Assuredly, not only during these the days 
of their warfare, but hereafter also, when they shall wear crowns in Heaven, it will 
be the bliss of the Saints to be " all their days" in the presence of their Lord : to 
exchange the assurance that He is with them, for the blessed consciousness that 
they are with Him : to behold His face, and to " see the King in His Beauty." (m) 
'• Thou wilt show me the path of Life : in Thy presence is the fullness of joy ; and 
at Thy right Hand there is pleasure for evermore." (n) 

(g) Beveridge. (h) 2 Cor. xi. 28. (i) St. Luke ix. 23. 

(k) Psalm xxiii. 4. (I) Bp. Pearson, — referring to St. Matth. i. 25, where see the note. 

(m) Isaiah xxxiii. 17. (n) Psalm xvi. 11. 



THE PRAYER. 

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe 
Thy only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into 
the heavens ; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and 
with Him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the 
Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



THE FOUR HOLY GOSPELS 



ST. MARK. 



CHAPTER I. 



1 The office of John the Baptist. 9 Jesus is baptized. 12 Tempted. 14 He preach- 
eih. 16 Calleth Peter, Andrew, James, and John. 23 Healeth one that had a devil. 
29 Peter's mother-in-law. 32 Many diseased persons. 41 And cleanseth the leper. 

A very ancient tradition relates that St. Mark derived the materials of his Gos- 
pel, (under the Holy Spirit,) from the communications of St. Peter the Apostle; 
with whom he is thought to have resided at Rome. What is remarkable, scarcely 
ever is St. Peter spoken of, but something is said or omitted which in no way can 
be so well accounted for, as by supposing that the sacred Narrative was, in some 
way, influenced by his dictation. But a circumstance of yet greater interest, is, 
the minute and vivid, painter-like manner in which this Evangelist handles every 
incident in the Life of his Lord and ours. In fact, the Gospel of St. Mark, though 
the shortest of all, is more minute, graphic, and particular, than any of the others. 

If any, therefore, do inquire the reason of the sentence prefixed to the present 
Gospel, — " It shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey,"(V) — let them know, that the 
delight of seeking for instances of the peculiarity just noticed, in the present Gos- 
pel, suggested the choice of a motto which should imply that the sacred narrative 
would be found to possess a wondrous sweetness of its own, — sweetness beyond 
that of " honey, or the honey-comb." 

1, 2 The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God ; 
as it is written in the Prophets, Behold, I send My Messenger before 
Thy face, which shall prepare Thy way before Thee. 

Observe that the end of the Old Testament, is "the beginning" of the New. These 
words are found in Malachi iii. 1. 

" For now the Gospel began to dawn," says Bp. Taylor, " and John was like the 
morning-star, or the blushings which spring from the windows of the East : fore- 
telling the approach of the Sun of Righteousness/ 7 The Ministry of St. John 
Baptist is "the Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Consider St. Luke xvi. 
16 ; and see the note on St. Luke i. 22. 

3 The Voice of one crying in the Wilderness, Prepare ye the way 
of the Lord, make His paths straight. 

The words are found in Isaiah xl. 3. The Evangelist adds the words of the older, 
to those of the later Prophet ; showing thereby that there is the most perfect har- 
mony and consent between them. 

(a) Rev. x. 9. 



264 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

^ See the note on St. Matthew iii. 3, and on St. John i. 23. The note on St. Luke 
iii. 6, may be also read. 

4 John did baptize in the Wilderness, and preach the Baptism of 
Repentance for the Remission of sins. 

The reader is referred to the notes on St. Matthew iii. 1, 2. 

5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of 
Jerusalem. 

" By the great reputation of his sanctity," says the pious writer already quoted, 
"he prevailed upon the affections and judgment of the people, who, with much 
ease believed his doctrine when they had reason to approve his life : for the good 
example of tl\e Preacher is always the most prevailing homily ; his life is his best 
sermon." 

See a long note on this subject, on St. Matthew iii. 6. 

and were all baptized of him in the River of Jordan, confessing their 
sins. 

The Jews, whenever they made Gentile proselytes, — whether male or female, 
adults or children, — invariably baptized them ; to which well-known practice of the 
nation, our Blessed Lord referred in His farewell charge to His Disciples.(6) The 
Forerunner, by the general Baptism of the Nation, here described, taught them 
that they had so entirely forsaken their duty, so far fallen short of the holiness 
which God required of them, that they were in His sight no better than strangers, 
and heathens. They were, therefore, "to be treated as themselves received gentile 
proselytes, by a Baptism and a new state of life ; before they could be fit for the 
reception of the Messias, or be admitted to His Kingdom." 

6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a 
skin about his loins ; and he did eat locusts and wild honey ; 

A statement which seems almost copied from St. Matthew iii. 4, where see a long 
note. It is certain that St. Mark wrote his Gospel with that of St. Matthew lying 
open before him. 

7, 8 and preached, saying, There cometh One mightier than I after 
me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and un- 
loose. I indeed have baptized you with Water : but He shall baptize 
you with the Holy Ghost. 

The reader is again referred to the notes on St. Matthew's Gospel, — iii. 11. — The 
notes on St. Luke iii. 16, and St. John i. 27, may be also read. 

9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth 
of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. 

"Our Lord was baptized," says an ancient Bishop, "not that He might be 
cleansed by the waters, but to cleanse them : that, being purified by the flesh of 
Christ, who knew no sin, they might possess the power of Baptism." 

In the words of a great living Writer, — " The sinless Lord underwent ceremonial 
rites, to which nothing but the defilement of human sin gave being or significancy, 
— because, as He himself declared, it became Him even thus to fulfill all Righteous- 
ness, to discharge the debt of our sinful race, and thus commence His exemplar of 
perfect obedience as Man." 

See the note on St. Matthew iii. 13 : and read, if you please, the notes on verses 
14 and 15 likewise. The statement that Our Lord came "from Nazareth" to be 
baptized, is peculiar to the present Gospel. 

10, 11 And straightway coming up out of the water He saw the 
Heavens opened, and the Spirit like a Dove descending upon Him; 

(b) St. Matthew xxviii. 19. 



I.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 265 

and there came a Voice from Heaven, saying, Thou art My beloved 
Son, in whom I am well pleased. 

A voice from Heaven is heard at the Baptism of Christ, when He was about to 
begin His Ministry: at the Transfiguration :(c) and immediately before the last 
Passover, when our Lord's Ministry had come to its close. (d) 

Concerning the Baptism of Christ, the reader will do well to consult the notes 
on St. Matthew iii. 16 and 17 ; as well as those on St. Luke iii. 22. See also on 
St. John i. 34. 

12 And immediately 

Temptation follows, in the case of our Lord, " immediately." " Let none there- 
fore of His followers, think to go free. If you mean to follow Christ, reckon to 
meet temptations even at first, and so in all the way. Unwise, to put to sea and 
expect no storms; nothing but fair weather!" — So far, Archbishop Leighton: 
whose words recall that saying in Ecclesiasticus, — "My Son, if thou come to serve 
the Lord, prepare thy soul for Temptation: "(e) 

the Spirit driveth Him into the Wilderness. 

This, then, is the first event recorded after the Baptism. That the Enemy of 
souls should desire to possess himself of the house " swept and garnished," — is only 
what we are led, from other parts of Scripture, to expect.^) See the notes on St. 
Matthew iv. 1, and St. Luke iv. 1. 

It has been excellently observed by one of our greatest Divines, — "The Sacra- 
ments and other institutions of Religion do not secure against the approach of 
Temptation; they are rather advances in the Enemy's Kingdom, which provoke 
His reprisal and attack ; and the trials against which the faithful, thus prepared, 
have to strive are no proof that they are without the Holy Spirit, but the contra- 
ry." The Saviour Himself is declared to have been actually "led" to the scene of 
His mysterious conflict, " by the Spirit." Now " as many as are led by the Spirit 
of God," says St. Paul, "they are the sons of God."(#) 

"Driveth Him," here, implies no violence. The word does but describe the gentle 
guidance of a Shepherd, — as in St. John x. 4, where the same word is employed : 
a different word and a different expression altogether, from that which is found in 
St. Luke viii. 29. 

13 And He was there in the Wilderness forty days, tempted of 
Satan ; 

Our Blessed Lord was tempted for forty days : but the great encounter, wherein 
He vanquished His Adversary, belongs (as St. Luke especially notices,) to the last 
of those days. 

Goliath, in like manner, drew near to the Camp of Israel, " morning and even- 
ing, and presented himself forty days :"(/*) but the conflict with David was on the 
last day. Our Lord's great ancestor, who was also His most remarkable type, then 
took from His enemy "his armour wherein he trusted, and spoiled his goods."(i) 

Take notice that the Captain of our Salvation overcame the Enemy with three 
several texts of Scripture. Those places, therefore, are as "smooth stones" which 
He gathered out of this "brook in the way." — David "chose him Jive." It was 
because the lords of the Philistines were so many. (A,) David's Son chooses Him 
three: because so many are the great divisions of human S'm;(l) — so many were 
the assaults which He had to encounter. 

and was with the wild beasts ; and the Angels ministered unto Him. 

This language might serve to describe the fate of the " man greatly beloved," in 
the den of lipns. See the Book of the Prophet Daniel,— vi. 16 and 22. 

St. Mark is the only Evangelist who notices that the scene of our Saviour's — 
like the scene of Adam's— Temptation, caused Him to be "with the wild beasts." 

(c) St. Matth. xvii. 5. (d) St. John xii. 28. (e) Eccles. ii. 1. 

(/) St. Matth. xii. 43. St. Luke xi. 24. \g) Rom. viii. 14. 

(h) 1 Sam. xvii. 16. - (i) Compare St. Luke xi. 22, with 1 Sam. xvii. 54. 

(k) 1 Samuel vi. 4, &o. (l) 1 St. John ii. 16. 



266 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The concluding heavenly notice corresponds, doubtless, with St. Matthew's ac- 
count of what occurred when the Temptation was ended. "Then the Devil leav- 
eth Him ; and, behold, Angels came and ministered unto Him."(m) 

Thus briefly then does St. Mark dismiss our Lord's Temptation in the Wilder- 
ness ; in its nature, perhaps, the most mysterious, — in its consequences, the most 
momentous, — transaction recorded in the Gospel of Christ. The reader is referred 
to the notes on St. Matthew, ch. iv. 1 to 11, and on St. Luke, ch. iv. 1 to 13, (where 
the Temptation is recorded more fully,) for some remarks on the subject. 

In this place it shall be only further pointed out that the most entire reality of 
Temptation does not imply, of necessity, the least degree of Sinfulness in him who 
is the subject of it. Adam was tempted while in a state of Grace: and the beloved 
Disciple says of the Second Adam, whose Temptation is here recorded, — "In Him 
is no Sin."(n) The very instincts of that human nature which our Lord entirely 
assumed, make Pleasure, an object of desire; and Pain, an object of dread: and 
whenever the prospect of the former, to be earned as the price of disobedience to 
God's Will, — or of the latter, to be incurred as the penalty of submission to it, — is 
presented to the rational soul, — just so often does Man incur Temptation, in the 
strictest sense of the word. Only then is he sinful, when he accepts the Pleasure or 
refuses the Pain. 

And of the nature above described was the Temptation of our Blessed Saviour. 
St. James has indeed said that " a man is tempted when he is drawn away of Ms 
own lust, and enticed :"(o) but this description applies to man's fallen nature ; and is 
clearly not applicable to our Lord, — any more than to our first Parents while they 
were yet in Paradise. Adam was created upright: and our Lord came "in the 
likeness" only, "of sinful flesh. "(p) The first, after his Fall, lusted to evil, 
doubtless: but the second retained His innocency, and newer fell. In Him, there- 
fore, Sin had not any place, nor could have. 

Yet must the display of such perfect virtue, on the part of the Son of Man, have been 
attended with difficulty, as we may most humbly and reverently assume. Of this fact, 
the later scenes of His mortal history are useful to convince us; as when the Son 
submitted His own Human Will, not without pangs of keenest agony, to the Will 
of the Father.(^) And we may not fail to remember that the perfection of Human 
Nature in Him must have heightened in His case every trial, — rendered more acute 
every suffering to which, for us men and for our Salvation, He condescended to 
submit. 

14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, 

The Reader is referred to a long note on St. Matthew iv. 12. 

What a mighty consolation is contained in this brief statement! How solemn a 
warning against despondency, to the end of Time! — "John was put in prison:" 
men's hopes became clouded : on all those who had flocked to his Baptism, and 
listened to his preaching, on the banks of Jordan, the sun seemed to have set for 
ever: the very Disciples who had waited upon him, (as we read in St. John's first 
chapter, verses 37 to 42,) had returned to their nets. But, "when John was put 
in prison, — JESUS came into Galilee!" — God hath wonderful consolations in store 
for those who love Him. He can do for us beyond all that we can ask or think. 
When one instrument is removed, He can provide another. When human hopes 
are withdrawn, Divine comforts appear. Heaven begins where Earth ends. 

The Reader may, if he pleases, read the notes on St. Matthew iv. 17. 

15 preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying, The 
time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand : repent ye, and 
believe the Gospel. 

16 Now as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, 

This Lake, — which, in the Old Testament, is spoken of as "the Sea of Chinne- 
reth/ ; (r) — in the New, is sometimes called "the Lake of Tiberias ;"(s) sometimes, 
"the Lake of Gennesaret ;"(t) sometimes, "the Sea of Galilee." At its North- 
Cm) 1 St, John iv. 11. (n) 1 St. John iii. 5. (o) St. James i. 13. 
p) Romans viii. 3. (q) St. Matt, xxvi. 39, 42, 44, — compared with St, Luke xxii. 41 to 44. 
r) Numbers xxxiv. 11. Joshua xiii. 27. 
s) St. John xxi. 1. (0 St. Luke v. 1. 



I.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 267 

Western extremity, stood the town of Capernaum ;(«) so that this Lake proved the 
scene of many of the miracles, many of the parables, and many of the Discourses 
of our Lord. Travellers describe it as a sheet of water of singular interest and 
beauty ; in length about sixteen miles, and in breadth, about eight. It is surrounded 
by mountains; and, like other mountain-lakes, is subject to storms which, (in the 
words of a recent Traveller,) make it boil with violence. In repose, its waters 
assume a grey, leaden hue. 

17, 18 He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the 
sea : for they were Fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after 
Me, and I will make you to become Fishers of men. And straightway 
they forsook their nets, and followed Him. 

Leighton remarks upon it, — "This was as Elijah's touch to Elisha: 'What have 
I done to thee V{x) Did our hearts once hear His voice, net would not entangle us, 
nor cables bind us. No friends, nor parents, nor business would hold us. We 
should break from all, yea, should break from all to follow Him." 

19, 20 And when He had gone a little farther thence, He saw James 
the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship 
mending their nets. And straightway He called them : and they left 
their Father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after 
Him. 

For several remarks on every part of this incident, the Eeader is referred to the 
notes on St. Matthew iv. 18 to 22. What has been there so fully commented on, 
may be passed by, in silence, here: for the words of the two Evangelists in 
describing the Transaction, are almost, (though by no means quite,) the same. For 
instance, the mention of the "hired servants," in ver. 20, is peculiar to the present 
Gospel; and it suggests two remarks: 1st. that we are not to think too meanly of 
the temporal condition of these first followers of the Lamb: 2nd. that Zebedee was 
not left alone, when his sons, at the call of Christ, left his side. 

St. Luke has related the call of the four Disciples in a very different manner. 
Compare St. Luke v. 1 to 11, — and see the notes there. 

21, 22 And they went into Capernaum ; and straightway on the 
Sabbath day He entered into the Synagogue, and taught. And they 
were astonished at His doctrine : for He taught them as one that had 
authority, and not as the Scribes. 

The self-same words recur in St. Matthew vii. 28, — where see the note. They 
are descriptive, in that place, of the effect which our Saviour's teaching produced on 
those who listened to the Sermon on the Mount. Take notice, that they are imme- 
diately followed by a cluster of miracles (in the 8th and 9th chapters of St. Mat- 
thew's Gospel,) as if to show that His mighty Words were immediately confirmed 
by His mighty Works, — " signs following," more wondrous even than the Discourse 
to which they bore witnesss. And so it is in this place: for observe what follows. 

23 And there was in their Synagogue a man with an unclean Spirit ; 

Not even the sanctity of the congregation deters the unclean Spirit. He ventures 
even there ! 

24 And he cried out, Saying, Let us alone ; what have we to do 
with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? art Thou come to destroy us ? 

What wonder that the unclean Spirit should thus cry out, — with words of hate, 
and almost of defiance? Were not these cures so many victorious inroads which the 
Stronger than the strong(y) was daily making into the Kingdom of Darkness, — bold 
invasions of "the strong man's palace," — foretastes of a strife which was never to 

(w) St. Matth. iv. 13, and note there. (x) 1 Kings xix. 20. {y) St. Luke xi. 21, 22. 



268 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

cease until He who is "Mighty to save" should have "put all enemies under His 
feet?"(2) 

"Let us alone: what have we to do with Thee?" — says the unclean Spirit; as if 
conscious that the common danger of all his race was approaching. And again, — 
'Art Thou come to destroy usP' — which words further suggest not only "a certain 
fearful looking for of judgment," (as the Apostle speaks,)(a) but an expectation 
and a belief like that which we profess in the Te Deum : — " We believe that Thou 
shalt come to be our Judge." 

On the appellation — "Jesus of Nazareth," see the last note on St. Luke iv. 34. 
For further remarks on this Miracle, the Reader is referred to all the notes on the 
last-named place. 

I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God. 

"God is a Spirit."(&) Accordingly, the World of Spirits, — or rather, the two 
Worlds, Heaven and Hell, — have already freely acknowledged their Lord and King; 
the one, in songs of rapture, (c) — the other, with cries of despair. Man is more slow 
to recognize "the King in His Beauty"(d) under that thick disguise. "He was in 
the World; and the World was made by Him:" and yet, "the World knew 
Him not!"(e) 

See the notes on the last half of St. Luke iv. 34. 

25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace and come out 
of him. 

See the first note on St. Luke iv. 35: — and observe that it is not here, "the 
LORD rebuke thee!" as when "Michael the Archangel, contending with the Devil, 
disputed about the body of Moses ;"(/*) but a direct rebuke, administered in His 
own Name. 

26 And when the unclean Spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud 
voice, he came out of him. 

Behold the last act of defeated malice! The unclean spirit may not speak. 
Christ hath already chained up his tongue from uttering words. But a yell 
of despair he may yet pour forth, — and thai he straightway does, "with a loud voice." 

Neither may he any longer occupy his human dwelling-place. Christ hath set his 
miserable bondsman free. But to convulse and rend the frame which he may no 
longer defile with his presence, — that is still in his power. Accordingly, he tears 
him: and, (as St. Luke records,) throws him in the midst, before he submits to the 
sentence from which there is no reprieve. 

See the last note on St. Luke iv. 35. 

27, 28 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned 
among themselves, saying, What thing is this ? what new doctrine is this ? 
for with authority commandeth He even the unclean spirits, and they 
do obey Him. And immediately His fame spread abroad throughout all 
the region round about Galilee. 

29 And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they 
entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 

It is called "Peter's house" by St. Matthew,— viii. 14; where see the note. 
Some remarks on this miracle will also be found in the notes on St. Luke iv. 39. 

30 But Simon's Wife's Mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they 
tell Him of her. 

Christ needed not to be told of this suffering inmate of Simon's House ; neither 
does He need to be told of our necessities. He knows them all before we ask, as 
well as our ignorance in asking : but He requires us, all the same, to make our 

(z) 1 Cor. xv. 25. (a) Hebrews x. 27. (h) St. John iv. 24. 

(c) St. Luke ii. 13, 14. \d) Isaiah xxxiii. 17. (e) St. John i. 10. 

(/) St. Jude ver. 9. 






I-] 



ON ST. make's gospel. 269 



needs the subject of Prayer, — "to ask" in order that it may "be given" unto us. 
And the same lesson is taught us by the present incident ; for it was not until 
" they besought Him for her," as St. Luke declares, (iv. 38,) that He wrought the 
wondrous cure which the Evangelist proceeds to describe. 

31 And He came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up ; 

" In Him was Life !"(#) and to be so " lifted up" by Him, was to be filled, anew, 
with Health and Vigour. The dying flame was re-kindled ; for the lamp had been 
replenished at the very Fountain of Life. 

St. Luke here supplies a striking circumstance which the other Evangelists omit. 
See St. Luke iv. 39 and the note there. 

and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. 

Take notice, therefore, that here was a double miracle. Not only had the fever 
been driven away by His Almighty word, but the wasted and enfeebled frame had 
been braced with new vigour ; for we read that she " ministered unto them," — that 
is, probably, waited upon the blessed company while they partook of their mid-day 
meal. Restoration to health by any ordinary means would not have enabled Simon's 
Mother-in-law to do this. We all know that it fares far otherwise with a patient on 
the first recovery from fever. 

Other instances of a double miracle are supplied by, — the first miraculous draught 
of fishes, when the net brake,(A) and yet the fish were retained : — the man born 
blind, who was not only blessed with the gift of sight,(f) but also with the use of 
his eyes : — the stilling of the storm, when not only the wind ceased to rage, but the 
waters of the lake were reduced to a state of " great calm."(A;) — Thus, also, when 
the Widow of Nain's Son was raised from death, he " began to speak:" (I) — while 
the daughter of Jairus, not only "arose and walked," but required "that something 
should be given her to eat."(m) 

And surely a great lesson is taught us by all this ! Not only are we reminded 
hereby that His ways are not like man's ways ; but anxious thoughts are repressed, 
while we perceive that all His works are perfect : — that He can not only expel ca- 
lamity, but remove its consequences also ; and provide a double remedy as often as 
a double remedy is required. 

32 And at even when the sun did set, they brought unto Him all 
that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. 

The two preceding miracles were performed on the Sabbath-day : see verses 21 
and 29. "At even, when the sun did set," the Jewish Sabbath came to a close, 
and the first day of the week, the Christian Sabbath began. (n) The people availed 
themselves of this moment, therefore, to bring their sick, (an act which would have 
been deemed a profanation of the Sabbath,) into the presence of the Great Physi- 
cian : — a li pely emblem of the great purpose to which that day was to be hereafter 
consecrated, — namely, to the special supply of spiritual needs, and the cure of 
spiritual ailments. 

33 And all the city was gathered together at the door. 

" The door," — that is, the door of St. Peter's house: the door so well known to 
him who supplied St. Mark with materials for his Gospel ! See the note at the 
beginning of the present chapter. Compare St. Mark ii. 2, and St. Matthew, ix. 10. 

34 And He healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast 
out many devils ; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they 
knew Him. 

See the notes on St. Luke iv. 34. 

35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went 
out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. 

(g) St. John i. 4. (h) St. Luke v. 6. (0 St. John ix.7. 

(k) St. Matth. viii. 26. - (l) St. Luke vii. 15. (to) St. Mark v. 42, 43. 

(n) See Leviticus xxiii. 32, and compare Nehemiah xiii. 19. 



270 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

36, 37, 38 And Simon and they that were with Him followed after 
Him. And when they had found Him, they said unto Him, All men 
seek for Thee. And He said unto them, Let us go into the next 
towns, that I may preach there also : for therefore came I forth. 

Observe how much more particularly all this is related by St. Mark than by St. 
Luke, — iv. 42, 43. Remember the first note on the present chapter. 

39 And He preached in their Synagogues throughout all Galilee, 
and cast out devils. 

See the note on St. Luke iv. 44. He preached, — "for therefore came He forth." 
The " Sower went forth to sow His Seed !" 

40 And there came a Leper to Him, beseeching Him, and kneeling 
down to Him, and saying unto Him, If Thou wilt, Thou canst make 
me clean. 

St. Mark alone it is, who describes this attitude of the Leper. From St. Luke's 
Gospel, (v. 12,) we learn that he also "fell on his face." His speech is a very 
touching one. It implies a prayer ; yet, in reality, nothing is asked. It is rather 
a profession of perfect Faith, and a humble " Thy Will be done." Let us learn 
from his words, says an ancient, to commit all our bodily infirmities to the will of 
God, — "who knows what is best for us, and disposes all things as He will." 

41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth His hand, and 
touched him, 

The Son of Man was "moved with compassion;" — concerning which statement, 
see the first note on St. John i. 14 ; and the first note on St. Matthew viii. 10.-— 
Take notice, that He "put forth His hand, and touched the leper," — although this 
was an act strictly forbidden by the Mosaic Law:(o) thereby showing that He, (in 
that He had made the Law,) was superior to the Law, as an Eastern Bishop ob- 
serves ; and convincing men that "unto the pure, all things are pure."(jp) But it 
should be observed that our Lord, though He went beyond the letter of the ancient 
command, yet did not transgress its spirit : for it was only because the touch of a 
Leper conveyed defilement, that contact was forbidden ; but on the pure person of 
the second Adam no defilement could pass. He could convey purity, but could not 
receive pollution. In the words of an Eastern Bishop, — "His Hand became not 
unclean by the Leper ; but the Leper became clean by His Holy Hand." 

Delightful it is to notice the points of resemblance and of diversity between the 
accounts of the same miracle in different Gospels. "The cleansing of the Leper" 
is found besides in St. Matthew's Gospel, — viii. 2 to 4 ; and St. Luke's, — v. 12 to 15. 
The reader is referred, once for all, to the notes on both those places. 

and saith unto him, I will ; be thou clean. 

The very words, doubtless, which the miserable man most of all longed to hear. 

42 And as soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed 
from him, and he was cleansed. 

"As soon as he had spoken;" — so instantaneous was the cure ! " The leprosy 
departed from him :" — as if a messenger of Satan were spoken of! 

43, 44 And He straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away ; 
and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man ; but go thy way, 
show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things 
which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. 

This command, which our Lord often repeated, (q) to " say nothing to any man," 

(o) Leviticus v. 3. (p) Titus i. 15. 

\q) As, in St. Mark vii. 36, and St. Luke v. 14. 



I.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 271 

is somewhat mysterious and difficult : for on another occasion, our Saviour com- 
manded one whom He had healed, to return home and tell his friends "how great 
things the Lord had done for him."( r ) The first note on St. Matt. viii. 4 may be 
consulted, as containing a partial explanation of the difficulty. See also below, — 
the last note on the present chapter. And the Reader is further referred to the 
note on St. Mark v. 31. 

45 But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze 
abroad the matter, 

He was so full of his blessedness, that he could not keep it a secret. Other per- 
sons, whom our Saviour had in like manner cured, and commanded to keep silence, 
seem to have found it, in like manner, impossible to restrain themselves. See St. 
Matth. ix. 30, 31 ; and St. Mark vii. 36. 

insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but 
was without in desert places: and they came to Him from every 
quarter. 

Here then we see one reason why our Lord may have enjoined silence on the 
Leper ; for it appears that, in consequence of his disobedience, the Son of Man 
could no longer appear openly in the city ! Doubtless, He wished that men should 
come to Him rather as an act of individual Faith, than troop to Him in crowds, — 
as to a Physician with the reputation of more than human skill ; whose very touch 
was health, — and who had never been known to lay hands on any one in vain. It 
requires little reflection to perceive that a certain degree of privacy in the working 
of His miracles was sometimes necessary, — or it would have been literally impossi- 
ble to move from place to place : and some caution was needed, at least at present, 
— or the malice of the Jews might have been aroused, before the Saviour's "time 
was come." The note on St. Matt. xii. 21, may further be consulted on this sub- 
ject. 

But it may be remarked, in conclusion, that the Christian who seeks to follow his 
Saviour's example in all things, and who would fain see here, also, a lesson for 
help and guidance, will find that he is taught Humility while he pursues a course 
like that of our Lord, here described. He will learn that good deeds should be 
done in private, and that benefits conferred should shun publicity : that it is well, 
on doing a favour, to say — " See thou say nothing to any man." 

In the words of an excellent living writer, — "Our Lord's injunction does indeed 
for the time appear to have been spoken in vain ; yet His Word shall not return to 
Him void, but perform its purpose :{s) and if in nothing else, yet in this, that even 
to this Day it remains a witness to us, teaching us to avoid all Vain-glory in acts 
of Charity, — although indeed it may be true that Glory and Honour will ever pur- 
sue those who flee from them ; and flee from those who anxiously pursue them." 

(r) St. Mark v. 19. (s) Isaiah iv. 11. 



THE PBAYER. 

By the mystery of Thy holy Incarnation ; By Thy holy Nativity 
and Circumcision ; By Thy Baptism, Fasting, and Temptation ; 

Good Lord, deliver us ! 



"i 

-*-::• 



272 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER II 



1 Christ healeth one sick of the palsy. 14 Calleth Mattliew from the receipt of cus- 
tom. 15 Eateth with publicans and sinners. 18 Excuseth His disciples for not 
fasting, 23 and for plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath day. 

1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days ; and it 
Was noised that He was in the house. 

2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that 
there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door : 

The Reader is referred to the note on St. Mark i. 33. Also to the note at the 
beginning of St. Mark i. 

and He preached the "Word unto them. 

3 And they come unto Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which 
was borne of four. 

Disease doth, in a most lively manner, set forth the nature of Sin ; — and the dis- 
orders of the Body often aptly represent the disorders of the Soul. Leprosy has 
been already brought before us. (a) Palsy, — which while it leaves the Will free, 
denies to the Body, or to some member of it, the power of complying with the dic- 
tates of the Will, — forcibly reminds us of that infirmity of spiritual purpose, so 
well known to every child of Adam ; and which wrung from the great Apostle his 
memorable complaint : — " What I would, that I do not ; but what I hate, that I do. 
. . . Now then, it is no more I, . . . but Sin that dwelleth in me. . . . For to will 
is present with me ; but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the 
good that I would, I do not : but the evil that I would not, that I do. ... I find 
then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in 
the Law of God, after the inward man : but I see another Law in my members, 
warring against the Law of my Mind, and bringing me into captivity to the Law 
of Sin which is in my members. wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver 
me from the body of this death?" — or rather, "from this body of Death." (b) 

He reads the Gospels to little purpose, who passes lightly by an analogy of this 
kind, when it is pointed out to him. Doubt not but what the cure of palsy was 
here singled out for record, from the many thousand cures wrought by our Lord, 
with a wise and mysterious purpose; and that it is at our peril that we turn the 
page, and close the book, without concern or inquiry as to what may be the mes- 
sage of the Spirit therein, to ourselves. 

It has been elsewhere remarked, that the Commentator plants a most timid and 
uncertain foot, (timid because uncertain,) when he ventures on the allegorical in- 
terpretation of Scripture, without the express guidance of the Spirit ; nor will he 
here be so rash as to offer any remark which may seem to overstep the bounds of 
the severest soberness. " This charitable work of theirs," however, who brought 
the helpless paralytic to Christ, — and whose faith may almost seem to have been 
accepted by Him (in the presence of many witnesses) as a pledge or earnest of the 
other's sincerity, — cannot but remind us of the act of those persons who bring 
Infants to Christ in Holy Baptism. " Son, thy sins be forgiven thee," were the 
words addressed to the poor sufferer : and how do those words remind us of what 

(a) See St. Mark i. 40 to 44: and the notes on St. Matth. viii. 2, and on the last part of St. 
Luke v. 13. (b) Romans vii. 15 to 24. 



II.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 273 



takes place in that " one Baptism for the Remission of Sins," whereby we are made 
members of Christ, and children of God ! Endued with new powers, — born to a 
new Life, — we henceforth " die from sin, and rise again unto Righteousness: con- 
tinually mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections, and daily proceeding in all 
virtue and godliness of living." 

See the note on St. Luke v. 20 : also St. John v. 7. 

4 And when they could not come nigh unto Him for the press, they 
uncovered the roof where He was : and when they had broken it up, 
they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 

See the notes on St. Luke v. 19. 

" They went upon the housetop," as St. Luke relates, (c) and let the poor sufferer 
" down through the tiling, with his couch, into the midst before Jesus." A remark- 
able proceeding, truly ; reminding us, that where there is a living earnest desire, 
no obstacles can keep men from Christ's presence. Faith, verily, ever finds the 
way, — or makes it. These men will " uncover the roof where He is," rather than 
be debarred of the thing they long for. Love still effects its purpose. And this 
eager temper He approves. Neither violence, nor rudeness, in such a cause, is 
noted by Him as such. But, as it follows, 

5 When Jesus saw their faith, 

With which, it is not unreasonable to suppose that there was combined the faith 
of the afflicted man himself; or he would not have suffered himself to be so let down. 
See the note on the latter part of St. Matthew ix. 2. At the same time it is only 
right to point out that not a syllable is said, in any of the three Gospels, to warrant 
such a conclusion ;(d) and it is safest always to keep close to Scripture, — neither 
adding nor taking away.(e) When, therefore, we read concerning our merciful 
Saviour, that, on seeing " their faith," — 

He said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. 

we are disposed to see in this statement a gracious intimation of a known doctrine, 
— namely, that men's prayers, by virtue of the Great Intercession, avail not only 
for themselves, but for others also. Nor is this case by any means a singular one. 
The Nobleman's son at Capernaum, (/) — the Centurion's servant, (#) — Jairus' 
daughter,(A) — the daughter of the Woman of Canaan,(i) — and Demoniacs, on more 
than one occasion,(A;) — were restored at the intercession of others; — Fathers, 
Mothers, Masters, Friends. And God be praised, that it was, and is so ! What 
solace greater than that which is hereby provided for all ? ... . Who can tell how 
often we may have been preserved, in answer to the prayer of another, when we 
had forgotten to pray for ourselves ? 

" This," says Leighton, speaking of our Lord's address, " though not appearing 
to be the errand, was yet the most important part of the cure, the root of blessing 
and blessedness ; removing the root of all care and misery. Whether the sick man 
did most of all, or did at all, desire or expect this at the hands of Jesus Christ, we 
cannot tell ; but if he thought not of it, (and we cannot suppose that he did,) oh, 
what a surprise of love ! It is good coming to Jesus on any terms, on any errand. 
Some come, driven by outward afflictions ; and yet return delivered from Sin and 
Eternal Death!" 

" Thy sins be forgiven thee," is what our Lord said to the woman " which was a 
sinner," in the Pharisee's house, — St. Luke vii. 48 ; on which occasion, He added 
the words, — " Thy faith hath saved thee." But it does not appear that the sinful 
woman was afflicted with any disease : so that the import of both sayings seems to 
be one and the same. And this leads us to suspect that our Saviour's words ad- 
dressed to the Leper, in St. Luke xvii. 19, — "Go thy way: thy faith hath made 
thee whole ;" — to the blind Beggar, in St. Luke xviii. 42, — " Receive thy sight : 
thy faith hath saved thee ;" — and to the Woman with the issue of blood, in St. 
Mark v. 34, — " Thy faith hath made thee whole ; go in peace, and be whole of thy 

(e) St. Luke v. 19. (d) Consider St. Matth. ix. 2 : St. Mark ii. 5 : and St. Luke v. 20. 

(e) Rev. xxii. 19. (/ ) St. John iv. 49, 50. (g) St. Matthew viii. 13. 

(h) St. Luke viii. 50, (i) St. Matth. xv. 28. 
(/c) St. Matth. ix. 32, 33 : xvii. 14 to 18, &q. 
18 



274 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

plague:" — all implied the cure of spiritual, rather than of bodily infirmity; and 
proclaimed the close connection which subsists between Suffering and Sin. Com- 
pare that saying of our Lord's to the man " which had an infirmity thirty and eight 
years," — " Behold thou art made whole : sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto 
thee."(Z) 

Sometimes — as in the case of the blind Beggar — the remission of Sin, and the 
act of bodily healing, take place in the same instant : here, they are kept distinct ; 
and the circumstance is full of interest, instruction and wonder. It seems to be 
implied that the loosening of the joints from which this man suffered, arose from 
his being "tied and bound with the chain of his sins :" — and that, in order to the 
firm bracing of those limbs, the chain which bound them, must first be loosened 
and undone. 

Our Saviour thus reminded men that the Forgiveness of Sins was the very pur- 
pose of His coming : and that these cures of bodily diseases, though clear proofs of 
His divine Power and Goodness, were but symbols of that other mainly intended, 
and highest mercy. He drew men towards himself, by all methods ; — chiefly 
through their bodily ailments, and temporal needs : yet, what anxiety does He ever 
display to convince them that their maladies lie deeper — that their wants are of a 
more urgent nature, than they suppose ! . . . Consider such places as the follow- 
ing:— St. John iv. 10, 13, 14, 15 : vi. 26, 27, 34, 35, 50, 51, 53, 54, &c. 

See also the notes on the latter part of St. Mark v. 30 ; and on 32. 

6 But there were certain of the Scribes sitting there, and reasoning 
in their hearts, 

They were awe-struck by His Majesty ; and could not utter the thoughts of their 
heart. Yet had our Lord only spoken a few ordinary words : and if they were 
blasphemous words, there was no reason why they should not have been declared 
to be so ! . . . That the Divinity of the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity must, 
in the days of his humiliation, have many a time flashed through the poor fleshly 
mantle in which He had enshrined himself, cannot be doubted. Delightful is it to 
be permitted, thus indirectly, even from ivhat is not said in Scripture, to notice 
some of the occasions when this took place. See the last note on St. Matthew vii. 

7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies ? who can forgive sins 
but God only ? 

An old writer remarks, — " Great is the madness of an unbelieving people ; who, 
though they have confessed that it is of God alone to forgive sins, believe not that 
it is God when he forgives sins." 

Observe, however, that the Holy One had not said, " J forgive thee," — but, " Thy 
sins be forgiven." He had said no more, therefore, than a Prophet may safely say. 
Or, if the Divine Majesty of His manner even suggested that He was doing more 
than declare a sentence, (as indeed He ivas,) — should not this have raised a suspi- 
cion that surely they beheld the Messiah, — whose Advent they knew to be near at 
hand, and who was to bring Remission of Sins with Him?(m) But these wicked 
men act the usual part of the wicked.. They put the worst possible construction on 
our Lord's saying. Sinful and envious themselves, their eyes are blinded to the 
" the true Light:" and can discern nothing but blasphemy in Him who is their Crea- 
tor and their God. Now, the punishment of Blasphemy, by the Law of Moses, was 
Deatli.(ri) 

8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in His Spirit that they so 
reasoned within themselves, 

For it was by His Divine Spirit that He was "a Discerner of the thoughts and 
intents of the heart." (o) Compare, by all means, what is said in St. Mark v. 30. 

He said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts ? 

As if He had said, — ye Pharisees, since ye say Who can forgive sins, but God 
only ? I answer you, Who can tell the secrets of the heart, but God alone ? I will 

(I) St. John v. 14. (m) Isaiah xliii. 25. (») Leviticus xxiv. 16. 

(o) Hebrews iv. 12. 



II.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 275 



convince you that I "search the heart: I try the reins," by revealing to these by- 
standers what it is that now occupies your minds. (p) Know, thereby, that I am 
the Lord. You disbelieved my former saying, that I could forgive sins : behold, I 
add a miracle, — for I lay open to you your secret thoughts ! 

Consider how the proof that He possessed such knowledge, had already wrought 
conviction in the guileless Nathanael, — St. John i. 49 ; and in the whole Apostolic 
Body : for compare St. John xvi. 19 and 30. 

A second miracle follows ; one, which appealed sensibly to their gross minds, — 
and which no unbelief could gainsay, no subtlety evade. It may very well be, that 
the form which the unbelief of His enemies secretly took, was, that of a sneer at 
the Divine Speaker, — for having set up such a claim as it was impossible either to 
test, or to disprove. To this, our Lord proceeds to address himself: 

9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be 
forgiven thee : or to say, 

As our Lord said to the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda,(g) — 

Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk ? 

Of course, one form of words was just as easily spoken as the other. Our Lord, 
therefore, meant not that. — To cure the Soul again, obviously rests with God only; 
whereas, the cure of the Body, is often effected (under God) by human means. 
Neither was that therefore what our Lord meant by the saying in the text. — But 
His words imply that since the announcement, — " Thy sins be forgiven thee," led 
to no visible result; and was therefore easily made; whereas, the command to 
Arise and walk, must, if obeyed at all, be followed by a most amazing spectacle, — 
He was about to convince the Scribes by performing an act which they looked upon 
as one of the privileges reserved to Almighty God, that, at least, they had no ex- 
cuse for calling in question His power in another respect. He does not prove that 
He could do the harder thing, by doing the easier: for that would be absurd. But 
He makes a mighty appeal to their Faith, — or rather to their Keasort. The argu- 
ment was overwhelmiug, as addressed to them. 

10 But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on Earth 
to forgive sins, 

On the title " Son of Man," see the note on St. Matthew viii. 20. — Observe, that 
here our Lord expressly claims the power of forgiving Sin. Above, (verse 5,) He 
had only said, "Thy sins he forgiven thee." 

" He says in a marked manner, ' hath, power on Earth to forgive sins/ " observes 
an ancient ; "in order to show that He hath joined the power of the Divine to the 
Human Nature by an inseparable union : for although He ' was made Man/ yet 
He remained ' The Word of God/ . . . His Human Nature did not in the least take 
away from those things which essentially belonged to His Divinity." 

11 ( He saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and 
take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. 

"Wheresoever He pardons Sin," says pious Leighton, "He also makes the soul 
able and nimble to 'run in the way of His Commandments /(r) to carry its bed, 
that before carried it : to command and wield at pleasure those low things whereon 
before it rested." 

Mark how sudden and how complete is the cure : — 

12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth be- 
fore them all : insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, 
saying, We never saw it on this fashion. 

All of them were "amazed." St. Luke says they " were filled with fear "(s) We 
read not that any of them believed! 

Amazing, indeed, must the cure have been: and the manner of it, which all the 
three Evangelists relate in precisely the same lively way, must have been singu- 

(p) Jeremiah xvii. 10. (?) St. John v. 8. (r) Psalm cxix. 32. (s) St. Luke v. 26. 



276 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP 



larly striking. Our Lord appears to have suddenly broken off His calm reasoning 
with His enemies ; and turning round to the palsied man, as he lay on his bed, 
prostrate and helpless before Him, — commanded him to perform three acts, each 
one more improbable than the other : and the man did them all three in succes- 
sion; — the last, being to walk out of the Souse, in the presence of the whole assem- 
bly ; leaving the envious Jews, silent and confounded, face to face with our Lord ! 
Was not this the self-same Voice which, in the beginning, had said " Let there 
be Light! and there was Light:" which "made the stars also," — and then sent 
them on their heavenly way rejoicing? 

13 And He went forth again by the sea-side ; and all the multitude 
resorted unto Him, and He taught them. 

How many unobtrusive statements of this kind do we meet with in the Gospels ! 
How many hours of precious, heavenly teaching, thus dismissed in a few words ! . . . 
Is it perhaps implied that St. Matthew, — whose call is related in the next verse, — 
was one of those who listened to the Discourse of our Saviour, on this occasion ? 

14 And as He passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphasus, sitting at 
the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow Me. And he arose 
and followed Him. 

This was St. Matthew, — " the Publican," as he styles himself,(^) in consequence 
of his worldly calling. Our Lord, on His way to "the sea-side," saw this man sit- 
ting at the toll-house of Capernaum, beside the lake; and called him to His side. 
It was probably his office to levy a tax or tribute of some kind, on persons crossing 
from the Eastern to the North-Western side of the Sea of Galilee. 

But was this all that then occurred ? It may well be suspected that something 
is here passed over, which it concerns us not to know. Enough for us, to be con- 
vinced that at the Saviour's summons, a heart like that of St. Matthew was pre- 
pared to yield prompt obedience. " If the loadstone can attract iron," says an an- 
cient, " how much more can the Lord of the Creation draw to himself whom he 
will." Consider, however, St. Matthew iv. 18 to 22, or St. Mark i. 16 to 20,— as 
compared with St. Luke v. 1 to 11. Compare, again, St. Matthew ix. 2, with St. 
Mark ii. 1 to 5, or with St. Luke v. 17 to 20 ; and consider how much is omitted by 
the first Evangelist. 

The " great Feast," which the Evangelist proceeds to describe, — and at which 
St. Matthew entertained his Lord, — happened in reality long afterwards : but the 
Holy Spirit has seen fit to exhibit St. Matthew's Feast and St. Matthew's Call in 
close connection, — not only in the present Gospel, but in those of St. Matthew, (ii) 
and St. Luke (a?) likewise. Concerning which feature of the Divine Method, this is 
not the right place to speak particularly. 

The reader is referred, however, to the note on St. Luke iii. 20. 

15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, 
many puhlicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and His Dis- 
ciples : for there were many, and they followed Him. 

The publicans were there, because St. Matthew himself was a Publican : — St. 
Matthew x. 3, and St. Luke v. 27. 

The expression " Publicans and Sinners" occurs so frequently in the Gospels, 
that it requires explanation. The " Publicans" were those of the nation who col- 
lected the taxes and tribute which had been imposed upon them by their Koman 
conquerors. Sufficiently hateful in itself, their calling had been rendered doubly 
infamous by the extortion and dishonesty which the Publicans notoriously prac- 
tised: whence St. John Baptist, in reply to their inquiry, charged them to "exact 
no more than that which was appointed them."(?/) Zacchaeus confessed himself 
guilty in this respect, on a great occasion, — St. Luke xix. 2 and 8. 

To be a publican, and to be a sinner, was therefore regarded as one and the same 
thing. Compare St. Matthew v. 46, with the parallel places in St. Luke vi. 32 : 
and St. Luke xix. 2 with verse 7. The name became a by-word, and a reproach, 

t) St. Matthew x. 3. («) St. Matthew ix. 9, 10. 

x) St. Luke v. 2S, 29. {y) St. Luke iii. 12, 13. 






n.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 277 



as denoting one of the outcasts of society : see St. Matthew xxiii. 17. Our Lord 
(doubtless in compliance with the usage of His countrymen,) couples them with 
"the harlots," in St. Matthew xxi. 31, 32. 

But Almighty Goodness saw objects of compassion, and recognized objects of 
Love, amid the crowd : — calling one of their number, St. Matthew, to be an Apostle ; 
making the humble petition of another, the pattern of justifying prayer :(z) sing- 
ling out many for condescension, for kindness, and for honour. They were all "the 
lost sheep" of the House of Israel: and to all such He had been sent. (a) Hence 
His untiring zeal to seek and to save them. Consider especially the following 
texts : — St. Luke vii. 36, &c, xi. 37, &c, xv. 1, 2, &c. . . . See the two last notes 
on the latter part of St. Matthew viii. 10. 

16 And when the Scribes and Pharisees saw Him eat with Publicans 
and Sinners, they said unto His Disciples, How is it that He eateth 
and drinketh with Publicans and Sinners ? 

" It was a beautiful emblem of the future," remarks an ancient, " that he who 
was to be an Apostle and Doctor of the Gentiles, should, on his conversion, draw 
after him a great multitude of sinners to Salvation, — already performing by his 
example what he was shortly to perform by his word." 

17 When Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole 
have no need of the Physician, but they that are sick : 

Our Lord gives them a triumphant answer. Ye say that these are sinners. It is 
for that very reason that I am found in their company. Were it strange to find a 
Physician in a Hospital, — or among the sick? 

Bede says, strikingly, — " He calls Himself ' the Physician/ who, by a strange 
mode of healing, was wounded for our iniquities ; and healed us by His stripes 1" 

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 

^ Either those who are righteous in their own esteem, or those who are really reli- 
gious, — who already have sincerely repented. 

It is idle to profess ourselves perplexed by the mention of "just persons, "(5) 
"the righteous,"(c) and other similar phrases in Holy Scripture. True enough it 
is that " there is none righteous, no, not one;"(cZ) but this is said absolutely. Rela- 
tively, some men are good, and some evil. 

Viewed in the Light of an example, our Blessed Lord's footsteps on this and 
another occasion (e) had need to be very warily trod in, ere any venture into 
familiar relations with the outcasts of Society. His voice was powerful "to call 
Sinners to Repentance;" but ice had need consider well what rational hope there 
may be of reclaiming others, — what protection exists against our being dragged into 
the mire ourselves. Leighton says, — " We must be somewhat hopeful to accom- 
plish, before we attempt such a thing; otherwise, it will prove fool-hardiness to 
adventure much of this kind." 

18 And the Disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast : 

The Jewish Church observed two weekly fasts, — on Monday and on Thursday; 
see St. Lukexviii. 12: and the Pharisees were the "most straitest sect" of the 
Jewish Religion^/) St. John we know, "came neither eating nor drinking:"^) 
that is, he was a man of most severe and abstemious life ; and (as we learn from this 
place,) enjoined a similar practice on his Disciples. His Ministry was to that of 
our Lord, what a Vigil is to a Holiday. 

And they come and say u#to Him, Why do the Disciples of John and 
of the Pharisees fast, but Thy Disciples fast not ? 

"Thy Disciples .-"—they do not say "Thou fastest not." This should be 
noticed, — even while we remember St. Matthew xi. 19. 



St. Luke xviii. 10 to 14. (a) St. Matthew xv. 24. (b) St. Luke xv. 7. 

1 St. Peter iv. 18, and here. (d) Komans iii. 10, quoted from Psalm xiv. 1. 

St. John iv. 6 to 19. (/) Acts xxvi. 5. (g) St. Matthew xi. 18. 



278 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber 
fast, while the Bridegroom is with them ? 

"Children of the bridechamber," signifies the friends or companions of the Bride- 
groom: and the term, here, clearly denotes the Disciples of our Lord, — for they 
were His "friends.'\h) 

Take notice that these words were addressed to "the disciples ofJoh?i:"(i) to the 
very men, it may be, who had heard the Baptist speak of our Saviour Christ as "the 
Bridegroom" who had "the Bride :" while he was himself but "the friend of the 
Bridegroom."(&) How impressive must the reply have been by which the Divine 
Speaker thus claimed the singular relation ascribed to Him by His Forerunner I 

How many are His names: a Physician, before; (ver. 17;) a Bridegroom, here! 
. . . He is everything, in fact, in turn ; and becomes all things to all men. To the 
unwedded, He is the King of Virgins: to the wedded, the pattern of a most loving 

Husband. See Ephesians v. 25 to 27 Concerning the title "Bridegroom," 

see St. John iii. 29. 

As long as they have the Bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 

"As though He had said, — The present is a time of joy and gladness; sorrow 
must not then be mixed up with it." "For the showing forth of our Saviour in 
this World was nothing else but a great marriage Festival; at which our Nature 
was spiritually united to His, as His Bride, — that she, who was formally barren, 
might become fruitful." So far, two Ancient Archbishops. 

20 But the days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken away 
from them, and then shall they fast in those days. 

As plain a warrant, — if a Scripture warrant is thought necessary, — for the 
practice of Christian fasting, in these days when "the Bridegroom" is taken from 
us, as a Christian man can require. It is a prophecy, — requiring fulfillment; and 
finding it, in our obedience to the Church's plain mandate, as contained in our 
Book of Common Prayer.(Z) That it was practised by the early Christians, we know 
from Holy Scripture itself. (?n) 

We learn further from these words of our Saviour, that the Church is now as a 
Widow in His sight. 

21 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment ; 
else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the 
rent is made worse. 

That is, — My Disciples are not yet strong. They have not yet been renewed by 
the Spirit. They have need therefore of all tenderness and consideration. They 
could no more endure as yet the reception of a portion of severe new Doctrine, than 
an old garment can endure the insertion of a piece of cloth which has not passed 
through the hands of the fuller. — He would not disturb their joy, therefore, Jby 
teaching them a piece of austerity which they would not comprehend; nor risk 
disturbing their ancient prejudices by new and strange precepts. 

"The rent is made worse:" — which happened, (as one of the Ancients remarks,) 
with respect to the Churches of Galatia, when they sought to mix the precepts of 
Law with those of the Gospel. 

22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles : else the new wine 
doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be 
marred : but new wine must be put into new bottles. 

On the first Christian Day of Pentecost, when the Apostles "were all filled with 
the Holy Ghost," there were found some who mocked, and said "These men are 
full of new wine."(n) Then it was, that that was done for the Apostles, which our 

(h) St. John xv. 15. (i) Compare St. Matthew ix. 14. (7c) St. John iii. 29. 

(I) See the Table of the Vigils, Fasts, and Days of Fasting or Abstinence, to be observed in 
the Year, — at the end of the Calendar, 
(m) See Acts xiii. 2, 3: xiv. 23. 1 Cor. vii. 5. See also St. Matthew vi. 17.', 
(n) Acts ii. 13. 



II.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 279 



Blessed Lord, as a wise "Householder," here explains that He cannot do for them 
as yet. He quotes a homely precept, full of practical wisdom; namely, that old 
vessels made of skin, (anciently called "bottles,") will burst, if exposed to the fer- 
mentation of newly-made wine. Hence, His unwillingness to burthen His followers 
with any command which they were not sure of receiving with perfect safety. . . . 
How many precious hints for guidance, — how much of help, — may we gather from 
every portion of our Blessed Lord's Discourses! 

The Reader is referred to St. Luke v. 39, and the note there. A different inci- 
dent next comes before us: like the last, as presenting us with the same "contra- 
diction of sinners ;"(o ) but under a new form. 

23 And it came to pass that He went through the corn fields on the 
Sabbath day ; and His Disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears 
of corn. 

St. Matthew, — xii. 1, — says that the "Disciples were an Tiungred," when they 
did this. How affecting, — or rather, how instructive a picture is thereby drawn, for 
the Church's comfort to the end of time! For, was it not the Lord of Heaven and 
Earth, — the Almighty God — who suffered His followers thus to want; and beheld 
them satisfying the cravings of hunger, after this humble fashion? He could have 
furnished forth a banquet for them, at His will; but he willed it not! . . . Surely, 
then, Poverty must be better than Riches ; Want, a better thing than Abundance. 

The act described marks the season of the year, — namely, about the time of the 
Passover; or of Pentecost, which was "seven weeks from such time as thou 
beginnest to put the sickle to ilie com."(jpi) Reckoning by Passovers, the first year of 
our Lord's Ministry had therefore now come to an end, when the present incident 
occurred. See the note on St. Luke vi. 1. 

24 And the Pharisees said unto Him, Behold, why do they on the 
Sabbath day that which is not lawful ? 

The Pharisees do not accuse the Disciples of theft, but of profaning the Sabbath; 
for the Law, by a merciful provision, expressly allowed their present act: — "When 
thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears 
of corn with thy hand."(q) It is not easy, however, to see wherein their violation 
of the fourth Commandment consisted. Was it in the manual labour of "rubbing 
the ears of corn in their hands," — as St. Luke describes ?(r) Probably not. Nor 
does any suggestion seem preferable to that of wise Richard Hooker; who was of 
opinion that the Jewish practice being, to abstain from food on the Sabbath Day, 
until noon, our Lord's Disciples would have been disregarding the customary fast 
of the Sabbath by relieving their hunger in the manner here described. 

25, 26 And He said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, 
when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with 
him ? How 

On the Sabbath day, — See Leviticus xxiv. 8, and 1 Chron. ix. 32 : so that the 
cases, so far, were strictly parallel. But, in the case of David, the violation of the 
letter of the command was far more extraordinary: for, 

he went into the House of God. 

(By which name, observe, by the way, that our Lord calls the Tabernacle. In 
like manner, it is called the Temple in 1 Samuel i. 9 and iii. 3 : but the Temple was 
not built till many years after.) 

in the days of Abiathar the High priest, 

It is a remarkable thing that our Saviour should say of this transaction, that it 
occurred "in the days of Abiathar, the high-priest,"— rather than of Abimelech, 
his Father. It is easy to invent an explanation of this ; as, by pointing out that 
the event happened in the time of Abiathar, — though not in the time that he was 

(o) Hebrews xii. 3. ~{p) Deut. xvi. 9. (q) Deut. xxiii. 25. 

(r) St. Luke vi. 1. 



280 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

actually MgJi-priest. But, strange to say, the allusions of the Holt Sririt, whe- 
ther to the events, or to the precepts of the Old Testament, are almost always sur- 
prising, difficult, and even wonderful; 

and did eat the shew-bread, 

Concerning the shew-bread itself, see Leviticus xxiv. 5 to 9. A stranger might 
not eat of those twelves cakes of fine flour, " because they are holy ;"(s) whence it 
follows, — 

which is not lawful to eat but for the Priests, and gave also to them 
which were with him ? 

Our Saviour refers to the well-known history, contained in 1 Samuel xxi. 1 to 9 ; 
which describes how David, and certain of his young men, flying from Saul, "came 
to Nob, to Abimelech the priest," — and "the priest gave him hallowed bread, for 
there was no bread there but the shew-bread, that was taken from before the 
Lord.'XO 

27 And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and 
not man for the Sabbath : 

These words are given only by the present Evangelist ; who, as well as St. Luke, 
(vi. 5,) omits some memorable sayings which our Lord delivered on this occasion, 

— and which are given by St. Matthew, chap. xii. 5 to 7 The Doctrine 

laid down in the present verse, seems to be like that conveyed by the precept, " I 
will have mercy and not sacrifice ;"(ii) which our Lord now also quoted : — namely, 
that Ceremonial Observances must give place, as often as the higher claims of 
Mercy require. Such an occasion was this, — when, faint and hungry, our Lord's 
Disciples rubbed out the ears of corn, and ate the grains, for very need. True, in- 
deed, they were neglecting a traditional precept, by so doing : but it argued forget- 
fulness of the very institution of the Sabbath, to tax them with guilt on that account. 
Can we suppose that a creature, made in the image of God, should pine with hun- 
ger out of superstitious veneration for the Sabbath Day, — which had been originally 
ordained for his sake only : in order that it might be to him a relief, a solace, and 
a joy? 

But these accusers forgot their Bible also. If David, merely because he had 
need, might — not only eat bread on the Sabbath, — but even eat the very shew-bread 
itself; dispensing it to his followers ; and in the Temple too : how could it be pre- 
tended that these suffering men knight not eat a handful of dry grains in the open 
field on the Sabbath Day ? 

28 Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. 

The Son of man, — since He made the Sabbath, — is L OBJD of it, also. Moreover, 
since He came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them, He must have power to 
dispense with the strict observance of this Day, in the letter, as often as it con- 
cerned the good of His creatures that He should do so. Here then was One, great- 
er than David, — greater than the Temple, (x) — greater than even the Sabbath itself. 
And dared they bring to Him an accusation, so blind, hollow, and heartless, — 
against the companions of all His wanderings, — the partners of all His privations 
and distress ? 

(s) Exodus xxix. 33. (t) 1 Samuel xxi. 6. 

(m) St. Matthew xii. 7. (as) St. Matthew xii. 6. 

THE PRAYER. 

LORD, who hast taught us that all our doings without Charity 
are nothing worth ; send Thy Holy Ghost, and pour into our hearts 
that most excellent gift of Charity, the very bond of Peace and of all 
virtues without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before Thee : 
Grant this for Thine Only Son Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. 



III.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 281 



CHAPTER III 



1 Christ healeth the withered hand, 10 and many other infirmities. 11 RebuJceth 
the unclean Spirits. 13 Chooseth Sis twelve Apostles. 22 Convincetli the blas- 
phemy of casting out devils by Beelzebub. 31 And showeth who are His brother, 
sister, and mother. 

1 And He entered again into the Synagogue ; and there was a man 
there which had a withered hand. 

By " again," in this place, St. Mark means " on another Sabbath," — see St. Luke 
vi. 6. The Evangelist is showing how " Christ reproved the Pharisees' blindness 
about the observation of the Sabbath, by Scripture, Reason, and Miracle. ; '(a) The 
two former proofs are contained in the last few verses (ver. 23 to 28,) of the pre- 
ceding Chapter. The proof from " Miracle," follows. 

2 And they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the Sab- 
bath-day ; that they might accuse Him. 

What blindness of heart was here ! what a benighted conscience ! Rather, what 
hopeless villainy ! In the very house of God, — on a miserable pretence of exces- 
sive jealousy for His honour, — here are Scribes and Pharisees devising nothing less 
than the Destruction of their mighty Countryman. They knew His merciful dispo- 
sition. They have learnt, by experience, that He never beholds misery without 
seeking to relieve it. They therefore lay wait for Him ; and watch, to see what 
He will do with respect to a poor sufferer, who sits before Him with a withered 
hand. Will He venture to overstep the letter of their own vile tradition ; and so 
far incur the charge of working on the Sabbath day, as to perform an act of healing 
upon it ? .... At last, they call His attention to the man's case, by the question, 
— " Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-days V'(b) 

Take notice, that the purpose with which they watched Him, — as well as that 
with which they put their inquiry, — was, that they may find a ground of accusa- 
tion against Him ; and so, bring Him within the penalty of the Law, which required 
the Death of every offender."(c) 

It is with reference to this, their secret purpose, that the Evangelist St. Luke 
adds, — "But he knew their thought."(^) And further, it will be observed that it 
was with reference to this, their murderous design, that our Saviour spoke the 
words recorded in ver. 4. 

3 And He saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand 
forth. 

Or, as it is in St. Luke, " Rise up, and stand forth in the midst :" upon which 
the same Evangelist is careful to add, — "And he arose and stood forth." By this 
means, it will be perceived that our Saviour called marked attention to the Mira- 
cle which He was about to perform. 

4 And He saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath- 
3 or to do evil ? to save life, or to kill ? 

(a) See the heading of St. Luke vi".: and compare the heading of St. Matthew xii. 

(6) St. Matt. xii. 10. (c) Exodus xxxi. 15. (d) St. Luke vi. 8. 



282 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

As if He had said, — You ask, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-days ?"(e) — 
"I [also] will ask you one thing ?"(/) "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath- 
days,"^) — as, for example, to this afflicted being, whose sad state moves My com- 
passion : — "or," is it rather right "to do evil;" — to such an one as Myself, for 
example, against whom you entertain murderous thoughts ? " To save life," — with 
which object J am come into the World :(7i) "or to destroy it/'OD — which is just 
now all your purpose ? . . . . What a withering question ! We seem to feel that 
it admitted of no reply : accordingly, the Evangelist adds, — 

But they held their peace. 

St. Mark alone it is who notices this striking circumstance. 

St. Matthew will be found to have preserved another memorable saying which 
our Lord proceeded to deliver on this occasion : see chap. xii. 11, 12, of his Gospel, 
— and the notes there. 

5 And when He had looked round about on them with anger, being 
grieved for the hardness of their hearts, 

This statement, also, is peculiar to the present Gospel. See the first notes on 
St. Mark i. 

The human feelings of " grief" and " anger" are here ascribed to the Son of Man. 
The very next words attest His glorious GoDhead. Consider the many places in 
the Gospels, where we are presented with the same wondrous proofs that He was 
"very God and very Man:" as, when He "wept" before the raising of Lazarus ;(k) 
and " slept," before He stilled the storm. (J) See the notes on St. Matthew viii. 10: 
St. Mark vii. 34; St. Luke iv. 30, vii. 13, and viii. 23. 

He saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched 
it out. 

It was his rigid hand, as St. Luke relates ;(m) that hand which had been stretch- 
ed out "in the beginning" to pluck the fruit of the forbidden tree! 

"Until the coming of the Saviour, there was a withered hand in the Synagogue 
of the Jews ; for the works of the Lord were not done in it. But when He came 
upon Earth, the right hand was restored, in the Apostles who believed ; and given 
back to its former occupation." How do the ancients delight in such re- 
marks ! as if not only exclaiming at all times with the Psalmist, " Thy thoughts 

are very deep ;"(n) but seeking to fathom them also "Well is this withered 

hand said to have been in the Synagogue," says another: "for where the gift of 
knowledge is greater, the danger of an abuse of knowledge is greater also." 

and his hand was restored whole as the other. 

Take notice, that this was one of the cases when our Lord may be said to have 
wrought a miracle of healing, without a word.. Unlike the occasion when He "made 
clay" and "anointed the eyes of the blind man;"(o) — unlike those cases, even, 
when He went to the house of the sufferer, and laid His hands upon him ; — the 
present miracle followed upon the exercise of a mere act of Almighty Will. Our 
Saviour did but direct the man to assume a posture which should bring his with- 
ered limb under the distinct observation of all present ; and thus make the miracle 
which followed, a plain and palpable thing. ... How must their anger have been 
thereby aroused and inflamed ! The man was healed : yet our Lord had done 
nothing : less, certainly, than each one of themselves was forced to do at every 
hour, throughout the Sabbath. 

St. Luke here adds a most remarkable statement, — namely, that " they were 
filled with madness : and communed one with another what they might do to 
Jesus."(£>) 

(e) St. Matthew xii. 10. (/) St. Luke vi. 9. 

(g) Our Lord Himself answers the question in St. Matt. xii. 12. 

(h) St. Luke ix. 56. St. John xii. 47. (i) St. Luke vi. 9. 

\k) St. John xi. 35. {1) St. Mark iv. 38. (m) St. Luke vi. 6. 

(n) Psalm xcii. 5. (o) St. John ix. 6 and 14. (p) St. Luke vi. 11. 



III.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 283 

6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with 
the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him. 

And this should convince us that it is not greater Light, hut a change of heart 
which is required, so often as the appeals of Religion are made to mankind in vain. 
" If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded though 
one rose from the dead."(2) See below, on verse 22. 

" The Herodians" are mentioned only twice in the Gospels: here, and in St. Mark 
xii. 13 : (which is the same occasion as St. Matthew xxii. 16.) From their name, 
(which implies that they were courtiers or adherents of King Herod,) it may be 
supposed that they were rather a political party, than a religious sect. Nothing, 
however, is known about them. 

7 But Jesus withdrew Himself with His disciples to the Sea : 

Setting thereby an example of the precept which He afterwards delivered to His 
Disciples: — namely, "When they persecute in this city, flee ye into another."^*) 
This our Lord often exemplified by His practice, — as, when He fled to Capernaum 
from Nazareth: (s) and to Bethabara, and Ephraim, from Jerusalem. (t) 

8 and a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judsea, 
and from Jerusalem, and from Idumsea, and from beyond Jordan ; and 
they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard 
what great things He did, came unto Him. 

This description comprehends the whole district to which we commonly give the 
name of the Holy Land, — Samaria only excepted. Judaea and Jerusalem occupy 
the centre : Galilee, and the district of Tyre and Sidon, comprehend the country 
West and North of the Jordan : " beyond Jordan," — (that is " Persea,")— and 
Idumgea, describe all that lies on the East and South. 

This is the only place in the New Testament where Idunioea is mention ed.(ii) It 
is the name of the country south of Palestine, which was occupied by the descen- 
dants of Esau, otherwise called "Edom,"^) — from whence comes Iditmcea. See 
the note on St. Matthew ii. 3. 

9, 10 And He spake to His Disciples, that a small ship should wait 
on Him because of the multitude, lest they should throng Him. For 
He had healed many ; insomuch that they pressed upon Him for to 
touch Him, as many as had plagues. 

One of the ancients remarks, — "He entered a boat, who could have crossed the 
Sea on foot ; for He would not be always working miracles, lest men should lose 
sight of the reality of His Incarnation." 

11 And unclean Spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him, 
and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. 

t The Son of God" implies the Messiah, — the long promised Deliverer of the Na- 
tion ; foretold in Prophecy,— foreshadowed in History. The Jews had learnt, — pro- 
bably from Psalm ii. 7, 12 : (compare Acts xiii. 33. Heb. i. 5 : v. 5,)— by that 
name to speak of Christ ; as we learn from St. Matthew xiv. 33 : xvi. 16 : xxvi. 
63 : xxvii. 54. Luke xxii. 70. St. John i. 49 : ix. 35 : xi. 27, &c. The very fallen 
Angels knew Messiah by that Name,— as we learn from this place, and from St. 
Matthew viii. 29. St. Luke iv. 41, &c. The Reader is referred to the notes on St. 
Luke iv. 34. 

12 And He straitly charged them that they should not make Him 
known. 

(q) St. Luke xvi. 31. ( r ) St. Matt. x. 23. 

( s { St. Luke iv. 30, 31. (*) St. John x. 40 : xi. 54. 

[u) Ine name is found in the following place of the Old Testament : Isaiah xxxiv. 5, 6 : 
Ezekiel xxxv. 15: xxxvi. 5. 
(x) Genesis xxxvi. 1, 8. 



284 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 






See the notes on St. Mark i. 44 and 45 : also the first note on St. Matthew viii. 4. 
Compare also St. Matthew ix. 30, and the note on 31. 

13 And He goeth up into a Mountain, and calleth unto Him whom 
He would : and they came unto Him. 

This was the occasion when our Lord delivered the Sermon on the Mount. See 
below, the note on ver. 19 : and compare St. Luke vi. 13. 

14 And He ordained Twelve, 

He ordained Twelve Apostles, answering to the twelve sons of Jacob, to be the 
heads of the spiritual Israel, the " Israel of God," — as it is said in Galatians vi. 16. 
Whence that remarkable saying in St. Matthew xix. 28 : with which compare Rev. 
vii. 4 to 8 : xxi. 12 and 14. Consider also Rev. iv. 4. 

This was done after continuing " all night in prayer to God !" See St. Luke vi. 
12, and the note there. St. Mark goes on to declare the purpose with which the 
Twelve were ordained. 

15 that they should be with Him, and that He might send them 
forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out 
devils. 

The names of the Apostles follow, — verse 16 to 19. There are three other places 
where the Twelve are enumerated : namely, St. Matthew x. 2 to 4, — St. Luke vi. 
14 to 16,— Acts i. 13. 

16 And Simon He surnamed Peter; 

"Peter" in Greek, " Cephas" in Syriac, signifies Rock. "For" (to quote the 
words of our countryman Bede,) "as Christ was the True Light, and yet allowed 
that the Apostles should be called the Light of the World,(y) — so also to Simon, 
who believed on Christ the Rock,(z) He gave the name of Rock." 

Simon, — the son of Jonas,(a) and brother of Andrew, — is always mentioned first 
of the Twelve ;(&) and the voice of the Church has assigned to him a priority of 
rank, while it has denied him any authority, over the rest of the Apostles. Indeed, 
that he had none, can be proved from Scripture itself."(c) He was not surnamed 
" Peter," (or rather " Cephas,") on the present occasion ; but at his first interview 
with Christ, (d) and again, after his glorious confession of our Lord's Divinity. (e) 
He is twice called Symeon: once by St. James, — our Lord's cousin;^) once by 
himself, at the beginning of his Second Epistle, — 2 St. Peter i. 1. Like Andrew, 
he was born at Bethsaida,(#) but lived at Capernaum,(7i) where he exercised the 
calling of a fisherman. See the notes on St. Matthew iv. 18, and viii. 14. He 
alone of the Twelve is certainly known to have been a married man:(i) though 
many of the rest were probably married. See 1 Cor. ix. 5 ; and the note on St. 
Matthew viii. 14. 

He is perhaps the most famous of all the Apostles, having been singled out in an 
especial manner by his Divine Master on many occasions of great solemnity and 
importance. With St. John, St. James, and St. Andrew, he heard our Saviour 
predict the Fall of Jerusalem, and the signs of His own Coming :(k) with the two 
first of those Apostles, he was the chosen witness of the raising of Jairus' daugh- 
ter;^) of the Transfiguration ;(m) and of the Agony in the Garden. (n) With the 
first named, he prepared the Paschal Supper.(o) On him alone, our Blessed Sa- 
viour promised to build His Church :(p) with him, was content to pay tribute :(q) 
to him, vouchsafed an appearance after His Resurrection :(r) and finally, command- 

(y) St. Matth. v. 14. (a) 1 Cor. x. 4. 

(a) St. John i. 42, and xxi. 15, 16, 17. St. Matth. xvi. 17. 

(b) St. Matth. x. 2 : St. Mark iii. 16 : St. Luke vi. 14: Acts i. 13. 

(c) Consider Acts viii. 14: xv. 6 to 21. Galatians ii. 11 to 14. 

(d) St John i. 42. (e) St. Matth. xvi. 8. (/) Acts xv. 14. 

(g) St. John i. 44. (h) St. Mark i. 29. (i) St. Mark i. 30 : 1 Cor. ix. 5. 

(k) St. Mark xiii. 3. (Z) St. Mark v. 37. (m) St. Matth. xvii. 1. 

(n) St. Matth. xxvi. 37 and 40. (o) St. Luke xxii. 8. 

(p) St. Matth. xvi. 18. (?) St. Matth. xvii. 24 to 2Q. 

(r) St. Luke xxiv. 34. 1 Cor. xv. 5. 



III.] 



ON ST. makk's gospel. 285 



ed liini earnestly to feed His flock, (s) — prophesying to him at the same time the 
manner of his death. (f) He walked upon the water to come to Christ :(u) seems 
to have supplied his Divine Master with a home :(x) at the first miraculous draught 
of fishes, was called to his Apostleship:(?/) at the second, drew the net to land, 
himself.(z) He is always conspicuous, always foremost :(a) when hearts are fail- 
ing : (5) at the prospect of danger :(c) during the last Supper :(cl) in the Garden :(e) 
in the Judgment-hall :(/) at the Grave :(g) at the Lake.(7i) By virtue of the pray- 
ers of his Divine Master, (i) he was saved from the dominion of the Enemy : but his 
threefold denial of his Lord remains for our eternal warning. " Wherefore let him 
that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."(&) 

17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James ; 

The two sons of Zebedee, (and probably Salome,)(Z) we beheld called to their 
Apostleship at the same time as St. Peter and St. Andrew. They are mentioned 
in connection with those two saints on one great occasion ; and in connection with 
St. Peter alone, on three ; as was shown in the preceding note. Their names are 
found united twice in a remarkable manner, — namely, in St. Luke ix. 54, and St. 
Mark x. 35, 37 : and they were both present at the concluding scene of St. John's 
Gospel.(m) Of St. James, — the elder brother, — we know little except that he was 
the first of the Apostolic body to suffer martyrdom : the only one of the Twelve, 
(save the son of Perdition,) whose death is actually recorded in the Bible."(w) 

St. John yields, perhaps, to St. Peter the foremost place in the Apostolic Body ; 
but he is second to none of the Twelve in his claims on the Love and Veneration of 
the Church. This was " the Disciple wlwm JESUS loved; which also leaned on 
His breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth Thee ?"(o) — This 
was he who when Simon Peter had denied his Lord, and all the other Disciples had 
forsaken Him and fled, alone remained faithful to Him : stood beside His Cross : 
received from His dying lips the most precious Legacy which Love ever bequeathed, 
the care namely of the Virgin Mother herself ;(p) and still lingered on, when "it 
was finished," to see and bear witness to the Miracle which the Lord's lifeless body 
yet display ed.(g) — Lastly, this was he who " was in the Isle that is called Patmos, 
for the Word of God, and for the Testimony of Jestjs Christ ;" and " was in the 
Spirit on the Lord's Day :" and was shown the things which shall be hereafter ;(r) 
— even by Christ himself ! He was no less the Apostle of Zeal than of Love. Con- 
sider St. Luke ix. 49 and 54: Acts iv. 13, 19 ; and see the next note. 

Besides his Gospel, and the Book of Revelation, St. John left to the Church three 
Epistles: so that, next to St. Paul, he is the largest contributor to the Gospel 
Treasury. Having "tarried till the Lord came,"(s) and outlived all the rest of the 
Apostles, he died at a great age, (it is thought) in Asia Minor. He never mentions 
himself by name; but he sometimes calls himself "the Disciple whom Jesus 
loved;"(£) sometimes "the other Disciple."(zt) 

By this last expression he marks his close friendship with Simon Peter :(x) for 
these two Apostles became so conspicuous after the Ascension of our Lord, that 
when St. Peter had been named, it was understood that "the other Disciple" could 
mean no one but St. John. So much does he dwell in his Writings on the Divinity 
of his Lord and ours, that he obtained among the Brethren the title of " The Divine." 

and He surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The Sons of Thunder : 

(s) St. John xxi. 15, 16, 17. (t) St. John xxi. 18, 19. 

(u) St. Matth. xiv. 28 to 31. (x) St. Mark i. 29. St. Luke iv. 38. 

(y) St. Luke v. 10. (z) St. John xxi. 11. 

(a) St. Matth. xvii. 4; xviii. 21 : xix. 27. St. Luke v. 8 : viii. 45 : xii. 41. 

(&) St. John vi. 66 to 68. 

(c) St. Matth. xvi. 22 : xxvi. 33 and 35. St. John xviii. 10. 

(d) St. John xiii. 6 to 9 : also 24 : also 36, 37. (e) St. John xviii. 10. 

(/) St. John xviii. 15. 16. (g) St. Luke xxiv. 12. St. John xx. 2 to 19. 

(h) St. John xxi. 3. (i) St. Luke xxii. 32. (k) 1 Cor. x. 12. 

(I) Compare St. Matth. xxvii. 56, with St. Mark xv. 40. (to) St. John xxi. 2. 

(n) Acts xii. 2. (o) St. John xxi. 20. (p) St. John xix. 26, 27. 

lq) St. John xix. 34, 35. (r) Rev. i. 9, 10, 19. (s) St. John xxi. 22, 23. 
ft) See St. John xiii. 23: xix. 26: xx. 2: xxi. 7, 20. 
{u} As in St. John xviii. 15: xx. 2 ; 3, 4 and 8. 

{x) Consider St. Luke xxii. 8. St. John xx. 2: xxi. 20, 21. Acts iii. 1: iv. 13: viii. 14. 



286 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Very grateful should we be for this explanation of a name, which, unaided, we 
should not have been able to understand. Boan-erges was probably the Galilsean 
pronunciation of two Hebrew words, which mean literally Sons of Shaking : but the 
Spirit here informs us that the violent trembling, commotion, or shaking thereby 
implied, is that to which we give the name of Thunder. 

The remarkable title thus bestowed on Zebedee's two sons, seems to contain an 
allusion to those words of Haggai, — "Yet once, it is a little while, I will shake the 
Heavens, and the Earth, and the Sea, and the dry Land; and I will shake all 
nations."(?/) St. Paul applies that prophecy to the preaching of the Gospel ;(z) and 
it seems to be meant by our Lord, when He called St. James and St. John 
Boanerges, that those Brothers were destined to prove eminent instruments in the 
mighty work of the Gospel: that, like Thunder, their inspired preaching was to 
bear down all opposition, — to shake the nations, and to change the very aspect of 
Society. 

That a wondrous destiny awaited them, the special favour which, together with 
St. Peter, they enjoyed, — may have well convinced them: and they seem to have 
been conscious of this, when, on one occasion, they asked leave to call down fire 
from Heaven ;(a) and when, on another, they requested for themselves the two 
places of greatest Glory in the future Kingdom of their Lord. (5) 

18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 

Andrew, first of all the Apostolic body, is mentioned by name as coming at the 
knowledge of Christ. (c) Philip was called fifth ; and Bartholomew, sixth. (d) The 
last-named was of Cana in Galilee ;(e) and is doubtless the same Apostle whom St. 
John calls Nathanael: though the Church has not sanctioned the opinion by 
appointing any part of St. John i. to be read on his Festival. He is mentioned 
with high praise in St. John i. 45 to 51 ; and is found to have witnessed the great 
miracle described in the concluding Chapter of the same Gospel, — xxi. 2. His 
name means "Son of Tohni." 

"Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew :" — the names come together, not without 
a fitness and a reason. Philip was of Bethsaida, — the city of Andrew and Peter ;(/) 
and he was Andrew's special friend. See St. John vi. 5 and 8 : xii. 21 and 22. 
Andrew and he are doubtless the "two other Disciples" spoken of in St. John xxi. 
2. Philip was the means of bringing Bartholomew to Christ; and the two disci- 
ples are found, ever after, linked together, — as was remarked in the note on St. 
John i. 49. He is mentioned on one memorable occasion only, besides the two above 
indicated, — namely, in St. John xiv. 8, 9 : and in connection with which see the 
note on St. John i. 45. 

and Matthew, 

Otherwise called Levi,(#) His Father's name was Alpha3us.(7i) In his own Gos- 
pel, St. Matthew alone calls himself "the Publican," and humbly names himself 
after St. Thomas. (i) His summons to follow the footsteps of our Lord, as he sat 
"at the receipt of custom" in Capernaum, (which city was doubtless his home,) is 
related by all the three Evangelists in immediate connection with the Feast which 
he made long after to his Divine Master: but(&) he is mentioned nowhere else in 
the Gospels. 

and Thomas, 

The "Holy Apostle," who, "for the more confirmation of the Faith" was suffered 
by God to be doubtful in His Son's Resurrection, [l) is seldom mentioned in the 
Gospels ; yet sufficiently often to enable us to form a distinct notion of his charac- 
ter. See the note on St. John xi. 16. He asks a question, in St. John xiv. 5 ; — 
obtains memorable notice in St. John xx. 24 to 29 ; — and was one of the seven who 

(y) Haggai ii. 6, 7. (z) Hebrews xii. 26. (a) St Luke ix. 54. 

(b) St. Mark x. 35 to 37. (c) St. John i. 41. (d) St. John i. 43 and 45, &c. 

(e) St. John xxi. 2. (/) St. John i. 44: xii. 21. (g) St. Luke v. 27, 29. 

(h) St. Mark ii. 14. (t) St. Matthew x. 3. 

(k) See St. Matth. ix. 9, 10: St. Mark ii. 13, 14, 15: St. Luke v. 27, 28, 29. 

u) See the Collect for his Festival; and compare St. John xx. 24, &o. 



III.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 287 

witnessed the miracle described in St. John xxi. 2. His surname was "Didy- 
mus;"(»») which signifies in Greek, (as "Thomas" signifies in Hebrew,) — Twin. 

and James the son of Alphseus, 

So called in order to distinguish him from James the son of Zebedee, mentioned 
above. He was probably a distinct person from "James, the Lord's Brother ;"(?i) 
that is, His Cousin, the son of Cleophas,(o) and author of the Epistle, and first 
Bishop of Jerusalem. Learned men have indeed thought that Cleophas and 
Alphseus are the same name; and certainly, if this be the "James the less" men- 
tioned in St. Mark xv. 40, they must be right. But the suggestion does not seem 
probable. See the note on St. Matthew xiii. 55. The festival of this Apostle is 
kept with that of St. Philip, on May 1st. Nothing is recorded concerning him in 
the Gospels. 

and Thaddaeus, 

Called by St. Matthew, "Lebbseus, whose surname was Thaddseus ;"Q?) and the 
same person whom St. Luke, in two places, calls "Judas the brother of James ;"(q) 
that is, of James, Bishop of Jerusalem. Indeed, he so styles himself in a certain 
place.(r) He was one of our Lord's "Brethren," and the Author of the Epistle 
which bears his name, (St, Jude,) — as was said in the note on St. Matthew xiii. 55. 
Once only in the Gospels is any act or saying of his recorded, — namely in St. John 
xiv. 22. See the next note. 

and Simon the Canaanite, 

Not "the Canaanite" (be sure!) but "the CananiteP The mistake (in the 
Latin Translation of St. Matthew's Gospel, x. 4,) is probably more than 1700 years 
old; and has been suffered by our excellent Translators to stand. By St. Luke, 
Simon is called " Zelotes."(s) Some such appellation was required to distinguish 
him from the other Simons, (they are six in all,) mentioned in the Gospels. And 
take note that both names have one and the same meaning. Cananite, in Hebrew, 
— Zelotes, in Greek, — alike imply the Zealot ; and indicate one who has an earnest 
zeal for the Law, like "Saul of Tarsus." 

Nothing is known of this holy man, — whose Festival, together with that of "St. 
Jude," the Church observes on one and the same day: October 28th. The names 
of the two come together in all the four lists of the Apostles. 

19 and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed Him: 

And for whom "it had been good if he had not been born."(f) His history is too 
well remembered to make any references to it necessary; but it is not enough 
thought about by men. The Traitor's surname, "Iscariot," (by which he is dis- 
tinguished from the other Judas, spoken of above; and to which St. John adds "son 
of Simon,") (w) is supposed to have been derived from Kerioth, — a city mentioned 
in Joshua xv. 25, Jeremiah xlviii. 24 and 41, and Amos ii. 2. — St. Matthias fills 
his throne, and wears his crown. (x) 

When the Disciples were sent out "by two and two,"(?/) his companion will have 
been either(z) Simon "called Zelotes,"(a) that is, the Zealot ;(fi) or(c) it will have 
been his namesake, our Lord's own cousin, — mentioned in the former note. 

And thus much, or rather thus little, concerning the twelve most famous names 
in the annals of the World's History. Of the men themselves, we know next to 
nothing. Their lives are "hid with Christ in God."(c£) 

Take notice, Header, that the Sermon on the Mount, and our Lord's second min- 
isterial Journey, — together with many other mighty instances, — occur in this place. 
It is with reference to an event which happened at the end of many months, that is 
here added: 

(m) St. John xi. 16 and xxi. 2. (n) Galat. i. 19. 

M Compare St. Mark xv. 40, with St. John xix. 25. (p) St. Matthew x. 3. 

(q) St. Luke vi. 16, and Acts i. 13. (r) St. Jude i. 

(s) See St. Luke vi. 15, and Acts i. 13. (<) St. Matthew xxvi. 24. 

(it) St. John vi. 71: xii. 4; xiii. 2, 26. (x) Rev. iv. 4, 10. 

(y) St. Mark vi. 7. (z) Consider St. Matthew x. 4. (a) St. Luke vi. 15. 

(6) See the former note. (c) Consider St. Luke vi. 16. \d) Colos. iii. 3. 



288 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

20, 21 And they went into an house. And the multitude cometh 
together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And 
when His friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on Him : for 
they said, He is beside Himself. 

How remarkable a statement! It seems to point out labours so arduous, a course 
of conduct so unexpected and extraordinary, — that a disordered mind furnished the 
readiest clue to what men beheld. 

Take notice, that "His Friends," in this place denotes "His Brethren and His 
Mother," whose arrival is mentioned in verse 31. 

22 And the Scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath 
Beelzebub, and by the Prince of the Devils casteth He out devils. 

St. Mark omits the miracle which was the occasion of this blasphemy, but St. 
Matthew, — chap. xii. 22, 23, and St. Luke, — chap. xi. 14, supply it. 

And this may be a fit place for saying a few words concerning "the Scribes;" 
concerning whom, we read so much in the Gospels. 

The name denotes a "Writer:" but in the time of our Lord, this name belonged 
to those persons who, by profession, were learned in the Holy Scriptures; (some- 
times called, The Law;) and who made it their business to expound the Sacred 
Writings to the people. King Herod, in the hour of difficulty, is accordingly found 
to have demanded of "the Chief Priests and Scribes of the people," "Where Christ 
should be born?"(e) From their knowledge of the Mosaic Law, the Scribes were 
sometimes called Lawyers, — as appears by a comparison of St. Matthew xxii. 35 
with St. Mark xii. 28: see however the note on St. Luke xi. 45. Sometimes, they 
were called Doctors of the Law, — as appears by a comparison of St. Matthew ix. 3 
with St. Luke v. 17. They seem to have been mostly of the sect of the Pharisees. 
See St. Matt, xxiii. 2, 13, 14, 15, &c. Also Acts xxiii. 9; and compare St. Luke 
xi. 44, 45. 

It is difficult to realize the hardness of heart, which, in persons so instructed, could 
resist this overwhelming evidence of the presence of God among them. The present 
was their last resource; — to ascribe to the Powers of Darkness, acts of Deity the 
reality of which it was impossible to deny. See the note on St. Matthew xii. 24. 

Surely these things were written for our learning. They should convince us that 
to begin the study of Religion with books "on the Evidences,'' (as they are called,) 
is to begin at the wrong end. They almost show the worthlessness of such Books, 
as instruments of conviction, altogether. "He that cometh to God, must believe," — 
must begin by believing, — "that He is "(f) Accordingly, the Epistles are all 
addressed to Believers. Consider especially 1 St. John v. 13. " The Scribes" of 
whom St. Mark here writes, were the most learned of the nation "in the Jews' Reli- 
gion:" and they beheld with their eyes, — they had the evidence of all their senses, 
— that stupendous Miracles were really wrought. Both the Testimony of others, 
and their own Experience assured them of the Truth. Our Lord Himself many a 
time convinced them by Scripture: on this occasion, He does it by Reason. But 
His mighty Discourse is more fully given by St. Matthew, xii. 25 to 45, (where see 
the notes:) and St. Luke xi. 17 to 26. 

See above, the note on ver. 6. 

23, 24, 25, 26 And He called them unto Him, and said unto them in 
parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a Kingdom be 
divided against itself, that Kingdom cannot stand. And if a House be 
divided against itself, that House cannot stand. And if ^Satan rise up 
against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. 

This argument admitted of no answer from them: and blessed be God for the 
practical warning which it contains to ourselves! Neither Kingdom, nor City,(#) 
nor House, — (no, nor yet Church,) (h) — can stand, if it be divided against itself. 
See the note on St. Matthew xii. 26. Our Saviour could not therefore, from the 
very nature of the case, have been in league with the power of which He was the 

(e) St. Matt. ii. 4. if) Hebrews xi. 6. (g) St. Matth. xii. 25. 

(h) See the "prayer for Unity," in the Form of Prayer for the 20th of June. 



III.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 289 



professed and open Enemy. So far was this from being possible, that, (as our Lord 
proceeds to say,) — 

27 No man can enter into a Strong Man's house, and spoil his goods, 
except he will first bind the Strong Man ; and then he will spoil his 
house. 

By which words, our Lord went on to show that He must needs, on the contrary, 
have already overcome Satan. The Devil must have been first bound by Him who 
now casts him out. See the argument as St. Luke magnificently states it, — chap. 
xi. 21, 22: and take notice, that Satan is "the Strong Man" here spoken of: whose 
"House" or "Palace," was this lower World; and especially the bodies of the ra- 
tional creatures who inhabit it.(i) Christ is the Stronger than the Strong, who first 
bound the Tempter, when He rejected all his Temptations. See the long note at 
the beginning of St. Matthew iv. — The Reader is also referred to the notes on St. 
Luke iv. 6. 

" Then He will spoil his house:" — what wonders of the invisible world seem to be 
here hinted at! ... . See the note on St. Luke xi. 22: also on St. Matthew xiii. 29. 

Our Lord proceeds to caution His assailants against the danger which they 
incurred by calling Him Beelzebub. See St. Matthew x. 25. 

28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of 
men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme : 

A most gracious and merciful assurance truly : for it is more than a declaration 
that Almighty God "desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn 
from his wickedness and live."(&) It is a promise also, that free Pardon shall 
follow upon sincere Repentance: that the Gate of Mercy shall be never closed 
against him who knocketh. 

St. Matthew adds here, — " And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of 
Man it shall be forgiven him."(0 After which, both Evangelists proceed to describe 
the unpardonable sin. 

29, 30 but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath 
never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation : (because they 
said, He hath an unclean spirit.) 

What then is the nature of that unpardonable offence, concerning which our Lord 
says such awful things? We are rather disposed to pray that we may never incur 
it, than to set about explaining it. It is clearly much more than willful sin. It 
seems rather to be the terrible act of one like Judas, who, in defiance of Light and 
Knowledge, rejects of set purpose, — opposes, after due deliberation, — the Grace of 
the Holy Spirit. It is Blindness, not only chosen, but persevered in to the end: 
denial, not only hazarded, but maintained to the very last, against the strong cry 
of conscience. Well may such a state exclude from Pardon! There is no room 
left for it. Prayer is put away. Repentance is refused. It is the "sin unto death" 
spoken of by the beloved disciple, (m) See the note on the last half of St. Luke xi. 
26. See also the notes on St. Matthew xii. 32. Observe however that while there 
is life, none may be judged in this matter: for who are we to despair of those whom 
the Patience and the Goodness of God leads to Repentance ?(n) 

One of the ancients thus interprets the place: — "Whoso speaketh a word against 
the Son of Man, as stumbling at My flesh, and thinking of Me as no more than man, 
may yet find pardon. But whoso, plainly perceiving the Works of God, and unable 
to deny the Power of God, yet speaks falsely against those works, prompted by 
jealousy; calling Christ, (who is the Word of God,) and the works of the Holy 
Ghost, — Beelzebub; he shall have no forgiveness, neither in this World, nor in the 
World to come." 

31 There came then His Brethren and His Mother, and, standing 
without, sent unto Him, calling Him. 



(£) Compare St. Matth. xii. 44. 

f k) Compare the Daily Absolution, with Ezekiel xxxiii. 11: xviii. 23, 31, 32. 

(l) St. Matthew xii. 32. (m) 1 St. John v. 16. 

In) Compare Romans ii. 4 and 2 St. Peter iii. 9. 

19 



290 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The "Brethren" of our Lord, — whose names, (James, Joses, Simon, Judas,) are 
given in St. Matthew xiii. 55, and St. Mark vi. 3, — were the sons of Cleophas, and 
Mary, the sister and namesake of the Blessed Virgin. See the note on St. Matthew 
xiii. 55: also on St. Matthew xii. 47. 

The Reader is referred back to the conclusion of the note on verse 21. 

32, 33, 34, 35 And the multitude sat about Him; and they said unto 
Him, Behold, Thy Mother and Thy Brethren without seek for Thee. 
And He answered them, saying, "Who is My Mother, or My Brethren ? 
And He looked round about on them which sat about Him, and said, 
Behold My Mother, and My Brethren ! For whosoever shall do the 
will of God, the same is My Brother, and My Sister, and Mother. 

Three ancient Bishops, — one Eastern, the other two, of the West, — concur in the 
remark that he who preaches the Saviour is, in a manner, His Parent ; for he 
produces Him in the heart of his hearers. Both, perhaps, derived the idea from the 
same place of Scripture: namely, Galatians iv. 19, — with which compare 1 Cor. iv. 
15, and Philemon 10.— Consider 1 St. Peter i. 23: ii. 2. 

Our Lord repeated the saying here recorded on another occasion, — St. Luke viii. 
21; where see the note. See also the concluding note on St. Matthew xii. "Verily, 
spiritual Eegeneration bringeth man into a more honourable relation to Christ, 
than natural generation ever did." 



THE PRAYER. 

Almighty God, who hast given us Thy only-begotten Son to take 
our nature upon Him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin; 
grant that we being regenerate, and made Thy children by adoption 
and grace, may daily be renewed by Thy Holy Spirit ; through the 
same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and 
the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 



CHAPTER IV 



1 The parable of the Sower, 14 and the meaning thereof. 21 We must communicate 
the light of our knowledge to others. 26 The 'parable of the Seed growing secretly, 
30 and of the Mustard seed. 35 Christ stilleth the Tempest on the sea. 

1 And He began again to teach by the sea side : and there was 
gathered unto Him a great multitude, so that He entered into a ship, 
and sat in the sea ; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. 

The Sower enters into a ship, — in order the better thence to sow His seed. 
Those who have visited the Sea of Galilee, describe it as a beautiful sheet of clear 
water, — encircled by grey hills. See the note on St. Mark i. 16. We are to pic- 



IV.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 291 

ture the Divine Speaker, — attended by His Apostles, — seated in a Boat upon this 
Lake, at a little distance from the shore. Along the water's edge, a vast multitude 
of persons "out of every city"(#) are standing, attentive to the wondrous discourse 
of Him who spoke as none had ever before spoken. See the last note on St. Mat- 
thew vii. On the relative position of our Saviour and His auditory, an old writer 
remarks : — " The Evangelist did not relate this without a purpose, but that he 
might show the Lord's will therein ; who desired so to place the people that He 
might have none behind Him, but that all should be before His face/ 7 

2 And He taught them many things by Parables, and said unto 
them in His doctrine, 

The Reader is referred to a note on St. Matthew xiii. 3, concerning the teaching 
by Parables, in general, and concerning this particular Parable. 

Hearken ; 

This summons to attention, is peculiar to St. Mark's Gospel. 

3 Behold, there went out a Sower to sow : 

These words, which introduce the Parable of the Sower, will be found interpreted 
by the Divine Speaker Himself, in ver. 14, — where see the note. Observe only, by 
the way, at the outset, how the Heavenly Husbandman, after surveying every part 
of His Creation, is found for the most part to make choice of those images which 
have reference to Husbandry : sheep, and goats, and shepherds ; barn, and fan, and 
threshing-floor ; wheat, and chaff, and tares ; fig-trees, vineyards, and corn-fields ; 

ploughers, sowers, and reapers Surely it was done in order that these very 

objects, daily seen, might enable us to keep His blessed Teaching in daily remem- 
brance ! 

See more in the note on the first part of St. Luke viii. 5. 

4 And it came to pass, as He sowed, some fell by the way side, and 
the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 

Here then is the first comparison ; — a heart, common as the high-way : hardened 
by the constant passing to and fro of worldly thoughts. See the note on ver. 15. 

The soil "by the wayside' ; is hard and unbroken; wholly unfit, therefore, to re- 
ceive the seed. The plough must first open the furrows. And yet, take notice, that 
this is not all the evil. There is danger from without, also. " The fowls of the 
air" are on the watch to carry away the seed, as soon as it has fallen. 

See more in the note on the latter part of St. Luke viii. 5. 

5, 6 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth ; 
and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth. But 
when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it 
withered away. 

" Stony ground" — or, as St. Luke expresses it(6) " a rock" — furnishes the next 
resemblance. Not, observe, a hard hopeless surface, — on which it would have been 
mere mockery to cast the seed. There is earth, — but it has no depth, and conse- 
quently no moisture. (c) 

"Stony/' or, as it should rather be translated, "rocky ground/' does not of course 
mean such a soil as abounds in many parts of England, — where the stones are co- 
vered with about three inches of earth, and where the corn is found to grow plen- 
tifully. A soil is supposed, consisting of the live rock ; into which the roots of the 
corn cannot insinuate themselves. 

See more in the note on St. Luke viii. 6. 

7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked 
it, and it yielded no fruit. 

Thorny ground is the next case supposed : and this is a sadder case than either 
(a) St. Luke viii. 4. (b) St. Luke viii. 6. (c) St. Luke viii. 6. 



292 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

of the former; for here, the seed springs up more hopefully, inasmuch as the soil is 
deeper. But, from that very circumstance, the ground harbors thorns as well. 

This third case is very different from either of the others. There is no lack of 
earth here. The thing required is a careful weeding of the soil ; without which, 
neither a good soil, — nor good seed, — nor the good hand of God Himself, sowing 
the seed, — will be of any avail. See the note on St. Matthew xiii. 7. 

See more in the note on St. Luke viii. 7. 

8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprung up 
and increased ; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and 
some an hundred. 

"By the way-side," — "on stony ground," — "among thorns/' — "on good ground:" 
there are great diversities of soil then, but the Seed and the Sower are still one and 
the same. It does not depend on the Sower, nor on the Seed, — but on the heart 
into which the Seed falls, — whether it shall come to perfection, or whether it shall 
perish. 

Not that we are to look upon these conditions of heart, — whether good or bad, — 
as fixed and unalterable. It is not so with earthly soils ; the frequent injunctions 
of Almighty God convince us that it cannot be so with human hearts either. 
"Harden not your hearts :"(c2) " Wash you, make you clean :"(e) "Cleanse your 
hands, ye sinners ; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded :"(j) " Make you a 
new heart, and a new spirit; for why will ye die, house of Israel ?"(<?) What 
mean these, and the like commands, but that, by God's Grace, the beaten highway 
may become changed into a fruitful field ? that labour may avail to deepen the soil, 
as well as break up the rock ? purge away the thorns, which before choked the 
Word and rendered it unfruitful? Yea, cause the wilderness to "blossom as the 
rose V'(h) The Reader is requested to refer to some remarks in the note on St. 
Mark xiii. 23, on this subject. 

Take notice, that as there are three cases of unfruitfidness described, — proceed- 
ing, each, from a different cause; so, there are three degrees of fruitfidness, also, 
enumerated : but the cause of fruitfulness is only one. 

See more in the notes on St. Matthew xiii. 8, and St. Luke viii. 8. 

9 And He said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 

These solemn and significant words are found in this place, in all the three Gos- 
pels : viz. in St. Matt. xiii. 9, and St. Luke viii. 8. They seem to have been often 
on our Lord's lips ; for a record has been preserved of no less than six occasions on 
which He used them: viz. St. Matt. xi. 15 : xiii. 43. St. Mark iv. 23 : and vii. 16. 
St. Luke xiv. 35 ; and the present place. In St. John's Gospel they are not once 
found ; but in the Book of Revelation, no less than eight times. The reader may 
like to have the places to refer to. They are these : Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17, 29 : iii. 6, 
13, 22 : xiii. 9. 

10 And when He was alone, they that were about Him with the 
Twelve asked of Him the Parable. 

The order of events is here broken through by the Evangelist ; who proceeds to 
tell us what took place after our Saviour had " sent the multitudes away," and 
" gone into the House." Compare St. Matthew xiii. 36, with verse 34 of the pre- 
sent chapter. 

11 And He said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mys- 
tery of the Kingdom of God ; but unto them that are without, all these 
things are done in Parables: 

See the note on St. Matthew xiii. 11. Observe also, what follows, in St. Mat- 
thew's Gospel, — with the notes thereon. 

" Them that are without:" — the expression recurs in 1 Cor. v. 12, 13 : Colossians 
iv. 5 : 1 Thess. iv. 12. 

(d) Psalm xcv. 8. (e) Isaiah i. 16. (/) St. James iv. 8. 

(g) Ezekiel xviii. 31. (A) Isaiah xxxv. 1. 



IV.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 293 

12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive ; and hearing they 
may hear, and not understand ; 

"Because," as it is said in St. Matthew's Gospel, (xiii. 13,) "they seeing, see not ; 
and hearing, hear not." See the next note. 

lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be 
forgiven them. 

The best Comment on this very elliptical quotation of Isaiah vi. 10, is supplied 
by the parallel place in St. Matthew's Gospel, — xiii. 14, 15 ; which see. The reader 
is also requested to consult the note on St. Matt. xiii. 13. 

It will be perceived, (by a comparison of this verse with the place in St. Mat- 
thew's Gospel, last cited,) that the words of our Lord Himself, as well as those of 
His Prophet, are only partially recorded by St. Mark. This has been partly shown 
above already, in the note on the first half of the present verse. 

13 And He said unto them, Know ye not this Parable ? and how 
then will ye know all Parables ? 

The Divine Speaker seems to imply that " the parable of the Sower" affords the 
simplest type or pattern of a parable. 

"Note," says an old writer, "that this is the first parable that has been given 
with its interpretation ; and we must beware, where our Lord expounds His own 
teaching, that we do not presume to understand anything either more or less, or 
any way otherwise than as so expounded by Him." And yet, as another, obvious- 
ly enough, remarks, — "those things which He silently left to our understanding, 
we must observe for ourselves." 

14 The Sower soweth the Word. 

We know, from St. Luke viii. 11, that "The Seed is the Word of God:" but who 
is "the Sower V — If we must point to one only, doubtless Christ is he; who "came 
forth from the Father, and was come into the World," — as it is said in St. John 
xvi. 28. Next, it was the Apostles of our Lord, — in whose persons, Himself "went 
forth" to sow the Divine Seed among the Gentiles. But, in truth, it is every one who 
goes forth in the Name of Christ, and with His Authority, — every one whom 
He sends. 

Consider then, what is implied by this: even that the Preacher's skill is a thing 
of slender moment. Men inquire what seed has been sown: never, who sowed it? 
See the end of the note on the first part of St. Luke viii. 5. Paul may have planted, 
and Apollos watered; "but God gave the increase."(i) It is in the Seed, not in the 
Soioer: say rather, it is on GOD, not on Man, — that the miracle of growth depends. 

Consider next what is implied by this resemblance of the Word to Seed. We are 
clearly taught thereby, that the Word, " hath in it a productive virtue, to bring 
forth fruit according to its kind ; that is, the fruit of a new life. Not only a new 
habit and fashion of life without ; but a new nature, a new kind of life within ; new 
thoughts, a new estimate of things, new delights and actions. 

"When the Word reveals God, His Greatness and Holiness, then, it begets pious 
Fear and Keverence, and study of conformity to Him. 

"When it reveals His Goodness and Mercy, it works Love and Confidence. 

"When it holds up to our view Christ crucified, it crucifies the soul to the world, 
and the world to it. 

"When it represents those rich things which are laid up for us, thai blessed in- 
heritance of the Saints, then, it makes all the lustre of this world vanish; shows 
how poor it is; weans and calls off the heart from it; raising it to those higher 
"hopes, and setting it on the project of a crown. 

"And so, it is a seed of noble thoughts, and of a behaviour suitable in a Chris- 
tian; as, in the exposition of this parable, it is called the Word of the Kingdom : an 
immortal Seed, as St. Peter calls it,(&) springing up to no less than eternal Life." — 
The words are pious Leighton's. 

15 And these are they by the wayside, where the Word is sown 

(♦) 1 Cor. iii. 6. (&) 1 St, Peter i. 23. 



294 A PLAIN COMMENTAEY [CHAP. 

but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away 
the Word that was sown in their hearts. 

"They have heard;" but they have not understood. See St. Matt. xiii. 19. In 
hearts so hardened, — "highway hearts, which all temptations pass through at their 
pleasure," — hearts which are "the common road of all kinds of foolish brutish 
thoughts," — what hope is there that seed could take root and grow? Yet, mark the 
malice of the Enemy. He permits not even the chance of it. The Prince of the 
Power of the Air, (I) — who is likened in the parable to a winged bird, — "cometh 
immediately, (m) and taketh way the word that was sown." That is, he diverts men 
from reflection, and serious thoughts, and the remembrance of good words spoken. 
If he spares a few grains, they get "trodden down," — as St. Luke hints in chapter 
viii. 5. But the Psalmist provided against either calamity: for, (saith he,) "Thy 
words have I hid within my heart." (n) 

16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground ; 
who, when they have heard the Word, immediately receive it with 
gladness ; 

The hearts in ver 15, had become hardened by use; these, are hard by nature: 
" hearts not softened to receive deeply the engrafted "Word with meekness, — with 
humble yielding and submission to it. Yet even these, at first, often receive the Word 
with gladness. They have a little present delight in it: are moved and taken with 
the Sermon, — possibly even to the shedding of some tears. But the misery is, there 
is no depth of Earth. The Word sinks not." See the note on St. Matthew xiii. 21. 

This allusion to the delight which the Doctrines of the Gospel give even to hard 
and impenitent hearts, is a most striking circumstance. You will hear men praise 
the simplicity, — the beauty, — the pure morality of the Gospel. As Leighton says, 
a text of Scripture will sometimes move them to tears. You would suppose that 
they intended to act up to their light, and avail themselves of their knowledge; but 
alas, it is not so. 

See more in the note on St. Luke viii. 13. 

17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time : 
afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the Word's sake, 
immediately they are offended. 

Hence the necessity of "being rooted and grounded in Love:"(o) "continuing in 
the Faith, grounded and settled :"(p) " rooted and built up in" Christ. (q) — Else 
the scorching heat of persecution, ("when the sun is up," as we read in ver. 6,) — 
some fiery trial(r) from within, or from without, — proves fatal to this class of Be- 
lievers. 

This, then, is a very different case from the last. There the Devil had but to 
steal away the seed. Here, it has sprung up: the Enemy must contrive a way to 
destroy it. Those very things which should have hastened its perfection, — that 
very trial of Faith which should have wrought Patience, (s) — becomes the instru- 
ment of decay and ruin. 

18, 19 And these are they which are sown among thorns : such .as 
hear the Word, and the cares of this World, and the deceitfulness of 
riches, and the lust of other things entering in, choke the Word, and it 
becometh unfruitful. 

"Many are thus almost at Heaven," says Leighton; "there is so much desire of 
renovation, and some endeavours after it ; and yet, the thorns prevail. Miserable 
thorns, the base things of a perishing life; drawing away the strength of affections, 
sucking the sap of the soul I" 

" Cares," therefore, — "riches," — and "pleasures," as St. Luke(/) briefly expresses 

(I) 1 Ephes. ii. 2. 

(m) Mark this ; and compare the language of Job i. 16, 17, 18 : ii. 6. 7. 

(n) Psalm cxix. 11. (o) Ephes. iii. 17. (p) Coloss. i. 23. 

\q) Coloss. ii. 7. (r) 1 St. Peter iv. 12. 

(s) St. James i. 3. Compare 1 St. Peter i. 7. (0 St. Luke viii. 14. 



IV.] 



ON ST. make's gospel. 295 



■what the present Evangelist hath somewhat more largely delivered: these are the 
thorns which choke the Word, and render it unfruitful. The Beloved Disciple 
makes the same enumeration, but in a backward order : "The lust of the flesh, and 
the lust of the eye, and the pride of life."(«) " And for how long is the advantage 
and delight of these?" asks the writer already quoted. "Alas, that so poor things 
should prejudice us against the rich and blessed increase of this Divine Seed!" 
See the notes on St. Matthew xiii. 22, and St. Luke viii. 14. 

20 And these are they which are sown on good ground ; such as hear 
the Word and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty-fold, some 
sixty, and some an hundred. 

" Good ground:" "an honest and good heart:"(x) "there is not much fineness 
here, not many questions and disputes ; but honest simplicity, sweet sincerity, — 
that is all ! A humble, single desire to know and to do the Will of God; and this, 
from Love to Himself! This makes the soul abound in the fruit of Holiness. 
Different degrees there are, indeed: "some thirty-fold, some sixty, some an hun- 
dred:" yet, the lowest are aiming at the highest; not resting satisfied, still growing 
more fruitful. If thirty last year, desiring to bring forth sixty, this. 

" That is the great point, and we ought to examine it; for much is sown and little 
brought forth. Our God hath done much for us: (what more could be done?) Yet, 
when grapes were expected, wild grapes are produced. What becomes of all? 
Who grows to be more spiritual, more humble and meek, more like Christ, more 
self-denying, fuller of Love to God and one-another? Some, — but, alas, how few! 
All the land is sown, and that plentifully, with the good Seed: but what comes for 
the most part? Cockle, and no grain." 

Where Leighton has already written so piously and so well, it would be folly to 
seek to express the same thing in other words. He adds: — "Now, that you may 
be fruitful, examine well your own hearts. Pluck up, weed out ; for there are still 
thorns. Some will grow; but he is the happiest man who hath the sharpest eye 
and the busiest hand, spying them out, and plucking them up. And above all, 
pray; pray before, after, and in hearing. Dart up desires to God. He is the Lord 
of the Harvest, whose influence doth all. The difference of the soil makes indeed 
the difference of success: but the Lord hath the privilege of bettering the soil. He 
who framed the heart, changes it when, and how, He will. There is a curse on all 
grounds, naturally, which fell on the Earth for Man's sake; but fell more on the 
ground of Man's own heart within him: " Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth." (y) 
Now it is He that denounceth that curse, who alone hath power to remove it. He 
is both the Sovereign owner of the Seed, and the changer of the Soil; He turns a 
wilderness into Carmel by His Spirit; and no ground, no heart, can be good, till He 
change it." 

See more in the notes on St. Matthew xiii. 23, and St. Luke viii. 15. 

21 And He said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a 
bushel, or under a bed ? and not to be set on a candlestick ? 

The original is, — "Does a Lamp come, to be put under a modius?" — that is, a 
corn-measure containing more than a peck, and less than a bushel. 

Much less, (it seems to be implied,) hath Light itself come into the World, (z) — 
much less am I, the True Light, come into the World, («) — to deliver precepts which 
are to be hid. My Doctrine shall not be covered ; but, on the contrary, its light 
shall be shed abroad, for the use and advantage of all. As the Lamp is set upon 
the Lamp-stand, — the Candle on the Candlestick, — so will I give and bequeath 
Light to My Church, which is the instrument contrived by Me for holding, bearing 
aloft, and preserving this sacred Light. And to you, in the first instance, do I ex- 
pound all mysteries ; in order that, in after times, ye may dispense Light to others 
also, — not shunning to declare to all the flock over which the Holt Ghost shall 
make you overseers, the whole Counsel of God.(6) See that ye neither quench My 
Light through Self-indulgence, (the Corn-measure,) — nor hide it through Sloth, 
(the bed !) 

(w) 1 St. John ii. 16. . (x) St. Luke viii. 15. (y) Gen. iii. 18. 

(z) St. John iii. 19. (a) St. John xii. 46. (6) Compare Acts xx. 27, 28. 



296 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Concerning the " Candlestick," see by all means Revelation i. 12, 13, and espe- 
cially 20. Consider also Exodus xxv. 31 and 37 ; and Zechariah iv. 2. 

22, 28 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; 
neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If 
any man have ears to hear, let him hear. 

See above, the note on ver. 9. 

24 And He said unto them, Take heed what ye hear : with what 
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you : and unto you that hear 
shall more be given. 

In St. Luke viii. 18, we read, — "Take heed liow ye hear." That is, our Lord 
cautions His Disciples lest any of the things which He delivered to them, should 
escape them. But how difficult is the saying which follows ! It has been explained 
by some excellent Divines, to mean, — " According to the measure of attention which 
you bestow upon My teaching, shall knowledge be measured out to you ; and to you 
that hear attentively, shall further instruction be given." Or, in the words of an 
ancient, — "Whatsoever degree of application ye bring, in that degree ye will re- 
ceive profit." But it seems rather to mean, Dispense freely the light and knowledge 
with which you are entrusted, — and with the same freedom, in the same full mea- 
sure, shall more be dispensed to you. Compare the injunction of the Good Sama- 
ritan to him that kept the Inn, — " Whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come 
again, I will repay thee."(c) Any of these meanings, in fact, suit the place very 
well : but consider the different use which our Lord makes of the same proverbial 

expression in St. Matthew vii. 2 It is by the way, a matter full of wonder 

and delight, thus to observe the different senses in which He " in whom are hid all 
the treasures of Wisdom," seems to have employed the same form of words, on dif- 
ferent occasions. 

25 For he that hath, to him shall be given : and he that hath not, 
from him shall be taken even that which he hath. 

This is another of the mysterious sayings which are found more than once on the 
lips of our Lord. It is given, with a remarkable difference, in the parallel place of 
St. Luke's Gospel, — viii. 18. From St. Matthew xiii. 12, (where see the note,) it 
would appear to have been twice used by the Divine Speaker during the present 
discourse. It recurs in St. Matthew xxv. 29, and St. Luke xix. 26. 

In every place where these words are found, they seem to contain the same gene- 
ral warning that slighted privileges and neglected opportunities do but entail, as a 
punishment, the withdrawal of the first, — the denial of the second. Whereas, if we 
diligently avail ourselves of the opportunities vouchsafed us, we have a good ground 
to hope for the bestowal of more. But in this place, the words are of course to be 
taken with those which precede ; and they will relate to advances in spiritual know- 
ledge, growth in holiness. 

The parable of " the Seed growing secretly" follows ; which is the only parable 
peculiar to St. Mark's Gospel. 

26 And He said, So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast 
Seed into the ground ; 

Note, that " Seed" again supplies the image ; and, as before, it is lolieat which is 
sown. See ver. 28, — To use the striking words of an excellent modern writer, — it 
"tells us, that, though the Gospel appears to spread by human means, it is really 
God who nourishes it. See 1 Cor. iii. 6." 

27 and should sleep and rise, night and day, and the Seed should 
spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. 

By which words our Lord calls attention to a mighty wonder which yet creates 
no surprise, because it is so very common, — the growth, namely, of seeds. The 

(c) St. Luke x. 35. 



IV.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 297 

parable teaches that, as a seed springs and grows up, — a man "knoweth not how;" 
so is it with the growth of Christ's Kingdom on Earth. As surely, yet as myste- 
riously and unaccountably, — as if by virtue of a natural law impressed upon it, — 
"the Kingdom of God" grows ; will continue growing, until it hath overspread the 
whole Earth. It has a secret energy of its own, — a principle of life and growth 
within itself. This Parable, therefore, forcibly recalls that of the " leaven which a 
woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened." (d) 
St. Matthew gives the one, — St. Mark the other. 

Observe, that as the Woman in the parable hid the leaven, and then doubtless 
went her way ; so is it here specially noticed that the Sower has done all that is 
required of him, after he has sown his seed. He may then " sleep and rise/' — pass 
his nights in rest, and his days in labour. In due season, he will find that the seed 
has obeyed the law of its being, and come to maturity. 

We need not inquire who is the Sower in this parable : for here it is not the act 
of the Sower, but, simply the property of the Seed which is meant to engage our 
attention. The secret, yet certain growth of seeds, supplies all the teaching which 
our Lord meant His parable to convey. And yet, if the inquiry must be made, let 
it suffice us to reflect that the Sower is (1st) Christ; who, when He had planted 
the Gospel upon Earth, and filled it with living energy, returned to the Bosom of 
the Father ; — having " slept" and " risen" as none ever slept and rose before. In 
this case, the words — " he knoweth not how," must not be taken literally, and press- 
ed to their full extent. As an ancient remarks, they " show the free will of those 
who receive the Word ; for He commits a work to their will ; and does not work the 
whole." "For the Earth," (as Ave shall hear in the very next verse,) "brmgeth 
forth fruit of herself" (2dly) The Sower is every person whom the Providence of 
Almighty God has either made the Instrument of conveying the Truth to others ; 
or has brought, personally, to the knowledge of the Truth. 

In the former case, — let him be persuaded that as he can pretend to none of the 
glory of the growth which follows : so neither need he vex himself with undue soli- 
citude about it. He must have Faith. He has already planted; he may yet water: 
but it is God, and God only, who " giveth the increase." (e) 

In the latter case, let him be convinced that having once received the Gospel into 
his heart, and hid it there, — it sufficeth. He need ask no further questions ; nor 
torment himself with curious carnal inquiries concerning the secret history, and 
invisible progress of his spiritual life. The Kingdom of Heaven within him will be 
developed according to its own laws. He may henceforth sleep and wake, and 
leave the mystery of his own growth in the hands of God. There will come up first 
the blade, — then, the ear, — at last, the full corn in the ear. "When the fruit is 
brought forth." he will himself come to his grave, "like as a shock of corn cometh 
in, in his season. "(f) In this case, not he, but another, "putteth in the sickle." 

28 For the Earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, 
then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. 

Precious is it to hear the Author of Creation thus descanting upon His own won- 
derful works ! There are three stages, therefore, in the growth of corn : the blade 
— the ear — the full corn in the ear. And these may correspond with three stages 
of spiritual growth: the babes in Christ, — the strong, — and the stature of a per- 
fect man. Compare 1 St. John ii. 13. 

Consider the lovely picture of progressive growth in goodness which St. Peter 
supplies in his second Epistle, — i. 5 to 8 : where, take notice that Faith is the root, 
and Charity the full corn in the ear. 

-29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately He putteth in 
the sickle, because the Harvest is come. 

Rather, — " when the fruit yield [itself;"] that is, " when the fruit is ripe." Com- 
pare the language of Revelation xiv. 14, 15. 

Who shall know so well as God, when the fruit is ripe ? And yet we murmur at 
early Death, — and call it premature, untimely, and the like ! 

(d) St. Matth. xiii. 33. (e) 1 Corinthians iii. 7. (/) Job v. 26. 



298 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [iMAP. 

30 And He said, Whereunto shall we liken the Kingdom of God ? 
or with what comparison shall we compare it ? 

The Maker of all things casts His Eye abroad over His Works, in quest of some 
object whereunto He may compare, in respect of its mighty increase, that Heavenly 
Kingdom which He came on Earth to found. 

31 It is like a Grain of Mustard seed, 

Take notice, that in St. Matthew's Gospel, — xiii. 31, — the parable proceeds, 
"Which a man took, and sowed in Iris field" — In St. Luke's,— xiii. 19. — it is, 
"which a man took, and cast into Ms garden." 

which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be 
in the earth : 

Our Lord's words may not be pressed beyond their proper limits. " Small as a 
grain of mustard seed," was a proverbial expression among the people whom our 
Lord was addressing. It was used to denote anything exceedingly small. See St. 
Luke xvii. 6. 

From seeds, again, the Author of Creation draws a Heavenly Lesson. But the 
" Kingdom of God,' ; (that is, the Church of Christ,) is here compared to a grain of 
mustard seed: whereby our Lord directs attention to the extreme smallness of its 
beginning. The contrast between the smallness of the Church in her beginning, — 
and her vastness in the end, is the point of the present parable ; and suggests why 
a grain of mustard seed was chosen by our Lord in preference to any nobler plant. 

Mustard seed, moreover, may have been chosen, because it possesses a pungent 
fiery flavour ; — yields its strength by being crushed and bruised ; — rescues other 
things from the charge of being tasteless and insipid ; — and besides many whole- 
some properties, has not a few medicinal virtues also. If all this seems insufficient, 
then let it be remembered that He who chose the image of a grain of Mustard Seed 
is the same God who " hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the 
wise ; and .... the weak things of the World to confound the things which are 
mighty. And base things of the World, and things which are despised, hath God 
chosen."^) 

32 but when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than 
all herbs, 

Our Lord speaks of the Mustard Tree as it is found in eastern countries. 

Was not the smallness of the Seed strikingly set forth before men's eyes, even 
while the Divine Speaker delivered the present Parable ? for surely, the ship where- 
in our Lord sat with His Disciples, was, in a manner, the very "grain of mustard 
seed" of which He was^ speaking ! Nay, — He Himself was that Seed ; for in Him> 
— the despised and rejected One, — did the Church, as yet, dwell. But, as the same 
Lord had spoken by His Prophet, — " it shall come to pass in the last days, that the 
mountain of the Lord's House shall be established in the top of the Mountains, and 
shall be exalted above the Hills ; and all nations shall flow unto it "(h) And again, 
— " The Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord, as the 
waters cover the Sea."(i) 

So small, too, is the seed which, at Holy Baptism, is sown in the heart of the 
Infant Christian. Contrast that small beginning, with the mighty fruits of Piety 
and Learning which it may be made to bear in the end ! 

and shooteth out great branches ; 

" Shooteth out great branches !" Yea, into America, India, and the Islands of 
the East: until all "the Kingdoms of this World" shall "become the Kingdoms of 
our Lord, and of His Christ ; and He shall reign for ever and ever."(&) 

Under a kindred figure, the growth of that Earthly Kingdom which was to prove 
a type of the Heavenly, — had been portrayed. "It filled the land. The hills 

(g) 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. (h) Isaiah ii. 2, — quoted by Micah iv. 1. 

\i) Quoted by Habakkuk (ii. 14,) from Isaiah xi. 9. (/<;) Revelation xi. 15. 



IV.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 299 

were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly- 
cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the Sea, and her branches unto the River."(Z) 

so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it. 

This is the case with the Mustard Tree in the East. Its seed is a favourite food 
with birds ; so that " the fowls of the air" find within its shadow both meat and a 
home. Compare the language of Revelation xxii. 2. 

So, in Ezekiel's prophecy, — when " God promiseth to plant the cedar of the Gos- 
pel,"(m) — it is said, " In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and 
it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar : and under it 
shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof, shall they 
dwell."(w) 

We find it declared of the Great Tree, under which image the late of Nebuchad- 
nezzar the king was set forth in a vision, — that "the fowls of the Heaven dwelt in 
the boughs thereof."(o) The same thing is noticed in respect of the Assyrian's 
glory, — in Ezekiel xxxi. 6 : the picture of which fills an entire chapter. And this 
might suggest that the feature in question is merely descriptive of a mighty tree. 
Yet is it impossible to doubt that the words must have a meaning, as well, in this 
place ; a purpose belonging to the general scope of the Parable. And what is truer 
of Christ's Holy Church, than that it proves a haven of rest, — " a refuge from the 
storm," and "a shadow from the heat,"(j?) — for all those restless, weary Spirits 
which, like birds of the air, would else be without a home ? For all find refuge 
there : " fowls of every wing" as it is said in another place, (q) 

33 And with many such Parables spake He the Word unto them, as 
they were able to hear it. 

Out of which statement of the Evangelist, two remarks arise naturally. It ap- 
pears that we are presented in the Gospel, with only a few of the Parables which 
our Lord actually delivered on this occasion ; — types, doubtless, of all the rest. 
And further, dark as the teaching by Parables in a manner was, that the Divine 
Speaker had a regard, in all He said, to the powers of those who heard Him speak. 
He delivered each mysterious saying — " as they were able to bear it." Compare the 
note on St. Matthew xiii. 13. 

34 But without a Parable spake He not unto them : and when they 
were alone, He expounded all things to His Disciples. 

That is, after our Saviour had "sent the multitudes away," and gone "into the 
House," — as St. Matthew explains. The narrative is continued in the Gospel of 
the last-named Evangelist, — xiii. 36 to 53. 

35, 36 And the same day, when the even was come, He saith unto 
them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent 
away the multitude, they took Him even as He was in the Ship. 

"Even as He was:" — that is, weary as He was, — reclining on a pillow at the 
stern of the boat. For He had entered into the Ship first, and the Diciples had fol- 
lowed Him ; — as St. Matthew relates particularly : viii. 23. 

And there were also with Him other little ships. 

These " other little ships" launched forth, doubtless, in order to share the bless- 
edness of His company. Take notice that the consequence of their thus endeavour- 
ing to keep near to Christ, was, that they were speedily called upon to partake the 
dangers of the storm. Fail not, however, also to observe that they were with One 
who had power to still the Wind and the Sea, in His own good time ; and to pro- 
duce a perfect calm. 

So fares it with every one who makes bold ventures of Faith in Christ's service. 
At first, discouragment meets,— and, it may be, danger overtakes him. In his voy- 

(l) See Psalm lxxx. 9 to 11. (m) See the heading of Ezekiel xvii. 

(n) Ezekiel xvii. 23. (o) Daniel iv. 12. 

(p) Isaiah xxv. 4. (q) Ezekiel xvii. 



300 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

age across "the waves of this troublesome world," he is vexed with many storms. 
But " the end of that man is peace."(r) " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, 
whose mind is stayed on Thee."(s) Yea, Christ maketh the very "storm a calm, 
so that the waves thereof are still." (t) 

37 And there arose a great storm of Wind, and the waves beat into 
the ship, so that it was now full. 

Rather, — "was already filling." It is interesting to compare the several accounts 
of this Storm which are found in the three first Gospels. See St. Matthew viii. 23 
to 27 : St. Luke viii. 22 to 25. 

38 And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow : 
and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest Thou not that 
we perish ? 

As if, where the Saviour was, there could be Danger ! As if, in the presence of 
Life itself, there could be Death ! 

"Asleep ;" — " yet was it God Himself, who keepeth over His people a sleepless 
and eternal watch, while He seems to them in His Providence as asleep, and as one 
that heareth not ; though, in reality, He is trying their Faith, and waiting for their 
Prayers." 

39 And He arose, and rebuked the Wind, and said unto the Sea, 
Peace, be still. 

Showing that all Creation is conscious of its Creator. The winds, which drove 
the waves, fell at His rebuke : the waves, before His command, grew calm. He 
even spoke to the Sea, as if it had been a living creature. Consider such remarka- 
ble places as the following, — Ps. xcvi. 11 to 13 ; xcviii. 4, 7 to 9. Isaiah lv. 12. 

St. Luke xix. 40, &c "0 Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto 

Thee ? . . . . Thou rulest the raging of the Sea : when the waves thereof arise, 
Thou stillest them V\u) 

Surely, none who read the account of this miracle can require reminding that the 
Storm, no less than the Calm which followed, was His work. 

And the Wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 

Here, then, was a double miracle : for, after a storm at sea, when the wind ceases, 
there is not " a great calm ;" but, on the contrary, the waves continue to heave and 
swell for hours. Read the notes on the second half of St. Mark i. 31. 

Learn from this, not to distrust the power and providence of God. Men some- 
times are prone to despair ; for they think that were some present grief removed, 
there would still remain this and that disastrous consequence. Shall we not learn 
a different lesson from the stilling of the storm on the Lake ? When He says, 
"Peace, be still," — and the storm hath "ceased," — will there not be "a great 
calm" also ? 

" With such simplicity," in the words of an excellent living writer, " is mention- 
ed a scene beyond what Poet or Painter could portray: in sublime majesty second 
to nothing since the Creation of the World, — save in the calm of one departed 
from the body ; and escaped from the storms of this World to be with Christ in 
peace." 

40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful ? how is it that ye 
have no Faith ? 

"No faith;" — yet did they wake their Lord, — call loudly on Him, — and show 
by their words that they knew that He had power to save them. Such actions, 
therefore, do not prove that a man has Faith : yea, rather, they are consistent with 
an utter want of Faith. 

(r) Ps. xxxvii. 37. (s) Ps. xxvi. 3. 

(t) Ps. cvii. 29. (u) Ps. lxxxix. 8, 9. 



v.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 301 

41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What 
manner of Man is this, that even the Wind and the Sea obey Him ? 

Not that they doubted His Divinity : but they found it impossible, — or they did 
not attempt, — to realize the notion that this was He who " rideth upon the Heavens 
of Heavens;" (a;) "who maketh the clouds His Chariot; who walketh upon the 
wines of the Wind ;"(?/) "who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His 
Hand."(s) 



THE PRAYER. 

Grant, Lord, we beseech Thee, that the course of this World 
may be so peaceably ordered by Thy governance, that Thy Church 
may joyfully serve Thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 



CHAPTER V 



1 Christ delivering the possessed of the legion of devils. 13 They enter into the 
swine. 25 He healeth the woman of the bloody issue. 35 And raiseth from death 
Jarius his daughter. 

1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the coun- 
try of the Gadarenes. 

Escaped from the perils of the storm, the Blessed Company reach the Eastern 
shore of the Sea of Galilee, — where stood the towns of Gergesa(a) and Gadara. 
The latter was the chief City of that part of Palestine, — called Pergea ; and was 
inhabited chiefly by heathens. 

The miracle performed by our Blessed Lord on the Demoniacs of Gadara, is one 
of the most astonishing histories in the Gospels. It contains more hints as to the 
nature of demoniacal possession, than any other narrative of the same class ; but 
it raises our curiosity also proportionably higher ; and suggests a greater number 
of inquiries than usual, without, in a corresponding degree, supplying answers to 
them. 

Thus, we are led to inquire whether, and to what extent, this demoniac retained 
his own proper consciousness ? To what extent was he a free agent ? or, "Was he 
wholly at the mercy of another? By what means, and how far, did the evil Spirits 
know our Saviour, the moment they saw Him, to be the Son of God ? Can it be 
in any way explained how a legion of devils, — two thousand perhaps and upwards, 
— should have taken up their abode in one human temple? Why did they ask the 
favour here mentioned ? And did they foresee what would be the consequence of 

(x) Ps. lxviii. 33. {y) Ps. civ. 3. 

\z) Isaiah xl. 12. (a) See St. Matth. viii. 28. 



302 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

having the favour granted ? Lastly, what effect did the final issue produce upon 
themselves? See below, on verses 6 and 13. 

To inquiries of this class, which the narrative before us suggests, may be added 
others: as, Whether possession was the consequence of sinful indulgence? whether 
the same thing, or only something like it, exists at the present day in Christendom ? 
or in any other part of the world ? and what connection (if any) subsists between 
physical maladies and the agency of evil Spirits ? 

On almost all these points we are profoundly ignorant ; and the sooner, — as well 
as the more plainly this is stated, the better. The Header of a Commentary must 
not expect to find clear light thrown on every branch of a subject where Reason is 
an insufficient guide, — and Revelation has been so nearly silent. In all such mat- 
ters let him be well persuaded that his Guide is almost as much at fault as himself, 
and may be said to know next to nothing. 

2 And when He was come out of the ship, immediately there met 
Him out of the tombs a Man with an unclean Spirit, 

St. Luke, also, speaks in the singular, of " a certain man ;"(b) but St. Matthew 
describes how "there met Him two possessed with devils."(c) The explanation 
commonly given of this diversity is no doubt the true one, — namely, that St. Mark 
and St. Luke confine themselves to the history of the more remarkable demoniac of 
the two. 

3 who had Ms dwelling among the tombs ; and no man could bind 
him, no, not with chains : 

See the note on the last half of St. Matthew viii. 28. The Evangelist proceeds 
to reveal an awful picture : — 

4 because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and 
the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in 
pieces : neither could any man tame him. 

The multitude of spirits which had taken up their abode in this man, may ex- 
plain the wonderful muscular strength here ascribed to him. Compare the terrible 
picture of violence recorded in Acts xix. 16. 

5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the 
tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. 

A picture of suffering and misery, which St. Mark has given more in detail than 
either of the other Evangelists. See the note prefixed to St. Mark i. 

Surely, the tempest of the soul, which our Lord proceeded to appease, was even 
wilder and more terrific than that strife of. the elements which we lately beheld 
submissive to His Word ! 

6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped Him, 

Observe in what marked contrast this verse stands with that which immediately 
follows. The Demoniac "ran" to our Lord, when he saw Him "afar off:" yet, 
not because he rejoiced in the presence of the Mighty Stranger ; for he begins 
"What have I to do with Thee?" &c. Again, he " fell down before llim,"(d) and 
"toorshipped:" yet not in Reverence and Love, but with something between Ter- 
ror and Hate ; as appears from the words of his address. 

Was there any double consciousness here ? Did the wretched Demoniac hasten 
into the presence of Christ, because, even in the depth of his misery, — as a man, 
he felt his need of a Saviour : but, while he was in the very attitude of supplica- 
tion, was it perhaps not so much he, as the Legion, which spake by his lips ? 

7 and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with 
Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure Thee by 
God, that Thou torment me not. 

8 For He said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean Spirit. 

(6) St. Luke viii. 27. (c) St. Matth. viii. 28. (d) St. Luke viii. 28. 



v.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 303 



On this occasion, then, the Enemy obeys not instantly ; but presumes to hold 
parley with his Lord. The command to come out of the man, seems to have been 
given before verse 7 : but it is not obeyed till verse 13. There is a brief wrest- 
ling^) between the Strong Man armed, keeping his palace,(/) and Christ, — the 
Stronger than the Strong. In the course of such encounters, the miserable man 
possessed, often suffered terribly. (g) Consider, in connection with this, St. Mark 
ix. 29, and the narrative which goes before : also, St. Luke iv. 33 to 35. 

9 And He asked him, What is thy name ? And he answered, say- 
ing, My name is Legion : for we are many. 

Not that our Lord needed the information. He knew full well the name and the 
number of His enemies. But by causing this miserable man, — or rather the spirits 
by which he was possessed, — to return the answer recorded in the text, all present 
were made acquainted with the fact ; which, immediately after, obtained confirma- 
tion from the headlong violence of the two thousand swine. Compare the latter 
part of verse 30, and see the note there. 

Another instance of the Temple of the Holt Ghost thus "become the habitation 
of Devils, and the hold of every foul spirit" (A) — invaded, not by one, but by many, 
— is supplied by the history of Mary Magdalene. (i) See also St. Matthew xii. 45. 

On the name, "Legion," (which was the largest division of the Roman Army,) 
see the note on St. Luke viii. 30. 

10 And he besought Him much that He would not send them away 
out of the country. 

So that the miserable spirits love one spot of Earth more than another, and dread 
expulsion from it ! But the thing which this Legion of Devils dreaded most, was, 
lest our Lord (in whom they recognized their Judge,) should cast them at once into 
the pit of Hell which is prepared for them. See St. Luke viii. 31, and the note 
there. 

Observe here the perplexing change from the singular to the plural number. 
"My name," — "for we are," in verse 9. And, in this verse, — "Ite besought Him, 
that He would not send them." Presently, it is, " cdl the Devils," — "send us," — 
"that we may enter," &c: whereas at first, (verse 7,) it was, — "What have I to 
do," — "/adjure Thee," — " torment me not," &c Shall we ascribe this lan- 
guage, sometimes to the Demoniac, and sometimes to the Legion within him ? Or 
did the change of person arise, as the unclean Spirits spoke by turns in the Demo- 
niac's person and in their own ? See above, on verse 1. 

11, 12 Now there was there, nigh unto the mountains, a great herd 
of swine feeding. And all the Devils besought Him, saying, Send us 
into the swine, that we may enter into them. 

Notice, then, the limited power of the Devils. They can only enter in, where 
God gives them leave. " But if they have no power over swine," (as a great Father 
has remarked,) "the evil Spirits have much less against men, — who are made after 
the image of God." Compare Job i. 12, and ii. 6. 

Consider also their foul nature, which could desire such an habitation as this. 
Till now, they had dwelt amid corruption and death ; for the tombs had been the 
place of their abode. See the note on the last half of St. Matthew viii. 28. Since 
this might no longer be, and they might no longer mar a human form, they covet 
the bodies of the swine (7c) for their habitation. Well might the devils be so often 
spoken of in the Gospels as Unclean! (I) 

13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean Spirits 
went out, and entered into the swine : and the herd ran violently down 

f e) Consider the language of Genesis xxxii. 24, and Ephes. vi. 12. 

(/) St. Luke xi. 21. (g) See St. Mark ix. 20 and 26. Compare St. Luke iv. 35. 

(h) Rev. xviii. 2. (i) St. Luke viii. 2. 

(fc) Concerning the swine, see Levit. xi. 7, 8, compared with Deut. xiv. 8. Also Is. lxvi. 17. 
(0 St. Matthew x. 1. St. Mark i. 27: hi. 11: vi. 7. St. Luke iv. 33, 36. Acts v. 16, viii. 
7, &c. 



304 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand ;) and were 
choked in the sea. 

By which we are reminded that it is not always a mark of love to grant a peti- 
tion. Our Saviour complied with the request of those evil Spirits in His wrath. 
See the note on St. Matthew vii. 8. 

Or, was this favour asked by the Devils with deliberate purpose and design to 
inflict one last severe injury upon the inhabitants of the region which they had 
been molesting with their presence so long ; and from which they foresaw that the 
hour of their expulsion had arrived? If such were their object, they certainly 
succeeded in it ; not only by causing the destruction of the herd, but by exciting 
thereby in "the whole city" a dislike and dread of the sacred person of our Sa- 
viour. In speculations like these, however, our curiosity finds a limit on every 
side. We know little or nothing of the nature and state of evil Spirits : nor of the 
extent of their knowledge : nor what the effect on them must have been, when the 
herd of swine which contained them, "were choked in the sea." 

It is sometimes pointed out that this was the only miracle ever wrought by our 
Lord which was productive of an injurious result — or words to that effect. Others 
have remarked that the cursing of the fig-tree was another event of the same class. 
As if man were a proper judge of such matters ! or, as if enough were known of 
such particular transaction to warrant us in making any judicial remarks concern- 
ing it ! We might, with equal reason, apply words of censure to any Divine Visita- 
tion on cattle or on the trees of the forest, — the reason of which we know not, and 
cannot know. 

14, 15 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and 
in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. 
And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the Devil, 
and had the Legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind : and 
they were afraid. 

" Sitting" — " at the feet of Jesus," as St. Luke relates. (m) And " clothed," — 
because, before, as St. Luke informs us, (viii. 27,) the wretched man " ware no 
clothes" See the note on St. Luke viii. 35. 

16, 17 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was 
possessed with the Devil, and also concerning the swine. And they 
began to pray Him to depart out of their coasts. 

miserable men ! to have thus driven away from themselves their very chiefest 
good. They "pray Him to depart:" "that is, they beseech Life and Blessedness 
to go from them. And what does a sinner, when he turns out and rejects motions 
and inspirations of holiness, lest his lusts and pleasures of Sin should be lost, but 
dismiss Jesus, lest the swine should be drowned ?" 

18 And when He was come into the ship, he that had been possessed 
with the Devil prayed Him that He might be with Him. 

He desired to be with his Benefactor ; whether from a sense of gratitude and 
love, which made him feel that to follow our Lord's footsteps must henceforth be 
his greatest joy : or from dread lest, during our Lord's absence, his many enemies 
should return ; — a thing which we know was possible. See St. Mark ix. 25, and 
St. Matthew xii. 44, 45. 

19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to 
thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, 
and hath had compassion on thee. 

This reply is very remarkable, and conveys a great lesson. The wish of the 
healed Demoniac was natural ; but God had other purposes for him. Our Saviour 
told the man, in effect, how he might best serve him, — how advance, most effec- 
tually, the cause of the Gospel. This was not to be achieved, as the other supposed, 

(m) St. Luke viii. 35. 



v.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 305 



"by entering the ship with his Benefactor; but by remaining where he was, — re- 
turning to his own home, — and relating to his friends the history of his past misery 
and present blessedness ; as well as the means whereby the transition had been 
effected. " Come and hear all ye that fear God ; and I will declare what He hath 
done for my soul."(w) Henceforth, he was to become a living witness, as well as 
monument of the Mercy and the Power of the Redeemer. The Reader is referred 
to the note on St. Luke viii. 39. 

Contrast this command, with that in St. Matth. viii. 4, and see the note there. 

The Gadarenes, who might have had Christ for their Teacher, — see ver. 17, and 
note there, — must henceforth learn the truth, as they may, from the history of this 
man's experience. 

20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis 
See the last note on St. Matthew iv. 

how great things Jesus had done for him : and all men did marvel. 

Every word of Scripture is full of teaching; — "is profitable for Doctrine, for 
Reproof, for Correction, for Instruction in Righteousness."(o) Take notice that 
this Demoniac made the very use of his recovered powers which was intended by 
his restoration. — A similar example is supplied by Simon's wife's Mother : see the 
second note on St. Luke iv. 39. — " Make me a clean heart, God," says the 
Psalmist, " and renew a right spirit within me. ... give me the comfort of Thy 
help again, and stablish me with Thy free Spirit : — then shall I teach thy ways unto 
the wicked, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee?\p) He describes the use 
which he proposed to make of his recovered powers. — And it is in this manner 
that God's saints always act. See the note on St. Luke i. 67. 

We are next invited to consider two events of quite a different class, — a miracle 
within a miracle. 

21 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other 
side, much people gathered unto Him : and He was nigh unto the sea. 

Rather, — the people were standing nigh, (that is, along side of,) the sea: for our 
Saviour had now reached the western side of the lake, — the neighbourhood, it may 
be supposed, of Capernaum. 

22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, 
Jairus by name ; and when he saw Him, he fell at His feet, 

The names of the persons who were objects of our Saviour's mercy, are very 
seldom given in Scripture : but the name of Jairus may have been recorded for the 
sake of the Jews, — as a witness to the truth of this miracle. Observe, too, how 
effectually the present narrative must have closed the mouth of the nation — wrought, 
as it was, on the Daughter of a Ruler of the Synagogue I 

Prom St. Luke xiii. 14, and Acts xviii. 8 and 17, it might be thought that every 
synagogue had a single ruler : but from this place, and Acts xiii. 15, it would ap- 
pear that some had several. It may be that one presided. The scene of the pre- 
sent incident was probably Capernaum ; in which case, Jairus was, in all like- 
lihood, one of those very " Elders of the Jews"(g) whom the Centurion sent to our 
Saviour ; and who, in their address, made distinct mention of their synagogue. 
May pot this man have learned to believe in Christ from the experience of that 
occasion ? 

23 and besought Him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at 
the point of death : I pray Thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that 
she may be healed ; and she shall live. 

" For," as St. Luke informs us,(r) " he had one only daughter, about twelve 
years^ of age, and she lay a dying." 

This man's request resembled that of the nobleman of Capernaum : St. John iv. 

(») Ps. lxvi. 16. (o) 2 Tim. in. 16. (i>) Ps. li. 10, 11, 13. 

(q) St. Luke vii. 3. (r) St. Luke viii. 42. 

20 



306 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

47 and 49. He had not attained to a faith like that of the Centurion. See St. 
Matthew viii. 8. 

24 And JESUS went with him ; and much people followed him, and 
thronged Him. 

Mark the condescension which he therein displayed. He could have healed the 
ruler's daughter with a word : but He meekly submitted himself to the measure of 
the man's faith, — and walked, while the multitude thronged Him and pressed 
Him, (s) by the father's side ; keeping pace with his bodily, as with his spiritual 
ability to advance. See the end of the note on St. Matthew viii. 2. 

It is likely that the great delay which was thus produced served a high purpose. 
The child, which the father had left dying, was by this time dead. See verse 35. 
Compare the statement in St. John xi. 6, — When Jesus had heard that Lazarus 
was sick, " He abode two days still in the same place where he was. Then, after 
that, He saith to his disciples, Let us go into Judgea." — "We shall do well, from these 
instances, to cherish the belief, that what often seems to be an untoward accident, 
is in reality a master-piece of Divine contrivance ; God's mysterious handiwork, 
whereby he designs our truest good. The reader is referred to the note on St. Luke 
v. 17 ; and to the second note on St. Mark v. 24 and 35. 

25 And a certain Woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, 

Whose infirmity, therefore, dated as far back as the life of the child whom the 
Great Physician was going to restore. But, when the child expired, the afflicted 
woman became restored to perfect health ; and this coincidence supplies an analogy 
which did not escape the notice of the writers alluded to in the notes on the two 
next verses. 

26 and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent 
all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, 

And no wonder, for the remedies prescribed for such a malady by the Jewish 
physicians were exceedingly tedious and painful. 

It will be seen in the course of the next note, that this poor sufferer has been 
thought to be an emblem of the Gentile world. "As she had spent all her living 
upon physicians," says a famous Bishop of the West, " so the Gentile nations had 
lost all the gifts of .Nature." It may not, certainly, escape our observation that 
her condition resembled that of the Younger Son in the Parable, — in whose person 
the case of the Gentiles is certainly set forth. Like him, she had " spent all" — as 
it is said of the poor Prodigal in St. Luke xv. 14: like him, she was unclean :(t) 
like him, she determined at last to arise and go to her father. In the blessed re- 
ception which she met with, she resembled the Prodigal no less. 

27 when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and 
touched his garment. 

There was, doubtless, great humility in this ; but there may have been another 
reason for the course she pursued. She was unclean — see Leviticus xv. 25 to 27 ; 
and may not have dared to come openly to Christ. 

We shall do well to connect this instance of our Lord's condescension with that 
recorded in St. Mark i. 41 — where see the note. 

The ancients saw allegory and mystery in every part of the Gospel. Very often, 
we follow them in their interprations confidently — as when they declare the alle- 
gorical teaching of the two miraculous draughts of fishes ; for there the Church has 
spoken with almost one voice. Elsewhere, we listen indeed to our Fathers in the 
Faith with attention ; but we follow them doubtingly, or not at all. 

In this place, for instance, we will but mention it as a beautiful suggestion, that 
the uncleanness and defilement of Human Nature is set forth, in emblem, by the 
woman with an issue of blood. "It could not be cured by many Physicians,(w) — 
that is, by the Wise men of this World ; and the Law, and the Prophets." Nay, 
the disease of our Nature had grown worse. "But the moment it touched the hem 

(s) St. Luke viii. 45. (t) See the note on St. Luke xv. 15. 

(«) Compare Jeremiah vi. 14 (and viii. 11) xxx. 12. Micah i. 9, &c. 



v.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 307 



of Christ's Garment, (that is, His flesh,) it was healed. For whosoever believes 
the Son of God to be Incarnate," (says this writer,) "touches the hem of His Gar- 
ment." — Compare the note on St. Luke viii. 44. 

Writers of this class bid us also remark that as our Saviour, when He came on 
Earth, was sent to the Jews, — so is He here found directing His footsteps to the 
House of the Ruler of the Synagogue. But, (they observe,) the Gentiles thronged 
and pressed upon Him, and snatched a blessing from Him by the way, — the violent, 
as it were, taking the Kingdom of Heaven by force. Compare the note on ver. 26. 

Such thoughts cannot be rejected as absurd. None can pretend to say that they 
are puerile; or venture to affirm that they are utterly without foundation. But 
when they proceed from single writers, and are not supported by the analogy of 
our Lord's recorded sayings,(x) the very insecure basis on which they stand, may 
never be lost sight of. It is safer, therefore, on the whole, to regard them with in- 
dulgent distrust; and to set them down as probably the lovely offspring of a warm 
imagination, and a pious spirit; lest, in an evil hour, we become blinded by a meta- 
phor, and get cheated of our Birth-right, in the dark. 

28 For she said, If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole. 

Observe that she touched Him first with her mind, — then, with her body. 

Notice also the union of Great Humility, and perfect Faith, — as in the good Cen- 
turion. See the note on St. Matthew viii. 8. She came behind Him; — she said, If 
I may but touch His clothes. 

If we were to pursue the train of thought suggested in the last note, it would be 
obvious to remark that a finger laid on our Lord's outer Garment, represents aptly 
enough the amount of knowledge with which Gentile Believers drew near to the 
Incarnate Jehovah in the days of His Humiliation. 

29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up : and she 
felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. 

"Straightway," — or, as St. Luke says,(y) "Immediately;" so prompt are gener- 
ally the answers to prayer : and what was this poor sufferer's deed, but a Prayer 
put into action? See the note on St. Matthew vii. 7. 

Mark the contrast between the faith of this poor woman, and that of the Ruler of 
the Synagogue. (How often do the humblest become our teachers !) The one was 
drawing our Saviour's footsteps painfully to his House; trembling lest His child's 
death should first occur, and render his application useless. The other, — blind 
indeed, yet better taught, — laid her finger unseen, on the border of the Saviour's 
Garment, and was made whole ! 

30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue had gone 
out of Him, 

For so He Himself declared: — " Somebody," He said, "hath touched Me: for I 
perceive that virtue is gone out of J\fe."(z) 

Not of course, that we are to suppose that healing power, or virtue, had flowed 
forth from the Saviour's Person without His perfect will and consent, — or rather, 
without His express decree. See the next note. 

turned Him about in the press, and said, Who touched My clothes ? 

This, He by no means said as needing the information. Be very sure of that. 
His own hands had sown the seed of Faith in her heart. Himself had watched its 
gradual growth ; and poured upon it day by day, the continual dew of His blessing. 
He had permitted the repeated failures of the Physicians to whom she had applied; 
and witnessed, at last, her resolution to make trial of Him. He had beheld her 
timid approach, and heard the words of her voiceless Confession. " There was not 
a word in her tongue, but Thou, Lord, didst know it altogether." "Thou under- 
stoodest her thoughts afar off."(a) See the note on St. Luke viii. 45. 

(x) The parable of the Draw-net cast into the sea, for example, in St. Matthew xiii. 47 to 50, 
furnishes an obvious clue to the miracles described in St. Luke v. 1 to 10, and St, John xxi. 3 
to 11. (y) St. Luke viii. 44. 

(z) St. Luke viii. 46. (a) Ps. cxxxix. 2, 4. 



308 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

"Why, then, did our Saviour ask the question here recorded? It was in order to 
bring the woman forward, and cause that all assembled should hear the History of 
her affliction, — her faith, and her recovery. Observe how St. Luke describes the 
result of our Lord's demand: adding what St. Mark says below, in ver. 33, that 
" she declared before all the people for what cause she had touched Him: and how 
she was healed immediately."^) See the note on ver. 32. 

Compare the inquiry in verse 9; and see the note there. 

31 And His Disciples said unto Him, Thou seest the multitude 
thronging Thee, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me ? 

St. Peter appears to have been the chief speaker on this occasion. See St. Luke 
viii. 45. 

Here, then, is set before us a mighty example, and a powerful warning. A mul- 
titude of persons throng, and press upon the Saviour. One person only touches 
Him. How was this? It was because only one person out of that great multitude 
gave Him a particular kind of Touch. The Touch of Faith was reserved for one. 
And take notice, that while the thronging and pressing was of no avail, the Touch 
of Faith drew healing virtue out of the very robes of Christ. 

We may not fail to notice that this place of Scripture stands not only for our 
warning ; but for our example and encouragement likewise. A touch like that of 
the afflicted Woman may be ours, at the present day, in our approaches to Christ ; 
and (what is remarkable,) in a sense far higher than that was permitted to her. 
We have the sure warrant of our Saviour Christ for this. "Touch Me not," He 
said to Mary Magdalen in the Garden, when (doubtless) with outstretched arms she 
would have embraced His knees; — " Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to 
My Father.' 7 (c) That is, — the reason why Mary might not touch Him was because 
He had not yet ascended. Touch Me, — He therefore says to us ; for now I am 
ascended! 

The thronging of the senseless crowd becomes therefore our warning; as the 
touch of the afflicted woman becomes our example. And this is a thought for the 
Sanctuary, where Christ is in the midst, — according to His gracious promise :(d) 
yet, while many carnal natures there press and throng Him, how few reach out the 
hand of their Heart; feel after, — and by Faith, find Him! 

Consider again the nature of our approaches to Christ in the Lord's Supper. 
" The Wicked, and such as be void of a lively Faith, although they do carnally and 
visibly press with their teeth the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, yet 
in no wise are they partakers of Christ." So speaks the Church, in her XXXIXth 
Article. And, in the XXVIIIth, it is well said, — " The Body of Christ is given, 
taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And 
the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten is — Faith." * 

Take notice, lastly, that this " touch" is in the power of all. See St. Luke vi. 19. 

32 And He looked round about to see her that had done this thing. 

These words are peculiar to the present Gospel. See the first note on St. Marki. 

The History may well create surprise, when it is remembered how often our Lord 
enjoined silence on the objects of His Mercy : for here was a miracle, by Him made 
public and notorious, which might have escaped observation altogether, had it 
pleased Him not to divulge it. Some reasons of the course He pursued suggest 
themselves, which it is only becoming in such as we are, to notice and enumerate. 
Thus, (lstly) our Saviour designed the blessedness of the poor woman herself, by 
this inquiry ; for a mere bodily cure so obtained, and as it were secretly carried 
away, would have been a small gain. Nay, it might easily have proved no advan- 
tage to her at all : whereas the Great Physician showed that He had a medicine for 
her soul as well as for her body. (2ndly,) A defect even in her mighty Faith was cor- 
rected ; for she supposed that she could obtain a cure at the hands of such an One, 
and yet remain hid. (3rdly) Here was a display of miraculous knowledge no less 
than of miraculous power, — which it was fit should not be concealed. (4thly,) By 
the entire History, men are taught a great lesson of earnestness, faith, and reality 

(b) St. Luke viii. 47. (e) St. John xx. 17. 

(d) St. Matthew xviii. 20 : with which compare the prayer of St. Chrysostom at the end of 
our daily Service. 



v.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 309 



in their approaches to Christ. And lastly, it has been thought by pious writers 
that our Merciful Lord wished to spare this poor Woman the pang of conscience 
which a stolen cure might have occasioned her. He therefore calls her " Daugh- 
ter/' in the end, ("for Faith claims the grace of Adoption ;") confirms the cure He 
had already wrought upon her ; and dismisses her with words of comfort. 

33 But the Woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done 
in her, came and fell down before Him, and told Him all the truth. 

She may be presumed to have stated all the particulars which are found contained 
above, in verses 25, 26, 27, 28, 29. Compare St. Luke viii. 47. And this confes- 
sion, it will be observed, was made "before all the people." (e) 

34 And He said unto her, Daughter, thy Faith hath made thee whole ; 
go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. 

" Thy Faith hath made thee whole." Our Lord says not, The hem of My gar- 
ment. Nay the soldiers divided His garments among them, ye inherited no 
blessing ! Her Faith had made her whole ; and why ? because it had brought her 
to Christ. 

Compare St. Luke vii. 50. See also, St. Matthew viii. 13 : ix. 29. 

35 While He yet spake, there came from the Ruler of the Syna- 
gogue's house certain which said, Thy Daughter is dead : why troublest 
thou the Master any further ? 

For, by this time, a long interval had elapsed. The Father had gone in quest of 
our Saviour, — rehearsed his need, — and was bringing those blessed footsteps, slow- 
ly and painfully, (because attended by a mighty crowd,) in the direction of his own 
dwelling. See the end of the note on ver. 24. In the meantime, a considerable 
incident had occurred. 

Consider what a heavy trial of the Father's Faith our Lord's delay must have 
been ! Such a message as Jairus now heard, was the thing he dreaded most : for 
how little can he have suspected the Love which was wrapping him round, all the 
while ; the Almighty Wisdom which had planned this vexatious delay, — not in 
order to distress him ; but, in order to procure for him thereby a more exceeding 
amount of blessedness ! . . . . See the note on verse 24; and observe what follows: 

36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He saith unto 
the Ruler of the Synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. 

The Saviour stretches out His arm to sustain the sinking faith of the Father the 
instant the words of grief were spoken, — as when St. Peter's faith failed him, on the 
water. (/) He could work no miracle where there was unbelief, as we are express- 
ly told in another place : St. Mark vi. 5. 

" Be not afraid, — only believe." That is the one condition necessary; but " with- 
out Faith," as "it is impossible to please Him,"(<7) so it is impossible to obtain a 
blessing from Him, either. 

Our Blessed Lord added the promise, — "she shall be made whole :"{h) and the 
Father believed that it would be. as the Great Physician promised. Surely, the 
miracle which he witnessed by the way, was a mighty argument ; a timely, and a 
most powerful, confirmation of his Faith ! 

37 And He suffered no man to follow Him, save Peter, and James, 
and John the brother of James. 

That is, Christ suffered no one of His Disciples to enter the House, but these 
three. We shall find that, into the Chamber of Death, "the Father and the Mother 
of the Damsel" were besides permitted to enter. See ver. 40. 

How highly favoured were the three Disciples here named ! It was they who 
witnessed the Transfiguration of Christ :(i) with Andrew, on the Mount of Olives, 
they heard our Lord deliver His wondrous Prophecy concerning the destruction of 

(e) St. Luke viii. 47. (/) St. Matth. xiv. 31. (g) Hebrews xi. 6. 

(h) St. Luke viii. 50. (i) St. Matth. xxvii. 1. 



310 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Jerusalem, and the end of the World :(k) and it was they who were chosen to watch 
with Him during the hour of His mysterious Agony in the Garden. {I) 

Take notice that it was only on these three Apostles that our Lord bestowed sur- 
names. See St. John i. 42. St. Matthew xvi. 18. Also, St. Mark iii. 16 and 17 : 
on which two places see the notes. 

38 And He cometh to the house of the Ruler of the Synagogue, and 
seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. 

These were the hired mourners, — chiefly females, whose business it was to make 
loud lamentations at funerals. There were also "minstrels" present, who were 
hired to deepen the expression of sorrow. See the note on St. Matthew ix. 23. 

There are many allusions to this ancient Jewish custom in the Old Testament. 
See 2 Chronicles xxxv. 25 : Jeremiah ix. 17, 18 ; and Amos v. 16. — The poorest 
Israelite, in the time of our Lord, lamented his deceased wife with two pipers and 
one mourning woman. A Ruler of the Synagogue, — bereaved of his only child, — 
may well have been prodigal in the expression of his grief! 

39 And when He was come in, He saith unto them, Why make ye 
this ado, and weep ? the Damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. 

And so He spoke, when He was about to raise Lazarus from the grave where he 
had been four days lying: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may 
awaken him out of sleep." (m) "Howbeit, Jesus spake of his death;" and it was 
the sleep of Death of which He spake, on both occasions, (n) On this, — Mercy may 
have dictated the choice of language which, by its ambiguity, served both to sus- 
tain the drooping Faith of the parents, and to shelter the unbelief of the noisy as- 
sembly. 

We gather from all this, that to the mind of Christ, dead men are but sleepers, 
waiting "until the Day dawn, and the Day-star arise."(o) In this word, therefore, 
is contained the Doctrine of the Resurrection ; and it is not peculiar to the Gospel, 
but is of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament Scriptures also : See Deut. xxxi. 
16. Job vii. 21. 1 Kings i. 21 : ii. 10. (Acts xiii. 36.) Psalm iii. 5, and iv. 8 : 
also xiii. 3. Jeremiah li. 39, 57. Daniel xii. 2, &c. 

40 And they laughed Him to scorn. 

"Knowing that she was dead/' — as St. Luke(jo) relates. And thus their very 
unbelief turns to God's Glory; for the greatness of the Miracle which followed, was 
thereby established. 

But when He had put them all out, He taketh the Father and the 
Mother of the Damsel, and them that were with Him, 

Namely, Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee. See ver. 37. So that there were 
seven in the Chamber of Death. If three only of the Apostolic body were able to 
witness the spectacle which was to follow, — how could the presence of the scorners 
be endured ? The persons whom our Lord put out cannot have been in a fit tem- 
per of mind to witness so exceedingly solemn a transaction. 

and entereth in where the Damsel was lying. 

Thither, it is not hard in thought to follow them. The shrill clamour had been 
suddenly silenced, and the mourners put forth from the dwelling ; all was silent as 
the Maiden whose Spirit had so lately left her, and beside whose funeral bier stood 
the wondering, weeping Parents. Three holy men were the chosen witnesses of 
what followed, when the Lord of Life took that unconscious hand in His ; and spoke 
the two prevailing words which called the wondering Spirit back to its frail tene- 
ment. 

41 And He took the Damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha 
cumi ; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, (I say unto thee,) arise. 



(k) St. Mark xiii. 3. (I) St. Matth. xxvi. 37. 

(m) St. John xi. 11. (n) St. Luke viii. 53, ai 

(o) 2 St. Peter i. 19. {p) St. Luke viii. 53. 



v.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 311 

Observe, St. Mark alone records the very words of Syriac which our Lord em- 
ployed on this occasion. So, it is he who preserves the very word with which our 
Saviour opened the eyes of the blind man, — Ephphatha.(q) See the first note on 
St. Mark i. 

It was with just such a summons that the Widow of Nam's son was raised from 
death. See St. Luke vii. 14. 

42 And straightway the Damsel arose, and walked ; for she was of 
the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great aston- 
ishment. 

"Her Spirit came again," as St. Luke relates. (r) Whereupon, she not only 
"arose," observe, but "walked" also. Moreover, she required meat : see the next 
verse. Here, then, was a double miracle ; as was explained in the note on the lat- 
ter part of St. Marki. 31. 

43 And He charged them straitly that no man should know it ; and 
commanded that something should be given her to eat. 

See what has been already said on the subject of this command in the notes on 
St. Mark i. 44, 45, and St. Matthew ix. 30, 31. See also the first note on St. Matth. 
viii. 4. 

The charge here spoken of, was delivered to the parents, — as we learn from St. 
Luke viii. 56. 

Consider the following texts, — St. Luke xxiv. 41. St. John xii. 1, 2: xxi. 5. 
Acts x. 41. 

And here, a veil is drawn over the sacred narrative ; and we may but meditate 
on the gratitude and joy which followed. Perhaps our Lord foresaw that it would 
be so excessive as even to endanger the boon which He had bestowed. But what- 
ever the motive of this last minute injunction may have been, His command that 
something should be given the maiden to eat, will be felt to constitute a most affect- 
ing circumstance. It proves that nothing is little in the sight of God. At one in- 
stant, His voice recalls a departed Spirit ; at the very next, it is employed to provide 
for the cravings of a child ! 

The Eeader will find it repay his labour to refer to the following texts : — Isaiah 
xl. 11, 12 : lxvi. 1, 2. Psalm lxviii. 4, 5 : cxiii. 4, 5, 6 : cxlv. 13, 14 : cxlvii. 3, 4, 
and 5, 6. 

(q) St. Mark vii. 34. (r) St. Luke viii. 55. 



THE PRAYER. 

God, merciful Father, that despisest not the sighing of a contrite 
heart, nor the desire of such as be sorrowful ; mercifully assist our 
prayers that we make before Thee in all our troubles and adversities, 
whensoever they oppress us ; and graciously hear us, that those evils, 
which the craft and subtilty of the Devil or man worketh against us, be 
brought to nought ; and by the Providence of Thy Goodness they may 
be dispersed ; that we Thy servants, being hurt by no persecutions, 
may evermore give thanks unto Thee in Thy holy Church ; through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 



312 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER VI 



1 Christ is contemned of His countrymen. 7 lie giveth the Twelve 'power over un- 
clean spirits. 14 Divers opinions of Christ. 27 John Baptist is beheaded, 29 
and buried. 30 The Apostles return from preaching. 34 The miracle of five 
loaves and two fishes. 48 Christ ivalketh on the sea : 53 and healeth all that 
touch Him. 

1 And He went out from thence, and came into His own country; 
and His Disciples follow Him. 

But why did our Lord thus leave Capernaum for Nazareth? It was, doubtless, 
to escape the importunity of the people. Some of His mighty acts had got abroad 
at this very juncture ; and the celebrity which they immediately acquired was such 
as to render His continuance in the city impossible. The ensuing narrative cor- 
responds with that in St. Matthew xiii. 54 to 58 : where the notes may be also 
consulted. 

2 And when the Sabbath day was come, He began to teach in the 
Synagogue : and many hearing Him were astonished, saying, From 
whence hath this Man these things ? and what wisdom is this which is 
given unto Him, that even such mighty works are wrought by His 
hands ? 

"What Wisdom \" — and " Such mighty Works !" We are left to infer how un- 
earthly the Wisdom, — how marvellous the Works must have been, from the wonder 
which they produced. Nothing whatever is revealed to us concerning either. Take 
notice, however, (for we should not let such things escape us,) that we have here 
another of the many traces that this was He of whom the Prophet exclaimed, — 
" Thou art fairer than the children of men : full of Grace are Thy lips !"(a) In 
the same synagogue, once before, all " bare him witness, and wondered at the 
gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.-" (6) "Never man spake like 
this man," was the confession of his Enemies, (c) See the last note on St. Mat- 
thew vii. 

3 Is not this the Carpenter, the Son of Mary, the Brother of James, 
and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon ? and are not his Sisters here with 
us ? And they were offended at Him. 

" The Carpenter !" Yea, — who hath builded His House, and hewn out his seven 
pillars \(d) who hath builded his stories in the Heaven, (e) and laid the beams of 
his chambers in the Waters 1(f) who set a compass upon the face of the depth :(g 
who laid the measures of the Earth, and stretched the line upon it, and fastene< 
the foundations, and laid the corner-stone thereof; when the Morning-Stars sang 
together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy 1(h) The Lord, the God of Hosts, 
is His Name.(i) 

Save in this one place, our Saviour is nowhere Himself called " the Carpenter." 
Joseph was, probably, by this time dead. Concerning " the Brethren" of Christ, 
(James and Joses, Juda and Simon,) and the " Sisters," whose names are nowhere 

(«} Psalm xlv. 3. (b) St. Luke iv. 22. (c) St. John vii. 46. 

(d) Prov. ix. 1. (e) Amos ix. 6. (f) Psalm civ. 3. 

(g) Prov. viii. 27. (h) Job xxxviii. 5 to 7. (i) Amos iv. 13. 



VI.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 313 



recorded, but who were all our Lord's cousins, — enough has been already written 
in the notes on St. Matthew xiii. 55, and on St. Mark iii. 31. The note on St. Mat- 
thew xii. 47 may be also consulted. 

In explanation of the last words of the preceding verse, see the note on St. Mat- 
thew xi. 6. 

4 But Jesus said unto them, A Prophet is not without honour, but 
in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 

Perhaps it was in order to remind them of their former mistaken treatment of 
Him, that he now repeats to them almost the same proverb which he had once be- 
fore used, and from the same place."(&) And Human Unbelief is mighty enough 
to thrust away — or rather, to disable — Divine Love: for, as it follows, — 

5 And He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid His 
hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 

St. Matthew says that " He did not many mighty works ;"(Z) and St. Mark, in 
his concluding words, allows that He did some. Compare, also, the language of 
ver. 2. But take notice that He could not do as many as He would have done, be- 
cause of the unbelief of the people. . . . How awful is the thought that we have 
in our hands the means of frustrating God's most gracious designs towards our- 
selves ! That ohms depends the limits of His power ! .... " How often would 
I ! . . . and ye would not!"(m) — said He of the inhabitants of the Holy City. — 
" Fear not : believe only \"{n) was His injunction to the father and mother of the 
dead maiden: for, had the parents doubted, He could have done for them no 
mighty work. "If thou canst do anything," exclaimed the father of the lunatic 
child, "have compassion on us, and help us!" — "If thou canst believe,'" was the 
reply, "all things are possible !"(o) .... It hath ever been: it will ever be so ! 

Very striking are the words which follow; reminding us that He was " very 
Man :" 

6 And He marvelled because of their unbelief. 

With how brief a notice does the Evangelist proceed to dispatch a Great Minis- 
terial Journey ! 

And He went round about the villages, teaching. 

A long interval of time must here be supposed to have elapsed. We next behold 
the Saviour directing his apostles to go forth for the first time alone, (that is, with- 
out Him,) and to make personal proof of their Ministry. 

7 And He called unto Him the Twelve, and began to send them 
forth by two and two ; and gave them power over unclean spirits : 

St. Mark is the only Evangelist who mentions that He sent them forth " by two 
and two " The circumstance will be found to be full of surprise and instruction, 
when it is considered that the very occasion of the Mission of the Apostles here 
recorded, was the plenteousness of the Harvest, — the mighty extent of the Flock 
without a Shepherd among whom they were to be sent. The Harvest, truly, was 
plenteous ; yea, and the labourers were few:(_p) yet was the Lord of the Harvest 
pleased, when he sent forth his scanty band of labourers, to send them forth in 
pairs. 

" Two are better than one," saith the Preacher, " because they have a good re- 
ward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow : but woe to 
him that is alone when he falleth ; for he hath not another to help him up."(g) 
Moreover, it had been proclaimed from the beginning, that "it is not good that 
Man should be alone."(V) This, therefore, " was ordained for the mutual society, 
help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and 
adversity," — as is said in the Marriage-service. 

(jfe) St. Luke iv. 24. U) St. Matth. xiii. 58. (m) St. Matthew xxiii. 37. 

(n) St. Luke viii. 50. (o) St. Mark ix. 22, 23. ( p) St. Matthew ix. 36 to 38. 

(q) Ecclesiastes iv. 9, 10. See also verses 11 and 12. (r) Genesis ii. 18. 



314 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

What follows is a brief summary of the Charge which their Lord proceeded to 
deliver to them on this occasion : more fully given, and at far greater length, in St. 
Matthew's Gospel, — chap. x. 5 to 42. He gave His Apostles " power over unclean 
spirits," — 

8, 9 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their 
journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: 
but he shod with sandals; and not put on two coats. 

10, 11 And He said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into 
an house, there abide till ye depart from that place. And whosoever 
shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off 
the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say 
unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the 
Day of Judgment, than for that city. 

The Header is referred to what has been already briefly offered on this subject 
in the notes on St. Matthew x. 9 to 15. None can doubt that the reason of the in- 
junctions which both the Twelve Apostles and the Seventy Disciples (s) received 
from their Lord was, in part, what appears on the surface : namely, that they 
might be thereby persuaded to cast their care upon God, — and that the unearthli- 
ness of their errand might thereby become the more apparent to all — and that they 
might the more effectually preach to others self-denial and contempt of riches, by 
showing their own utter disregard of the common comforts of life. And yet, over 
and above all this, there was certainly a far deeper teaching conveyed ; as will be 
also found hinted in the notes on St. Matthew x. 10, and St. Luke x. 4. Again, 
(as the great Father of the West has observed,) " Whosoever thinks that the Lord 
could not in the same discourse say some things figuratively, others in a literal 
sense, let him look into His other discourses ; and he will see how rash and igno- 
rant is his judgment." 

12, 13 And they went out, and preached that men should repent. 
And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were 
sick, and healed them. 

St. Mark alone it is who mentions the circumstance that anointing with oil was 
the method whereby the healing of the sick was effected by the Apostles : for this, 
our Lord is not found to have given any express order ; but it was doubtless con- 
sidered to have been fully implied by His general direction that they should " heal 
the sick."(tf) The same form of cure was prescribed, about thirty years later, by 
St. James, in his General Epistle, (u) 

And now, the Apostles having gone forth on their holy errand, their Divine Mas- 
ter took His Third Great Ministerial Journey, alone, — as St. Matthew specially 
relates :(x) from every village therefore which He blessed with His presence, some 
tale of wonder, (the only tales whose marvellousness could not be enhanced by de- 
scription!) some token of powers more than human, must have daily found its way 
to the ears of Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch, (or " King," as St. Mark calls him,) 
of Galilee. As it follows : 

14 And king Herod heard of Him; (for His name was spread 
abroad :) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, 
and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. 

This was a marvellous suspicion for Herod to have been surprised into, — himself, 
by profession, a Sadducee ;(y) and therefore a disbeliever in the Resurrection of the 
Body, and in spiritual natures. This has been also pointed out in the note on St. 
Matthew xiv. 2. See how Herod repeats his conviction, lower down, in verse 16. 

15, 16 Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a 
prophet, or as one of the prophets. But when Herod heard thereof, he 
said, It is John, whom I beheaded : he is risen from the dead. 

(s) St. Luke x. (t") St. Matthew x. 8. (m) St. James v. 14. 

(x) St. Matthew xi. 1. (y) Compare St. Matth. xvi. 6, with St. Mark viii. 15. 



VI.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 315 

St. Mark proceeds, and with far greater fullness than St. Matthew, (2) to relate 
the circumstances of the Baptist's murder. 

17, 18 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, 
and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife : 
for he had married her. For John had said unto Herod, It is not law- 
ful for thee to have thy brother's wife. 

The History here goes back, two full years ; during which the Baptist has been 
lying in the dungeon of Machaerus. His imprisonment, indeed, had been the event 
from which the Ministry of our Blessed Lord dated its first commencement ;(a) and 
the occasion of that act of cruelty is here recorded. Herod Antipas having taken 
Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, John Baptist had denounced the sin of his 
royal master. And observe, that in so doing he brought no " railing accusation" (6) 
against the King. It was, however, a faithful and most fearless witness. 

19, 20 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would 
have killed him : but she could not ; for Herod feared John, knowing 
that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him ; and when he 
heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. 

The sense of the original is lost in this place by the translation. St. Mark says 
that Herodias would have procured the Baptist's death, if she could ; but she could 
not, — for Herod " feared John, .... and kept him safe." The Evangelist adds a 
very striking circumstance ; namely, that there had been a time when to listen to 
the Baptist's preaching was a delight to Herod. His exhortations had sometimes 
even disposed the Tetrarch to acts of obedience; and those not few in number. But 
Herod had entered on a career of sin ; and the pathway of such ever " goeth down 
to the chambers of Death."(c) 

21, 22, 23 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his 
birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of 
Galilee ; and when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and 
danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the King said 
unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it 
thee. And he swear unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will 
give it thee, unto the half of my Kingdom. 

It is hard to realize the infatuation of Herod, — thus captivated by the graceful 
movements of a girl who stood to himself in almost a filial relation. Salome, who 
danced before him and his nobles, was the daughter of Herodias by her former 
marriage ; and therefore niece to the King, who, like Ahasuerus of old, is ready to 
barter away half his Kingdom at her bidding. (d) 

24, 25 And she went forth, and said unto her Mother, What shall I 
ask ? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. And she came in 
straightway with haste unto the King, and asked, saying, I will that 
thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. 

Observe how ready, and how earnest is the adulteress with her request. " Give 
me here" — "by and by," — (that is, "immediately") — "in a charger." She had 
settled in her mind exactly how she would have her revenge. The damsel, we 
read, entered " straightway, with haste" into the King's presence. But surely the 
daughter can hardly have been so depraved as to carry such an inhuman message 
with alacrity! Her haste must doubtless exhibit her mother's urgency rather than 
her own impatience. From all these hints, then, we seem to gather a secret. 
Herod had doubtless been a stranger to peace, — although he had been enjoying the 
pleasures of sin, unmolested by the presence of the only man who had dared to re- 

(2) St. Matthew xiv. 3 to 12. 

(a) See the notes on St. Matth. iv. 12, and on St. Mark i. 14. 

(6) St. Jude, verse 9. (e) Proverbs vii. 27. (d) See Esther vii. 2. 



316 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

buke him for it. Less hardened than the partner of his crime, it was no satisfac- 
tion to him that he had silenced the Baptist. A reproachful conscience interfered 
with his guilty joy. He could not forget "the Voice of one crying in the Wilder- 
ness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord." Notwithstanding his sinful course, — not- 
withstanding his having shut up John in prison, — Herod yet had a wakeful con- 
science ; and remorse, while it poisoned his existence, must have embittered that 
of Herodias also. This seems the true way of accounting for the promptness, — 
the bitterness, — the unrelenting cruelty of that guilty woman. 

11 The head of John the Baptist" — "in a charger I" Her intention, therefore, 
was to look upon the gory mangled neck, and to hold the lifeless head in her hands. 
That eye, beneath whose living glance she had so often quailed, she desires to be- 
hold quenched in death : those lips, whose language had so often disturbed the 
current of her guilty joy, she desires to know silent and motionless. Softness and 
luxury, instead of excluding cruelty, must surely be closely allied to it. How often 
are cruelty and lust found to go hand in hand 1(e) 

26 And the King was exceeding sorry : yet for his oath's sake, and 
for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. 

Take notice how the Laws of Nature and the Laws of God are set aside, at once, 
in order to make way for the fancied Laws of Honour. The Evangelist, however, 
says all he can for Herod. He was " exceeding sorry." 

27, 28 And immediately the King sent an executioner, and com- 
manded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in 
the prison ; and brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the dam- 
sel : and the damsel gave it to her Mother. 

The scene of the murder was close at hand ; for, as already explained, John 
Baptist was a prisoner in the very castle where Herod Antipas at this time resided, 
— a strong border fortress built by the Tetrarch's father, and containing a royal 
Palace. The Baptist's Disciples had been allowed access to their Master during 
the period of his confinement at Machserus, — as the narrative in St. Luke vii. 18, 
19, sufficiently proves. Accordingly, when tidings of his murder reach them, they 
are enabled to perform the last offices of love to his body : as it follows, — 

29 And when his Disciples heard of it, they came and took up his 
corpse, and laid it in a tomb. 

What torture of mind followed upon this crime, in Herod's case, may be inferred 
from the sayings recorded of him in verses 14 and 16. The murder had been quite 
recent ; and a wakeful conscience, at the first mention of supernatural powers, can 
behold in their possessor none other than the murdered Saint restored to life ! 

The reader is referred to a long note on this entire transaction in the Commen- 
tary on St. Luke's Gospel, — chap. ix. 9. 

30 And the Apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and 
told Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. 

The Twelve, having completed their Ministerial Journey, returned to Capernaum, 
| where they find their Lord; and render to Him an account of their Stewardship. 

The Disciples of John repair to the same place, and pour into the same ears the 
history of the Baptist's murder.(/) But multitudes of persons (as might have 
been foreseen,) had followed the Apostles to Capernaum, from the several cities 
which they had so recently blessed with their presence : a circumstance which will 
explain what is stated in the next verse. 

31, 32 And He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a 
desert place, and rest a while : for there were many coming and going, 
and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a 
desert place by ship privately. 

(e) Consider especially 2 Samuel xi. 15 and 27. (/) St Matth. xiv. 12, 13. 



VI.] ON ST. maek's gospel. 317 

They crossed the Sea of Galilee, (as St. John relates,) (g) proceeding in the direc- 
tion of the City of Bethsaida.(7i) For there were two cities of that name : one, 
situated on the Western side of the Lake, near Capernaum: the other, at the North- 
Eastern corner. The people, in the meantime, are to be understood to have ran 
along the coast, — rounded the northern extremity of the Lake, — and gained the 
intended place of disembarkation, before the Blessed Company had themselves 
reached the shore. For " they departed/' as it is written, — 

33, 34 And the people saw them departing, and many knew Him, 
and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came to- 
gether unto Him. And Jesus, when He came out, saw much people, 
and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as 
sheep not having a shepherd: and He began to teach them many 
things. 

The unshepherded condition of the people had already moved the compassion of 
" the Great Shepherd of the sheep/'(0~~ -when He was on the point of sending out 
His Apostles. (&) "What a pattern of Ministerial zeal does He here display for our 
imitation ! On disembarking from the ship, He beholds the lonely part of the coast 
to which He had proposed betaking Himself with the Twelve, crowded with people. 
Fasting and weary as He was, He yet "received them," as St. Luke relates, (I) — 
that is, gave them a kind and gracious reception ; and " began to teach them many 
things," both speaking to them concerning the Kingdom of God, and healing them 
that had need of healing. (m) 

35, 36 And when the day was now far spent, His Disciples came 
unto Him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far 
passed : send them away, that they may go into the country round 
about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread : for they have 
nothing to eat. 

From which it appears that our Saviour's Discourse had been exceedingly pro- 
longed ; so that these men, from hunger and thirst after Righteousness, had become 
sensible of bodily need likewise. He was about to prove, by an actual instance, 
that to those who make the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness the first object 
of their pursuit, all these things shall be added.(n) But, observe, He works not 
the miracle until the twelve have become fully aroused to the urgency of the case, 
and its apparent hopelessness. He even creates perplexity, and thus makes them 
doubly watchful and attentive, before He advances a single step in what He was 
about to do: as it follows, — 

37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they 
say unto Him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread; 
and give them to eat ? 

Revealing by those words, as it appears, the utmost extent of the sum of money, 
— (about eight pounds sterling,) — with which they were provided. The saying 
seems to have been first heard on the lips of St. Philip. See, by all means, how St. 
John has related the entire incident, — chap. vi. 5 to 7. The Reader is also 
referred to the note on St. Luke ix. 13, 14. . . . In answer to the inquiry of the 
Disciples just recorded, — 

38 He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. 
And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. 

£>t. John relates that "one of His Disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, 
saith unto Him, There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves-, and two small 
fishes ; but what are they among so many ?"(o) 

(g) St. John vi. 1. (h). St. Luke ix. 10. (*) Hebrews xiii. 20. 

(k) St. Matth. ix. 36. (l) St. Luke ix. 11. 

(m) St. Luke ix. 11. See also St. Matth. xiv. 14. («) St. Matth. vi. 33. 

(o) St. John vi. 9. 



318 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 



39, 40 And He commanded them to make all sit down by companies 
upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and 
by fifties. 

St. Mark alone it is who mentions "the green grass," whereon the multitude re- 
posed. His phrase, descriptive of their sitting "in ranks," (or rather, " in groups") 
is also striking and picturesque. It denotes that those companies of men were dis- 
posed like garden-beds upon the waste. 

" There was much grass in the place," says St. John. It was in fact the season 
of the Passover, (p) which was celebrated in the first month of the year; corres- 
ponding with our March or April. 

41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He 
looked up to Heaven, and blessed, 

"He looked up to Heaven, and blessed:" that is, He prefaced the meal with 
prayer ; and this act of His becomes our warrant and example for invoking the 
Divine Blessing, and giving thanks, on all similar occasions. 

But the incident thus recorded suggests a further remark : namely, that as our 
Saviour showed His equally with the Father by working His Miracles generally 
with authority and power, so does He teach that He is from the Father by some- 
times referring to Him what He does, and calling upon Him with prayer. See 
more in the second note on St. Mark vii. 34. . . . He " blessed," therefore, — 



and brake the loaves, and gave them to His Disciples to set before 
them ; and the two fishes divided He among them all. 

It is particularly noticed by all the four Evangelists, (q) that our Lord distributed 
to His Apostles, and the Apostles to the multitude. Thereby (as some have 
remarked,) He not only honoured them, but impressed this miracle the more deeply 
upon their minds and memories. The incident was besides emblematic of the office 
of the Ministers of Christ; which is, to be the instruments of God's bounty; the 
channels by which He is pleased to convey spiritual food to mankind, — faint and 
weary in the World's Wilderness, as hath been more fully pointed out in the note 
on St. Mark viii. 7. 

42 And they did all eat and were filled. 

" Let us reflect a little here," says an ancient Father. " Inasmuch as God is not 
visible to the eye, and the miracles of the Divine Government of the World, and 
ordering of the whole Creation, are overlooked in consequence of their constancy, — 
God hath reserved to Himself certain acts, out of the established course and order 
of Nature, to be done at suitable times ; in order that those who overlook the daily 
course of Nature, may be roused to wonder by the sight of what is different from, 
though not at all greater, than what they are used to. The Government of the World 
is a mightier miracle than the satisfying of the hunger of five thousand with five 
loaves ; yet it creates no wonder. The miraculous feeding excited such great wonder 
because it was so entirely strange and uncommon." 

43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of 
the fishes. 

" Twelve baskets," — because each of the Apostles, (in pursuance of the command 
of their LoRD,)(r) assisted in gathering up the fragments that remained, that 
nothing might be lost. Notice St. Mark's exactness: — the baskets were full of 
"the fragments," and " of the fishes ;" for we speak of fragments of bread, but not 
offish. — See more in the note on St. Matthew xiv. 20. 

Bishop Sanderson remarks that as "the grain bringeth increase, not when it 
lieth on a heap, in the garner, but by scattering upon the land ; and as the Widow's 
oil increased, not in the vessel, but by pouring out ; and as the barley bread multi- 
plied, not in the whole loaf, but by breaking and distributing ; so are spiritual 
graces best improved, — not by keeping them together, but by distributing them 



(p) St. John vi. 4 and 10. 



(q) St. Matthew xiv. 19; St. Luke ix. 16; St. John vi. 11. 
(r) St. John vi. 12. 



VI.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 319 

abroad." — A similar remark by another writer, will be found quoted in the note on 
St. Matthew xiv. 20. 

44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men. 

It seems impossible to overrate the solemnity and importance of the two miracles 
of feeding recorded in the Gospels; (s) or to dwell with too reverent attention on the 
details, (doubtless all of the highest significancy,) of either. Our Saviour Him- 
self, subsequently, called the special attention of the Disciples to those details : 
" When I brake the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets [of a 
certain kind] took ye up ? They say unto Him, Twelve. And when the seven 
among four thousand, how many baskets [of a different kind] full of fragments took 
ye up ? And they said, Seven." (t) He reproached them " for having been so slow 
to apprehend the meaning of this and the other feeding, — that/' (in the words of a 
great living writer,) " something more than common bread was denoted by the food 
imparted, and the baskets that remained/' 

45 And straightway He constrained His Disciples to get into the 
ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while He sent 
away the people. 

From this intimation of "constraint" employed by our Lord, it is evident that 
the Apostles left him with reluctance. They had been restored to His society only 
on that very day, and they are already compelled to leave Him ! Add to this, that 
the wind was contrary, and the waters of the lake troubled. In the meantime, He 
is desirous of " sending away the people ;" which seems to refer to some solemn act 
of blessing, which He was wont to practise on such occasions. See the note on St. 
Matthew xiv. 22. 

46 And when He had sent them away, He departed into a mountain 
to pray. 

" Dismissing His Disciples, and eluding the carnal-minded multitudes, He retires 
for private prayer to a mount apart, to add one vigil more of fasting and devotion 
to a life perpetually offered up in sacrifice to His Father for the sin and madness 
of mankind." 

Which act of His, (says an ancient writer,) " you should refer not to Him who 
fed five thousand on five loaves, but to Him who on hearing of John's death 
withdrew into the desert : not that we may separate the Lord's person into two 
parts, but that His actions are divided between the God and the Man." 

47, 48 And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the 
sea, and He alone on the land. And He saw them toiling in rowing ; 
for the wind was contrary unto them. 

He has ascended up on high ; and His Disciples, deprived of His presence, are 
" tossed with waves :"(w) — they, in the midst of the sea, toiling ; He, alone on the 
shore, engaged in prayer. Meantime, He sees their distress, yet comes not to their 
assistance. Nay, when at last, (in a marvellous manner,) He draws near, His 
presence proves only the signal for their terror : for " His way is in the sea, and 
His path is in the great waters, and His footsteps are not known."(«0 But alarm 
quickly passes away. The shadows are already departing. Christ discovers Him- 
self to His people. Thereupon, the violence of the storm abates ; and the weary 
crew are at the haven where they would be ! . . . How natural does the history of 
the entire transaction run into the language of allegory ! It is indeed, clearly, a 
symbolical history throughout. This does not mean that the history is not real and 
true ; but that it is Divine. 

(s) For the other, see St. Mattli. xv. 32 to 39: St. Mark viii. 1 to 9. 

(t) St. Mark viii. 19, 20; compare St. Matthew xvi. 9, 10. Concerning the different kinds of 
baskets, see the note on St. Mark viii. 8. 
(u) St. Matthew xiv. 24. (x) Psalm lxxvii. 19. 



320 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

And about the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them, 
■walking upon the Sea; 

They had now rowed, St. John says, " about five and twenty, or thirty fur- 
longs:"^) so that, at the end of upwards of six hours, the Apostles had not got 
more than four miles on their way ; that is, they had about half crossed the Lake : — 
a singular proof of the implicit obedience, the resolution and patience, with which 
they were fulfilling their Lord's injunction that they should go before Him to the 
other side. See the note on St. Matthew xiv. 24. It is added, that, in the midst 
of their perplexity, our Lord Himself appeared, — 

and would have passed by them. 

Consider, that He would have passed by Abraham also : but — " Pass not away, 
I pray Thee, from Thy servant,"^) was the Patriarch's entreaty. " Let Me go, 
for the day breaketh," He said to Jacob : but Israel answered, " I will not let Thee 
go, except Thou bless Me." (a) Gideon, like Abraham, was led to exclaim, " De- 
part not hence, I pray Thee I" " And He said, I will tarry until thou come 

again."(6) Even so cried Manoah and his wife, — "I pray Thee, let us detain 
Thee !"(c) And is it not recorded of Him that " He made as though He would have 
gone further" when He had walked with the two Disciples as far as Emmaus ; 
" but they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us V\d) He will ever have us thus 
retain Him with an effort and an entreaty; or He will pass on. 

49, 50 But when they saw Him walking upon the sea, they supposed 
it had been a spirit, and cried out : for they all saw Him, and were 
troubled. 

So "terrified and affrighted" were they, "and supposed that they had seen a 
Spirit," when, on the evening of the first Easter, " Jesus Himself stood in the midst 
of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you l"(e) — The Reader is here requestr 
ed to read the note on St. Matthew xiv. 26. 

And immediately He talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of 
good cheer : it is I ; be not afraid. 

Almost obvious is the remark which suggests itself on these blessed words of 
comfort. But what has been already offered (in a note on St. Matthew xiv. 27,) 
must not be repeated here. 

Thereupon followed the miraculous walking on the water by Simon Peter. St. 
Mark deriving his materials, (under the Inspiration and guidance of the Holy 
Spirit,) from that Apostle, takes no notice of an event so unspeakably honourable 
to him, and glorious : — which very silence of the Evangelist, by the way, should 
be a rebuke to those of the moderns who fix their eyes, somewhat exclusively, on 
the "doubt" of the Apostle, — that doubt which caused that his "feet were almost 
gone;" his "treadings had well nigh slipt :"{/) instead of seeing in the entire 
transaction, evidence, rather, of that glorious Faith which could "move Moun- 
tains I" 

51, 52 And He went up unto them into the ship ; and the wind 
ceased : and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and 
wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for 
their heart was hardened. 

Not wilfidly "hardened;" but slow of belief, and dull in the apprehension of 
Divine things: "slow of heart to believe" as it is expressed in another place.(^) 

St. Matthew will be found here to supply a circumstance which St. Mark omits, 
— the manner, namely, in which that little ship's company expressed their wonder 

(3/) St. John vi. 19. (z) Genesis xvlii. 3. (a) Genesis xxxii. 26. 

(6) Judges vi. 18. (c) Judges xiii. 15. (d) St. Luke xxiv. 28, 29. 

(e) St. Luke xxiv. 36, 37. (/) Psalm lxxiii. 2. 
\g) St. Luke xxiv. 25. Compare St. Mark xvi. 14. 



VII.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 321 

and amazement. See St. Matthew xiv. 32, 33, and the notes there. But they had 
already reached the Western side of the Lake : — 

53, 54, 55 And when they had passed over, they came into the land 
of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. And when they were come out 
of the ship, straightway they knew Him ; and ran through that whole 
region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were 
sick, where they heard He was. 

The concluding verse of the present chapter clearly discovers to us the Great 
Physician making the circuit of some part of Galilee. Having intimated that many 
acts of mercy ensued immediately after our Lord's disembarkation from the ship, 
the Evangelist proceeds, — 

56 And whithersoever He entered, into villages, or cities, or coun- 
try, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they 
might touch if it were but the border of His garment : and as many as 
touched Him were made whole. 

For the unction of the Spirit, — a faint type of which was supplied by the pre- 
cious ointment wherewith the garments of the High Priest were anointed, — " went 
down to the skirts of His clothing :" and Christ is our Great High Priest, — in whom 
all the shadows of the Law find their fulfillment. See more in the last note on St. 
Matthew xiv. 

Who can read the concluding words of the present chapter without emotion ? No 
one, surely, who studies the Gospel with a heart at all alive to the deep practical 
teaching, the high spiritual consolation, which is constantly vouchsafed beneath the 
written letter. What mean, for instance, these frequent notices of our Lord's 
Miracles of Healing? — what higher purpose is thereby served, — than to remind us 
that He is no less mighty to relieve all those Spiritual ailments, of which Bodily 
maladies are but types or symbols ? And if, as was shown in our note on St. Mark 
v. 31, the Touch of Faith it be, — (a touch which may be given when we approach 
Him in Prayer, or in any other way of His appointing,) — if this alone it be which 
is needed in order to draw healing grace from the person of our Saviour Christ, — 
how blessed is the assurance of the text, that not for one or two faithful hearts 
alone is it reserved thus to touch Him and live,(7i) but that "as many as touch 
Him," — as many as will touch " but the border of His garment" — shall be "made 
whole." 

(h) Alluding to the case of the Woman with the Issue of Blood,— See St. Mark v. 27 to 29: 
St. Luke viii. 43 to U. 



CHAPTER VII. 



1 The Pharisees find fault at the Disciples for eating with unwashen hands. 8 They 
break the Commandment of God by the Traditions of Men. 14 Meat defleth not 
the^ man. 24 He healeth the Syrophenician woman's Daughter of an unclean 
spirit, 31 and one that was deaf, and stammered in his speech. 

1, 2 Then came together unto Him the Pharisees, and certain of the 
Scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some o f 
21 



322 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

His Disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, 
hands, they found fault. 

The first eight verses of the present Chapter will be found far more briefly given 
in the earlier Gospel of St. Matthew, — xv. 1, 2. The only purpose of either Evan- 
gelist, however, in this place, is to set forth the fact, that the memorable Discourse 
which follows, was delivered by our Lord on the occasion of certain cavils brought 
against His Disciples by some of the most learned of the Nation, who " came from 
Jerusalem ;" of set purpose, as it would seem, to assail Him. 

3, 4 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their 
hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the Elders. And when they 
come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many 
other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing 
of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. 

It will be at once perceived that the curious information contained in the last 
three verses was intended, in the first instance, for the satisfaction of those "aliens 
from the commonwealth of Israel, ;, (a) to whom the Preachers of the Gospel were in 
due time sent. The margin of a Reference-Bible should here be consulted. 

5 Then the Pharisees and Scribes asked Him, Why walk not Thy 
Disciples according to the Tradition of the Elders, but eat bread with 
unwashen hands ? 

Grafting their traditional precepts upon the letter of such commands as are found 
in Isaiah i. 16, — "Wash you, make you clean;" unmindful of those words which 
immediately follow, — " put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes :" or 
those of Jeremiah, — "Wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou may est be 
saved :"(b) the Teachers of Religion among the Jews had invented a purely human 
system which entirely supplanted, and even subverted, the Divine Law ; making 
"the Word of God of none effect," — as our Saviour, in ver. 13, declares. Our 
Lord reproves them out of those very Writings, with a surprising quotation : — 

6, 7 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied 
of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth Me with their 
lips, but their heart is far from Me. Howbeit in vain do they worship 
Me, teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of men. 

These words are found in Isaiah xxix. 13. It is surprising to find that the Pro- 
phet was thereby prophesying of the men of our Lord's time. 

8, 9 For laying aside the Commandment of God, ye hold the Tradi- 
tion of men, as the washing of pots and cups : and many other such 
like things ye do. And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the 
Commandment of God, that ye may keep your own Tradition. 

Let us be well persuaded that the tendency of man's heart is ever to supplant the 
Divine with that which is of merely Human growth. The Christian Church, in 
some respects, presents a striking parallel with the Jewish ; and will do well, at all 
times, to seek a warning in the History of that, her elder Sister. If, in our own 
Branch of Christ's Holy Catholic Church, we find no signs whatever of the Com- 
mandment of God rejected in favour of the Traditions of the Elders, — let us not be 
"high-minded, but fear. ;; (c) And "fear" lest we should individually incur the re- 
proach which may yet not attach to us as a Church and Nation, — cannot be a 
groundless cause of alarm, and source of anxious inquiry. To honour God with 
the lips, while the heart is far from Him, — seems to be the great peril of all who 
inhabit a Christian Land ; especially if they happen to live in an Age when Keli- 
gion is, (so to speak,) a fashionable thing. 

Our Lord proceeds to give a specimen of the Wickedness, the sinful Blindness, of 

(a) Ephes. ii. 12. (b) Jeremiah iv. 14. (c) Rom. xi. 20. 



VII.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 323 

■which He complained : taking His illustration from a breach of the first Command- 
ment in the second Table. 

10 For Moses said, Honour thy Father and thy Mother: and, 
Whoso curseth Father or Mother, let him die the death : 

Which words are quoted partly from Exodus xx. 12, and partly from xxi. 17. — 
"Moses" indeed " said" this; but it was " GOD" who "commanded" it, — as St. 
Matthew expressly notices, (d) 

11, 12, 13 But ye say, If a man shall say to his Father or Mother, 
It is Corban, (that is to say, a gift,) by whatsoever thou mightest be 
profited by me : he shall he free. And ye suffer him no more to do 
aught for his Father or his Mother : making the Word of God of none 
effect through your Tradition, which ye have delivered: and many 
such like things do ye. 

Compare this with St. Matthew xv. 5, 6, — where it has been pointed out that the 
place should be rather translated, — "But ye say, If a man says to his Father or 
to his Mother, The thing whereby I might have benefited you, is Corban, — (that 
is to say, an offering which I have dedicated to God, ;; ) — he is bound to keep his 
vow: "and ye suffer him no longer to do aught for his Father or his Mother." — 
In which words it is to be noticed that to "honour" Father and Mother, is, — in 
the intention of Him who gave the Commandment, — (if need be.) to "succour 
them ;" as it is well said in the Church Catechism. And this is to be set against 
that saying of the Great Apostle, — " The Children ought not to lay up for the 
Parents, but the Parents for the Children."(e) Which saying, by the way, mani- 
festly contains a hint to persons in the Ministry : whereas our Lord's words, (which, 
from the nature of the case, are to be taken in their very letter,) inform children of 
their duty towards their parents. Almighty God is, in fact, here expounding His 
own Commandment. - 

Next, the exactness of the present Evangelist in preserving the very word (" Cor- 
ban,") employed by our Saviour, is to be noticed. See the note prefixed to the 
first Chapter of the present Gospel. 

An ancient Commentator has explained the drift of our Lord's rebuke so well, 
that we shall give it in his own words: — "The Pharisees, wishing to devour the 
offerings, instructed sons, when their Parents asked for some of their property, to 
answer them, — ' I have already offered it up to the Lord/ Thus, the Parents 
would not require it : and thereby the Pharisees deceived the sons into neglecting 
their Parents, whilst they themselves devoured the offerings. With this, therefore, 
the Lord reproaches them, as transgressing the Law of God for the sake of gain :" 
and leading those astray, whose knowledge in things spiritual was committed to 
their care. 

14, 15, 16 And when He had called all the people unto Him, He 
said unto them, Hearken unto Me every one of you, and understand : 
there is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile 
him : but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile 
the man. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. 

Whether it was on account of these concluding words, — which imply something 
deep and mysterious in what went before, which men would receive or not accord- 
ing as their hearts were disposed^) : — or, because our Lord delivered His Doctrine 
with such extreme brevity, that the Disciples did not really catch its drift and 
meaning ; we find that they regarded what had been spoken as a Parable, — that is, 
as a dark saying. Our Saviour therefore proceeds to explain that the division of 
meats into clean and unclean, belonged to the Ceremonial Law, and was henceforth 
abrogated. Those carnal ordinances had served their purpose, or not,, as they had 
taught men to look for a deeper meaning, and a spiritual requirement.. Consider, 
in connection with what follows, the ensuing texts of Scripture : — Act x.. II to 16 : 
Romans xiv. 17 : Coloss. ii. 16 : 1 Tim. iv. 3 to 5 : Heb. ix. 10, and xiii.. 9. 

(d)'St. Matthew xv. 4. (e) 2 Cor. xii. 14. (/) See the note on St. Mark iv.. 9. 



324 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

IT, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 And when He was entered into the house 
from the people, His Disciples asked Him concerning the Parable. 
And He saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also ? Do 
ye not not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into 
the man, it cannot defile him ; because it entereth not into his heart, 
but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats ? 
And He said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the 
man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, 
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, de- 
ceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness : 

"An evil eye," is an envious, illiberal one. So, in the parable, "Is thine eye 
evil, because 1 am good ?"(<?) — where, see the note. 

Take notice that in this black catalogue, next to "Evil thoughts," come "Adul- 
teries" and "Fornications" "Wickedness" denotes "Malignity;" and 

" Foolishness " is the reverse of " Sobriety." 

This, then, is that " evil treasure" of the heart, concerning which our Lord speaks 
on a certain occasion ;(h) out of which " an evil man bringeth," — cannot but bring, 
• — " evil things." The fountain-head of Sin is declared to be " evil thoughts." 
And the teaching of the Spirit is constant in this respect. " Keep thy heart with 
all diligence ; for out of it are the issues of Life."(**) The reason has been pointed 
out long since by a pious writer: — Evil thoughts, (be says,) which are not resisted, 
cause delight ; delight draws on consent ; consent produces the act ; from the act 
springs a habit ; from a habit, necessity ; and from necessity, Death. 

23 all these evil things come from within, and defile the man. 

All Sin, therefore, proceeds "out of the heart" Men are prone to lay the blame 
on external causes, — on Temptation, — on the Tempter ; — and so to excuse them- 
selves. But the Word of the Spirit is express. All this wickedness comes from 
within: is of native growth. Consider St. Matthew xii. 34, 35. What remains but 
to pray, with the Psalmist, for a "a clean Heart," (k) and for daily Renewal ?(/) 

24, 25, 26 And from, thence He arose, and went into the borders of 
Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man 
know it: but He could not be hid. For a certain Woman, whose 
young Daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of Him, and came and 
fell at His feet ; (the woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation :) 
and she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her 
Daughter. 

" Saying, Lord, help me I" — as St. Matthew relates. (in) The earlier Evangelist, 
(who addressed his Gospel especially to members of his own nation,) — calls her "a 
Woman of Canaan." See the note on St. Matthew xv. 22. Take notice, then, 
that here is a Woman of Canaan, " who, like liahab(w) of old, is yet an inheritor 
of the Righteousness which is by Faith." 

For the correct understanding of the present incident, the corresponding narra- 
tive in the earlier Gospel should be attentively examined ; from which it will ap- 
pear that the distressed Mother began by following our Blessed' Lord, and His 
Disciples, in the way. Her importunity had been excessive ;(o) and it would even 
appear as if the withdrawal "into an house," (noticed above, in verse 24,) had been 
effected with something like secrecy, partly in order to escape from her entreaties. 
"But He could not be hid," — as the Evangelist states; and from behind that brief 
declaration, do there not seem to flash rays of Glory ? "As the Ointment bewray- 

(g) St. Matthew xx. 15. (h) St. Matthew xii. 35. 

(i) Prov. iv. 23. (k) Ps. li. 10. 

(I) See the place last quoted, in connection with the Collect for Christmas-Day ; which is 
derived from Titus iii. 5. 

Cm) St. Matthew xv. 25. (n) Hebrews xi. 31. 

(o) St. Matth. xv. 22, 23, 24. 



VII.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 325 



eth itself," says one, "so He, whose Name is as Ointment poured forth, (p) could 
not be hid. And this woman was attracted by His sweetness." 

27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the Children first be filled : for it 
is not meet to take the Children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 

The first words of our Lord's reply, contain a gracious intimation that His pre- 
sent denial would not be for ever. " Let the Children first be filled," — He says : 
" The Children," namely, " of the Kingdom ;"(g) that is, the Jews. After that, 
He was to prove "for Salvation unto the ends of the Earth." (r) .... Take notice, 
by the way, of the largeness of the term Bread; and learn hence, the height and 
depth of that petition in the Lord's Prayer which asks for " all things needful both 
for our. souls and bodies." 

28 And she answered and said unto Him, Yes, Lord : yet the dogs 
under the table eat of the Children's crumbs. 

She accepts the place assigned to her in the picture ; yet, even so, she reminds 
our Lord of her undoubted privilege. Take notice of the boldness of Faith; which 
wins a triumph, in the very moment of defeat ! This was one of the cases of which 
our Lord spoke, when He said, — " The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and 
the violent take it by force. "(s) See more, on St. Matthew xv. 27. 

It is worth pointing out, however, that the actual tenor of this Woman's reply 
is missed in our English Version. " Yes, Lord," she says ; (or, " Even so," — as 
the word is rendered in the last verse but one of the Book of Revelation : meaning, 
— Be it as Thou sayest. Let my portion be with them;) "for," she adds, "the 
dogs under the Table eat of the children's crumbs." It was all she asked ! 

29 And He said unto her, For this saying go thy way ; the devil is 
gone out of thy Daughter. 

The Daughter was healed, in consequence of the Mother's Faith ; and in answer 
to her prayers. The Reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark ii. 5, for some re- 
marks on this subject. He is also requested to take notice that in consequence of 
our Saviour's commendation of this poor Woman's saying, His Church has ever- 
more made similar language her own, in her "Prayer of humble access" to the 
Lord's Table.(0 See more in the note on Matthew xv.'28. 

" Wonderful change of things !" exclaims an ancient writer. " Once, Israel the 
Son, and we the dogs : but the change in Faith, has led to a change in the order of 
our names. Concerning them is that said, ' Many dogs have come about Me :\u) 
while to us is said, as to this Woman, ' Be it unto thee even as thou wilt !'"(#) 

30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone 
out, and her Daughter laid upon the bed. 

This, then, is an example of a cure effected at a distance, as well as in reply to 
the entreaties of another. So it fared with the Nobleman's Son at Capernaum, — 
whom our Lord healed, being Himself at Cana;(?/) and so, also, with the Centu- 
rion's servant, — who was healed before our Saviour reached the House in which he 
lay.(z) _ ^ 

From this affecting miracle, performed in a remote corner of the Holy Land, we 
are conducted back to more familiar ground : and permitted again to recognize the 
truth of St. Peter's description of his Lord, — as One "who went about doing good, 
and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil." (a) The Miracle which follows 
is peculiar to St. Mark's Gospel. 

31 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, He 
came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of De- 
capolis. 

( p) Song of Solomon i. 3. (q) St. Matthew viii. 12. 

(r) Isaiah xlix. 6; quoted in Acts xiii. 47. (s) St. Matthew xi. 12. 

(0 See the Prayer beginning " We do not presume to come to this Thy Table," in the Com- 
munion Service. 

( u) Psalm xxii. 16. (x) St, Matthew xv. 28. (y) St. John iv. 46, &c. 

(a) St. Luke vii. 6. (a) Acts x. 38. 



326 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Concerning which place, see the last note on St. Matthew iv. Our Lord was 
now, therefore, on the Eastern side of the Lake. 

32 And they bring unto Him one that was deaf, and had an impedi- 
ment in his speech; and they beseech Him to put His hand upon 
him. 

This, then, is one of the few occasions where it is recorded that the friends of the 
sufferer brought the sick man to Christ: the Paralytic borne of four,(6) and the 
Blind Man of Bethsaida,(c) being other examples of the same thing. By a com- 
parison of the preceding verse, and what follows, with St. Mark viii. 22, and what 
follows, — it will be perceived that God grants us our petitions, sometimes indeed 
in the manner suggested by ourselves ; but sometimes, in quite a different way. 

And lie reads the Scripture to little effect, who can doubt that there was a pur- 
pose and a meaning in every variety of incident in our Lord's several recorded 
Miracles : "a Wisdom of God ordering all the circumstances of each particular 
cure. Were we acquainted as accurately as He Avho knew what was in Man, with 
the spiritual condition of each who was brought within the circle of His Grace, we 
should then perfectly understand why one was healed in the crowd, — another led 
out of the City ere the work of restoration was commenced : why, for one, a word 
effected a cure, — for another, a touch,— while a third was sent to wash in the pool 
of Siloam, ere he came seeing .... Doubtless there was, in each case, a reference 
to the moral and spiritual state of the person who was passing under His hands ; 
though an ignorance of this prevents us from at once seeing the manifold wisdom 
which ordered each of His proceedings ; and how it was conducted so as best to make 
the bodily healing a passage to the spiritual, which the Lord had ever in His 
eye." So far Mr. Trench. 

To whose judicious remarks it may be added, that over and above the fitness and 
propriety of every incident, arising out of the moral state of the applicant, or that 
of the by-standers, — a deep and important meaning is to be sought, for ourselves, 
in many a mysterious, — or, as it may seem, insignificant, — detail : for it is the glory 
of the Works, as well as of the W T ords of God, that they look many ways, — and 
are manifold in their uses. Thus, when it is said by St. Mark, in the first instance: 



33 And He took him aside from the multitude 



We are reminded that even so, "the same Lord does now oftentimes lead a soul 
apart when He would speak with it, or heal it : setting it in the solitude of a sick 
chamber, or in loneliness of spirit, or taking away from it earthly companions and 
friends." .... He took this man aside, — 

and put His fingers into his ears, and He spit, and touched his 
tongue ; 

But wherefore did He proceed so to deal with him ? — Since bodily ailment is the 
constant type of spiritual Infirmity, consider whether it may not have been implied 
by this act of our Lord, that the deaf ears are then only effectually unstopped, when 
they have received into them, — been 'penetrated, as it were, by, — the Finger, which 
is only another name for the SPIRIT, of God : as was explained in the notes on 
St. Luke xi. 20. Consider whether our Saviour, by this act of His, may not have 
been doing in symbol, what He is elsewhere declared to have done in reality, — 
when it is said of the Eleven Apostles, "Then opened He their understanding.' (d) 

Further, by transferring the moisture of His own Divine Mouth, twice to the 
eyes,(e) — once to the lips, — of an afflicted creature, was He not satisfying, symboli- 
cally, those well-known petitions of the Psalmist, — " Open Thou mine eyes, that I 
may see the wondrous things of Thy Law:"(jQ "Thou shalt open my lips, 
Lord, and my mouth shall show Thy praise ?"(#) Were not those two acts an in- 
dication, — the one, that "The Commandment of the Lord," {"The Word of His 
lips,"') (h) "is pure, enlightening the eyes:"{i) the other, that "the tongue of the 
stammerer" is " ready to speak plainly," (k) when the Redeemer hath fulfilled His 

a) Acts x. 38. (6) St. Mark ii. 3 to 5. (c) St. Mark viii. 22 to 26. 

d) St. Luke xxiv. 45. (e) St. Mark viii. 23; St. John ix. 6. 

(/) Ps. cxix. 18. (g) Ps. Ii. 15. (h) Ps. xvii. 4. 

(£) Ps. xix. 8. (k) Isaiah xxxii. 4. 



VII.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 327 



covenant, — namely, that He will put His Spirit in the mouth of the seed of Jacob 
for ever ? 

34 and looking up to Heaven, He sighed, and saith unto him, Eph- 
phatha, that is, Be opened. 

It is impossible to read St. Mark's account of any of our Lord's Miracles without 
being struck by the vivid, graphic manner of the Evangelist; the many minute 
particulars which he inserts, and by means of which he brings the scene before the 
eye of his Reader. This has been already pointed out in the note prefixed to St. 
Mark's first Chapter. Thus, our Lord is related to have taken this man aside ; to 
have applied His fingers to the ears, and to the tongue of the sufferer ; to have 
spit, — looked up to Heaven, — sighed, — and spoken. Moreover, the very word He 
employed is recorded : as in St. Mark iii. 17 : v. 41 : vii. 11 : xiv. 36 : xv. 34. 

But what was the reason of the upturned eye on the present occasion ? It seems 
to have been expressive of an act of Prayer ; for it is found to recur in the Blessing 
of the five loaves and two fishes ;(Z) — in the address to the Father, before the Rais- 
ing of Lazarus ;(m) — and in the Prayer of Christ for His Apostles, contained in 
the 17th Chapter of St. John.(?i) The Reader will find something on this subject 
in the note on St. Mark vi. 41. 

The Sigh, or Groan, it is more difficult to explain. But since, at the Raising of 
Lazarus, our Saviour is said to have not only "wept," but also to have "groaned 
in the Spirit, and been troubled ;"(o) and since the occasion seems then to have 
been the tears of Mary and of the Jews who came with her, joined to the grief of 
His own human heart for Lazarus, His friend : may it not be that a feeling of com- 
passion, (excited by some unrelated circumstance,) occasioned the sign of external 
emotion here recorded by the Evangelist ? His notice of it will be felt to be the 
more affecting when it is coupled with St. Paul's assertion of our Lord's fellow-feeling 
with His creatures \{p) and especially when the Origin and History of Physical 
Evil is considered. — This last remark, indeed, suggests that the Human Sympathies 
of the Saviour were co-extensive with Human suffering and sorrow ; and, (as it is 
said in another place,) that " His tender mercies are over all His works, "(g) to the 
end of Time. So that the Sigh of " the first-born among many Brethren,"(r) here 
recorded, was expressive of His pity for every other child of Adam who shall be 
similarly afflicted, for ever. 

And yet, this sigh of our Saviour may have been occasioned, by the moral con- 
dition of the being who stood before Him. Either way, the present becomes an- 
other indication of the union of the Divine and Human Natures in the person of 
our Lord; who sighs as Man, and straightway heals as GOD. See the notes on 
St. Mark iii. 5, and on St. Luke viii. 23. 

"Be opened," — is applicable equally to the stammering tongue, the deaf ears, 
and the closed heart. Consider St. Luke i. 64. Psalms xxxviii. 13 : xxxix. 9. 
Prov. xxxi. 8 : — Isaiah xxxv. 5 : — and Acts xvi. 14. The Evangelist, however, de- 
scribes the result with great exactness: — 

35 And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his 
tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 

Take notice, that the present miracle of Healing resembles, in its method, two 
others: that, namely, performed on the man born blind ;(s) and that recorded in the 
ensuing chapter. (t) ... It follows,— as so often elsewhere, — 

36 And He charged them that they should tell no man : but the 
more He charged them, so much the more a great deal they published 
it; 

Many are the recorded example's of a similar act of disobedience ; as, in St. Mat- 
thew ix. 30, 31, and in St. Mark i. 44, 45 ; where, see the notes. Consider, how- 
ever, if those whom our Lord forbad to preach Him, could not yet keep silence, — 
what should the zeal be of those who are sent forth with a strict command to 
preach ! 

(0 St. Matthew xiv. 19: St. Mark vi. 41 : St. Luke ix. 16. (m) St. John xi. 41. 

In) St. John xvii. 1. (o) St. John xi. 33, 38. (p) Hebrews iv. 15. 

(q) Ps. cxlv. 9. (r) Rom. viii. 29. («) St. John ix. 6, 7. (t) St. Mark viii. 23, 25. 



328 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

37 and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all 
things well : He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. 

"All the works of the Lord are good," says the Son of Sirach ; " so that a man. 
cannot say, This is worse than that; for in time they shall all be well approved. 
And therefore praise ye the Lord with the whole heart and mouth, and bless the 
Name of the Lord."( m ) . . . Doubtless there was no Work of the New Creation of 
which that might not with equal truth be said, which was emphatically declared of 
the Old: namely, that "Behold, it was very good!"(x) 



THE PRAYER. 

Lord, we beseech Thee, absolve Thy people from their offences ; 
that through Thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the 
bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed: grant 
this, heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our Blessed Lord 
and Saviour. Amen. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



1 Christ feedeth the people miraculously. 10 Refuseth to give a sign to the Phari- 
sees. 14 Admonisheth His Disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and 
of the leaven of Herod. 22 Giveth a blind man his sight. 27 Acknowledged that 
He is the Christ, who shoidd suffer and rise again, 34 and exhorteth to patience in 
persecution for the profession of the Gospel. 

1 In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing 
to eat, 

Those were the days of our Lord's sojourn on the Eastern side of the Lake, 
described in the former chapter; when, (as St. Matthew informs us,)(a) "great 
multitudes came unto Him," and cast down their sick at His feet ; " and He healed 
them." In those days it was, that, — 

2 Jesus called His disciples unto Him, and saith unto them, I have 
compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with Me three 
days, and have nothing to eat : 

It is impossible to read the statement repeated by both Evangelists,(6) that the 
relief of this fainting multitude arrived on the third day, without calling to mind 
the mystery constantly attaching in Holy Scriptures to the number three. Thus, on 

(u) Ecclesiasticus xxxix. 33 to 35. (x) Genesis i. 31. 

(a) St. Matthew xv. 30. (6) See also St. Matth. xv. 32. 



VIII.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 329 

"the third day" after he had resolved on his death, Abraham received Isaac from 
the dead, " in a figure :"(c) on " the third day," Pharaoh " lifted up the head of the 
chief butler and of the chief baker :"(d) on "the third day," the ten patriarchs were 
released from bondage :(e) in the third year, Joseph himself was released from 
prison.^) Consider, too, the period of Jonah's liberation from the whale's belly ; 
a most eminent type of the Resurrection of Christ on the third day. "After two 
days will He revive us," (it is said by the prophet Hosea;) "in the third day He 
will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight."(<7) 

"It is very observable," (says one,) "that our Saviour had a continual care that 
none who followed Him, should ever want."(h) As it follows, — 

and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint 
by the way : for divers of them came from far. 

Some may have followed His blessed footsteps all the way from " the coasts of 
Tyre and Sidon," whence He had recently returned. 

Our Saviour's "Compassion," (a human feeling,) immediately preceding an act 
of Divine power, — recalls a remark which has been already often made on the fre- 
quent evidence we meet with in the Gospels of two natures united in the one person 
of Christ. See the notes on St. Mark iii. 5, and on St. Luke viii. 23. But how 
affecting and comfortable becomes this expression of solicitude and anxiety for the 
bodily wants of His creatures, — when it is considered that it is with the same Holy 
One that we also have to do ! 

4 And His Disciples answered Him, From whence can a man satisfy 
these men with bread here in the wilderness ? 

Their own experience of the past ought surely to have supplied the answer to this 
question: for it was nearly in the same spot, only a short time before, — (as 
recorded in chapter vi.) — that their Lord, with five loaves, had fed as many thou- 
sands ! .... On this, a very ancient writer makes a remark which is quite in the 
spirit of modern Criticism: — "Admire," he says, "in the Apostles their love of 
Truth. Though themselves are the writers, they do not conceal their own great 
faults ; and it is no light accusation to have so soon forgotten so great a miracle." 

He proceeds, — " Observe also their Wisdom in another respect : how they had 
overcome their appetite, taking so little care of their meals, that though they had 
been three days in the desert, yet they had with them only seven loaves." — 
The meaning of " desert," or " wilderness," has been already explained in the note 
on St. Luke i. 80. 

5 And He asked them, How many loaves have ye ? And they said, 
Seven. 

They are not related to have added on this, as on the former occasion, — "But 
what are they among so many V\i) 

6 And He commanded the people to sit down on the ground : and He 
took the Seven loaves, and gave thanks, 

In the former miracle, (the feeding of the five thousand,) it is recorded that our 
Saviour "looked up to Heaven" (&) when He gave thanks. That gesture is not 
recorded on the present occasion : but the Thanksgiving finds place in both accounts 
of the feeding of the four thousand ; whereby, we are surely reminded of the duty 
of "saying grace before Meat." "What a scandalous thing it is," (remarks 
Bishop Wilson,) "to take our food without being mindful who bestows it on us! 
St. Paul 'gave thanks' in the presence of the heathen ;(Z) yet Christians are 
ashamed to do it before Christians." 

(c) Hebr. xi. 10. Compare Genesis xxii. 4. (d) Genes, xl. 20. 

(e) Genes, xlii. 17, 18. (/) Genesis xli. 1, &c. 

(g) Hosea vi. 2. Some of these must needs be the places alluded to by St. Paul, — 1 
Cor. xv. 4. (/i) Consider Isaiah xxxiii. 16. Ps. xxxvii. 3. 

(*) St. John vi. 9. (k) St. Matth. xiv. 19 : St. Mark vi. 41 : St. Luke ix. 16; 

(I) Acts xxvii. 35. 



330 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

7 and brake, and gave to His Disciples to set before them ; and they 
did set them before the people. And they had a few small fishes : and 
He blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. 

Take notice how very distinctly it is recorded that it was the Disciples, and not 
our Lord, who distributed to the multitude. (m) From Him, indeed, came all the 
store : it was the work of His Almighty Hands : blessed by Him, and by Him pre- 
sented to the Twelve for distribution : yet dispensed by tliem, and not by Him. 

" As the loaves and fishes, though they increased and multiplied in the hands of 
the Apostles, were made effectual to the sustenance of the multitude, and derived 
all their efficacy from the power of Christ working in them, — so it is in the admin- 
istration of His Sacraments. For though they must needs be received from the 
hands of His Ministers, they are made effectual instruments of Grace, solely through 
the operation of His Spirit, working by them and in them."(w) 

We cannot in fact behold the Apostles engaged in the manner here described, 
without being reminded of the office of the Ministry, — which is, to distribute spiri- 
tual gifts out of that store which the Lord hath first created and blessed : from a 
source of His providing, " to feed the Church of God :"(o) "to feed and provide for 
the Lord's family ?'(p) like " faithful and wise stewards," " to give them their por- 
tion of meat in due season."(g) For doubtless, as " Man doth not live by Bread 
only, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of the LoRD,"(r) — we 
are to regard in this timely supply of mere temporal want, a type of that Heavenly 
Bounty which sends "us all things that be needful for our souls." 

It has been further well remarked by one of our Archbishops, with reference to 
this distribution of Christ's gifts by His Apostles, — " Be it therefore corporal or 
spiritual sustenance we receive, although it be at the hands of men, yet it is unto 
us as if Christ Himself, in His own person, did reach out His Hand from Heaven 
to feed us/' And he adds, — " They also, by whose means we are made partakers 
of good things, are unto us the Angels of God, and ought accordingly to be honoured, 
of what quality soever they may be in themselves." (5) 

8 So they did eat, and were filled : and they took up of the broken 
meat that was left seven baskets. 

The number of baskets, in the feeding of the five thousand, corresponded with the 
number of Apostles who collected the fragments. See the note on St. Mark vi. 43. 
This time, the number of the baskets corresponds with the number of the loaves. 
But a different kind of basket is spoken of, on the two occasions. These Seven, 
were of the kind in which St. Paul was "let down" "through a window" " by the 
wall" of Damascus : (t) a basket of a much larger kind, it may therefore be presumed, 
than the other. 

Far better worth noticing, however, is the command of the Creator, after both 
His Miracles of feeding, that the fragments which remained should be carefully 
gathered up. " The Great House-keeper of the World" suffers not that aught shall 
be wasted. Yet that all shall " eat" — yea, that all shall " be filled," — in His 
Sovereign will. And thus, by observing His actions, and noting His sayings, we 
may learn a lesson from Him for our own conduct at every step. 

9 And they that had eaten were about four thousand : and He sent 
them away. 

But, (as we have seen,) not empty. They came to Him, hungering and thirsting, 
— chiefly after Righteousness; and accordingly, they were filled, (u) — first with 
Spiritual Blessings, next with the relief of their temporal wants. " Seek ye first 
the Kingdom of God," as it is said, "and all these things shall be added." (x) 

" Observe that Christ fed fewest when "He had most provision. When He had 

(m) See the latter part of St. Mark vi. 41, — and the note thereon. 
(n) Dean Lowe : quoted by Ford. (0) Acts xx. 28. 

(p) Ordination Service. (q) St. Luke xii. 42. (r) Deut. viii. 3. 

(s) Abp. Sandys. (t) Acts. ix. 25. Compare 2 Cor. xi. 33. 

(u) St. Matthew v. 6. (x) St. Matthew iv. 33. 



VIII.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 331 

seven loaves, He fed but four thousand ; when he had Jive loaves, He fed five 
thousand." 

The Reader is referred, in conclusion, to the notes on St. Matthew xv. 32 to 39, 
for some additional remarks on the present Divine incident. But, as it has been 
elsewhere pointed out, the former Miraculous Feeding of the Five Thousand (?/) has 
anticipated much of what would else have called for comment here. 

10 And straightway he entered into a ship with His Disciples, and 
came into the parts of Dalmanutha. 

Or " of Magdala" — as it is said in St. Matthew's Gospel. (z) The district spoken 
of, lay to the South of Capernaum, and therefore on the Western side of the Lake, 
whither our Lord repaired after He had " entered into the ship with His Disciples." 



11 And the Pharisees came forth 



"With the Sadducees" says St. Matthew :(a) and the circumstance is worth 
noticing, as it helps to explain our Lord's language in verse 15. 

and began to question with Him, seeking of Him a Sign from Heaven, 
tempting Him. 

Concerning the " sign frbm Heaven" which this perverse people required of our 
Saviour, something will be found in the note on St. Luke xi. 16 : something, also, 
in the note on St. Matthew xii. 38 and xvi. 1. They asked for a visible and extra- 
ordinary sign from Heaven, such as Moses had been empowered to display, (6) — one 
which should directly point out the Divine Speaker as the promised Messiah. Yet 
did this demand proceed from men with whom no kind of proof would have pre- 
vailed. Observe, that the spirit in which the demand was made is expressly 
recorded: they came — tempting Him ; that is, bent on nothing so much as ensnaring 
our Saviour, — ascertaining the limits of His power, with a view to exposing Him if 
He failed. Doubtless, it was the perversity and hardness of their hearts which occa- 
sioned the gesture and the reply which St. Mark proceeds to record : — 

12 And He sighed deeply in His spirit, and saith, Why doth this 
generation seek after a sign ? verily I say unto you, There shall no 
sign be given unto this generation. 

St. Matthew adds, — " but the sign of the prophet Jonas:" (c) which, however, the 
Divine Speaker well kneAV would be no sign to them; (for, as he declares propheti- 
cally in another place, — " neither will they be persuaded though One rose from the 
dead.") (d) Or, again, the meaning may be, that no such sign as they require, — 
No sign from Heaven shall be afforded them. Our Lord is found to have referred 
them to the self-same mysterious type on three several occasions : on one of which 
He explained His meaning, and showed wherein the prophet Jonah was to prove a 
type of Himself, (e) 

13 And He left them, and entering into the ship again departed to 
the other side. 

How fearful must their state have been towards whom the Saviour of the World 
could thus act ! 

If the Reader will call to mind what was said in the note on verse 10, he will 
perceive that the Eastern coast of the sea of Galilee is the scene of the incidents 
which follow: accordingly " Bethsaida [Julias]" is mentioned in verse 22, and 
" the towns of Csesarea Philippi" in verse 27 : where see the notes. Whether the 
Discourse of the Saviour to his Disciples, recorded in the next verses, took place 
after the Blessed Company had reached the shore, or while they were yet in the 
ship, may perhaps be regarded as a matter of uncertainty ; but the hill must have 
been full in sight whereon He sat while he "brake the five loaves among five 
thousand," and " the seven among four thousand."(/) How must their hearts 

(y) St. Matthew xiv. 15 to 21 : St. Mark vi. 35 to 44: St. Luke ix. 12 to 17 : St, John vi. 3 
to 14. (z) St. Matth. xv. 39. (a) St. Matthew xvi. 1. 

(b) See note on St. Luke xi. 16. (c) St. Matth. xvi. 4. (d) St. Luke xvi. 31. 

(e) St. Matt. xii. 39, 40, where see notes. See also St. Luke xi. 30. (/ ) See below vers. 19, 20. 



332 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

have "burned within them, therefore, while He appealed to those miracles of mercy, 
— so recent, and of necessity so fresh in the memories of all ! 

14 Now the Disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they 
in the ship with them more than one loaf. 

So careless do these holy followers of the Lamb prove to have been about making 
provision for their own personal wants. Their usual provision was bread, — the 
simplest food of all! One one occasion, live loaves was all their store : on another, 
seven. On this occasion, they had come away provided with only a single loaf. It 
is pleasant to believe, with a pious writer of other days, that " so captivated were 
they with the sweetness of the one true Bread which they had with them, (contain- 
ing in itself all delight,) that of ordinary bread they thought not I" 

Take notice by the way, of the revelation here afforded us of our Blessed Lord's 
ordinary manner of life. 

15 And He charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven 
of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. 

That is, — and of the leaven " of the Sadducees ;" for so it stands in St. Matthew's 
Gospel. (</) From this place of Scripture, therefore, it is discovered that Herod 
Antipas, the murderer of St. John Baptist, and the persecutor of Christ himself, 
was by profession a Sadducee. Something will be found on this subject in the 
notes on St. Matthew xiv. 2 and St. Mark vi. 14. 

Now, as the Divine Speaker elsewhere explains, — " the leaven of the Pharisees" 
was " Hypocrisy. "(Ji) On this very occasion, in fact, He called them " Hypo- 
crites." (i) And the Hypocrisy of which our Saviour speaks, is that subtle, and 
most deadly kind of Deceit, which, from imposing upon others, ends by the habitual 
deception of self.(&) "The leaven of the Sadducees" was Unbelief. — Our Saviour 
here speaks of "Doctrine" under the name of "Leaven:" doubtless, because of 
the secrecy and silence with which it works, and the certainty with which it spreads: 
no less than because of its marvellous transforming power ; — so acting upon the 
thing it encounters, (as we said in our note on St. Matthew xiii. 33,) that, in the 
end, " the whole [man] is leavened ; becomes changed, and partakes of another 
nature. 

Consider how St. Paul employs the same image, when he invites the Corinthian 
Church to keep the Passover "with the unleavened bread of Sincerity and 
Truth." (T) 

16, 17 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because 
we have no bread. And when Jesus knew it, 

For He knew their secret thoughts. The Reader is requested to refer to St. 
Mark ii. 8, and to read the note there. 

He saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread ? 
perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your hearts yet 
hardened ? 

" Yet hardened," — as on that former occasion, (the walking on the sea,) when it 
is expressly recorded by St. Mark of the Disciples, that "they considered not the 
miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened." (m) On the condition of heart 
or mind indicated by this term, a remark has been already offered in the note on 
St. Mark vi. 52. 

18 Having eyes, see ye not ? and having ears, hear ye not ? and do 
ye not remember ? 

In the two miracles of feeding, therefore, there was something to be understood, 
as well as to be remembered: and as here it was intended that the Disciples should 
understand Doctrine to be spoken of, while Leaven alone was named ; so doubtless 

(g) St. Matth. xvi. 6. (h) St. Luke xii. 1. (i) St. Matthew xvi. 3, where see note. 

\k) Consider such places as St. Matthew vii. 5. (I) 1 Cor. v. 7. 

(m) See St. Mark vi. 52. 



VIII.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 333 

in those other cases, something loftier is to be discerned in the narrative than is 
conveyed by the letter, which speaks only of Bread. 

Surely, it is no less instructive than surprising to find the Apostles themselves 
thus coming under the very censure which the Pharisees and Sadducees had so 
lately incurred. For, as St. Matthew relates the conversation which immediately 
precedes, our Saviour had just been reproaching his enemies with their lack of 
spiritual discernment :(?0 and this is precisely the charge which He here brings 
against the Twelve. Our Lord continues, — 

19, 20 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many 
baskets full of fragments took ye up ? They say unto Him, Twelve. 
And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of 
fragments took ye up ? And they said, Seven. 

The former miracle is recorded by St. Matthew xiv. 15 to 21 : by St. Mark vi. 
35 to 44 : by St. Luke ix. 12 to 17 : by St. John vi. 2 to 14. The latter, by St. 
Matthew xiv. 32 to 39 : by St. Mark viii. 1 to 9. 

21 And He said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand? 

St. Matthew continues, — " that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye 
should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees ? Then under- 
stood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the 
doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." (o) — Here, then, was a twofold 
reproof. Christ blamed them partly for their distrust of His Providence and 
Power, which could have supplied their need of bread as readily as it had already 
done on two separate occasions. Partly (as we have seen) He rebuked them for 
their lack of spiritual discernment.^) And, (as an excellent living writer re- 
marks,) "though the two subjects of complaint are in themselves perfectly distinct 
— the one, their want of faith in thinking of bread ; the other, their not under- 
standing the allusion to hypocrisy — yet the two are spoken of by our Lord as if 
intimately connected together, in the heart of man." 

The city to which our attention is next invited, stood at the northern extremity 
of the Lake, on the eastern side of the Jordan ;(q) and was wholly distinct from 
Bethsaida of Galilee, (r) — " the city of Andrew and Peter ."(a) Philip the Tetrarch 
called it "Julias/ 7 in honour of Julia, the daughter of the Emperor. Augustus. 
Close by this city it was that the miraculous feeding of the five thousand took 
place.(tf) — Our Lord, therefore, having journeyed a few miles in a northerly direc- 
tion, followed by the Twelve, it is added, — 

22 And He cometh to Bethsaida ; and they bring a blind man unto 
Him, and besought Him to touch him. 

They besought our Saviour to lay his hands upon the afflicted man — as they 
had seen Him do in other cases: whereupon, cure had been observed to follow, (m) 
Take notice that this is precisely what Christ in the next verse is recorded to have 
done on the present occasion. He had evidently already entered the town when 
He was accosted by the friends of the sufferer ; for, it is added, — 

23 And He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the 
town ; and when He had spit on his eyes, and put His hands upon him, 
He asked him if he saw ought. 

The present miracle, which is found in no other Gospel except that of St. Mark, 
bears a striking resemblance to another act of merey elsewhere recorded, — the 
cure, namely, of " one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech/' de- 
scribed in the foregoing chapter.(z) It bears some resemblance also to the miracle 
performed on " a man which was blind from his birth/ \y) which St. John describes ; 
but differs from every other in more than one respect. Our Saviour inquires of 

(n) St. Matt. xvi. 2, 3. (o) St. Matt. xvi. 11, 12, where see notes. (p) See note on ver. 18. 

(q) See above, the note on verse 13. {r) St. John xii. 21. 

(«) St. John i. 44. (t) St. Luke ix. 10. 
(«) See for example St. Matthew ix. 18 : St. Mark vii. 32, &c. 

(*) St. Mark vii. 32 to 35. (y) St. John ix. 1, 6, 7. 



334 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

the sufferer, How it fares with him ? an act which on no other occasion He is re- 
lated to have performed. The man's reply, — the Saviour's renewed, yet varied 
action, — and the gradual nature of the cure, — are all features peculiar to the pre- 
sent miracle. So indeed is that gracious act of individual guidance with which the 
entire narrative is introduced ; for the Saviour is described as " taking the "blind 
man by the hand, and leading him out of the town." — "It is remarkable," says a 
pious writer who is never found to slumber on holy ground, (z) "that among the 
many pictures of our Lord's Miracles, Teaching, and Life, this action of His — 
leading a blind man — has never been made the subject of painting, for which it is, 
in itself, highly suitable ; as a symbolical action so expressive of the great Leader 
of the blind, the Guide of the World 1" 

On a subsequent occasion, clay made with spittle is found to have been the in- 
strument whereby the Almighty One wrought wonderfully in the cure of blind- 
ness ;(a) but here, it would seem as if the moisture of those blessed lips had been 
employed alone. The self-same method of restoration, however, was met with in 
the former chapter, where an impediment in the speech was removed. (6) Our Sa- 
viour is there said to have " spit," and touched the tongue of the sufferer, as here it 
was upon the eyes that He bestowed the Sacred Moisture. And how can we fail to 
recall the suggestion which was there hazarded ; namely, that every part of these 
great transactions was deeply mysterious and symbolical, — full of solemn meaning, 
both to the immediate object of the Saviour's mercy, and to ourselves? — "The 
Lord put forth His Hand," says the Prophet Jeremiah, "and touched my mouth. 
And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have 'put My ivords in thy mouth "(c) Shall 
we be called fanciful if, seeking to be guided by the hand by Him, we presume that 

when He touched the eyes, He intended something* symbolical also ? The 

Header is requested to refer to what has been already written on this subject in the 
notes on St. Mark vii. 32 to 34. 

Is it perhaps implied by the present striking narrative, that He who came (as 
Prophecy had distinctly foretold,) "to open the blind eyes,"(d) will thus sometimes 
take them that " sit in darkness," by the hand, and guide them " into His marvel- 
lous Light ?" first, withdrawing them from the crowd ; then, gradually clearing up 
their difficulties ; and, by repeated efforts of His Love, at last enabling them to see 
all things clearly ? — For was not this Pie who, long before, had spoken such things 
by His Prophet ? "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not ; I will lead 
them in paths that they have not known : I will make darkness light before them, 
and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake 
them Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see!"(e) 

24 And He looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 

He had not been born blind. He remembered the appearance of natural objects; 
and,jin the hazy forms which already presented themselves to his brightening vision, 
he beheld something which reminded him of the appearance of trees when seen in- 
distinctly through the dawn. Our Saviour asked the man the question, not (of 
course) as needing the information ; but for the sake of others, in order that they 
| might be aware of the gradual change which was taking place: while "for our 

sakes, no doubt, this was written? \f) 

25 After that, He put His Hands again upon his eyes, and made 
him look up : and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. 

" The grace of the Lord, which was poured out on many suddenly, descended 
drop by drop, as it were, on this man." It is in fact the only instance of progres- 
sive cure recorded in the Gospels. The effect of our Lord's Miracles was generally 
instantaneous. Yet does the gradual return of the bodily faculty, here recorded, 
remind us of the similar " drawing on to fullness of belief which is found in certain 
other miracles : as in our Lord's conduct to Jairus,(#) and to Martha on raising 
her brother Lazarus,(/i) and others. It reminds us of His supporting Peter on the 

(z) The Rev. Isaac Williams. (a) St. John ix. 6. 

(b) St. Mark vii. 32 to 35. (c) Jer. i. 9. 

(d) Isaiah xlii. 7. Consider further Isaiah xxix. 18 and xxxv. 5. 

ie) Isaiah xlii. 16, 18. Consider also 2 Cor. iv. 4: Coloss. i. 13, &c. 
f) The Reader may refer, if he pleases, to the notes on St. Mark v. 9 and 30 : ix. 21. 
g) St Mark v. 36. (h) St. John xi. 21 to 40. 



VIII.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 335 



-water, by the Hand, when his own faith was too imperfect to sustain him:(t) and 
of His carrying in His arms, or gently leading, the weak ones of his flock." (&) 

For are we not to behold in the slow and gradual nature of this man's restoration 
the result of a defective Faith ? The excellent living Writer already quoted, follow- 
ing in the track of the Ancients, assumes the fact as certain. " Why," he asks, 
"does He who said, 'Let there be Light, and there was Light/ thus proceed with 
effort ? No doubt it was on account of the weakness of Faith, both in the blind 
man, and in those who brought him ; so that his eyes could not be at once opened." 

26 And He sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the 
town, nor tell it to any in the town. 

Bethsaida, therefore, was not the place of this man's residence. He was forbidden 
to return, or to make mention of his cure to any within the town, for the same 
reason doubtless which had caused our Saviour to lead him, in the first instance, 
"out of the town."(Z) There may have been danger of blasphemy and unbelief on 
the part of the inhabitants of Bethsaida, (m) — as was suggested in the note on St. 
Matthew viii. 4, in explanation of a similar injunction Avhich our Lord delivered on 
another occasion : (though this was a different Bethsaida from that spoken of in 
St. Matthew xi. 21 :) or there may have been such motives as will be found pointed 
out in the last note on the first chapter of the present Gospel. The Reader will 
perhaps not be displeased to be referred to St. Matthew ix. 27 to 30, and to the re- 
marks which have been offered on that portion of Scripture. 

27 And Jesus went out, and His Disciples, into the towns of Csesa- 
rea Philippi : 

Travelling some twenty or thirty miles in a northerly direction, and still keeping 
to the East of the Jordan, (the Hills of Lebanon and Mount Hermon full in view,) 
this blessed company, after passing the Waters of Merom, had at last reached the 
fertile district where anciently stood the City of Dan, (formerly called Laish;)(/i) 
the spot where Jeroboam is related to have set up one of his idolatrous calves. (o) 
Near the sources of the river, was built Cassarea Philippi: a town so called to dis- 
tinguish it from the other Csesarea upon the sea-coast ;(p) and deriving its name 
from Philip, the Tetrarch of Trachonitis, within whose territory it stood. It was 
more anciently called Paneas ; and retains a name closely resembling its ancient 
appellation, to the present day. 

and by the way He asked His Disciples, saying unto them, Whom 
do men say that I am ? 

He was with them alone, when He asked this question ; (concerning which, see 
the note on St. Matth. xvi. 13 :) and St. Luke says that he had been praying.(q) 
But St. Mark here notices that this incident took place "by the way:" so that the 
Blessed Company seem to have halted, in order that their Heavenly Guide might 
hold mysterious intercourse with the Father. It will be remembered that before 
many events of unusual importance in the Life of our Blessed Lord, it is expressly 
recorded that He prayed : and of such an unusual character seems to have been the 
inquiry which goes before ; or rather, the answer to which it led. 

28 And they answered, John the Baptist : but some say, Elias ; and 
others, One of the Prophets. 

This then was the explanation which common Rumor offered, in the days of the 
Son of Man, of His stupendous works. That Christ was John Baptist restored to 
life, is found to have been the suspicion of the guilty Herod: "others said, That it 
is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets."(r) 
Some declared that it was Jeremiah himself who had re-appeared :{s) and others, 

(i) St. Matth. xiv. 30, 31. (&) Isaiah si. 11. (I) See verse 23. 

■ (m) " If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had 
sin/' — said our Lord on another occasion. St. John xv. 24. 

(n) Judges xviii. 29. (o) 1 Kings xii. 28, 29. 

(p) Acts viii. 40 : ix. 30 : xii. 19, &o. (q) St. Luke ix. 18 : where see the note. 

(r) St. Mark vi. 14, 15. Compare St. Luke ix. 7, 8. (s) See St. Matth. xvi. 14. 



336 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

"that one of the old prophets was risen again."(0 The expectation of Elijah 
(written in Greek " Elias,") was grounded upon Malachi iv. 5, and is found to have 
been very prevalent among the Jews at this time ; as appears from St. John i. 2L: 
and see St. Matthew xvii. 10. These common reports then the Apostles repeated, 
in answer to the inquiry of their Lord. 

29 And He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am ? And 
Peter answereth and saith unto Him, Thou art the Christ. 

" The Son of the living God," — as St. Matthew acids ;(u) and the same Evange- 
list proceeds to record the splendid announcement addressed by the Holy One to 
the Apostle who had made so glorious a confession of His Divinity. This passage 
in St. Peter's History, inasmuch as it redounded so highly to his honour, that great 
Saint may be presumed to have instructed St. Mark to omit, when he delivered to 
him the materials of his Gospel : in illustration of which remark, the Reader is re- 
ferred to the note prefixed to St. Mark i. 1 The Reader will do well to refer 

in this place to St. Matthew's Gospel, — xvi. 16 to 19 ; where he is requested to read 
the notes. 

30 And He charged them that they should tell no man of Him. 

" That He was Jesus the Christ," — as St. Matthew adds.(x) A most remarka- 
ble injunction truly ! concerning which some observations will be found in the note 
on St. Matthew xvi. 20. 

But "from that time forth," as St. Matthew intimates, (y) building on the firm 
foundation of Faith which His own Almighty Hands had laid, He is found to have 
prepared the minds of the Apostles for His Cross and Passion which were to follow. 
Accordingly, it is added, — 

31 And He began to teach them, that the Son of Man must suffer 
many things, and be rejected of the Elders, and of the Chief Priests, 
and Scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 

So fully was the whole History of His coming Humiliation, and future Glory pre- 
sent to the eyes of the Saviour of the world ! Foreseen by Him from the beginning, 
was every indignity which the malice of His enemies was about to contrive, — as ap- 
pears from such places as St. Mark x. 33, 34. Take notice, that it was "from that 
time forth"(z) that our Saviour began to lay before His Apostles the outline of His 
coming Sufferings and Death. Hitherto has He nowhere expressly made mention 
of either. Henceforward, we shall find the notices of both not only frequent, but, 
as the time drew nigh, more and more express and particular. (a) 

32 And He spake that saying openly. 

Not publicly ; but without disguise: "plainly," as the word is translated in St. 
John x. 24: xi. 14: xvi. 25, 29: abstaining from the use of figures or types, which 
on other occasions, He had used to describe His approaching Death and Resurrec- 
tion. 

And Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him. 

" Took Him aside," perhaps, and lovingly remonstrated with Him on the dread- 
ful course of Humiliation which He had just described : seeking as it were to deter 
Him from it. One of the Fathers says strikingly, — " The Lord loved John; but it 
was Peter who loved the Lord." It follows, — 

33 But when He had turned about and looked on His Disciples, He 
rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind Me, Satan : for thou savourest 
not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. 

St. Peter, who is thought on good grounds to have withheld St. Mark from pre- 

(t) St. Luke ix. 19. (it) St. Matth. xvi. 16. (jb) St. Mattli xvi. 20. 

(y) St. Matth. xvi. 21. (z) St. Matth. xvi. 21. 

(a) See St. Matthew xvii. 22 : xx. 18, 19. St. Luke xviii. 31 : xxiv. 6, 7, &c. 



VIII.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 337 

serving the record of that which redounded to his highest honour,(&) is found to 
have suppressed neither the instance of mistaken zeal which goes before, nor the 
present stern, and almost terrible rebuke of his Lord ; — concerning which, see more 
in the note on St. Matthew xvi. 23. 

Take notice bow particularly our Saviour's gesture is here noticed; His "turn- 
ing about," (the act, by the way, of one who walks in advance;') His "looking on 
His Disciples:" and lastly, the awful rebuke which He addressed to St. Peter. — 
Concerning this last, it will of course be understood that our Saviour's words point 
out Satan as the Adversary, who, availing himself of human weakness and human 
sinfulness, is in reality the one who, all along, opposes himself to God. Satan, it 
was, (not St. Peter,) who was unwilling that Christ should suffer Death upon the 
Cross, and so redeem mankind. The Apostle spake but in love and blindness ; for 
the Eternal Father, who had revealed to Simon the truth concerning the Nature 
of the Son of Man,(c) had vouchsafed to him no illumination concerning the mys- 
tery of His Cross and Passion. 

34 And when He had called the people unto Him with His Disciples 
also, He said unto them, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny 
himself, and take up his Cross, and follow Me. 

As if He had said, — Not only must I suffer ; but whosoever has the will to be My 
disciple, must be prepared to suffer also, — to share My fate, even to take up his 
cross, and bear it after Me. 

But what is this " bearing of the Cross/' with which our ears have become fami- 
liar? Doubtless, it implies the endurance of any burden which God's Love may 
seem fit to lay upon us, — the instrument of our suffering, and even of our Death. 
By the World esteemed ignominious, Suffering and Sorrow have yet been sanctified 
by Him, who made the instrument of keenest torture to become for ever an emblem 
of Himself. 

35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it ; but whosoever shall 
lose his life for My sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it. 

A very important saying doubtless, and worthy of most solemn consideration ; for 
our Blessed Lord is found to have delivered it on no less than four several occa- 
sions, which it will suffice to indicate in a note below.(cT) 

36, 37, 38 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole 
World, and lose his own soul ? Or what shall a man give in exchange 
for his soul ? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My 
words in this adulterous and sinful generation ; of him also shall the 
Son of Man be ashamed. 

That is, "Whosoever shall, for fear of the ridicule and contempt of men, be ashamed 
to profess openly his faith in Me and in My words, — Tiim will I also refuse to 
acknowledge as Mine : him will I also treat as though I were ashamed of him." 
Comparethe language of St. Matthew x. 32, 33 ; consider also the expressions in 
Romans i. 16 ; 2 Tim. i. 8, — and again in Hebrews ii. 11 : xi. 16. . . . The genera- 
tion is called " adulterous" because its heart was estranged from God, — for verily, 
"I was an Husband unto them, saith the LoRD."(e) See the note on St. Matthew 
xii. 39. It is declared that the Son of Man will be ashamed of these, — 

when He cometh in the Glory of His Father with the Holy Angels. 

"For," (as the Divine Speaker added on the same occasion,) "the Son of Man 
shall come in the Glory of His Father, with His Angels ; and then He shall reward 

(6) See above, on ver. 29. See also the note prefixed to the first chapter of the present 
Gospel. 

(c) St. Matt. xvi. 17. 

(d) The present place, which corresponds with St. Matth. xvi. 25 and St. Luke ix. 24: (2) 
St. Matth. x. 39 : (3) St. Luke xvii. 33 : (4) St. John xii. 25. 

(e) Jeremiah xxxi. 32. Compare Isaiah liv. 5, &c. &c. 

22 



338 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

every man according to His works :"(/) Concerning the bearing of which words on 
the entire discourse, the Reader is referred to the note on St. Matthew xvi. 27. . . . 
The opening verse of the next chapter should also be read in connection with what 
goes before : " Yerily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, 
which shall not taste of death till they have seen the Kingdom of God come with 
power."(^) 



CHAPTER IX 



2 Jesus is transfigured. 11 He instructeth His Disciples concerning the coming of 
Elias. 14 Casteth forth a dumb and deaf Spirit. 30 For etelleth His Death and 
Resurrection. 33 Exhorteth His Disciples to Humility. 38 Bidding them not to 
prohibit such as be not against them, nor to give offence to any of the faithful. 

1 And He said unto them, Yerily I say unto you, That there be some 
of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have 
seen the Kingdom of Goi> come with Power. 

This will be thought an abrupt way of beginning a Chapter. Indeed, as already 
observed, (a) it is an unfortunate division of the subject, — leaving the sense of the 
former Chapter incomplete ; and perplexing the Header who opens the Gospel at the 
present place. Let it be observed, however, in passing, that he who desires to profit 
to the utmost by the study of any part of God's Word should, (as a general rule,) 
notice that part which has gone before ; and especially he should attend to the 
words which have immediately preceded. The end of one chapter often contains a 
clue to the meaning of the next. Sometimes it is even necessary for completing 
the sense of it. Some references to a single Book of the Bible, illustrative of this 
remark, are added at the foot of the page ; which the curious Reader will perhaps 
think it worth his while to examine. (b) On the whole, however, the manner in 
which the Bible has been divided into chapters must be allowed to be both happy 
and judicious ; which any one may convince himself of, by trying to contrive a better 
Division. 

Requesting the Reader therefore to refer not only to the concluding verses of the 
foregoing chapter, but also to the remarks which have been offered at the beginning 
of St. Matthew xvii. and on St. Luke ix. 27, — it shall only be repeated that the 
Transfiguration of the Son of Man which follows, was the fulfillment of the pro- 
phecy contained in the preceding verse. 

If) St. Matthew xvi. 27. 

(g) St. Mark ix. 1. Take notice that the same words form the last verse of St. Matth. xvi. 

(a) See the note on St. Mark viii. 38. 

(b) The "two Angels" spoken of in Gen. xix. 1, are of course the two "men" noticed in ver. 
22 of the former chapter. — The first words of Gen. xxvi. offer an explanation of the incident 
which concludes chap. xxv. (29 to 34) — The first words of Gen. xxviii. are explained by the 
last verse of Gen. xxvii. — The end of Gen. xxxiii. (ver. 18 to 20) introduces the incident with 
which chap, xxxiv. (see ver. 2,) commences. — Compare the first words of Gen. xxxv. 3 with the 
last words of Gen. xxxiv. 30. — Gen. xlv. begins " Then Joseph." But when was that? Seethe 
last words of Gen. xliv. — Observe how closely the beginning of Gen. 1. coheres with the end of 

Gen. xlix Such examples in the New Testament as Acts xxi. 40, (where the sense is 

incomplete without Acts xxiii.) and 1 Cor. xii. 1, — (which depends on the last words of 1 Cor. 
xii. 13,) — will at once present themselves. Consider the affecting contrast which is lost by dis- 
joining St. John vii. 53, and viii. 1. 



IX.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 339 



2 And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and 
John, and leadeth them np into an high mountain apart by themselves : 

" James, Cephas, and John, who seemed" to St. Paul "to "be pillars,"(c) and who 
were the chosen witnesses of this great transaction, enjoyed a like special privilege 
on two other occasions: they had already beheld the raising of Jairus' daughter,(<2) — 
and they were destined hereafter to witness the Agony in the Garden. (e) The only 
two of them who have left any writings, are found to make special allusion to this 
their high privilege ; and delightful it is, — a matter of even awful interest it may 
well be thought, — to recall their words. 

St. John, in the very first chapter of his Gospel, alludes to the Transfiguration of 
Christ. "We beheld His Glory!" (he says; breaking off suddenly to make that 
solemn declaration :) " the Glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father." (/) But 
no where else does the beloved Disciple even allude to the circumstance. — St. Peter 
is far more express. He had doubtless dwelt, many a time, on the glories of the 
final Advent ; and discoursed to the people, (as only two other men in the World 
could have presumed to do,) on the terrific splendour with which the Son of Man 
will appear in the latter days. Referring, (as it may be thought,) to those Dis- 
courses, St. Peter says in his Second Epistle, — " We have not followed cunningly 
devised fables when we have made known unto you the Power and Coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ:" — (that is, His " Coming with Power" as it is said above, in 
verse 1:) — "but were eye-witnesses of His Majesty. For He received from God 
the Father Honour and Glory, when there came such a Voice to Him from the excel- 
lent Glory, — "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." And this Voice 
which came from Heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the Holy 
Mount."(p') ..... Such is the testimony which was borne long after by an eye- 
witness to the mysterious transaction which follows. 

"Learn from His taking Peter, and John, and James," (says one,) "that three 
sorts of men shall see Christ in Glory. Those who love Christ, with St. Peter :(h) 
those, who with St. John, are beloved of Christ :(t) and those who, with St. James, 
suffer for the cause of Christ." (ft) 

3 and He was transfigured before them. And His raiment became 
shining, exceeding white as snow ; so as no fuller on earth can white 
them. 

"White as the Light," says St. Matthew; "and His Face did shine as the 
Sun."(Z) St. Luke adds that "as He prayed, the fashion of His Countenance was 
altered."(w) And this is all that has been revealed concerning that wonderful 
Change which at this time passed upon our Divine Lord, and to which we apply 
the name of The Transfiguration. In the words of an eloquent living Writer, — 
" A dazzling Light struggled forth at every part of His Sacred Person ; pene- 
trating the transparent features, and dissipating the earthly appearance of flesh and 
blood."(n) 

Yet surely enough has been revealed to fill our hearts with gratitude and wonder, 
when we reflect that as He then appeared, so will His Redeemed appear hereafter : 
for "we know," (says the beloved Disciple,) "that, when He shall appear, we shall 
be like Him.(o) " The Resurrection-bodies of the Saints will resemble that of their 
Lord. They too shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father; when 
that which ; was sown in corruption shall have been raised in incorruption, and 
that which was sown in weakness shall have been raised in power, and that which 
was sown in dishonour shall have been raised in glory "(p) " When Christ, who is 
our life, shall appear," (writes the great Apostle,) "then shall ye also appear with 
Him in glory "(q) And to the same effect are the words of Philippians iii. 20, 21 ; 
which mean, literally, — " We expect the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall 

(c) Galat. ii. 9. (d) St. Mark v. 37. (e) St. Matth. xxvi. 37 to. 40. 

(/) St. John i. 14. 

(g) 2 St. Peter i. 16 to 18. There seems to be another allusion to the Transfiguration in 1 
St. Peter v. 1. 
(h) St. John xxi. 15. ft) St. John xix. 26, <fcc. (k) Acts xii. 2. 

(I) St. Matth. xvii. 2. (m) St. Luke ix. 29. 

(») Goulburn's Bampton Lectures. (o) St. John iii. 2. 

\p) Dr. G-oulburn. (q) Coloss. iii. 4. 



340 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

transfigure our body of humiliation, that it may he fashioned like unto His Body of 
Gloryr 

It will be remembered that when Moses talked with God, " the skin of his face 
shone :"(r) but Moses, (remarks an old Father,) " was arrayed with a glory which 
came from without: our Lord, with that which proceeded from the inherent bright- 
ness of Divine Glory. For . . . He was transfigured, not as receiving what He 
was not, but as manifesting to His Disciples what He was." Then, "that it might 
be shown that there is but one Lord of the Old and New Covenant; and that men 
might believe in the Resurrection ; and that He Himself who was transfigured 
might be believed to be the Lord of the living and the dead ; — Moses and Elias, as 
servants, stand by their Lord in His Glory." As it follows, — 

4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses : and they were 
talking with Jesus. 

St. Luke says that they " appeared in Glory, and spake of His Decease which He 
should accomplish at Jerusalem :"(s) they discoursed therefore concerning the very 
event which, in the announcement, had lately so disturbed Simon Peter. (£) Con- 
cerning this wonderful declaration of the text, the Reader is requested to read what 
has been already written in the note on St. Luke ix. 31. Some remarks have been 
hazarded in that place concerning the Lawgiver and Prophet who, out of the whole 
number of the Saints departed, were made choice of to hold converse on this great 
occasion with the Son of Man. " Moses, with whom the Lord spake face to face ; 
and the prophet Elijah, who was caught up to Heaven in a fierj- chariot: these per- 
sonages, whom the Lord of old so highly honoured, now appear as the servants of 
the Son of Man, and talk with Him. . „ . . Heaven, as it were, comes down" to 
Earth, " and glorified humanity is made visible to the eyes of flesh. In Moses were 
represented the generations of the dead: and in Elijah, who died not, those who 
shall be alive at the last day."(w) 

One of the Fathers points out that " when the Scribes and Pharisees asked for a 
sign from Heaven, our Lord refused them any ; but now, to confirm the Apostles' 
faith, He gives them a sign, unasked. Elijah comes down from Heaven, whither 
he was gone up : Moses arises from the Place of departed Souls. So, Isaiah bade 
Ahaz ask Him a sign ' either in the depth, or in the height above.' "(x) 

5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us 
to be here : and let us make three tabernacles ; one for Thee, and one 
for Moses, and one for Elias. 

"'Love will stammer, rather than remain dumb/ says Leighton. St. Peter 
knew not what he ought to say, but he knew what he felt ; and out of the abundance 
of the heart his mouth spake, — ■ It is good for us to be here.' He loved the pre- 
sence of His Lord at all times : he now specially desired it, when he saw it sur- 
rounded with honour and glory : he wished to detain Him on the Mount ; there to 
abide with Him for ever ; and to return to the trials and temptations of the World 
no more. He desired, at the same time, the Communion of Saints in their union 
with the Lord of Life and Glory : — of Saints departed, as Moses and Elias ; of 
Saints still in the same body with himself, as St. James and St. John. ' It is good 
for us to be here.' "(y) 

Thus could St. Peter speak, though he had but a glimpse of the glory of Christ. 
" But how infinitely ' good' will it be to be in Heaven ! How shall we then be 

rapt up with joy, when we shall be 'for ever with the Lord.'"(z) The 

Evangelist (or rather St. Peter himself,) (a) adds in explanation, — 

6 For he wist not what to say ; for they were sore afraid. 

It will be observed that all the three Evangelists who describe the Transfigura- 
tion, concur in noticing particularly the fear which the sight occasioned. St. 
Matthew mentions it in connection with the Heavenly Voice which followed: 

(r) Exodus xxxiv. 29, 30. (a) St. Luke ix. 31. 

(t) See St. Mark viii. 31 to 33. (u) Churton's Baiupton Lectures. 

(x) Jerome; referring to Isaiah vii. 11. (y) Rev. James Ford. 

(z) Archbishop Ussher. (a) See the note prefixed to St. Mark i. 



IX.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 341 

("when the Disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were sore afraid :")(&) 
St. Luke, in connection with the cloud which overshadowed them with glory: 
("and they feared as they entered into the cloud :")(c) St. Mark, in connection with 
the words which St. Peter addressed to Christ. 

7 And there was a Cloud that overshadowed them : and a Voice 
came out of the Cloud, saying, This is My Beloved Son : hear Him. 

It has been well observed^) that as Christ's future glory was to be witnessed by 
three in Heaven, and three in Earth, (e) so was it right that this, the foretaste of 
His coming Kingdom, besides its three earthly witnesses (Peter, James, and John,) 
should have its Three Heavenly Witnesses (the Father, Moses, and Elias,) also. 

8 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no 
man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. 

The Reader is referred to the notes on St. Luke's Gospel, — ix. 34, 35, 36, — for 
some remarks on these two solemn verses. 

9, 10 And as they came down from the mountain, He charged them 
that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son 
of Man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with 
themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead 
should mean. 

So little real notion had they, as yet, of what was to befall their Lord in the end ! 
And it may be thought that, at first, the marvellous sight they had been witnessing 
served only to confuse and perplex them. They had "heard out of the Law that 
Christ abideth for ever :"(f) nay, they had even seen Him come in His King- 
dom :{g) and lo, He speaks of His own Resurrection from Death, as something yet 
future I The Jews knew very well that the dead " shall rise again in the Resurrec- 
tion at the last day:"(A) but Christ speaks of His Resurrection from Death as 
something which is to take place very soon ! Nay, more, — the Apostles have seen 
Elijah come in glory, and depart. But how is this to be reconciled with that pre- 
diction of Malachi which closes the Canon of Prophecy, and which the Scribes 
taught them to expect would be literally fulfilled: "Behold, I send you Elijah the 
Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the LoRD?"(t) Ac- 
cordingly, it follows, — 

11, 12 And they asked Him, saying, Why say the Scribes that 
Elias must first come ? And He answered and told them, Elias verily 
cometh first and restoreth all things ; and how it is written of the Son 
of Man, 

It may be that St. Mark wrote— "even as it is written of the Son of Man,"(&)— 

13 that He must suffer many things, and be set at nought. But I 
say unto you, that Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him 
whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him. 

" Then the Disciples understood that He spake unto them of John the Bap- 
tist;"^) who had come " in the spirit and power of Elias," as the Angel Gabriel 
had predicted ;(m) and had encountered another Ahab and Jezebel, in the persons 
of Herod and Herodias. See the note on St. Matthew xvii. 13. 

Elias came " as it was written of Him ;" namely in Malachi iv. 5, 6. The treat- 
ment which he was to experience at the hands of men, was not the subject of pro- 
phecy. Without this explanation, the construction of verse 13, above, might mislead 
the reader. 

(B) St. Matthew xvii. 6. (c) St. Luke ix. 34. (d) By Grotius. 

(e) 1 St. John v. 7, 8. (/) St. John xii. 34 {g) St. Matth. xvi. 28. 

(h) St. John xi. 24. (*) Mai. iv. 5. 

(k) Compare St. Matthew xvii. 12.— "Likewise shall also the Son of Man." 

(I) St. Matthew xvii. 13. (m) St. Luke i. 17. 



342 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Thus ended our Lord's discourse with His three favoured Apostles. The remain- 
ing nine had been left at the foot of the mountain, and the blessed company were 
about to rejoin them. It follows, — 

14 And when He came to His Disciples, He saw a great multitude 
about them, and the Scribes questioning with them. 

" The old adversaries of our Lord, the Scribes, had taken advantage of His ab- 
sence in the Mount of Transfiguration, to win a temporary triumph, or something 
like one, over His Disciples ; weakened as they were, by the absence of their Lord ; 
and with Him, of three, the chiefest among themselves, — those too, in whom, as 
habitually the nearest to Him, we may suppose power to have most mightily re- 
sided. It was on this occasion, as it was before during the absence of Moses and 
his servant Joshua on his Mount of a fainter Transfiguration ; when, in like man- 
ner, the enemy had found his advantage, and for a while had prevailed." (n) 

But before engaging our attention in the case of the Lunatic Child, the Evan- 
gelist proceeds to describe what happened as our Lord approached the multi- 
tude : — 

15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld Him, were 
greatly amazed, and running to Him saluted Him. 

For there still hung about His Divine features traces of that dazzling glory with 
which they had been so lately invested. The self-same thing is known to have 
happened in the case of Moses, when he " came clown from Mount Sinai with the 
two tables of testimony" in his hand. But "Moses wist not that the skin of his 
face shone" while God had been talking to him: and when Aaron and all the 
people of Israel saw that, " behold, the skin of his face shone, they were afraid to 
come nigh him."(o) Far otherwise was it, in the case of Christ. So attractive 
was "the King in His Beauty,"(p) — so much "fairer than the children of men "(q) 
did He appear, — that the common people, when they beheld Him came running to 
Him. And doubtless whatever is good, is lovely also, — had we but the eyes to 
see it. 

Take notice that the word here translated "greatly amazed" denotes even more 
than is conveyed by that expression. The utmost possible amount of awe and wonder, 
yet without any admixture of fear, — is implied by this word ; which recurs in only 
two other places in the Gospel. (r) 

The conduct of the multitude having been thus noticed, the Evangelist resumes 
what he was saying in verse 14. There was a vast concourse of persons assembled; 
and in the midst of them was the little company of Apostles, surrounded by a party 
of questioning Scribes. 

16 And He asked the Scribes, What question ye with them ? 

How must the nine have been relieved when they heard the well-known voice of 
Him whose "word was with power," and "in whom are hid all the treasures of 
Wisdom and Knowledge,' ; (s) thus taking their part against their crafty and malig- 
nant assailants! — The subject of the Scribes' "questioning" was clearly the extra- 
ordinary case of demoniacal possession which follows ; and which, as we learn from 
ver. 18, the Disciples had already discovered to be of a kind which defied their skill. 
It is easy to conceive the advantage which such a discovery must have afforded to 
the enemies of Christ; as well as the eagerness with which they must have pressed 
their fancied triumph. They had at last learned what were the limits of His power, 
(as they doubtless wished to make it appear,) and they were insulting His Apostles 
accordingly: when they found themselves suddenly arrested by the stern inquiry — 
"What question ye with them?" 

This inquiry of our Lord was solved by one of the company; who fell upon his 
knees (t) while he proceeded to make his humble suit in behalf of his afflicted 
child:— 

(n) Exod. xxxii. — The quotation is from Rev. E. C. Trench. 

(o) Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30. (p) Isaiah xxxiii. IT. 

(q) Ps. xlv. 3. (r) St. Mark xiv. 33; xvi. 5, 6. 

(s) Col. ii. 3. (0 St. Matth. xvii. 14. 



IX.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 343 



17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have 
brought unto Thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit ; 

The youth was deaf as well as dumb, — see below, verse 25. 

18 and wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him : 

The hint here supplied as to what befell the youthful sufferer, in what place 
soever the dumb Spirit ''took him," — added to St. Luke's account of how cruelly 
he was in the habit of using him, ere he "departed from Jiim,"(ii) — leads one to 
suppose that this afflicted Boy was subject to the repeated assaults of his foul ene- 
my; who, in some mysterious way (it is awful to think!) was able to go away, and 
come back again, — as the inmate of a house does, — to his dwelling. The solemn 
language (of verse 25) with which the Lord of Heaven and Earth finally ejected 
him, bears out this suggestion; and throws light, in turn, on the texts which we 
are now considering. 

and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away : 

Or rather, " withereth." The word seems to mean that the very fountain of his 
life became "dried up." 

and I spake to Thy disciples that they should cast him out ; and they 
could not. 

What a terrible picture are we here presented with, of human suffering and 
hellish violence. How harshly does this account of what was passing at the foot 
of the Mount of Transfiguration contrast with the Divine Repose, the Heavenly 
Glories of its summit ! There, we beheld the rapturous meeting of Saints in bliss; 
whose whole talk was of that Great Event whereby the people of God were to be 
ransomed from Sin and the Power of the Grave. Here, an unclean Spirit is found 
fiercely and recklessly defiling a human Temple, — taking hellish pleasure in the 
torture of a child ! Here, too, is a weeping Father, sorrowful and perplexed Apos- 
tles, insulting Scribes, an excited crowd. The harsh discord of Earth is shown us, 
in exchange for the perfect Peace of Heaven. We feel that we have indeed "come 
down from the hill l"(x) 

19 He answereth him, and saith, faithless generation, how long 
shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? 

He speaks of the inhabitants of this lower World, generally. He had been com- 
forting with the light of His presence, faithful Moses and faithful Elijah on the 
Mount. He descends, and He is met by an unfaithful (that is, an unbelieving) 
crowd. Nay, His very Apostles have been put to confusion in His absence, "be- 
cause of their unbelief "(y) ..." This is My Beloved Son," the voice had spoken 
which " came to Him from the Excellent Glory :"(z) and " How long shall I be with 
youf is the mournful exclamation of the Son of Man, when He finds Himself 

again surrounded by the tokens of a ruined World But He is about to "do 

wondrously. ,; (a) Accordingly, He adds, — 

bring him unto Me. 

"As the staff in Gehazi's hand could not arouse the dead child, but the Prophet 
himself must come and take the work in his hand before ever a cure can be 
wrought, (6) so must it be now."(c) 

20 And they brought him unto Him : and when he saw Him, straight- 
way the Spirit tare him ; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foam- 
ing. 

Take notice, that this was the effect produced by the sight of Christ. It may be 
that the brightness of the other World had not yet faded quite away from those 

(u) St. Luke ix. 39. (x) See St. Luke ix. 37. (y) St. Matth. xvii. 20. 

U) 2 St. Peter i. 17. (a) Judges xiii. 19. (6) 2 Kings iv. 29 to 31. 

(c) Rev. R. C. Trench. 



344 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Divine Features. "When he saw Sim, — straightway the Spirit tare" the child. It 
was the signal for terrific violence, thus to behold the Incarnate Jehovah : for, (as 
we have elsewhere remarked,) the presence of God is torture to Devils. (d) More- 
over, the reign of Satan was now fast drawing to a close. The Stronger than the 
strong, has come upon him suddenly and bound him, — even while, like a strong 
man armed, he was keeping his Palace, trusting in his armour, and supposing that 
his goods were in peace, (e) He had been hurled down from his fancied security, — 
had fallen, as lightning falls from Heaven.^) — And therefore was it that he had 
" great wrath," because he knew that he had "but a short time."(^) 

"As he was yet a coming," (St. Luke says,) " the Devil threw him down and tare 
him."(7i) Our Lord proceeded to ask a question of the father concerning this af- 
flicted youth: 

21 And He asked his Father, How long is it ago since this came 
unto him? 

Not that He needed the information He asked for, on this or any other similar 
occasion ;(i) be sure of that! He does but seek to draw from the father a full state- 
ment of his misery, for the advantage of those who stood by. At the same time 
by delaying to act, He sharpens desire, — quickens Faith, — and invites the attention 
of all to what is to follow. Take notice of the reply of the sorrow-stricken Parent, 
on being thus questioned concerning the nature of the calamity which had befallen 
his child. The boy lay stretched before him in agony, — convulsed and foaming. 
He therefore answers our Lord's inquiry, in a single word, — describes in a single 
sentence, as if to move His compassion, the most terrible effects of the youth's pos- 
session, — and passes on at once, impatiently, to pray that Christ will administer 
whatever relief He is able, in so urgent and so grievous a case. 

22 And he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the 
fire, and into the waters, to destroy him : but if Thou canst do any 
thing, have compassion on us, and help us. 

The man confesses that the endeavors of this foul Spirit to destroy his chi]d have 
hitherto proved ineffectual. He admits, therefore, that the good Providence of God 
had ever watched faithfully over him ; and is guided, by the experience of past 
mercies, to hope for more. 

"Have compassion on us;" for, (as it is said of Jacob and Benjamin,) "his life 
is hound up in the lad's life."(k) The misfortune of the Child is the affliction of 
the Parent. This has been already remarked in the note on St. Matthew xv. 22, — 
where the Woman of Canaan, pleading for her Daughter, was heard to exclaim, — 
" Have mercy on me, Lord !" 

23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe. All things are pos- 
sible to him that believeth. 

The afflicted Father had said, "If Thou canst do anything:" in reference to 
which words, our Lord answered, — " If thou canst believe;" adding "All things 
can be to him that believeth." Christ's power is unbounded : man's Faith is less 
than the least of all seeds. This it is which alone opposes obstacles in the way of 
God's Mercy, — alone sets limits to what He "can do" for His creatures. . . . On 
how many occasions is the Reader of the Gospels reminded of this solemn truth! 
See the note on St. Mark vi. 5. — Very affecting is the account of what followed, 
with reference to our Saviour's implied condition of granting the prayer of the 
afflicted Parent. 

24 And straightway the Father of the Child cried out, and said with 
tears, Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief. 

A beautiful saying, truly! — recalling that prayer of the Apostles on a different 
occasion, — "Lord, increase our Faith \"{l) 

(d) See the notes on St. Matth. viii. 29, St. Luke iv. 34. (e) St. Luke xi. 21, 22. 

(/) St. Luke x. 18. (g) Rev. xii. 12. (h) St. Luke ix. 42. 

{i) See the questions in St. Mark v. 9 and 30, and the notes upon either : also the latter part 
of the note on St. Mark v. 24. (k) Gen. xliv. 30. (I) St. Luke xvii. 5. 



IX.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 345 



This man had Faith ; or he would never have brought his Son to the Disciples of 
Christ, in order that they might cast out the unclean Spirit which tormented him. 
But " they could not." At this discovery, the Father's Faith may well have re- 
ceded. Our Saviour returns in person to His baffled followers ; and Faith and 
Hope revive. The Parent renews his application: "Look upon my son," he 
says:(m) " Have mercy on my son:"(n) and he describes the greatness of his af- 
fliction. But take notice, that in the very moment of applying for relief, his Faith 
wavers. "If Thou canst do anything" — is the form in which he makes his peti- 
tion. There needed a fuller reliance on Messiah's power, — a larger Faith than 
this: and lo, while he confessed his unbelief, "the Father of the Child" became 
conscious that he fully believed. 

25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, 

Perhaps because He was unwilling, or because it would have been impracticable, 
without danger to the crowd, to cast out the Spirit while they were eagerly "run- 
ning together" in order to be spectators of the Miracle : — 

He rebuked the foul Spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf 
Spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. 

Which last words remind us of the remarkable truth elsewhere so solemnly laid 
down, that when the unclean Spirit is gone out of a man, after walking through dry 
places seeking rest and finding none, "he saith, I will return unto my House ichence 
I came out."(o) The manner in which this afflicted youth had been subject to the 
renewed assaults of his foul enemy, has already been made the subject of re- 
mark.Q?) 

Take notice of that majestic command, — "/charge thee:" I, thy Creator, lay My 
imperial orders upon thee, My creature, — "Come out of him!" ... As He had be- 
fore said, — "Bring him unto Me;"(q) as if implying that a different result would 
follow from what had been witnessed in the case of the Disciples. 

26 And the Spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him : 
and he was as one dead ; insomuch that many said, He is dead. 

How very exact and particular is this Evangelist ! With how many minute de- 
tails does he supply us, though his Gospel is the shortest of the four ! . . . We 
seem to see the bystanders crowding round, and making their remarks on the life- 
less appearance of the Child, as he lay with the foam on his lips, and every feature 
distorted with unnatural anguish. 

Concerning this last act of defeated malice on the part of the evil Spirit, the 
Reader is requested to read the note on St. Mark i. 26, and the last note on St. Luke 
iv. 35. The note on St. Mark v. 13, may be also consulted. — The Spirit though 
" dumb" yet " cries." The youth could utter no articulate word ; yet had he been 
known, many a time, to utter a yell of agony at every seizure of his foul enemy. (r) 

27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up ; and he 
arose. 

The touch of that Almighty Hand, — which conveyed Health to the Sick, (s) and 
Sight to the Blind, (t) and Speech to the Dumb, and Hearing to the Deaf,(w) which 
was powerful to raise the dead(v) and restore confidence to the terror-stricken :(x) 
— the touch of the same Hand now detained the parting Spirit, — and quickened 
the pulses of life, — and brought back the healthy current of the blood. The young 
man arose, — "was cured from that very hour,"(?/) — and Christ "delivered him 
again to his Father."(z) Had He not defeated the Enemy, and snatched away 
from him his prey? Consider St. Luke vii. 15. 

(m) St. Luke ix. 38. («) St. Matth. xvii. 15. (o) St. Luke xi. 24: St. Matth. xii. 43, 44. 

?p) See above, the note on verse 18. (q) See above, verse 19. 

(r) See St. Luke ix. 39, and the note there. (s) St. Mark i. 31. 

m St. Mark viii. 25. (u) St. Mark vii. 33. 

(v) St. Mark v. 41. (x) St. Matth. xvii. 7. \y) St. Matth. xvii. 18. 

(a) St. Luke ix. 42. 



346 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

28 And when He was come into the house, His Disciples asked Him 
privately, Why could not we cast him out ? 

"We, to whom Thou gavest 'power and authority over all devils :'(«) and 'against 
unclean Spirits, to cast them out ; and to heal all manner of sickness and all man- 
ner of disease:' (6) we, who already have 'cast out many devils ;'(c) — why could not 
we, when we used the usual form of words, (d) succeed in expelling this deaf and 
dumb Spirit?" 

29 And He said unto them, 

"Because of your unbelief. For verily I say unto you, If ye have Faith, as a 
grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this Mountain, Remove hence to yonder 
place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit,"(e) 

This kind can come forth by nothing, but by Prayer and Fasting. 

By which memorable saying of Christ, a truth elsewhere revealed is brought to 
our recollection: namely, that among the evil Spirits, besides a diversity of 
ranks, (f) there are degrees of malignity, wickedness, and power. Consider St. 
Matthew xii. 45, and the note there. 

But we learn the further secret, — (which indeed it concerns us far more nearly to 
know,) — that " Prayer and Fasting" are a prime source of spiritual strength ; — a 
method possessing peculiar efficacy in expelling one class of spiritual assailants. 

30 And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee ; and He 
would not that any man should know it. 

If the meaning be that the Blessed Company at this time went into Galilee, in 
order to pass through it, the suspicion elsewhere expressed(^) that Mount Tabor 
was not the scene of the Transfiguration, will be entirely confirmed. The reason 
why our Lord desired to pass through Galilee with privacy, is given in the next 
verse: (A) — 

31 For He taught His Disciples, and said unto them, The Son of 
Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him ; and 
after that He is killed, He shall rise the third day. 

Take notice how the Saviour ever contrives to introduce these allusions to His 
coming Sufferings, immediately after He has fortified His followers with some sin- 
gular evidence of His Divinity. When Simon Peter had made his glorious confes- 
sion, expressive of the Faith of all the Twelve, (i) " from that time forth began Jesus 
to show unto His Disciples, how He must go up to Jerusalem and suffer many 
things." (A;) On descending the Mount of Transfiguration with His chosen Apos- 
tles, — " Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the Vision to no man, until the Son of Man 
be risen again from the dead."(l) We have just beheld Him work an astounding 
Miracle, " and they were all amazed at the mighty Power of God. But while they 
wondered, every one, at all things which Jesus did, He said unto His Disciples, 
' Let these sayings sink down into your ears ;' "(m) the sayings, namely, which are 
recorded above, in ver. 31. 

" Remember how He spoke unto you while He was yet in Galilee,"(n) — sa id the 
Angels to the Women who visited the Holy Sepulchre on the morning of the Re- 
surrection. The present, therefore, will be the particular occasion they alluded to; 
and the statement of the Evangelist which immediately follows, — " And they re- 
membered His words,"(o) derives illustration from what St. Mark here adds : 

32 But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask Him. 

(a) St. Luke ix. 1. (6) St. Matth. x. 1. (c) St. Mark vi. 13. 

(d) Consider the following places : — Acts iii. 6, (the Miracle performed by St. Peter and St. 
John:) ix. 34: xvi. 18. 

(e) St. Matth. xvii. 20, 21,— where see all the notes. (/) Ephes. vi. 12. 
\g) See the notes on St. Matth. xvii. 1, and St. Luke ix. 28. 

(h) See the note on the last words of St. Matth. xvii. 23. (*) St. John vi. 67 to 69 

(k) St. Matth. xvi. 21. (0 St. Matth. xvii. 9. (m) St. Luke ix. 43, 44. 

(n) St. Luke xxiv. 6. (°) St. Luke xxiv. 8. 






IX.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 347 

The language of the place which corresponds with this, in St. Luke's Gospel, 
should be here referred to.(p) It is evident that until after our Lord's Resurrec- 
tion, His Disciples understood none of these things.(g) No one, however, is found 
any more to say, "Be it far from Thee, Lord : this shall not "be unto Thee."(r) It 
is simply recorded that "they were exceeding sorry. v (s) 

33, 34 And He came to Capernaum : and being in the house He 
asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the 
way ? But they held their peace : for by the way they had disputed 
among themselves, who should be the greatest. 

So that notwithstanding their recent sorrow, there is a dispute among them, 
"who should be" (or rather, "who was) the greatest!" a statement which shows 
how needful it was that our Lord should temper every mention of His Kingdom 
with some allusion to the Humiliation and Sorrow which was in store for Himself, 

and indeed for them A living Writer well remarks, — " If we are surprised 

that, with such indications of Divine Power and Love, and with Resurrection at 
the door, they should be swallowed up with Sorrow, — still more are we astonished 
that, while He is declaring His own abasement, the Disciples of Christ should be 
contending for precedence/'^) 

It will be seen from St. Matthew's Gospel that the Apostles answered their Lord's 
inquiry by another, — " Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven ?"(«) His reply 
follows : — 

35 And He sat down, and called the Twelve, and saith unto them, 
If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant 
of all. 

Our Saviour does not here say that the punishment of the ambitious man shall 
be to be brought very low ; though this, we know, is in itself true. The sense of 
the place is shown by the language of St. Mark x. 43, to be the same as St. Mat- 
thew xx. 26, — where it is written, — "Whosoever among you desires to become 
great, let him be your minister : and whosoever among you desires to be first, let 
him be your servant." 

36, 37 And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them : and 
when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, Whosoever 
shall receive one of such children in My Name, receiveth Me : and 
whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me. 

He seems first to have called to His side(x) a little child ; — then, to have set the 
subject of His gracious discourse "in the midst of them;" — lastly, to have em- 
braced the little creature ; and, yet holding him in His Divine arms, to have ad- 
dressed^ His Disciples in these memorable words, which have dignified Childhood, 
and enriched Poverty, and ennobled Meekness, for evermore. There is surely some- 
thing truly awful in the assurance that to receive " one of such children" on 
Christ's account, and because he believes in Christ, is to receive both the Father 
and the SoN!(y) 

38 And John answered Him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out 
devils in Thy Name, and he followeth not us : and we forbad him, be- 
cause he followeth not us. 

-The Disciple of Love, — the most childlike of the Twelve in his goodness, (as we 
are apt, perhaps rightly, to think,) — comes forward with a statement which reminds 
us ^rather that he was one of the Sons of Thunder. (z) Yet is there something of 
childlike uprightness in the very incident here recorded of him. His tender con- 

(p) St, Luke ix. 45. (q) St. Luke xviii. 34. (r) St. Matth. xvi. 22. 

(s) St. Matth. vii. 23. (t) Rev. Isaac Williams. 

(u) See St. Matth. xviii. 1, and the notes there. (a-) St. Luke ix. 47. 

(y) Concerning the Indwelling of these Heavenly Guests, see St. John xiv. 23. For the 
phrase "not— but," see the end of the note on St. Matth. ix. 18. 
(*) St. Mark iii. 17. 



348 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

science felt at once the reproof which His Master's words conveyed ; and he was 
impatient to confess his share in an act which was meant indeed for Love and Zeal, 
but which might have been the result of Pride or Ambition. 

What our Saviour had been saying about the blessing of receiving the very hum- 
blest Disciple " in His Name/' may have brought to St. John's remembrance one 
whom he had lately seen casting out devils in the same prevailing Name. 

39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not : for there is no roan which shall 
do a miracle in My Name, that can lightly speak evil of Me. 

How are we reminded of a passage in the history of Moses,when Eldad and Medad 
were heard prophesying: "and Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, . . . 
answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto them, En- 
viest thou for my sake ? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and 
that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them V\a) 

40 For he that is not against us is on our part. 

By which words, let no one think that our Blessed Lord gave His sanction to the 
practices of those who usurp authority to teach in the congregation. Such men are 
against Christ, for they are against His ordinances. He elsewhere says expressly, 
— " He that is not with Me is against Me ; and he that gathereth not with Me, 
scattereth abroad ;"(&) which saying of His may well be set against the present. 
This person was "casting out devils in Christ's Name:" he was therefore a be- 
liever in Christ, (c) — one of those persons concerning whom our Saviour said, 
" These signs shall follow them that believe : in My Name they 'shall cast out 
devils." (d) Nothing whatever is recorded against this man, except, that He did 
not follow the Apostles. On the other hand, much is recorded in his favour ; — for 
he possessed a wondrous gift, which was the privilege of a mighty faith :(e) while 
his supposed offence here receives the overwhelming sanction of Christ Himself.^) 

"In the whole incident," observes a pious writer, "the most obvious lesson is, 
that in our zeal against others, we take care that we lose not humility." 

To see the connection of the words which follow with what precedes, it is neces- 
sary to pass at once from verse 37 to verse 41. 

41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in My 
Name, because ye belong to Christ, verily, I say unto you, he shall 
not lose his reward. 

Very instructive will it be found to compare this verse, in its present connection, 
with the similar verse which occurs in St. Matthew's Gospel, at the end of our 
Lord's Charge to the Twelve. (g) The phrase "these little ones" will there be 
found applied to the Apostles ; and it clearly shows with what latitude of meaning 
it is here repeatedly employed by the same Divine Speaker : in the very next verse, 
for example. 

42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe 
in Me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck ? 
and he were cast into the sea. 

The Divine Speaker proceeds to enumerate some of the commonest ways of 
" offending." 

43, 44 And if thy Hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee 
to enter into Life maimed, than having two hands to go into Hell, into 
the fire that never shall be quenched : where their worm dieth not, and 
the fire is not quenched. 

45, 46 And if thy Foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee 
to enter halt into Life, than having two feet to be cast into Hell, into 

(a) Numb. xi. 28, 29. (6) St. Matth. xii. 30. 

(c) For consider what befell Sceva's sons, — Acts xix. 13, to 17. 

(d) St. Mark xvi. 17. (e) Consider St. Mattb. xvii. 19, 20. 
(/) Consider the language of Phil. i. 15 to 18. [g) St. Matthew x. 42. 



IX.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 349 

the fire that never shall he quenched : where their worm dieth not, and 
the fire is not quenched. 

47, 48 And if thine Eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for 
thee to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye, than having two 
eyes to be cast into Hell fire : where their worm dieth not, and the fire 
is not quenched. 

If thine Hand, thy Foot, or thine Eye cause thee to fall, lead thee unto sin, — Ibe 
relentless in thy severity towards them : for better it were to carry a mortified body 
to Heaven, than in that body to endure the pains of Eternal Death. 

St. Paul says generally, " Mortify your members which are upon the earth :"(h) 
and by " mortify" he means " put to death," or, as our Lord says, " cut off." But 
Christ here makes special reference to the Hand, — the Foot, — the Eye : as if to 
teach that we have need to be most severe against those members whereby we do 
amiss, — or go astray, — or see, that is, acquaint ourselves, (i) with what is sinful. 
In the Sermon on the Mount, He thus made particular mention of the " right eye" 
and the "right hand :"(/<:) the first, the chief avenue by which Sin enters; the 
second, the very symbol of action, whether in the way of speech,(7) or manual ope- 
ration. And, indeed, the " foot" may be thought to symbolize the icalk of Life — 
the ways of a man. The common phraseology of the Spirit certainly bears out 
such a notion.(m) 

And lest any should not heed the Divine Injunction, the pains of Hell, — the 
worm that gnaws within, and dies not ; the fire that burns without, and is not 
quenched, — these are declared to be in store for the impenitent sinner. 

" The awful and solemn emphasis which the distinction of the clauses, and the 
repetition of the words gives this passage, renders it for the form of expression the 
most remarkable in the Bible ; the three-fold enunciation having in Divine sayings 
a peculiar force, — as it were the Three Persons of the GoDhead setting thereon 
Their seal. The latter clause is three times repeated, doubtless on account of the 
unwillingness of the human heart to accept the doctrine of Eternal Punishment :"(n) 
that latter clause being part of the concluding verse of the Book of the Prophet 
Isaiah. It is found in " a passage which appears to be prophetical of the Gospel 
dispensation, and of the final state of the righteous and the wicked."(o) And here 
it is right to add a few plain remarks on a subject concerning which it is to be 
feared that much unbelief prevails. 

It is vain, worse than vain, it is a wicked and a miserable deceit, — to seek to 
elude the plain declarations of Holy Scripture in this, and so many other places, (p) 
concerning the Eternity of future Punishment. Easy indeed it is to throw ridicule 
on the imagery employed by the Spirit to denote endless suffering, — the gnawing 
Worm, the Flame and Brimstone of the Fiery Lake. It is easy to speak words of 
unbelief on this subject : but it is quite impossible to prove, even that the language 
of Scripture is figurative ; much less to prove that the Doctrine contained in that 
language is not to be literally understood. 

The utmost that can be pretended, is, that the Eternity of Punishment is contrary 
to Reason: but that this is not the case, may be easily shown. We need only look 
at God's moral Government of the World, — by which is meant, His Government of 
us, in our present state, by Rewards and Punishments, — to be convinced that His 
Retribution is not, like our perpetration of Offence, a momentary thing. In respect 
of its duration, it often corresponds rather with the consequences of Crime — which 
we see are permanent. 

Of this character are even Human Punishments : Transportation, for example ; 
and still more, the Punishment of Death. 

(h) Col. iii. 5. 

(t) Consider Gen. xi. 5: xviii. 21, &c. St. John iii. 11, 32: viii. 38, 56, &c. 

(k) See St. Matthew v. 29 and 30; and the notes there. 

(l) Consider the language of Lev. xxvi. 46 : Judges iii. 4 : Psalm lxxvii. 20: 2 Sam. x. 2, — 
a mode of expression which recurs perpetually. Consider 1 Kings viii. 15. 

(m) Consider Gen. v. 22, 24: vi. 9: xvii. 1: xxiv. 40. Ps. i. 1. Rom. vi. 4: viii. 1. Eph. 
iv. 1, 17. 2 Cor. v. 7: x. 3, &c. Also, Eccl. v. 1. Ps. xxxvi. 11: cxix. 59. St. Luke i. 79. 
Eph. vi. 15, &g. See also the note on St. Matth. xxi. 14. 

(n) Rev. I. "Williams. (o) Archd. Hale and Bishop Lonsdale. 

(p) Compare St. Matth. iii. 12 : xxv. 41, 46. Rev. xiv. 11 : xx. 10. And see the note on 
St. Matthew x. 28. 



350 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Moreover, although acts are momentary ; and habits of Sin are limited by the 
duration of Life : yet, the same thing cannot be said of the spirit in which the first 
are invariably committed, and the second, persevered in. This is much to be no- 
ticed. The Human "Will knows of no limit in respect of Time. It stretches out, 
and reaches on, to Eternity. Now, it cannot be unfair to measure the greatness 
of the Offence by the character of the Intention. 

Further, it is obvious to remark, that whatever we may think concerning the 
Eternal duration of Punishment, the same we are bound to think concerning the 
Eternal duration of Reward. What is probable of Eternal Misery, must be probable 
of Eternal Happiness also. 

Lastly, it is quite idle to pretend to reason on this matter from the supposed Na- 
ture and Attributes of God : for we know nothing concerning either, except when 
God himself has been pleased to teach us ; and that He will punish eternally, is 
plainly written in the Book of His Law. 

49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall 
be salted with salt. 

"Every oblation of thy meat-offering shalt thou season with salt/' (q) So ran 
the Law ; which He who gave it, here quotes. As therefore every sacrifice must 
be salted with salt, (says our Lord,) so must every one be salted with fire. In 
illustration of which words, it will be sufficient to advert to the ancient practice of 
the Jewish nation to sprinkle new-born infants with salt : (r) and to point out that 
Fire is a frequent image in Scripture for the gift of the Holy Ghost.(s) The allusion 
will therefore be to the preserving grace of the Spirit, conveyed in Holy Baptism ; 
whereby Christian men " present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable 
unto God." (t) 

50 Salt is good : but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith 
will ye season it ? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with 
another. 

" The meaning of the passage may perhaps be thus expressed: Every one who is 
called by God, and received into the fellowship of Christ's Body, shall receive, as 
a gift from God, an anointing of the Holy Spirit, which shall purify and preserve 
him in Faith and Hope till the coming of the Lord ; as was typified by the salting 
of everything which was offered to God under the old Law. This is indeed a good 
gift ; but if it be lost, wherewith shall it be renewed ? Take heed, then, to keep 
this good gift of Faith and Hope and Love towards God ; and, as a consequence 
thereof, be at peace and charity with men."^) 

And thus, besides reminding us of our renewed Spiritual life, and the danger 
which always exists of losing it, the present text declares that when lost, it is hard, 
if not impossible, to recover it: "for it is impossible for those who were once en- 
lightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the 
Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the World 
to come, — if they shall fall away, to renew them again to Repentance." (x) 

(q) Levit. ii. 13. (r) Alluded to by Ezekiel, when speaking of Jerusalem, — xvi. 4. 

(s) St. Matth. iii. 11. Acts ii. 3. 1 Thess. v. 19. Rev. iv. 5. (t) Rom. xii. 1. 

(u) Abridged from a Sermon by the Rev. W. E. Jelf. (x) Heb. vi. 4, 5, 6. 



X.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 351 



CHAPTER X. 



2 Christ disputeth with the Pharisees touching divorcement. 13 Blesseth the Chil- 
dren that are brought unto Him. 17 Resolveth a rich man how he may inherit 
Life everlasting. 23 Telleth His Disciples of the danger of riches. 28 Promiseth 
rewards to them that forsake anything for the Gospel. 32 Foretelleth His Death 
and Resurrection. 35 Biddeth the two ambitious suitors to think rather of suffer- 
ing with Him. 46 And restoreth to Bartimozus his sight. 

1 And He arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judgea 
by the farther side of Jordan : and the people resort unto Him again ; 
and, as He was wont, He taught them again. 

Leaving Galilee, which was the scene of the transactions recorded in the pre- 
ceding chapter, our Saviour traversed the region which lies on the eastern side of 
the Jordan ; proceeding in a southerly direction, until He reached the district over 
against Judaea. The precise locality is not marked ; but the place thus generally 
indicated was the scene of the incident which follows. 

2, 3, 4, 5, 6 And the Pharisees came to Him, and asked him, Is it 
lawful for a man to put away his wife ? tempting Him. And He 
answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you ? And 
they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her 
away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of 
your heart he wrote you this precept : but from the beginning of the 
Creation God made them male and female. 

" It is worth our marking that God did not make the "Woman of the same earth 
whereof He made the Man : but He made Eve of the rib of Adam, — to give us to 
understand that there is but one body in them both ; and that one body, the only 
fountain of mankind." (a) 

7 For this cause shall a Man leave his Father and Mother, and 
cleave to his Wife ; 

" A man shall leave his Father and Mother, and cleave to his Wife." Why does 
it run thus? is it not rather the woman who is to " forget her own people and her 
father's house, "(b) and cleave to her husband ? Doubtless it is so. But these 
words, as St. Paul himself declares, contain a prophetic reference to the second 
Adam, and relate to the Union which was hereafter to subsist between Christ and 
his Church ;"(c) wherewith to unite Himself, He " came forth from the Father, 
and came into the World." (d) 

8, 9 and they twain shall be one flesh : so then they are no more 
twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not 
Man put asunder. 

i) Bishop Lake. (6) Psalm xlv. 10. 

:) Ephes. v. 22 to 32. (d) St. John xvi. 28. 



352 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

"Let Woman who was taken from Man's side," says Augustine, "cling to Man's 
side/' 

Some remarks will be found concerning this memorable discourse, in St. Mat- 
thew's Gospel,— to which the Reader is therefore referred.(e) It exhibits a speci- 
men of those disputations by which the learned Jews of Jerusalem were for ever 
seeking to entangle our Lord; and which He commonly met by referring them to 
their own books, whose true meaning they had overlooked, or whose testimony they 
had forgotten. It forcibly illustrates the depravity which had overtaken the 
national heart; and which rendered it necessary that the very Law of Nature 
should thus be republished. Our Lord is found to have spoken in almost the same 
terms, on two several occasions, (f) 

10, 11 And in the house His Disciples asked Him again of the 
same matter. And He saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his 
Wife, 

"Except it be for fornication," — adds St. Matthew :(g) 

12 and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a 
Woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she 
committeth adultery. 

There follows, in St. Matthew's Gospel, a truly remarkable Discourse which our 
Lord held with His Disciples on this occasion. See St. Matthew xix. 10 to 12, 
and the notes there. 

13 And they brought young Children to Him, that He should touch 
them : and His Disciples rebuked those that brought them. 

He was asked to "put His hands on them, and pray," (A) says St. Matthew. His 
blessing was asked for ; and obtained, as we shall find in verse 16. This is the 
well-known Scripture to which the Church appeals in her Baptismal Service. 

The Disciples may have rebuked the Mothers, (for doubtless they were Mothers, 
and believing Mothers too, who brought these infants(i) to Christ,) out of zeal for 
their Master, and concern for His repose : yet does this act of theirs seem little in 
keeping with what we love to suppose of the character and conduct of Disciples. 
We read without surprise the words which follow : 

14 But when Jesus saw it, He was much displeased, 

For He had quite recently expressed His love towards Children in a very remark- 
able manner. (A;) 

and said unto them, Suffer the little Children to Come unto Me, and 
forbid them not : for of such is the Kingdom of God. 

That is, — "For to such belongs the Kingdom of God." See the last note on St. 
Matthew v. 10. 

The same saying is related, and in the same words, by the three first Evangelists. 
" They are memorable words," says an excellent living writer: "and we may ob- 
serve, when the inspired Evangelists come to mention any important Evangelical 
axiom, (as of taking up the Cross,) or sacred institution, (such as that of the Eu- 
charist,) that, with a sort of Divine Harmony and Union, they adhere without vari- 
ation to the exact words."(Z) 

" He says not of these," writes an ancient Father, "but of such is the Kingdom 
of God ; as showing that it is not the age, but the disposition which obtains the 
Kingdom; and that to such as have the like innocence and simplicity, the reward 
is promised." (m) 



(e) See the notes on St. Matthew xix. 3 to 8. 

(/) Compare verses 4 and 5, and St Matth. xix. 7, 8, with St. Matthew v. 31. 

(g) St. Matthew xix. 9. (h) St. Matthew xix. 13. 

i) Compare St. Luke xviii. 15, and St. Mark x. 16. (k) See St. Mark ix. 36, 37. 

I) Rev. I Williams. (m) Jerome. 



ft 



X.] 



ON ST. make's gospel. 353 



15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom 
of God as a little Child, he shall not enter therein. 

The Blessed Speaker refers to the reception of the Gospel message; and declares 
that unless men accept first the offer of admission into Christ's Kingdom here on 
Earth, and then the Doctrines of the Gospel, with the submission and simplicity of 
Childhood, — they shall find themselves excluded from a participation in either. 
Concerning the little children, it is added: — 

16 And He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, 
and blessed them. 

" Ye perceive how by His outward gesture and deed He declared His good will 

toward them Doubt ye not therefore, but earnestly believe, that He will 

likewise favourably receive" as many Infants as are brought to His Holy Baptism: 
"that He will embrace them with the arms of His Mercy; that He will give unto 
them the blessing of eternal Life, and make them partakers of His Everlasting 
Kingdom." (n) 

" Truly," says an ancient writer, "does He take them up into His arms to bless 
them, — reconciling Himself, as it were, to His Creation which in the beginning fell, 
and was separated from Him." 

17 And when He was gone forth into the way, there came one 
running, and kneeled to Him, and asked Him, Good Master, what 
shall I do that I may inherit Eternal Life ? 

He was a Kuler, — young and rich,(o) He had probably witnessed our Lord's 
gracious reception of the infant children who had been brought to Him to receive 
His Blessing; and had heard Him declare that "to such belongs the Kingdom of 
God."(^>) He desired therefore to know what righteous action which he had as 
yet left undone, he ought to do, in order to secure for Himself a place in that King- 
dom, likewise. And his eagerness to obtain the information made him run as well 
as kneel. 

But he looked upon our Saviour as a merely human teacher. He had no notion 
of anything beyond. He was one, moreover, in whose estimation money was the 
chief good: and he was all but contented with the good which he discovered in 
himself. Whence the title "Good Master" which he offered to Christ, was re- 
jected. As it follows, — 

18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou Me good ? there is 
none good but one, that is, God. 

" If it should be asked, for what reason Christ put this question, — I answer, for 
the same reason that He asked the Pharisees, ' why David, in Spirit, called Him 
Lord ?'(<?) and that was, to try if they were able to account for it. The Psalmist 
had affirmed long before that 'there is none that doeth good; no, not one/(r) Since, 
then, God alone is 'good/ this young Ruler should have replied with St. Thomas, — 
' My Lord and My God !' And this would have been a nobler instance of Paith, 
and have cleared up the difficulty." (s) 

19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do 
not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour 
thy Father and Mother. 

"It will be observed, that our Lord makes- no mention of the Ceremonial part of 
the Law; and that, in referring to God's Commandments, He names only those 
which relate to men's duty towards their neighbours. It is remarkable also that 
both St. Paul(^) and St. James, (it) when speaking of the fulfillment of the Law, 
mention the same class of commandments as that here brought forward by Christ ; 

(n) Baptismal Service, from, the Book of Common Prayer. (o) St. Luke xviii. 18, 23. 

(p) See above, ver. 14. (q) St. Matthew xxii. 43. 

(r) Ps. xiv. 3. Is) Jones of Nayland. 

U) Romans xiii. 8 to 10. [u) St. James ii. 8, 11. 

28 



354 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

the observance of these being the evidence of men's love to God, and of their regard 
for those other Commandments which relate more immediately to their duty towards 
Him." (a;) Unless there be first the love of our Neighbour, there cannot be that 
love of God which conducts to eternal Life. "For," as it is written in a certain 
place, " he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God 
whom he hath not seen?"(y) 

The precept, "Defraud not," — which means rather "Deprive none of what is 
theirs," "Withhold not from any that which is their due," — has been thought to 
embody in a single sentence the four Commandments which precede. 

20, 21 And he answered and said unto Him, Master, all these have 
I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and 
said unto him, One thing thou lackest : 

For the young man, after declaring that he had faithfully observed those five 
precepts, asked, " What lack I yetV\z) "All these," (he said,) he had observed. 
" One thing," (our Lord replies,) he yet lacked. 

Christ then, fastening His eyes on him, as he knelt before Him, "loved him:" 
" that is, He showed by some outward gesture that this young man pleased Him, both 
by his question and by his answer." The remark is Lightfoot's, who points out 
that the Jewish Doctors sometimes kissed the head in token of approbation ; and the 
learned writer adds, — "What if our Saviour used that very gesture towards this 
young man?" 

" One thing thou lackest," was His word, — 

22 go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and 
thou shalt have treasure in Heaven : and come, take up the cross, and 
follow Me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved : 
for he had great possessions. 

St. Mark says that his face, (which, doubtless, a moment before beamed with 
pious desire,) became gloomy and overcast; "loioring," as the word is translated 
in St. Matthew xvi. 3. And so he turned "and went away" from Christ! from 
Him who had revealed him to himself ! 

But, as it has been well remarked, "the greatest advances in perfection have 
been granted to God's family by the after-growth of sayings and examples, which 
seemed at first to have been utterly thrown away. Our Lord's saying to the young 
Ruler did but send him away sorrowful; yet, within a few months, hundreds in 
Jerusalem remembered and obeyed it; bringing their goods, and laying them at 
the Apostle's feet."(a) 

On all this, see the notes on St. Matthew xix. 10 to 22. 

23, 24 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto His Disciples, 
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of 
God ! And the Disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus 
answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, 

Observe how affectionately He introduces a saying which was meant to assist 
His Disciples in understanding the stern observation which precedes. 

how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the King- 
dom of God ! 

The danger, then, is plainly declared to be not theirs who have, but theirs who 
put their trust in riches. So, in the Sermon on the Mount, " Ye cannot serve God 
and Mammon."(6) A person may possess " Mammon," and yet serve God : but he 
may not serve God and be the servant of Mammon also. 

It must not, however, for a moment be imagined that these words are any cor- 

x) Archd. Hale and Bp. Lonsdale. 
y) St. John iv. 20, and consider ii. 9, 10, 11: iii. 17. 

z) See St. Matth. xix. 20. (a) Keble,— referring to Acts iv. 34 to 37. 

(b) St. Matthew vi. 24. 



X.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 355 

rection of the saying which goes before. They are only an explanation of it. Our 
Lord does not revoke His solemn declaration that "they that have riches shall 
hardly enter into the Kingdom of God :" He does but leave us to infer how very 
closely allied must be the possession of riches, and trust or reliance in them. Hence, 
the strong expression which follows, and which was well known in the Jewish 
schools. 

25, 26 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, 
than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. And they 
were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then 
can be saved ? 

"The words evidently sounded as startling to them, as they do to us. And 
Chrysostom beautifully observes that the Disciples, though poor themselves, were 
troubled for the salvation of others. " 

27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, 
but not with God : for with God all things are possible. 

Concerning verses 26 and 27, see the notes on St. Matthew xix. 26, and St. Luke 
xviii. 27. 

28 Then Peter began to say unto Him, Lo, we have left all, and 
have followed Thee. 

"What shall we have therefore?" he added, as St. Matthew relates; and our 
Lord, in reply, delivered a very glorious promise concerning the Twelve Thrones 
to be occupied "in the Regeneration," by those who had "followed" Him.(c) All 
this, St. Mark (writing at St. Peter's suggestion,) (d) was divinely guided to omit. 

29, 30 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There 
is no man that hath left House, or Brethren, or Sisters, or Father, or 
Mother, or Wife, or Children, or Lands, for My sake, and the Gospel's, 
but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and breth- 
ren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persesu- 
tions ; and in the World to come Eternal Life. 

" ' With persecutions/ — which particular, though neither St. Matthew nor St. 
Luke record, yet St. Peter, (who had most reason punctually to observe those words 
of Christ, being an answer to a question of his proposing, as all the three Evan- 
gelists acknowledge,) remembered them; and so we find them in St. Mark's Gos- 

P el "W 

"The meaning is, — He shall receive, even in this world, blessings which, though 
attended with persecutions, will infinitely more than supply the place of those 
earthly possessions and relations which he has forsaken for My sake."(f) 

31 But many that are first shall be last ; and the last first. 

This remarkable saying has been already made the subject of a long note, to 
which the reader is referred.(^) It is impossible to avoid suspecting that, besides 
its general application, it was intended in a very special manner to serve as a warn- 
ing to the Traitor, Judas. 

32 And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem ; and Jesus 
went before them : and they were amazed ; and as they followed, they 
were afraid. 

This was the last of our Lord's Journeys to Jerusalem. Take notice how He 
"went before" the Disciples, — "ascending up to Jerusalem" (Ji) with an awful kind 

(c) See St. Matthew xix. 27, 28, and the notes there. 

(d) See the note prefixed to St. Mark i. 1. (e) Hammond. 
(/) Archd. Hale and Bp. Lonsdale. 

{g) See the note on St. Matth. xix. 30. (h) St. Luke xix. 28. 



356 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

of alacrity, at which they were both "amazed" and "afraid." He not only goes 
" like a Lamb to the slaughter," but is impatient to suffer. 

33, 34 And He took again the Twelve, and began to tell them what 
things should happen unto Him, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusa- 
lem ; and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief Priests, 
and unto the Scribes ; and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall 
deliver Him to the Gentiles : and they shall mock Him, and shall 
scourge Him, and shall spit upon Him, and shall kill Him : and the 
third Day, He shall rise again. 

This, then, is another of those surprising predictions of His approaching Death 
and Passion, which our Blessed Lord is found to have delivered at this time. The 
Reader is referred to the note on St. Mark viii. 31; and requested to notice how the 
prophecy grows clearer as the event approaches. It was at first, " Destroy this 
Temple, and in three days I will raise it up:"(i) — " The days will come, when the 
Bridegroom shall be taken. "(&) Here, it has rather the air of historic record than 
of prophetic anticipation. 

35, 36, 37 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto 
Him, saying, Master, we would that Thou shouldest do for us whatso- 
ever we shall desire. And He said unto them, What would ye that I 
should do for you ? They said unto Him, Grant unto us that we may 
sit, one on Thy Right hand, and the other on Thy Left hand, in Thy 
Glory. 

That is, to occupy the two places of highest honour(Z) in Thy Kingdom. 

Salome, their mother, (m) came with them, and asked the same favour on their 
behalf.(?i) The promise of twelve thrones, whereon, "in the Regeneration," the 
Apostles were to sit, (o) seems to have suggested this ambitious request; the two 
Brothers having already had abundant proof that they enjoyed the special favour 
of their Lord. It may be, that these ardent followers of the Lamb had already 
learnt to look beyond the Grave, — their Master's Grave, at least,(jp) if not their 
own, — for the fulfillment of their well-founded hopes of a coming Kingdom. They 
seem to have thought that by the Gate of Death He was about to enter at once 
upon a reign of earthly Glory. Indeed, St. Luke says expressly that, at this very 
time, when " He was nigh to Jerusalem," "they thought that the Kingdom of God 
would immediately appear "(g) 

38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask : can ye 
drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the Baptism 
that I am baptized with ? 

To "drink of a cup" is a well-known Scripture phrase, denoting generally a par- 
taking in some heavy and bitter portion. (r) Our Lord elsewhere also speaks of 
His Death, under the figure of a Baptism of blood, (s) Be sure that here, where the 
two expressions are combined, there is an allusion to the two Sacraments of the 
Church: by the first of which, we are baptized into Christ's Death;(t) and by both 
of which we "obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of His Passion. ,} 
"They who receive the Sacraments," (says Bengel,) "share in the Baptism and in 
the Cup of their Lord."(m) 

39 And they said unto Him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, 
Ye shall indeed drink of the Cup that I drink of; and with the Bap- 
tism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized : 

(i) St. John ii. 19. {7c) St. Matth. ix. 15, — where see the note. 

(I) Consider St. Mark xvi. 19. 1 Kings ii. 19. Psalm xlv. 9. 

(m) Compare St. Matth. xxvii. 56, and St. Mark xv. 40. (n) St. Matth. xx. 20, 21. 

(o) St. Matth. xix. 28. (p) See Acts i. 6. (q) St. Luke xix. 11. 

(r) Is. Ii. 17. Jer. xxv. 15, 16. Ezek. xxiii. 31, 34. St. Matth. xxvi. 39, 42. Kev. xiv. 10. 

(«) See St. Luke xii. 50. («) Rom. vi. 3. («) See 1 Cor. xii. 13. 



X.] ON ST. make's gospel. 357 

They were both Martyrs in will, therefore ; though only one proved a Martyr in 
deed:(x) concerning which the Reader is requested to read the note on St. Matthew 
xx. 23. Observe that our Lord says not, — " Ye are indeed able;" but, — "Ye shall 
indeed drink:" as if He had said " Ye shall indeed be enabled, hereafter, to do this 
great thing." He alludes to their future advances, after that they were " endued 
with power from on High."(?/) 

40 but to sit on My Right Hand and on My Left Hand is not Mine 
to give ; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. 

The words "it shall be given to them," should be omitted. Our Saviour says 
that the places of highest honour in Heaven He could give to none " but to them 
for whom they had been prepared." 

41, 42, 43, 44 And when the ten heard it, they began to be much 
displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to Him, and 
saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over 
the Gentiles exercise lordship over them ; and their great ones exercise 
authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you : but whoso- 
ever will be great among you, shall be your minister : and whosoever 
of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 

That is, — " Let him who desires to be the greatest become the servant of all, and 
he shall be great." But how solemn a lesson is contained in those words, — " So 
shall it not be among you!" How is it thereby implied that the ways of the world 
are to be reversed by the Ministers of Christ. In the World, Authority is desired 
for the display of Power: in the Church, it is to be desired only as a means of more 
effectually serving the Brethren. 

45 For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister, and to give His Life a ransom for many. 

He confirms this by the strongest of all possible arguments, — the example of His 
own wonderful self-abasement. . . . "We have here an express declaration from the 
mouth of our Lord Himself, that He came into the World to give His Life as the 
price of our Redemption from Death : to die in our stead, that He might thereby 
purchase for us eternal Life."(z) 

Our Lord was now within twenty miles of Jerusalem, having reached Jericho, — 
a city famous in the Old Testament, but mentioned only here in the Historical parts 
of the New. 

46 And they came to Jericho : and as He went out of Jericho with 
His Disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimasus, the son 
of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. 

Observe that St. Mark speaks of him as if he were a well-known character. "He 
was well known," (says one of the Father,) " as having sunk from great affluence, 
and now sitting not only blind, but a beggar."(a) Doubtless he was more conspic- 
uous than his companion, (for St. Matthew says that two blind men were healed;) 
and that is probably why St. Mark confines himself to the history of what befell 
Bartimseus. 

" Hearing the multitude pass by," (St. Luke says,) "he asked What it meant? 
And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by."(&) Whereupon "he 
grasped with his heart what his sight embraced not. He is told one thing; he pro- 
claims another ; for it follows,"(c) — 

47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to 
cry out, and say, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 

" Who taught thee this, man?" (beautifully exclaims the same ancient writer:) 

(x) See Acts xii. 2. (y) St. Luke xxiv. 49. 

(z) So in St. Matth. xvi. 28. St. John vi. 51 : xi. 50 to 53. Archd. Hale and Bp. Lonsdale. 

(a) Augustine. (6) St. Luke xviii. 36, 37. (c) Pseudo-Chrysostom. 



358 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

" Hast thou, that art deprived of sight, read books? Whence knowest thou the 
Light of the World? Verily, 'the Lord giveth sight to the blind!' "(d) 

Take notice that this was a remarkable confession of Faith ; for the beggar ac- 
knowledged our Lord to be the Messiah, when he called Him " Son of David ;" and 
recognized Him as the Prophet who should " open the blind eyes," and "bring them 
that sit in darkness out of the prison house."( e ) 

Love's sense is Sight ;"(/) but "Faith cometh by hearing ." (g) 

48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace : but he 
cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 

At first, he " asked ;" next, he " sought." Finding both fruitless, he " knocked," 
— and we shall find that " it was opened unto him !" For it follows, 

49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And 
they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise ; He 
calleth thee. 

The Header will perhaps find it worth his while to refer to the notes on St. Luke 
xviii. 39 and 40. 

50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. 

He was blind; and the very garment he wore, was an hinderance to him. The 
soul which desires to come to Christ, must lay aside every weight, — every thing 
which may act as an obstacle, — as did this humble pattern of Faith and Earnest- 
ness, (h) 

51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I 
should do unto thee? The blind man said unto Him, Lord, that 
I might receive my sight. 

" Rabboni" was the word he used; a term which means, (as St. John says,) 
" Master." (i) Whereupon, the Lord "had compassion" on the suffering pair, (for 
there were two of them,) " and touched their eyes ;"(&) adding, to either probably, 
the word of Authority, — " Receive thy sight."(|) 

52 And Jesus said unto Him, Go thy way ; thy Faith hath made 
thee whole. And immediately He received his sight, and followed 
Jesus in the way. 

The Demoniac of Gadara, our Saviour had not permitted to follow Him.(ra) The 
blind man of Jericho, on the other hand, is allowed to "follow Jesus in the way." 
There was doubtless a reason for this. Some have thought that, because our Lord 
was going up to Jerusalem, He suffered this man to accompany Him as a witness. 
Wondrously favoured he surely was, to have been thus blessed with sight, as it were 
at the eleventh hour ! to have been enabled to behold the great Sacrifice which fol- 
lowed, — with a faculty derived immediately from the Right Hand of God Himself ! 

(d) Ps. cxlvi. 8. U) Is. xlii. 7. (/) 1 St. John iv. 20. 

(g) Rom. x. 17. \h) Consider Heb. xii. 3. (i) St. John xx. 16. 

(k) St. Matthew xx. 34. (l) St. Luke xviii. 42. (m) St. Mark v. 18, 19. 



XL] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 359 



CHAPTER XI 



1 Christ rideth with triumph into Jerusalem. 12 Curseth the fruitless leafy tree. 
15 Purgeth the temple. 20 Exhorteth His Disciples to stedfasiness of faith, and 
to forgive their enemies. 27 And defendeth the lawfulness of His actions, by the 
witness of John, who was a man sent of God. 

Our Sayiour is at last approaching the Capital, — whither we beheld Him, in the 
former chapter, proceeding with mysterious haste. (a) From Jericho to Jerusalem 
is about twenty-five miles, — a wild road, leading mostly through mountain-passes ; 
which the Saviour must have traversed followed by a multitude of persons. He 
had now reached that neighborhood, lying East of Jerusalem, where the districts of 
Bethphage and Bethany unite, — being part of the Mount of Olives. As it follows : 

1 And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and 
Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sendeth forth two of His Disciples, 

Who were probably St. John and St. Peter, — since those two seem to have been 
most especially honoured of the Twelve. See below, the note on ver. 6. See also 
St. Luke xxii. 8.(6) 

2 and saith unto them, Go your way into the Village over against 
you ; and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, 
whereon never man sat ; loose him, and bring him. 

St. Matthew is very particular in relating that besides the colt here noticed, an 
ass was also brought by the two Disciples to Christ. The other Evangelists do not 
record the circumstance. Let us be well persuaded that nothing is set down in the 
Gospel, or omitted from it, without Divine reason : and a circumstance like the 
present seems full of mysterious significancy. That the she-ass symbolized God's 
ancient people, who were familiar with the yoke of the Law ; while the colt, 
"whereon never man sat," represented the Gentile World, as yet wild and untamed, 
and younger in the Faith, — it seems almost obvious to suspect ; as indeed it is 
something more than a matter of opinion. St. Matthew may have mentioned both 
creatures, as addressing his Gospel, in the first instance, to readers of his own 
nation : and as desirous of recording the exact fulfillment of the prophecy contained 
in Zechariah ix. 9, which he quotes at length.(c) 

3 And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this ? say ye that the 
Lord hath need of him ; and straightway he will send him hither. 

"Thus did our Lord, in assuming His meek sovereignty, show that the hearts of 
men were in His Hand ; and though He submitted to indignity from others, yet in 
such hearts would He establish His Kingdom, and reign in meekness. For the 
preparations of the heart are from Him ; and as, when He needed a room for the 
Passover, He foresaw who would afford it, and where he was to be found ;(d) so, 
now also, did He know who was worthy of this honour, and willing to grant what 
He needed." (e) See the note on St. Matthew xxvii. 18. 

4, 5, 6 And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door 

(a) See St. Mark x. 32. 

(b) The Reader is further referred to the conclusion of the note on the first half of St. 
Mark iii. 17. 

(c) St. Matthew xxi. 5. (d) St. Mark xiv. 12 to 16. (e) Williams. 



360 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

without, in a place where two ways met ; and they loose him. And 
certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing 
the colt ? And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded : 
and they let them go. 

Bather, — " They let them take them." How does the minuteness of this account, 
(which is peculiar to St. Mark's Gospel,) confirm the suggestion already thrown out 
that St. Peter was one of the two Disciples whom our Lord sent on the present 
errand ! Divinely constrained, doubtless, we may conceive these men to have been, 
to acquiesce in the validity of the plea thus urged by the messengers of Christ. 
The whole transaction was clearly miraculous ; or rather, it was a collection of 
miracles. 

7 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on 
him ; and He sat upon him. 

This was a mark of Royal honour. Take notice that it was thus that the captains 
treated Jehu, as recorded in the second Book of Kings. (/) 

8 And many spread their garments in the way : and others cut down 
branches off the trees, and strewed them in the way. 

This was done after the manner of the nations of the East, when receiving a great 
King or Conqueror. The Daughter of Sion testified thereby, that what Zechariah 
(quoted by St. Matthew xxi. 5) had foretold, was actually come to pass: "Behold, 
thy King conieth/ ; (#) 

St. Luke says that our Saviour "was now drawing near to the descent of the 
Mount of Olives ;" whereupon " the whole multitude of the Disciples began to re- 
joice, and praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works which they had 
seen." (h) 

9, 10 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, 
saying, Hosanna: blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord: 
blessed be the Kingdom of our Father David, that cometh in the Name 
of the Lord : Hosanna in the highest. 

" Hosanna" signifies, in Hebrew, " Save now." The multitude therefore are 
here quoting the words of the cxviiith Psalm, — "Save now, I beseech Thee, Lord: 
Lord, I beseech Thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be He that cometh in the 
Name of the Lord!"(i) From St. Matthew's Gospel, we learn that they added — 
" Hosanna to the Son of David :"(h) by which appellation, and the phrase " who 
cometh in the Name of the Lord," the people openly declared the lowly Stranger to 
be their long-expected Messiah : and indeed, to Messiah, this Psalm was admitted 
by the learned Jews to refer. We shall presently hear our Saviour Christ quoting 
from the same Psalm, and applying that quotation to Himself.(0 

11 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the Temple : 

Our countryman Bede, (deriving the hint doubtless from some old writer,) 
remarks on this, — "By His going to the Temple on first entering the City, He shows 
us beforehand a pattern which we are to follow ; that if by chance we enter a place 
where there is a House of Prayer, we should first turn aside into it." Such remarks 
have at least this value, that they remind us of the spirit in which Holy Scripture 
is to be read ; namely, with a living desire to profit by its every word, — to derive a 
lesson from every turn of thought or expression. "VVe cannot overlook their value; 
even while we are deeply conscious that the present visit of Messiah to His Temple 
was an act of unusual solemnity, — of exceeding dignity, meaning, and moment. 

and when He had looked round about upon all things, and now the 
eventide was come, He went out unto Bethany with the Twelve. 

(/) 2 Kings ix. 13. (g) Zech. ix. 9. (h) St. Luke xix. 37. 

(0 Ps. cxviii. 25, 26. (k) St. Matth. xxi. 9. 

(I) See below, the note on St. Mark xii. 10, 11. 



XI.] ON ST. makk's gospel. 361 

Such a verse of Scripture ought not to be read carelessly, as if it contained little. 
How much seems implied in the statement that " Pie looked round about upon all 
things !" The Lord of the Temple, casting His searching glance round about, sur- 
veys all things in it; and then departs, at evening, followed by His twelve Disciples. 

The event which follows belongs to the ensuing morning. "We may well sup- 
pose," (remarks an excellent writer,) "that the thoughts which must have filled our 
Lord's mind on this morning, while proceeding to Jerusalem and the Temple, must 
have been such as nothing could explain to His Disciples, — no human language 
could give utterance to."(m) He therefore wrought symbolically in their presence, 
but spake no words. 

12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, He was 
hungry : 

What a picture are we here presented with, of ministerial earnestness, — of want 
and privation ! The Son of Man comes early in the morning from the village of 
His sojourn, towards Jerusalem; and He hungers by the way!^ He is fain even, 
like some very poor man, to supply His need with the casual fruits of the country. 
As it follows, — 

13 And seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply 
He might find any thing thereon : and when He came to it, He found 
nothing but leaves ; for the time of figs was not yet. 

It might seem as if the Evangelist here said that our Saviour came to seek for 
fruit on a fig-tree before the season of figs had arrived ; and then, cursed the tree 
for not bearing that which it could not reasonably have been expected to bear. 
But that would be absurd. The simple truth seems to have been this. The season 
was April. The fig-tree then does not bear ripe figs : neither does it bear large 
leaves, The leaves and the fruit go together. Where the leaves are abundant, 
there men expect to find fruit : and a leafy fig-tree in April would be a token that 
figs were to be found there, likewise. There is said to be a rare kind of fig-tree 
which is of this nature — namely, which is in full leaf before "the time of figs." 
Our Lord therefore, coming from Bethany to Jerusalem, would have satisfied his 
mysterious cravings with the fruit of any of the fig-trees which grew beside the 
road : but the time of figs was not yet. They bore no leaves, — a certain sign that, 
as yet, they bore no fruit. When, however, "He saw afar off a fig-tree having 
leaves, He came, [to see] if haply He might find anything thereon ; and when He 
came to it, He found nothing — out leaves." 

As " very Man," He hungered: as " very God," He wrought the miracle which 
follows. 

14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee 
hereafter for ever. And His Disciples heard it. 

"And presently," adds St. Matthew, "the fig-tree withered away:"(n) though, 
as St. Mark explains, (o) the Disciples did not notice the fact till the morrow 
morning. 

Here then our Blessed Lord was exhibiting at once a Parable and a Prophecy 
in action : for what was this, but the parable of " the barren Fig-tree" displayed 
in act, instead of rehearsed in language ? Who sees not that the Jewish nation was 
symbolized on both occasions? "Behold, these three years" Christ had "come 
seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and found none." The Day of Grace had at last ex- 
pired, — as Christ himself confessed, (p) — and the tree was about to become dried 
up from the very roots. 

The " hunger" of Christ on this occasion, however real, was therefore symbolic 
also. The craving of His human appetite was only a faint image of the craving 
of His human soul. It was the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand, 
— the posterity of Abraham His friend, of Isaac and of Jacob, — after whom He 
chiefly hungered : or rather, for fruits of Kighteousness displayed by them. This 
people abounded in the outward signs of Holiness. Jerusalem had leaves in plenty: 
she alone had leaves. The other nations round about were unproductive hitherto : 

(m) Williams. (n) St. Matth. xxi. 19. (o) See below, ver. 20. (p) St. Luke xix. 42. 



362 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

for why ? The time of fruit was not yet. But in her, while no external sign was 
away, the fruit which should have attended all this leafy show, was wholly wanting. 
The conclusion of this history is found in verse 20. — In the meantime, another 
act, (like that which we have been already considering, highly symbolic in its na- 
ture,) awaits us ; performed within the Temple of Jerusalem. 

15, 16 And they come to Jerusalem : and Jesus went into the Tem- 
ple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the Temple, 
and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them 
that sold doves ; and would not suffer that any man should carry any 
vessel through the Temple. 

" The mystical import of this memorable act of Divine Power, (by which our 
Saviour expelled the buyers and sellers from that precinct of the Lord's House 
which they had been allowed by undisputed prescription to occupy before,) was, to 
intimate that the Gentiles' Court was to be esteemed, equally within their own 
hallowed inward courts, a real part of the House of God, equally sanctified to the 
Divine Worship, and to be vindicated from profane violation : for which act, there- 
fore, He cites for warrant the words of the Evangelical Prophet '"{q) 

17 And He taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, my House 
shall be called of all nations the House of Prayer ? 

Our Lord said "My House be called a House of Prayer for all nations," — quot- 
ing Isaiah lvi. 7. 

but ye have made it A den of thieves. 

Which last expression is taken from Jeremiah vii. 11. " Such were the para- 
bles," remarks the very learned writer already quoted, " by which He intimated 
intelligibly to the Pharisees, and those more instructed in the oracles they abused, 
that the Vineyard of the Lord was about to be taken from them, and given to a 
nation which should bring forth the fruits thereof." 

It is obvious to remark with one of the ancients on this transaction, that what is 
here spoken of the Temple, "is to be applied by every individual to himself: for 
' Ye are the Temple of the living God/ says the Apostle. (r) Admit not therefore 
into thy breast the spirit of bargaining, nor the desire of gifts ; lest Jesus, entering 
in anger and sternness, should purify His Temple with scourging, — in order from 
a den of thieves to make it a House of Prayer." [s) .... They, surely, who ha- 
bitually suffer their hearts in the House of God to wander back to the market, or to 
the affairs of their worldly calling, fall under the condemnation of the text. 

18, 19 And the Scribes and chief Priests heard it, and sought how 
they might destroy Him : for they feared Him, because all the people 
was astonished at his doctrine. And when even was come, He went 
out of the city. 

He went to the Mount of Olives, and to Bethany, — as explained in the note on 
St. Matthew xxi. 17. 

20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig-tree dried 
up from the roots. 

One of the Fathers remarks beautifully, that " we find herein a proof of our 
Lord's goodness. When He was minded to show forth an instance of the Salvation 
procured by His means, He exerted His power on the persons of men; by the heal- 
ing of their sicknesses, encouraging them to look for the healing of their souls. 
But now, when He would exhibit a type of his judgments on the rebellious, He re- 
presents what was to happen by the destruction of a tree."(t) 

It is sometimes absurdly remarked, as if in the way of disparagement, that this 
is one of the occasions when a miracle was productive of injury to some part of 
God's creation. (As if the Creator had not a perfect right to do what He will 

(q) Dr. W. H. Mill. (r) 2 Cor. vi. 16. («) Jerome. (*) Hilary. 



XI.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 363 

with His own!) The Eeader may he referred, on this subject, to the end of the 
note on St. Mark v. 13. Such a remark is conceived in the very spirit of modern 
criticism. How much more just, as well as more edifying, is the reflection offered 
by one of the ancients ; that in brutes and plants there can be neither fault nor 
punishment: "consider the miracle, therefore," he says, " and admire the Worker 
of it." We are not to consider that "the Creator wrongs the owner: but that the 
creature, at His will, is converted to the profit of others." 

21 And Peter calling to remembrance, saith unto Him, Master, be- 
hold, the fig-tree which Thou cursedst is withered away. 

" Dried up from the roots," as we read in verse 20 : which plainly indicates the 
hopeless state of the nation typified by the barren Fig-tree. 

The imperfect faith of the disciples made them break out into wonder ; as if this 
had been a great thing for God to do.(w) Wherefore it follows, — 

22, 23 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. 
For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, 
Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea ; and shall not doubt in 
his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come 
to pass ; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 

All this, however, must surely strike us as a somewhat extraordinary turn to 
give to the mysterious transaction which precedes. It may be pointed out, in par- 
tial explanation, that the Disciples had in fact asked a question, which St. Matthew 
alone records, — " How is it that the fig-tree has immediately withered aAvay V\x) 
and to this inquiry our Blessed Lord makes answer in ver. 22. His followers were 
evidently profoundly unconscious of the symbolic character of the transaction which 
they had been permitted to witness ; and beheld in it simply an act of wondrous 
power. The Holy One, ever condescending to the Infirmity of His creatures, is 
therefore silent concerning the typical character of His recent act, (which He 
leaves for the Divine Illumination of a subsequent day to explain ;) (y) but in the 
mean time proceeds to impart to His Disciples as much of Heavenly Wisdom as 
they show themselves able " to bear."(z) They have inquired how such wonders 
are wrought ? and He answers them, as He virtually did on a former occasion, by 
bidding them " have Faith in God."(«) Then, because Prayer is the very language 
of Faith, He makes the lesson yet more practical by straightway discoursing con- 
cerning Prayer. 

24, 25, 26 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any : 
that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your tres- 
passes. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in 
Heaven forgive your trespasses. 

These two verses on the forgiveness of injuries have been already met with in the 
Sermon on the Mount, (b) immediately following the Lord's Prayer ; and the latter 
verse is almost repeated in another part of St. Matthew's Gospel.(c) In like man- 
ner, (as will be found pointed out in the Commentary on St. Matthew,) (d) verses 
22, 23, 24 of the present chapter may be considered to recur three times in the 
Gospel. Such^ coincidences will not be overlooked by any one who is impressed 
with the dignity of the inspired page, and the importance of His sayings who 
" had the words of Eternal Life."(e) 

(u) So Chrysostom. ( x ) St. Matthew xxi. 20. 

(y) The Header will call to mind such places as the following,— St. John ii. 22 : xii. 16 : 
xiv. 26. &g. 

(z) Consider such places as— St, John xvi. 12 : St. Mark iv. 33. See also the note on the 
latter part of St. Matth. viii. 2; and the beginning of the note on St. Mark v. 24. 

(a) See the beginning of St. Matthew xvii. 20; in which verse it will be perceived that the 
remarkable saying in the text (St. Mark xi. 23) recurs : while an allusion to Prayer follows in 
verse 21. h) St. Matth. vi. 14, 15. 

' St. Matthew xviii. 35. (d ) See the note on St. Matthew xxi. 21, 22. 

St. John vi. 68. Consider Genesis xli. 32. 



a 



364 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

27, 28 And they come again to Jerusalem : and as He was walking 
in the Temple, there come to Him the chief Priests, and the Scribes, 
and the Elders, and say unto Him, By what authority doest Thou these 
things ? and who gave Thee this authority to do these things ? 

" Authority" thus to enter Jerusalem, — to receive the homage and the plaudits of 
the multitude, — to cast out the buyers and sellers from the Temple, — to encourage 
the children in their joyous acclamations, — and, perhaps above all, openly to teach 
the people in the Temple :(/) a thing which He did daily throughout this solemn 
season, [g) 

Those who put this question, or rather these questions, to our Lord, were proba- 
bly deputed to do so by the Sanhedrin or supreme Council of the Jewish Nation. (h) 
It is worth observing that the same question was put to our Lord three years be- 
fore, and by the same persons, — immediately after His performance of the same 
miraculous action. See St. John ii. 18. 

" The Lord could have confuted His tempters by a simple answer ; but He put 
a question to them of such skillful contrivance, that they must be condemned either 
by their silence or their knowledge. ;; (0 As it follows : 

29, 30 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of 
you one question, and answer Me, and I will tell you by what autho- 
rity I do these things. The baptism of John was it from Heaven, or 
of men ? answer Me. 

That is, — Did John Baptist receive from God a Commission to Baptize ? or was 
it a mere human device, an assumption of his own ? 

31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, 
From Heaven ; He will say, Why did ye not believe him ? 

By which they probably alluded, above all, to the witness borne by the Baptist 
to our Lord as the Messiah. (A;) 

32, 33 But if we shall say, Of men, — they feared the people : for all 
men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed. And they answered 
and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto 
them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things. 

For that which is holy may not be given to dogs ; neither are pearls to be cast 
before swine.(7) " Even if He had told them, it would have profited them nothing; 
because the darkened will cannot perceive the things of the Light. Him that in- 
quires, we are bound to instruct ; but him that tempts, we may defeat with a stroke 
of reasoning."^) See more in the note on St. Matthew xxi. 27. 

(/) See St. Matthew xxi. 23, and St. Luke xx. 1. (g) St. Mark xiv. 49. 

(h) See the note on .... St. Matth. xix. 3. 

(i) Jerome. (k) See St. John i. 29 to 34: 36. 

(I) St. Matth. vii. 6. (m) Pseudo-Chrysostom. 



XII.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 365 



CHAPTER XII. 



1 In a Parable of the Vineyard let out to unthankful Husbandmen, Christ fore- 
telleth the reprobation of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles. 13 He avoideth 
the snare of the Pharisees and Herodians about paying tribute to Cossar. 18 Con- 
vinceth the error of the Sadducees, who denied the Resurrection. 28 Resolveth the 
Scribe, who questioned of the first Commandment. 35 Refutetli the opinion that 
the Scribes held of Christ. 38 Bidding the people to beware of their ambition and 
hypocrisy. 41 And commendeth the poor Widow for her two mites, above all. 

1 And He began to speak unto them by parables. 

Our Saviour, who had already delivered the Parable of " the Tyro Sons, "(a) pro- 
ceeds, (as the heading of the present chapter reminds us,) " in a parable of the 
Yineyard let out to unthankful husbandmen/"' to foretell "the reprobation of the 
Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles." It cannot be doubted that the present para- 
ble, addressed not only to the Pharisees, but to the people at large, (b) is entitled to 
especial notice ; since, of the three parables which our Lord now delivered, accord- 
ing to St. Matthew, it is the only one noticed by St. Mark or St. Luke, — who both 
repeat it, and in very similar language. 

A certain Man planted a Yineyard, and set an Hedge about it, and 
digged a place for the Winefat, and built a Tower, and let it out to 
husbandmen, and went into a far country. 

For the literal meaning of the " hedge," " winefat," and " tower," see the note on 
St. Matthew xxi. 33. 

Now, "the Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts [was] the House of Israel, and the 
men of Judah His pleasant plant: and He looked for judgment, but behold oppres- 
sion ; for righteousness, but behold a cry ."(c) It is not only remarkable, but high- 
ly instructive also, to observe how faithfully the Gospel reproduces the language 
with which God's people had been made familiar under the Law : thus, how is it 
possible to read the words which go before, without recalling the description of the 
prophet Isaiah? — " My well-beloved hath a Vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and 
He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest 
vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein." (d) 
It is certain that our Lord intended, by the language He employed on the present 
occasion, to remind His hearers of that well-known place in fulfilled Prophecy; and 
thereby to suggest to as many as had " ears to hear" the equally certain, equally 
terrible retribution which now awaited the guilty city. 

This image of a Vineyard, in fact, "runs throughout the Old Testament ;(e) and 
has this especial fitness, — that no property was considered to yield so large a re- 
turn :{f) none was therefore of such price and esteem, even as none required such 
unceasing care and attention. "(#) 

The Jewish nation, — that Vine which God brought out of Egypt, casting out the 
heathen in order to plant it, (h) — had been " hedged" about in a surprising manner. 
The Law, a "wall of partition" as the great Apostle terms it,(i) was, in itself a 
cause that the people dwelt alone, and were not reckoned among the nations. [Jc] 

(a) St. Matth. xxi. 23 to 32. (b) St. Lwke xx. 9. 

(c) Isaiah v. 7. (d) Isaiah v. 1, 2. 

(e) Ps. lxxx. 8 to 16. Is. xxvii. 1 to 6. Nahum ii. 2. Jer. ii. 21. Ezek. xv. 1 to 6 : xix. 
10 to 14. 

(/) Solomon's Song viii. 11. (g) Trench. (h) Ps. lxxx. 8. 

(i) Eph. ii. 14. (k) Numb, xxiii. 9. 



366 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The natural features of the Holy Land further constituted a physical cause of isola- 
tion, — mountains and a river, the desert and the sea, fencing off Palestine from the 
other nations. But chiefly the loving protection of Almighty God it was, which 
had "made an hedge about" His people, "and about all that they had on every 

aide." (I) 

Have not the " winefat" and the " tower" a mystical meaning ? or do they merely 
denote that nothing " more could have been done to God's Vineyard, than He had 
done in it?"(?7i) It is obvious to suspect that, by the "Tower," the Temple of 
Jerusalem, — the " Tower of the flock, the strong-hold of the Daughter of Sion,"(w) 
— may be intended. The object of a " Tower," as elsewhere stated, (o) was for the 
overseeing and watching of the Vineyard: and are not God's priests "overseers," 
and " watchmen ?" St. Paul addressed the elders of the Church of Ephesus by the 
former name, exhorting them to " watch :"{p) by the latter, God Himself addresses 
His prophet Ezekiel ; saying, " I have set thee a Watchman unto the House of 
Israel."(g) And what if, — guided by that striking expression, "the blood of 
grapes "(r) — we should suspect that the altar of sacrifice at Jerusalem was spe- 
cially designated by the "wine-press?" — We certainly need not perplex ourselves 
as to who are meant by the Husbandmen, here. The nation in general, and their 
rulers in particular, are obviously intended, — who are known to have entered into 
solemn covenant with the Lord of the Vineyard. 

2 And at the season He sent to the husbandmen a Servant, that He 
might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. 

We are not, of course, to press every little detail in a cold critical spirit. It may 
suffice us to consider generally that the conduct of a Householder in respect of his 
Vineyard is here set forth ; and to notice what corresponds therewith, in the course 
pursued by Almighty God with regard to His people. After the giving of the Law, 
and the planting of Israel in Canaan, when sufficient time had elapsed for the re- 
sults of that Divine system under which they lived to become apparent, — or as the 
parable expresses it, "when the season of fruit drew near,"(s) — God sent to them 
"a Servant," that is, one of His ancient Prophets. 

3, 4, 5 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away 
empty. And again He sent unto them another Servant ; and at him 
they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away 
shamefully handled. And again He sent another ; and him they killed, 

"0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the Prophets, and stonest them which 
are sent unto thee l"(f) 

Mark well the long-suffering patience of the Householder. He could have taken 
summary vengeance on those wicked Husbandmen for their treatment of His first 
Servant, as the issue proved ;(u) but in the meantime He sends another, — whom 
they stoned ; and yet another, — whom they killed : 

and many others ; beating some, and killing some. 

So had the Prophets been treated, which God, from time to time, had sent to His 
chosen people. As it is written, — " They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, 
were tempted, were slain with the sword : . . . . being destitute, afflicted, torment- 
ed: of whom the World was not worthy !"(x) — "The Lord God sent to 

them by His Messengers, rising up betimes, and sending ; because He had compas- 
sion on His people, and on His dwelling-place. But they mocked the Messengers 
of God, and despised His words, and misused His Prophets ; until the wrath of the 
Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy."(?/) Such was the re- 
markable testimony of an eye-witness of what had occurred in times past ! 

{1) Job i. 10. (m) Isaiah v. 4. (n) Micah iv. 8. 

(o) See the note on St. Matthew xxi. 33. (p) Acts xx. 17, 28, 31. 

(g) Ezek. xxxiii. 7 : also iii. 17. Read Ezek. xxxiii. 2 to 9. 

(r) Gen. xlix. 11. Deut. xxxii. 14. Consider also well, Is. lxiii. 2, 3. Rev. xiv. 19, 20 : 
xix. 15. 

i) St. Matth. xxi. 24. (t) St. Matth. xxiii. 37. (u) See below, ver. 9. 

ic) Hebrews xi. 37, 38. (y) 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16. 



XII.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 367 



6 Having yet therefore one Son, His well-beloved, He sent Him also 
last unto them, saying, They will reverence My Son. 

For " God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto 
the Fathers by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us "by. His Son, 
whom He hath appointed Heir of all things." So entirely do the two first verses 
of the Epistle to the Hebrews exhibit a short summary of the present parable ! 
"This, then, was the last and crowning effort of Divine Mercy; after which, on the 
one side, all the resources even of Heavenly Love are exhausted : on the other, the 
measure of Sin is perfectly filled up.(z) The description of the Son as the " only" 
one, and as the " well-beloved," marks as strongly as possible the difference of rank 
between Him and the servants, — the worth and dignity of His person, who alone 
was a Son in the highest sense of the word. And, doubtless, our Lord's actual 
hearers quite understood what He meant, and the honour which in these words He 
claimed as His own."(a) 

7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the Heir : 
come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be our's. 

Consider how Type, Parable, and History point in one and the same direction. 
A passage in the history of Joseph,(6) — and the sacred narrative contained in the 
Gospel, (c) — will readily present themselves to the memory. The "servants" when 
they conspire against the "Heir of all things," actually assign as their motive, 
that " if they let Him alone," they " will lose both their place and nation." What 
is this but to say, " Let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours?" 

"Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the Heathen for Thine Inheritance." (d) So 
speaks the Eternal Father, by His Prophet. "The inheritance of the Son is the 
Church : an inheritance not left to Him, but wonderfully purchased to Himself by 
His own Death." 

8 And they took Him, and killed Him, and cast Him out of the 
Vineyard. 

In these words, then, our Blessed Lord predicts His own shameful Death. — Con- 
sider how apposite to all that has gone before is the dying address of the first mar- 
tyr St. Stephen, to his stiffnecked fellow-countrymen: — "Which of the prophets 
have not your fathers persecuted ? and they have slain them which showed before 
of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and 
murderers." (e) 

9 What shall therefore the Lord of the Vineyard do ? He will come 
and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the Vineyard unto others. 

As it is written in the Book of Nehemiah, with reference to God's judgments in 
time past, — " Many years didst Thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by 
Thy Sririt in Thy Prophets : yet would they not give ear:" "therefore Thou de- 
liveredest them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them."(f) And by one 
greater than Nehemiah, with reference to God's judgments yet future, — "The Wis- 
dom of God said, I will send them Prophets and Apostles :"(g) " behold, I send unto 
you Prophets, and Wise men, and Scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and 

crucify ; and some of them ye shall scourge, .... and persecute ; that 

upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the Earth." (A) 

It seems worth observing that, in all the three Gospels, the prophetic character 
of our Lord's Discourse is clearly marked by the form which the parable suddenly 
assumes at this place. The Blessed Speaker uses an interrogation : the reply to 
which, indicates an event yet future ; though the Parable throughout, has related 
to a past transaction. Accordingly, in St. Matthew's Gospel, it is plainly added, — 
" Therefore say I unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given 
to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." (i) 

(z) See St. Matth. xxiii. 32, and the note there. (a) Trench. 

(6) Genesis xxxvii. 19, 20. (c) St. John xi. 47 to 53. 

(d)Ps. ii. 8. \e) Acts vii. 52. 

(/) Nehemiah ix. 30, 27. (g) St. Luke xi. 49. 

(h) St. Matthew xxiii. 34, 35. (i) St. Matthew xxi. 43. 



368 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

It will be found instructive to consider St. Matthew xxiii. 29 to 36, in connection 
with the present place. — Our Lord proceeds to quote a prophecy from the Old 
Testanfent, in order to convince His hearers that the course of events which He 
was describing had been foreseen in the deep counsels of God. 

10, 11 And have ye not read this Scripture, The stone which the 
builders rejected is become the head of the corner: this was the Lord's 
doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes ? 

The words are found in the cxviiith. Psalm, (A;)— the reference of which to the 
days of Messiah, was admitted by the Jews themselves: as indeed the multitude 
are found to have already applied it to our Saviour Christ.(Z) St. Luke intimates 
that the Divine Speaker fastened His eyes(m) on His amazed auditory while He 
delivered this citation from ancient prophecy as applicable to the matter in hand. 

12 And they sought to lay hold on Him, but feared the people : for 
they knew that He had spoken the Parable against them : and they 
left Him, and went their way. 

13, 14, 15 And they send unto Him certain of the Pharisees and 
of the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. And when they were 
come, they say unto Him, Master, we know that Thou art true, and 
carest for no man : for Thou regardest not the person of men, but 
teachest the way of God in truth : Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, 
or not ? Shall we give, or shall we not give ? 

16, 17 But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why 
tempt ye Me ? bring Me a penny that I may see it. And they brought 
it. And He saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription ? 
And they said unto Him, Caesar's. And Jesus answering said unto 
them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the 
things that are God's. And they marvelled at Him. 

"And left Him, and went their way."(w) — Concerning this crafty assault made 
against the Holy One by a party of persons whom St. Luke describes as" spies, 
feigning themselves just men ;"(o) the reader is referred to the Commentary on St. 
Luke's Gospel. (p) Concerning the "Pharisees and Herodians," see the note on 
St. Matthew xxii. 17. 

" The Pharisees with the Herodians being thus confuted, the Sadducees next 
offer themselves." (q) 

18, 19 Then come unto Him the Sadducees, which say there is no 
Resurrection ; and they asked Him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto 
us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no 
children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto 
his brother. 

This law is found in Deuteronomy xxv. 5 (which the Reader is requested to refer 
to) ; but it is here rather quoted from Gen. xxxviii. 8. Observe the expression 
" shall raise up." Beyond question, the mystical intention of this remarkable law 
was, by setting before the eye a type of the Resurrection of the body, to keep alive 
among mankind a belief in that doctrine; and to nourish the blessed hope of ever- 
lasting life after Death. (?•) And yet, these unbelievers are found to make the law 
itself the ground and occasion of their low sensual objection to that very Doctrine: 
saying, 

(jfc) Ps. cxviii. 22, 23 : which is also twice quoted by St. Peter,— Acts iv. 11, and 1 St. Peter 
ii. 7. What the " corner-stone " was, is not exactly understood. 
(I) See above, the note on St. Mark xi. 9, 10. 

(m) St. Luke xx. 17. Compare St. Matthew xix. 26. (n) St. Matthew xxii. 22. 

(o) St. Luke xx. 20. ( p) St. Luke xx. 20 to 26. 

(q) Chrysostom. (r) Julius Africanus, A.D. 216. 



xil] on st. mark's gospel. 369 

20, 21, 22, 23 Now there were seven brethren : and the first took a 
wife, and dying left no seed. And the second took her, and died, 
neither left he any seed : and the third likewise. And the seven had 
her, and left no seed : last of all the woman died also. In the Resur- 
rection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them ? 
for seven had her to wife. 

"Such is the fictitious case they put; for it was not likely to be a true one. The 
Jews were adverse to the fulfilling of that Law, at all; which would have rendered 
its frequent repetition very improbable, especially in the case of deaths so extra- 
ordinary. But the objection, superficial as it is, has in it something not only of 
sensual levity, but also of coarseness and turpitude. Sensuality blinds the eyes, so 
as to create these apparently absurd difficulties ; and the carnally minded man can- 
not imagine the future life to be any thing but carnal."(s) For it will be perceived 
that the present difficulty " rested entirely upon the notion that the connections of 
this Life must be continued in another/' (t) This notion, therefore, our Lord pro- 
ceeds to remove, by declaring that the condition of men's bodies, after the Resur- 
rection, will be nolonger the same as it was in Life. 

24, 25 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore 
err, because ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God ? 
for when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are 
given in marriage ; but are as the Angels which are in Heaven. 

Take notice that the Sadducees, not only " say that there is no Resurrection, "(it) 
but — " neither Angel nor Spirit." (x) The Lord of Angels and " Father of Spirits" 
proceeds therefore to combat the whole of their Heresy. 

It does not seem to be implied by what is stated in verse 24, that what follows is 
found anywhere in the Old Testament. This statement concerning the Bodies of 
the Saints is one of the new things revealed to Man in the Gospel; and amounts to 
a declaration that the "spiritual body' ; will not be liable to the same passions as 
the "natural body."(?/) "We shall be changed;" and a part of that change will 
consist in our ennobled bodily functions. "When this corruptible shall have put 
on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, v (z) we shall find 
ourselves no longer bound down by carnal desires: but shall share that loftier state, 
which is the state of Angels. 

Reason alone might indeed suffice to convince us that "when men shall rise from 
the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage;" for the end of Marriage 
is the procreation of Children, as the Church is careful to remind us. "We marry, 
to the end that that which Death consumes, Birth may replenish: therefore, where 
the Law of Death is taken away, the cause of Birth is taken away likewise."(a) 
Indeed, our Lord states this in express words in St. Luke's Gospel: they "neither 
marry nor are given in marriage," He says, "for neither are they any longer cap- 
able of dying. (b) 

All this, it will be perceived, does not touch the subject of recognition in a future 
state ; concerning which, no reasonable doubt can be entertained. Neither is it the 
question here whether the union of Husband and Wife will continue to subsist in 
the Life to come ; but only concerning the character which that union will assume. 

Further, we have to notice our Lord's assurance that the error of the Sadducees 
arose out of their ignorance, (1st.) of Scripture; and (2d.) of the power of God. 
He does not reprove them for receiving nothing of Scripture but the five Books of 
the Law; but, for not apprehending the Divine Blind even there. It is sufficiently 
remarkable, that the very precept of Moses which they had just now appealed to, 
was intended by God to convey the very Doctrine which these men were seeking to 
refute. But this has been noticed already.(c) 

(s) Williams. (t) ArcM. Hale and Bp. Lonsdale. 

(«) See above, ver. 18.. Cx) Acts xxiii. 8. 

(y) 1 Cor. xv. 44. \z) Ibid. ver. 52, 54. 

(a) Pseudo-Chrysostom. Augustine has almost the same words. 

(b) St. Luke xx. 36. This is overlooked in our English, version. 

(c) See above, the note on ver. 19. 

24 



370 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Having thus disposed of their question, the Blessed Speaker proceeds to convict 
them of error out of their own Books. They had brought forward the name of 
Moses in order to perplex Him; He therefore in turn brings forward the same great 
name in order to confute them : saying, 

26 And as touching the dead, that they rise : have ye not read in 
the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am 
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? 

How startling is the recollection that Christ Himself was the Speaker(d) on the 
occasion alluded to :{e) and that we here behold Him, after an interval of more than 
fifteen hundred years, interpreting His own words ! 

s27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living : ye 
therefore do greatly err. 

This is not human reasoning, but Divine. The force of it does not at once strike 
us. The obvious answer of the carnal mind would be, first, that the expression 
" the God of Abraham" might only mean the God whom Abraham worshipped ; 
and next, that, even if it implied the present life of the Patriarch, it would not seem 
of necessity to imply the future Resurrection of his body from death, also. 

Then, further, it might create surprise that a text bearing only indirectly, (as it 
seems,) on the Doctrine of the Resurrection should have been selected, while so 
many striking passages are at hand, (in the Books of Job and of Daniel for 
instance, ){f) which distinctly assert the doctrine. To this, however, it will be a 
partial answer if we point out that the unbelieving Sadducees rejected the entire 
Canon of Scripture except the five Books of Moses. " There does not appear any 
just reason, however, for supposing that our Lord was adducing in these words the 
strongest declaration of that Doctrine which the Pentateuch could supply. May we 
not rather consider it as an argument that the doctrine did not require any such 
express verbal proof at all ? For, of course, if it had been needed, He could have at 
once supplied it in the fullness and closeness of the written letter. Or, if not there 
already supplied, could have so spoken in the Old Testament, as to have met at once 
this occasion ; things present and future being equally one and the same to Him. 
For we must remember who it is that explains and interprets ; it is He who spake 
by the Prophets, and who in so speaking well knew every occasion on which the 
words would be needed. It were indeed something bordering on profaneness to 
suppose any deficiency of proof, or weakness of argument, such as fell short of what 
the occasion required. Our Lord must rather be considered as supplying His 
enemies with the Law of Scriptural Interpretation, and as furnishing the key which 
would admit them into the Treasures of the Holy Writings, which as yet they knew 
not."(#) 

But the most surprising thing, after all, seems to be that our Lord's reasoning 
silenced the Sadducees ; and therefore, was deemed by those unbelieving men if not 
satisfactory, at least unanswerable. The suspicion arises, that neither do we under- 
stand the Scriptures. Nay, we are conscious that it requires an effort of mind to 
embrace even our Lord's Divine Interpretation of them. For as Faith alone could 
dictate, so Faith alone can receive such an admirable exposition of His Reasoning, 
as the following : "With the force of our Lord's argument," says Bp. Pearson, 
" the multitude was astonished, and the Sadducees silenced. For under the name 
of God was understood a great Benefactor, a God of promise ; and to be ' their God/ 
was to bless them, and to reward them : as to be ' His Servants and His People/ 
was to believe in Him, and to obey Him. Now Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had not 
received the promises, which they expected ; and therefore God, after their death, 
desiring still to be called their God, thereby acknowledged that He hath a blessing 
and a reward in store for them still ; and consequently that He will raise them to 
another Life, in which they may receive it. So that the argument of our Saviour 
is the same which the Jews have drawn from another place of Moses, where God 
says 'I have established My covenant with them/ (namely with Abraham, with 
Isaac, and with Jacob,) 'to give them the Land of Canaan.' (h) It is not said 'to 
give their sons/ but ' to give them the Land of Canaan ;' and therefore, since while 

d) See the note on St. Matth. xv. 27. (e) Exod. iii 6. 

/) Job xix. 25, 26, 27. Daniel xii. 2. (g) Williams. (h) Exod. vi. 3, 4. 



XII.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 371 

they lived here they enjoyed it not, they must live again that they may receive the 
promise.' 7 

It is a striking remark of the Hebrew Doctors, that nowhere in the Scripture is 
God styled the God of any person during the days of his earthly life. 

Then, besides the Doctrine of the Soul's Immortality, we find it here implied that 
juster notions of God would have led the Sadducees to accept the Doctrine of the 
Resurrection of the Body, also. A deeper insight into the fullness of Scripture, 
would have led them to expect that those who live with Him now, will hereafter 
have their "perfect consummation and bliss, both in Body and Soul:"(i) while a 
more perfect knowledge of God's Power would have removed the obstacle opposed 
by unassisted Reason to that sublime Doctrine; "for, to the natural man, who 
judges merely from known laws of Nature, the Resurrection of the Body is, of course, 
impossible." When our Savioui* Christ says that "God is not the God of the dead, 
but of the living," He teaches us that God is " not the God of the dead, as dead; but 
as by His Power He can revive them, and rule them when they live." (A:) 

The entire incident leads us to inquire what other places in the Pentateuch might 
be cited as containing these two great Doctrines ? And we are reminded that it is 
said of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, after their death, not only that they were 
buried, but that they were "gathered to their people ; (I) by which phrase, the con- 
tinued existence of the departed is clearly implied, (m) While that saying of the 
Lord unto Moses, " Thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers,"(?i) as clearly implies the 
Doctrine of the Resurrection ; for where there has been a sleeping, there must also 
follow a waking — when that which lay down in weakness shall rise again in power. 

One of the " Scribes next comes forward: a class of men concerning whom some- 
thing will be found in the notes on St. Mark iii. 22. But from a comparison of this 
place with the narrative which answers to it in the earlier Gospel, (o) it will be found 
that he was a Pharisee. It will appear therefore that these implacable enemies of 
Christ no sooner discover that their rivals have been put to silence, than they put 
forward one of their own Scribes to molest the Holy One. It follows, 

28 And one of the Scribes came, and having heard them reasoning 
together, and perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, 
Which is the first commandment of all ? 

This he said, according to St. Matthew, (p) " tempting Him ;" an expression which 
generally denotes an evil frame of mind in the speaker. But our Lord's language 
in verse 34, below, induces the belief that this man's inquiry was dictated merely 
by curiosity, (q) He wished to hear how this wonderful Speaker would decide 
respecting a famous question which was much discussed among the most learned of 
the nation. 

29, 30 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments 
is, Hear, Israel : the Lord our God is one Lord : and thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength : this is the first Com- 
mandment. 

It will be observed that the first part of the admirable summary of Man's " duty 
toward's God" contained in the Catechism, is derived from this place of Scripture, 
rather than from any other ; and still more exactly does it follow the Scribe's re- 
wording of the matter, in verse 33. 

With all thy heart, soul, mind, strength: "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for 
out of it are the issues of Life."(r) " As the heart panteth after the water-brooks, 
so panteth my soid after Thee, God."(s) " Thou wilt keep him in perfect Peace, 

(i) Burial Service. (fc) Bp. Pearson. 

(?) Gen. xxv. 9, 8:— xxxv. 29:— xlix. 29, 33: 1. 13. See also Gen. xxv. 17. 
(m) Consider Gen. xv. 15: xxxvii. 35, and Numb. xx. 24: xxvii. 13: xxxi. 2. Also, Job 
xxvii. 19. 

In) Deut. xxxi. 16. (o] See St, Mattb. xxii. 34, 35. 

\p) St. Matth. xxii. 35. (q) Compare 1 Kings x. 1. 

(r) Prov. iv. 23. Consider Ps. li. 10 : lvii. 7 : lxvi. 18 : cix. 22 : cxix. 36, &c. 
(s) Ps. xlii. 1. Consider Ps. xxxiv. 2 : lvii. 1, &c. St. Luke i. 46, &c. 



372 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

whose mind Is stayed on Thee."(^) And, — " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do 
it with thy might." (u) 

But our Saviour does more than answer the question of the Scribe. He adds to 
"the first commandment of all," the second likewise. 

31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 

" The first is found in Deuteronomy vi. 4, 5, — a remarkable instance of a 
spiritual requirement: "the second," in Leviticus xix. 18. — And this, our Lord 
says, resembles the first : resembles it, in that to one of these two Commands every 
other duty may be referred ; resembles it, also, in that Love is the end of both. 
" For all the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, — ' Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself.' "(as) But on the words "the second is like," the Eeader is 
referred to a long note on St. Matthew xxii. 39. 

It will be seen from St. Luke x. 25 to 27, that these two precepts had been already 
quoted, and in very nearly the self-same words, as a summary of the whole Law, 
by a Scribe (or Lawyer) to whom our Saviour put a question not unlike that 
which was here addressed to Himself. What are we to infer from this curious cir- 
cumstance ? 

32, 33 And the Scribe said unto Him, Well, Master, Thou hast said 
the truth : for there is one God ; and there is none other but He : and 
to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with 
all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as him- 
self, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 

A very noble saying, truly ; and which may well warrant the pleasing belief that 
he who came " temptingly) Christ, went away inclined to become His disciple. 
And yet, as was pointed out in the preceding note, our Saviour had delivered no 
new precept : nay, He had replied to the Scribe's inquiry in the very words of the 
Scribes themselves. Was it then perhaps the manner and dignity of the Divine 
Speaker which overcame him ? and because (as even the rough soldiery confessed) 
"never man spake like this Man?" (z) 

Take notice of the air of authority which pervades the Scribe's words. He speaks 
like a great and learned Doctor of the Law. His concluding words moreover reveal 
which commandment, in the opinion of some, was " the first." 

34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, He said unto 
him, Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God. 

The perception of Divine Truth which his answer had evinced, showed that he 
wanted little to become a Disciple of Christ. 

And no man after that durst ask Him any question. 

35, 36, 37 And Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the 
Temple, How say the Scribes that Christ is the Son of David ? for 
David himself said, by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord, 
Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. 
David therefore himself calleth Him Lord : and whence is He then 
his son ? And the common people heard Him gladly. 

The reader is referred to the notes on St. Luke's Gospel (xx. 40 to 44,) concern- 
ing these verses. 

38, 39, 40 And He said unto them in His doctrine, Beware of the 
Scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the 

(t) Is. xxvi. 3 : where see the margin. Consider further, Prov. i. 2, &c. St. John xvii. 3, &c» 
(u) Eccles. ix. 10. Consider Dan. x. 19. 1 Cor. xvi. 13. Eph. vi. 10. 2 Tim. ii. 1. Rev. 
iii. 15, 16, Ac. 
fx) Gal. v. 14. Compare Rom. xiii. 8 to 10. (y) See above, the note on verse 28. 

(a) St. John vii. 46. 



XIII.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 373 

market-places, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the upper- 
most rooms at feasts : which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence 
make long prayers : these shall receive greater damnation. 

This does but form part of the long and withering address which fills a whole 
chapter (the 23d) in St. Matthew's Gospel: see the notes on verses 5, 6 and 14. — A 
touching incident follows : 

41, 42, 43, 44 And Jesus sat over against the Treasury, and beheld 
how the people cast money into the Treasury : and many that were rich 
cast in much. And there came a certain poor Widow, and she threw 
in two mites, which make a farthing. And He called unto Him His 
disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor 
Widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the Trea- 
sury : for all they did cast in of their abundance ; but she, of her want, 
did cast in all that she had, even all her living. 

This incident will be found remarked upon in the Commentary on St. Luke's 
Gospel, — xxi. 1 to 4. It shall suffice in this place to observe how entirely the point 
of the transaction is lost sight of, when men in common speech talk of " giving 
their mite." They mean thereby to imply that they have cast in a very small sum; 
(and probably so they have;) whereas the Widoio's " mite" was " all that she had, 
even all her living" 



CHAPTER XIII. 



1 Christ foretelleth the destruction of the Temple. 9 The persecutions for the Gospel. 
10 That the Gospel must be preached to all nations. 14 That great calamities 
shall happen to the Jews. 24 And the manner of His coming to Judgment. 32 
The hour ivhereof being Jcnoion to none, every man is to icatch and pray, that ice be 
not found unprovided, when He cometh to each one particularly by death. 

1 And as He went out of the Temple, one of His Disciples saith 
unto Him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are 
here I 

Our Lord was departing from the Temple for the last time, when this remark 
was made to Him by one of the Blessed Company who attended Him. The solem- 
nity of the occasion has been pointed out in the note on St. Matthew xxiv. 1. It is 
easy to understand that, from the words He had last uttered,(a) the Disciples may 
have "caught some general impression and dark foreboding of the fate which 
awaited the Temple : and it seems to have been in consequence of those express- 
ions that, as He was in the act of departing from it, they made the remark on its 
beautiful structure, as if to express their surprise, or to win His commiseration/' 
The immense size of the magnificent white stones to which the Disciples called our 

(a) St. Matth. xxiii. 36 to 39. 



374 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Saviour's attention, is noticed by Josephus. He says they were twenty-five cubits 
long, eight cubits high, and twelve broad. Some of the stones, he says, were forty 
cubits (that is, sixty feet) long. 

2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great build- 
ings ? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be 
thrown down. 

Not only was the Temple consumed by fire to its very foundations, but the soil 
received afterwards the customary marks of subjection. Zion was "ploughed as a 
field, and Jerusalem became heaps, and the mountain of the House as the high 
places of the forest."(&) "Where is now that great City?" (asked a Jew, immediately 
after the taking of Jerusalem :) " It is now demolished to the very foundations, and 
preserves no monument of itself but the camp of those who have destroyed it, which 
still dwells upon its ruins. Some unfortunate old men also lie upon the ashes of 
the Temple. I cannot but wish that we had all died before we had seen the founda- 
tions of our Holy Temple dug up after so profane a manner." See more in the 
note on St. Matthew xxiv. 2. 

The prediction in the text, which our Blessed Lord had also delivered on a for- 
mer occasion,(c) — though fully in accordance with the tenor of His recent discourses 
and teaching, (d) — may well have perplexed the Disciples. Not only did it seem 
unlikely that such a magnificent structure as the second Temple should experience 
such a total overthrow as their Divine Master predicted, but they may have called 
to remembrance a sure word of Prophecy, which proved at least that a period of 
great glory had been reserved, in the deep counsels of God, for that very Temple : — 
" The desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this House with Glory, saith 
the Lord of Hosts. . . . The Glory of this latter House shall be greater than of the 
former, saith the Lord of Hosts, and in this place I will give Peace, saith the Lord 
of Hosts. "(e) Little did they realize the solemn truth that already had " the Glory" 
come, and " departed !"(/) — that the Incarnate Son was the true Shelcinah,(g) who 
had suddenly come to His Temple, and had now crossed its threshold for the last 
time! 

3, 4 And as He sat upon the mount of Olives over against the Tem- 
ple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked Him privately, Tell 
us, when shall these things be ? and what shall be the sign when all 
these things shall be fulfilled ? 

St. Mark is the only Evangelist who mentions the number and the names of the 
Disciples who came to Christ as He sat on the Mount, with this memorable ques- 
tion. Their Divine Lord was sitting "over against the Temple," — the chief object, 
it may well be thought, of their solicitude. But the question they addressed to 
Him, St. Mark only partially records. The Reader will do well to refer to what 
has been already offered on this subject in the note on St. Matthew xxiv. 3. 

5, 6 And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any 
man deceive you: for many shall come in My name, saying, I am 
Christ : and shall deceive many. 

Thus then our Lord begins His reply with a general prophecy of Antichrist, who 
was to precede the destruction of Jerusalem ; as we know that he will (in some far 
more signal manner) precede the end of the World. (h) This is the first " sign 
when all these things shall be fulfilled," with which He supplied His Church. It 
is mentioned again in verses 21, 22; which places seem to be distinctly referred to 
by St. John, in his Epistle, (i) See more in the note on St. Matthew xxiv. 5. 

7, 8 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not 

(b) Micah iii. 12, which is quoted by Jer. xxvi. 18. 

(c) St. Luke xix. 44. 

(d) Consider St. Matth. xxi. 41, 43 : xxii. 1 : xxiii. 37, 39. 

(e) Hag. ii. 7, 9. (/) 1 Sam. iv. 21. (g) See St. John i. 14. 

(7i) See 2 Thess. 1 to 10, and the places referred to in the note on St. Matth. xxiv. 26. 
(i) St. John ii. 18 : iv. 3. Compare 2 St. John, verse 7. 



XIII.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 375 

troubled : for such things must needs be ; but the end shall not be yet. 
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom : 
and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be fam- 
ines and troubles : these are the beginnings of sorrows. 

These verses will be found discussed in the notes on St. Luke xxi. 11, and St. 
Matthew xxiv. 8. 

9 But take heed to yourselves : for they shall deliver you up to coun- 
cils ; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten : and ye shall be brought 
before Rulers and Kings for My sake, for a testimony against them. 

That is, " That you may bear witness of My Religion in their presence." (I) All 
which was fulfilled in the recorded history of the Eleven Apo»tles,(ra) — of St. 
Paul,(n) — and of the other Disciples.(o) But, as it has been truly remarked, we 
must understand this part of our Lord's prophecy, (which He had already delivered 
in His Charge to the Twelve,) (p) as relating " not so much to those sufferings of 
the Apostles and their first followers, which are related in the Acts, as to those 
general persecutions of the Christians which took place at a later period. It was 
particularly fulfilled in that great persecution which was carried on by the Empe- 
ror Nero, about three years before the Destruction of Jerusalem; and in which, 
among many others, St. Peter and St. Paul suffered martyrdom." (g;) 

10 And the Gospel must first be published among all nations. 

"And then shall the end," that is, the destruction of Jerusalem, "come;" — as it 
is said in St. Matthew's Gospel, (r) For "out of Sion," it had been predicted, 
"shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem;" (s) and "from 
the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, My Name shall be 
great among the Gentiles."(7) How truly this prophecy was fulfilled, even in the 
age of the Apostles, has been pointed out in the note on St. Matthew xxiv. 14; for 
the Gospel was then published throughout the Roman Empire, which certainly in- 
cluded the far greater portion of the then known world, — "from the mouth of the 
Rhine, to the border of Ethiopia; from Gades, to the banks of Euphrates."(w) 

11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought 
beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate : but what- 
soever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye : for it is not ye 
that speak, but the Holy Ghost. 

The Reader is referred concerning this verse to the note on St. Luke xxi. 15. 
Compare the place with St. Matth. x. 19, 20, (where the note should be read,) and 
St. Luke xii. 11, 12 : and take notice that the two next verses are found to have 
been transcribed by the present Evangelist word for word from our Lord's Charge 
to His Twelve Apostles in the x. Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel.(cc) 

12, 13 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the 
father the son ; and children shall rise up against their parents, and 
shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men 
for My Name's sake : but he that shall endure unto the end, the same 
shall be saved. 

The fulfillment of the prophecy in ver. 12, is noticed by a Roman Historian. 
Concerning the last words of ver. 13, which recur twice in the Gospels, (?/) the reader 
is referred to the note on St. Matth. xxiv. 13. The first Christians are accordingly 
found to have speedily become known as a sect which was " everywhere spoken 

(I) Burton. Compare St. Luke xxi. 13, and note. 

(m) Acts iv. 3 : v. 18, 40: xii. 4, &c. (n) 2 Cor. xi. 24, 25, &c. 

(o) Acts vii. 59, &c. (p) St. Matth. x. 17, 18. 

(q) Archd. Hale and Bp. Lonsdale. (r) St. Matth. xxiv. 14. 

(s) Isaiah ii. 3. (t) Mai. i. 11. (u) Churton. 

(x) See St. Matth. x. 21, 22,— in the original Greek. (y) St. Matth. x. 22 : xxiv. 13. 



376 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

against :"(z) and it was for Christ's "Name sake/' — " that worthy Name by the 
which" from the first "they were called."^) 

Thus far then, our Lord has been describing what should be the remoter signs 
of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, as well as what should be the sufferings of 
the first believers in the mean time. (b) He proceeds to indicate what should be the 
sign that the end had actually arrived : — 

14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of 
by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that read- 
eth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains : 

The standards of the Roman army, with their abominated ensigns of idolatry, 
standing on the sacred soil round about the City, — was to be the special signal for 
flight to the Christians. This has been more fully explained in the notes on St. 
Matthew xxiv. 15, and St. Luke xxi. 22. Some points of resemblance between the 
destruction of Jerusalem and the overthrow of Sodom have been pointed out in the 
note on St. Matthew xxiv. 18. The injunction to " escape to the mountain, "(c) which 
precedes, joined with the precepts which follow, forcibly recall the parallel doom of 
those two cities. 

15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, 
neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house : 

He was not to " go down into the house" on any account, — nor to " enter to take 
any thing out" of it. The Houses in Palestine were furnished with an external 
flight of steps, — by which the housetop could be reached without actually entering 
the house. This explains the manner in which the paralytic borne of four was 
brought to Christ,— as was shown in the note on St. Luke v. 19. 

16 and let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up 
his garment. 

A remarkable intimation of the greatness of the peril of that hour ; when the 
guilty City, like another Sodom, should be marked for destruction. Indeed, the 
resemblance between those two cities in respect of wickedness, struck even the Jew- 
ish historian Josephus. Hence, in an earlier part of St. Luke's Gospel, when our 
Lord is speaking of these same dangers, it will be remarked that He sums up these 
injunctions, which He here repeats, with that striking word of warning, — " Eemem- 
ber Lot's wife V'(d) And take notice that as, at the destruction of Sodom, the little 
town of Zoar was provided for the escape of Lot and his family, (e) so now Pella in 
Persea, at a distance of about a hundred miles, was provided to be a retreat for the 
Christians from Jerusalem. Moreover/as Lot was warned to " escape to the moun- 
tain/^/) so were the Disciples now. And it may be that this, or the like mystical 
teaching, lies concealed beneath other of these injunctions of our Lord; which in 
their highly symbolic character remind us somewhat of His sayings to the Twelve, 
when first he sent them forth.Q/) 

17 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck 
in those days ! 

For Mothers, "more alive to pain, and less able to bear it, endured the more; 
seeing their children expire before their eyes." Josephus, describing the horrors 
of the siege, says of the robbers and assassins who forced their way into houses, 
that they shoAved no compassion " either to the aged or to infants ; but lifted up 
children from the ground, as they hung upon the morsels they had gotten, and 
shook them down upon the floor." 

But if the reference here be to those who are counselled to have recourse to 
flight, the meaning of the compassionate exclamation in the text, becomes self-evi- 
dent, (h) 

(z) Acts xxviii. 22. 

(«) See Acts xi. 26: xxvi. 28. 1 St. Peter iv. 16, and St. James ii. 7. 

(b) Verse 5 to verse 8 : and verse 9 to verse 13. 

(c) Compare the end of verse 14 with Gen. xix. 17. (d) St. Luke xvii. 31, 32. 
(e) Gen. xix. 20 to 22. (/ ) Gen. xix. 19. 

(g) See the note on St. Matth. x. 10. (h) See the note on St. Luke xxi. 23. 



XIII.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 377 

18 And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. 

"Neither/' adds St. Matthew, "on the Sabbath Day." See the note on the 
place, (i) 

19 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the 
beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither 
shall be. 

The siege of Jerusalem was indeed attended with unexampled horrors, as well as 
the most appalling wickedness. It is truly surprising to find the Jewish historian 
Josephus, who was an eye-witness of the sufferings which our Lord here predicts, 
stating it as his opinion " that the misfortunes of all men, from the beginning of the 
world, if they be compared to these of the Jews, are not so considerable as theirs 
were ;" " nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness from 
the beginning of the world. Not only did civil strife rage within the City, but three 
powerful factions contended for the mastery with such violence and hate, that cap- 
tivity seemed a far inferior evil to the actual sufferings of the inhabitants. The 
city was densely crowded, in consequence of the multitudes which had come up to 
the Feast of the Passover. Pestilence ensued ; and, in consequence of the destruc- 
tion of their stores by fire, Famine followed shortly after. The very instincts of 
humanity seemed to forsake the people. Women snatched the food from the mouths 
of their husbands and children. The most revolting acts of violence were practised 
without remorse and without rebuke : barbarities were perpetrated too disgraceful 
even to be described. The Houses, the very streets of the city, were filled with 
dead bodies, — which armed assassins rifled, and mangled with fiendish exultation. 
So excessive was the stench, that it became necessary to hurl above six hundred 
thousand corpses over the walls. Meantime, the besieged were reduced to such ex- 
tremity, that they gladly ate not only their belts and shoes, but the very filth of the 
streets. One woman, a mother, as if unconscious of natural instinct, killed, roast- 
ed, and devoured her infant son, — deliberately reserving half for a second meal. 
So monstrous an iniquity had been foretold in prophecy for fifteen hundred years. (&) 
"I cannot but speak my mind/' says Josephus, after taking a survey of the ex- 
treme wickedness of his countrymen, "and it is this : I suppose that if the Romans 
had delayed to come against these sinners, either the Earth would have swallowed 
them up, or the city would have been swept away by another Flood, or it would 
have been consumed, like a second Sodom, by fire from Heaven." Ninety-seven 
thousand captives were taken during the war ; and there perished in the siege 
above eleven hundred thousand men. 

20 And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh 
should be saved : but for the elect's sake, whom He hath chosen, He 
hath shortened the days. 

By " the elect" are here clearly meant the Christians : and it seems to be implied 
that the prolongation of the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem were disastrous, as 
well to those Christians who had escaped from the city, as to those who remained 
immured within it. Nor is it hard, in part at least, to understand how this may 
have been the case. Their unbelieving friends and kindred were cooped up within 
those fated walls; and on them; many of "the elect" will have depended for the 
very means of subsistence : while Famine, or Pestilence, or the sword was daily 
threatening the lives of those whose safety was precious to them, almost as their 
own. Provision must have been scant, and the fruits of the earth gathered in with 
risk and difficulty. There was danger also lest the exasperated conquerors should 
have pushed the war into the provinces, and assailed PeMa itself as well as the 
other cities of Persea. In the meanwhile, bands of assassins and robbers infested 
Judaea, so that the lives of all were endangered ; and but for a summary close put 
to the deeds of violence which every day brought forth, the utter desolation of the 
country might have been anticipated. These men, says Josephus, "were agreed 

(i) On St, Matth. xxiv. 20. 

(k) Deut. xxviii. 56, 57. Levit. xxvi. 29. It seems to have also happened on two earlier 
occasions,— namely in B. C. 892,— see 2 Kings vi. 29: and in B. C. 588 —see Ezek. v. 10: Lam. 
iv. 10 : Jer. xix. 9. 






378 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

only in their determination to put to death as many as deserved safety and protec- 
tion :" a fearful prospect for the Disciples of Christ ! For whatever reason, it was 
mercifully promised that "those days should be shortened." 

And shortened they were, — not less by the activity and enterprise of the assail- 
ing enemy than by the madness of the assailed. Titus, on his part, ("swift as the 
eagle flieth !")(Z) encircled the City with a wall five miles in extent, and fortified 
with thirteen large garrisons, in the almost incredibly short space of three days.(m) 
His impatience to bring the siege to a close is specially noticed by Josephus. On 
the other hand, the seditious inhabitants slew the men who would have taught them 
how the siege might have been protracted ; burnt the corn which would have en- 
abled them to hold out against the enemy ; and abandoned the towers which were 
in fact impregnable. Thus the City which in the time of Zedekiah had endured a 
siege of twelve months, was captured by the Romans in less than five. 

21, 22, 23 And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is 
Christ ; or, lo, He is there ; believe him not : for false Christs and 
false Prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, 
if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed : behold, I have 
foretold you all things. 

In the Commentary on St. Matthew's Gospel, these verses will be found discussed 
at some length.(ji) The Reader is recommended to refer this part of our Lord's 
prophecy not altogether to the latter days ; but to view it as conceived in language 
which was equally applicable to the period immediately succeeding the Destruction 
of Jerusalem. Whatever may be thought of these three verses however, what fol- 
lows certainly has reference to the end of the World ; and the expression " in those 
days" must be taken in that large signification which the phrase is known to bear 
in other places. 

24, 25, 26, 27 But in those days, after that tribulation, the Sun 
shall be darkened, and the Moon shall not give her light, and the Stars 
of Heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in Heaven shall be shaken. 
And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with 
great power and glory. And then shall He send His angels, and shall 
gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part 
of the earth, to the uttermost part of Heaven. 

Such are the promised "signs" of Christ's final Coming. The remoter signs of 
that event precede, in verses 21 to 23: the two next verses, (24 and 25,) describe 
the tokens of His immediate approach. They have been discussed already in the 
note on St. Matthew xxiv. 29. See also, concerning verses 26, 27, above, the notes 
on St. Matthew xxiv. 30, 31. 

28, 29 Now learn a parable of the fig tree ; when her branch is yet 
tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near : so ye 
in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that 
it is nigh, even at the doors. 

Rather, " He is nigh," — as explained in the note on St. Matthew xxiv. 33 ; which 
see. In St. Luke's Gospel, the expression takes even a more interesting turn: 
"Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know 
of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand."(o) By which words our 
Lord teaches men, as He was accustomed to do,(_p) to apply the same observation 
to the things of Grace as to the things of Nature; and so to make advances in the 
knowledge of Heavenly Truth. 

But the difficulty arises, — If the approach of the end is to be thus gradual; and 
if it is to be preceded (like Summer) by many a well-known sign; how then will it 
be sudden and unforeseen, as our Lord elsewhere declares ?(<?) How will the Day 

(I) Deut. xxviii. 49. (»») See St. Luke xix. 43. 

(n) St. Matth. xxiv. 25 and 26. (o) St. Luke xxi. 29, 30 (p) St, Mattk. xvi. 2, 3. 

(q) St, Matth. xxiv. 44: xxv. 13. St. Mark xiii. 35 to 37, Ac. 



XIII.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 379 

of the Lord "so come as a thief in the night ?(r) This apparent contradiction is of 
course none, in reality; but full of heavenly teaching when rightly understood. 
"The judgments of God do almost always overtake sinners unawares; yet it might 
he shown by a great induction of instances, that they never come without distinct 
warnings from God."(s) The Flood took mankind by surprise: yet had they one 
hundred and twenty years of warning. And this event is made the very type of 
the great and terrible day.(^) 

30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all 
these things be clone. 

31 Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass 



Thus does our Lord prophesy that the Fall of Jerusalem, (which He designates 
by the phrase "these things,") should be no distant event: and it came to pass in 
forty years. It was declared in like manner of their forefathers in the wilderness, 
that God "made them wander forty years, until all the generation was consumed :"(u) 
and the selfsame period of forty years was to elapse before "this generation" had 
passed, and "all these things" were fulfilled. — Our Saviour proceeds to say some- 
thing concerning "the Day and Hour" of His second coming, and of the end of the 
World. See more about these verses in the notes on St. Matthew xxiv. 35, and 
St. Luke xxi. 33. 

32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the 
Angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 

Hence we learn that Angels, "which are greater in power and might/'(x) sur- 
pass us in knowledge also. The limit of their knowledge is noticed in other places 
of Scripture besides the present; and thereto is added the assurance that they 
desire to increase their stores. (y) Far more interesting however, and amazing too, 
is the statement which follows, that there were things known unto the Father 
which were hid even from the Son. But of course it was only as the Son of Man 
that anything could be unknown to Him which was known to the Father: since, 
(as He said, " I and My Father are One." (z) We cannot explain the statement of 
the text; for the union of the Divine and Human Nature in the one Person of 
Christ is a mystery altogether unfathomable, and which stands alone. Yet may it 
be pointed out that the words under consideration are in conformity with many 
other mysterious passages in the Gospel: as that which speaks of our Lord's "in- 
crease in Wisdom" as well as in Stature ;(a) His many recorded acts of prayer; (6) 
His claim to have been sent with a commandment from the Father ;(c) not to in- 
sist upon those many hints of the greatness of His Humiliation, which are scattered 
up and down the Gospel, and with no sparing hand.(rf) 

33, 34 Take ye heed, watch and pray ; for ye know not when the 
time is. For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who 
left His house, and gave authority to His Servants, and to every man 
his work, and commanded the Porter to watch. 

CHRIST is here spoken of, — "whose House are we," says St. Paul.(e) When 
He left His Church, did He not give to His Servants, the Apostles, "authority," 
as before, on first sending them forth, He had done?(/) and to every man, gave He 
not "His work," — "unto one, five talents, to another two, and to another one : to 
every man according to his several ability V'(g) " The Porter" seems to be again 
darkly alluded to in St. John x. 3. 

35, 36, 37 Watch ye therefore : for ye know not when the Master 

(r) 1 Thess. v. 2 : 2 St. Peter iii. 10, Ac. (s) Williams. 

(f) St. Matthew xxiv. 37 to 39 : St. Luke xvii. 26, 27, 30. («) Numb, xxxii. 13. 

(x) 2 St. Peter ii. 11. ( y ) 1 St. Peter i. 12. See Eph. iii. 10. 

h) St. John x. 30. (a) St. Luke ii. 52. 

(6) St. Matthew xiv. 23: xxvi. 39, 42 to 44: St. Luke vi. 12, Ac. (e) St. John xiv. 31. 

(d) St. Matthew xxvii. 46 : St, Luke xxii. 42, 44, Ac. (e) Heb. iii. 6. 

(/) St. Luke ix. 1. (g) St. Matth. xxv. 14, 15. 



380 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

of the House cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or 
in the morning : lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what 
I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. 

These three verses may be regarded as a brief summary of that which St. Mat- 
thew has recorded in such ample detail, from chap. xxiv. 42 to the 30th verse of the 
next chapter. 

Those who listen most attentively to the warning of the Gospel, says an ancient 
Father, [h) " are not much solicitous concerning the end of the World; but this alone 
they consider, that the end of each individual is such that he himself knows neither 
the day nor the hour of his departure ; and that on every one of us the Day of the 
Lord will so come as a thief. On which account it is necessary for each to watch, 
whether it be in the evening, that is in youth ; or at midnight, that is in the middle 
of life ; or at cock-crowing, when he is now more advanced in years ; or in the 
morning, when he is now in old age." For the Jewish night was divided into four 
watches. "Why," as another ancient writer truly asks, "why does He say to all, 
what belongs only to those who shall be then alive, if it be not that it belongs to 
all ? The last Day comes to each man, when his time comes for departing from 
this life ; and for this reason every Christian ought to watch, lest the Advent of his 
Lord find him unprepared. The Last Day will find that man unprepared whom 
the last day of life finds unprepared." (i) So entirely do these ancient writers con- 
firm the heading of the present chapter: "Every man is to watch and pray, that 
we be not found unprovided, when He cometh to each one particularly by Death." 

This, which may be called the practical view of our Lord's second Advent, it 
concerns us all especially to cherish. It was for such a coming of Christ that the 
beloved Disciple was instructed by his Lord to "tarry." " If I will that he tarry 
till I come, what is that to thee?"(/t*) — "Even so, come, Lord Jesus !"(Z) are the 
words with which the same Disciple testifies his expectation of the Day when 
Christ should fulfill His solemn promise. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



1 A conspiracy against Christ. 3 Precious ointment is poured on His head by a 
woman. 10 Judas selleth his Master for money. 12 Christ Himself foretelleth 
how He shall be betrayed of one of His Disciples. 22 After the Passover pre- 
pared, and eaten, instituteth His Supper. 26 JDeclareth aforehand the flight of 
all His Disciples, and Peter's denial. 43 Judas betrayeth Him with a kiss. 46 
He is apprehended in the garden. 53 Falsely accused, and impiously condemned 
of the Jews' council. 65 Shamefully abused by them. 66 And thrice denied of 
Peter. 

It will be remembered that the preceding chapter contained our Saviour's won- 
drous prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the World, 
— a transaction which it is reasonable to refer to the evening of Tuesday in Pass- 
over week. A day has elapsed since then. It is now Wednesday; and in con- 
formity with the Hebrew mode of expression, it is added, — 

1, 2 After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened 

(h) Origen. (i) Augustine. 

(k) St. John xxi. 22. (0 Rev. xxii. 20. 



XIV.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 381 

bread : and the chief Priests and the Scribes sought how they might 
take Him by craft, and put Him to death. But they said, Not on the 
Feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people. 

Enough has already been offered in illustration of these verses in the Commen- 
tary on St. Matthew xxvi. 2 and 5. It has been there pointed out that the beauti- 
ful incident which follows, is not introduced in strict historical order ; and the 
reason has been assigned why the mention of it has been reserved for this place. 

3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He sat 
at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of 
spikenard very precious ; and she brake the box, and poured it on His 
head. 

§ |Her impatient Love could not wait till the precious ointment should slowly distilll 
itself, drop by drop, on the Head of the Holy One. She therefore brake the box, — 
whereby, as St. John declares, " the house was filled with the odour of the oint- 
ment."^) 

4, 5 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, 
and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made ? For it might 
have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given 
to the poor. And they murmured against her. 

A few words on these three verses will be found in the notes on St. Matthew 
xxvi. 6, 7, and 9. 

6, 7, 8, 9 And Jesus said, Let her alone ; why trouble ye her ? she 
hath wrought a good work on Me. For ye have the poor with you 
always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good : but Me ye have 
not always. She hath done what she could : she is come aforehand to 
anoint My Body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever 
this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that 
she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. 

It has been well observed that not only in respect of its striking fulfillment, is 
this a most remarkable saying ; " but also as expressing, in the strongest manner, 
the very opposite views taken by our Lord and by His Disciples, of this woman's 
action." (c) As already remarked elsewhere, the Supper at Bethany has been re- 
served by St. Mark till now, in consequence of its connection with the event which 
follows, and in order to explain to the Reader what was the immediate occasion of 
that event. 

10, 11 And Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went unto the chief 
Priests, to betray Him unto them. And when they heard it, they were 
glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might 
conveniently betray him. 

It is observable that heinous offences committed against the Son of Man, cast 
their shadows far back into the Old Testament ; and are either typically alluded to, 
or find distinct and unexpected mention there. The piercing of the side is one such 
incident :(d) the spitting is another.(e) Just so, the sin of Judas is found to have 
been on the lips of two of the ancient prophets : for Zechariah says, " They weighed 
for My price thirty pieces of silver ;"(/) an( l St. Matthew declares that those words 
had been uttered " by Jeremy the prophet," (g) who lived a hundred years earlier. 
Nor does the event even then for the first time shine out from the darkness. When 
Joseph was let down into the pit, and sold into Egypt by his brethren, at the insti- 

(b) St. John xii. 3. (c) Bp. Lonsdale and Archd. Hale. 

(d) Consider Zech. xii. 10: (b. c. 487.) Numb. xx. 11, (b. c. 1453,) compared with 1 Cor. x. 
4. Gen. ii. 21, 22, (b. c. 4004.) 

(e) See below, the note on ver. 65. (/) Zech. xi. 12. {g) St. Matth. xxvii. 9, 10. 



382 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[chap. 









gation of another Judas, (and such coincidences of name are not accidental,) sold 
for twenty pieces of silver, (h) — who so blind as not to perceive that a greater than 
Joseph was there? that the crime committed against the Only Begotten Son was 
hut receiving a first faint portraiture in the transaction of the twelve patriarchs ? 
that it was the sin of Judas flinging its shadow back, as one may say, to the very 
beginning of Time."(f) 

12, 18, 14, 15 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they 
killed the Passover, his Disciples said unto Him, Where wilt Thou that 
we go and prepare that Thou may est eat the Passover ? And He send- 
eth forth two of His Disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the 
city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water : follow 
him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the 
house, The Master saith, Where is the guest-chamber, where I shall eat 
the Passover with my Disciples ? And he will show you a large upper 
room furnished and prepared : there make ready for us. 

16 And His Disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found 
as He had said unto them : and they made ready the Passover. 

A few remarks on what precedes will be found in the notes on St. Matthew xxvi. 
17 and 19. The sign which guided St. John and St. Peter to the house where the 
last Paschal Supper, the first " Lord's Supper," was to be eaten, will be found re- 
marked on in the note on St. Luke xxii. 10. 

17 And in the evening He cometh with the Twelve. 

18, 19 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto 
you, One of you which eateth with Me shall betray Me. And they 
began to be sorrowful, and to say unto Him one by one, Is it I ? and 
another said, Is it I ? 

20, 21 And He answered and said unto them, It is one of the Twelve 
that dippeth with Me in the dish. The Son of Man indeed goeth, as 
it is written of Him : but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is 
betrayed ! good were it for that man if he had never been born. 

" Then Judas, which betrayed him," adds St. Matthew, (k) " answered and said, 
Master, is it I ? He said unto him, Thou hast said." 

In the notes on St. Matthew xxvi. 20, 21, 22, 24 and 25, some brief remarks will 
be found on the preceding verses. It is related that those who assembled to cele- 
brate the Paschal Supper, in the first place partook of a Cup of Wine : accordingly, 
St. Luke will be found to allude to such an observance on the present occasion. (F) 
Then followed a ceremonial washing ; after which each of the guests ate some of 
the bitter herbs which were set before them, dipping them first into a peculiar kind 
of sauce which was served at the Paschal Supper. This seems to have been the 
manner in which the Holy One and his Twelve Apostles were actually engaged, 
when He spake the mournful prophecy recorded in ver. 18 : and this must have 
been that " dipping in the dish" to which he alludes in ver. 20. It is further well 
worthy of observation, concerning the institution of the Lord's Supper which fol- 
lows, that our Blessed Saviour invented no new ceremony, but sanctified and sub- 
limed one already in existence. The Holy Eucharist grew out of the Jewish Feast 
of the Passover ; or rather, it was engrafted upon it, and so supplanted it. Thus, 
it is related by ancient Jewish writers that after the ceremony already described, 
the Paschal Supper began as it were afresh. A second cup of wine again preceded 
the repast : after which the Master of the Feast took two unleavened cakes — broke 
one of them, placed what was broken on what remained entire, blessed, and dis- 
tributed. It will be perceived that this is none other than a description of the act 
which our Blessed Lord himself is related to have performed, in the verses which 
follow. 



(7i) Gen. xxxvii. 28. (*) See more in the note on St. Matthew xxvi. 15. 

(k) St. Matth. xxvi. 25 — where see the note. {I) See St. Luke xxii. 17, 18. 






XIV.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 383 



22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, 

"Doubtless, in eager and adoring watchfulness, their eyes were fixed on all He 
did, and their ears open to all he said. He had already taught them to expect 
something precious at this supper, to partake of which with them He said he most 
earnestly desired; and they were now well accustomed to find that his actions were 
great miracles, and his words contained vast mysteries. Great therefore must 
have been their anxiety, and deep their attention, when with solemn and adorable 
action, ' Jesus took bread/ "(m) 

and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take eat: 
this is my Body. 

" The whole action could not but have reminded them of those two great Miracles 
in which He had done the same;(w) and of that awful comment on one of them 
afterwards at Capernaum, in which He said his own Body was the true bread alone 
to be desired. (o) Every particular is recorded; and St. Paul also, who had himself 
received the account, not from Man, but by Revelation from Gov,(p) on this one 
point alone comes in to add his testimony to that of the Evangelists. St. Luke, his 
Disciple, keeps closely to his statement; and when they come to the awful words 
themselves, then they all join in with one accord to give our Lord's exact expres- 
sion, — ' This is My Body :' "(<?) concerning which saying, see the notes on St. Mat- 
thew xxvi. 26. St Luke relates our Lord's words somewhat more fully: " This is 
My Body which is given," (St. Paul says " broken")(f) "for you; this do in re- 
membrance of Me."(s) 

The Paschal Supper then proceeded: the guests partaking freely of "the Body 
of the Lamb," as they phrased it. The repast being ended, grace was said over 
a third solemn cup of wine, (the " Cup of Blessing" as it was called,) which was 
forthwith divided among the guests: and is not this the very ceremony which fol- 
lows, and which grew in our Saviour's hands into the Sacrament of his most pre- 
cious Blood? "After the same manner, also," says the great Apostle, "He took 
the Cup, when He had supped :"(t) or, as St. Mark more briefly relates it, — 

23 And He took the Cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave 
it to them : 

" Saying, Drink ye all of it:"(w) 

and they all drank of it. 

24 And He said unto them, This is my Blood of the New Testament, 
which is shed for many. 

St. Luke says — "for you:"0r) St. Matthew — "for many, for the Remission of 
Sins."( ?/ ) 

The Reader will find some remarks on what precedes, in the notes on St. Mat- 
thew xxvi. 27, 28. St. Paul records, (which he derived by Revelation from Christ 
himself,) is somewhat fuller. He relates that our Lord said — " This Cup is the 
New Testament in My Blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance 
of Me."(V) 

On all this, a living writer has remarked: "Here is the true Passover, more 
ancient than that of the Jews, for Melchizedek was before Aaron: and here is the 
true Melchizedek, (the Prince of Peace,) the Priest of the Most High God, blessing 
and bringing forth Bread and Wine for the true children of Abraham. (a) Here is 
that Lion of the Tribe of Judah, out of whose dead body came forth sweetness. (5) 
Here is the true Manna in the Wilderness, the Bread which came down from 
Heaven, the Word of God, of which whosoever eateth shall never die.(c) Here is 
that Shew-bread set before the Lord, and ' taken from the children of Israel by an 

(m) Williams, (n) St. Matthew xiv. 19 : xv. 36. (o) St. John vi. 53 to 56. 

(p) 1 Cor. xi. 23. (q) Williams. (r) 1 Cor. xi. 24. 
(*) St. Luke xxii. 19. (t) 1 Cor. xi. 25. Compare St. Luke xxii. 20. (w) St. Matt. xxvi. 27. 

(x) St. Luke xxii. 20. (y) St. Matthew xxvi. 28. (z) 1 Cor. xi. 25. 

(a) Gen. xiv. 18, compared with Heb. v. 6. See. Is. ix. 6. (b) Judges xiv. 8. 

(c) Exodus xvi. 14, 15 : also Ps. lxxviii. 24, 25. Compared with St. John vi. 31 to 35, and 
49 to 58. 



384 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

everlasting Covenant ;' of which none may partake but such as are pure in heart, 
and of the ' Boyal Priesthood/ (d) Here is that cake given to Elijah in the Wilder- 
ness, on the strength of which he went forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the 
Mount of God. (e) These are those barley loaves which Elisha multiplied to sup- 
port a hundred men^/) Here is that cake of barley bread in the dream which 
Gideon heard of the Midianite, which fell on the camp of Midian, and destroyed the 
tent of the enemy. (g) Here is the fulfillment of that blessing which his Father 
gave to Israel, saying, 'With Corn and Wine have I sustained him.'(h) Here is 
that peaceable Kingdom of the Messiah, of which the Prophet Zechariah spake 
when he said, ' Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and New Wine the 
maids. (t) Here is that which is written, 'I will satisfy her poor with Bread :'(&) 
1 the poor shall eat and be satisfied. '(J) Here is that ' Bread' which God bringeth 
out of the Earth, ' which strengtheneth man's heart/ ' and Wine that maketh glad 
the heart of man.'(m) Here is that which is written, ' He gave them bread from 
Heaven to eat/ and * man did eat Angels' food.'(w) Here is fulfilled what was 
spoken of old, ' Wisdom hath builded her House, She hath hewn out Her seven 
pillars, .... She hath mingled Her wine, She hath also furnished Her table, . . 
She crieth upon the highest places of the City, . . . Come, eat of My Bread, and 
drink of the Wine which I have mingled/ "(o) 

Now, concerning these passages, and the like of these from the Old Testament 
Scriptures, some may inquire whether it is to be thought that Isaac and David, 
Solomon and Zechariah, actually spoke of the LORD'S Supper when they men- 
tioned " Corn and Wine?" and whether it is to be thought that Melchizedek and 
Gideon, Elijah and Elisha, and the rest, were concerned in transactions certainly 
typical of the same great Sacrament, at the several stages of their histories above 
alluded to? — It may be worth observing, in reply, that if the matter be thus over- 
stated, what is certainly true may be made to appear not only false, but even ridic- 
ulous. It would not be safe, doubtless, to reply in the affirmative to either of the 
foregoing questions, as they stand. But without absolutely asserting so much, it is 
surely credible that events may have been so over-ruled by Providence, so shaped 
and fashioned by the Hands of Almighty God, on many more occasions even than 
is supposed, as to bear an intentional resemblance to events yet future, and there- 
fore to become typical of them. Moreover, " holy men of God, speaking as they 
were moved by the HOLY GIIOST,"(p) were certainly often moved to employ lan- 
guage which, however little conscious the writers themselves may have been of its 
meaning, (q) was yet intended by the Spirit to have a prophetic reference to the 
latter days. While, therefore, it is admitted that in the silence of Holy Scripture, 
(which is our only infallible guide,) every individual instance must remain a matter 
of pious conjecture, yet it will be felt that the analogy of what has been revealed, 
and the concurrent opinions of the most ancient, most learned, and most holy men 
of every country and every age of the Church, constitutes an argument of exceeding 
dignity and weight of the general principle involved in such typical or prophetic 
interpretations of the Old Testament Scriptures. With these limitations, therefore, 
we are diposed to think that when Isaac spake to Israel concerning " Corn and 
Wine," his words did contain a far-reaching allusion to that Bread and that Wine 
which were to be hereafter provided by One greater than Isaac for "the Israel of 
GoD,"(r) — even for the strengthening and refreshing of their souls .... And the 
same thing may be said, with more or less of certainty, of the other places of Scrip- 
ture quoted or alluded to in the earlier part of the present note. 

And now to resume. Our Lord proceeds : — 

25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the 
vine, until that day that I drink it new in the Kingdom of God. 

For an explanation of these words, see the note on St. Matthew xxvi. 29. — Judas 
then, was a partaker of this Supper : and this, among many other lessons, reminds 
us that no familiarity with good men, — no splendor of opportunities for holiness ; 

(d) Levit. xxiv. 8, 9. See St. Matthew xii. 4, and 1 St. Peter ii. 9. 

(e) 1 Kings xix. 8. ('/) 2 Kings iv. 42 to 44. (g) Judges vii. 13. 
(h) Gen. xxvii. 28 to 37. (*) Zech. ix. 17. (k) Ps. cxxxii. 15. 
h) Ps. xxii. 26. (to) Ps. civ. 14, 15. 
(n) Psalm lxxviii. 25, and St. John vi. 31. (o) Williams, — quoting Prov. ix. 1 to 5. 

p) 2 St. Peter i. 21. (q) 1 St. Peter i. 11. 

r) See Gal. vi. 16. Compare Ps. lxxiii. 1. 



fc 



XIV.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 385 

neither the daily visit to the House of God, nor the daily walk where men are lead- 
ing holy lives ; not sermons listened to, nor Sacraments received, — yea, though the 
Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation were reached out to us by the very hands 
of Christ Himself, — are of any avail, in and by themselves. It was said propheti- 
cally by David, in the person of Christ, — "Mine old familiar friend, in whom I 
trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me."(«) The 
vastness of our privileges does but increase the heinousness of our guilt. 

We are reminded further, that three years, or less, are enough to witness an utter 
change of heart and purpose ; even in one who, during all those years, shall enjoy 
the most prodigious advantages, — the most amazing opportunities, — the most open 
access to the means of Grace. For surely, when our Saviour called Judas to His 
side, and made Him one of the Twelve Apostles, — singling that man out of the 
world to be near His person and to hear His discourses, — there was much of good 
and no small promise in him. But Sin had taken possession of his heart : so effec- 
tually taken possession of him, that he had become proof against every warning, 
every remonstrance. Any one who will take the trouble to reckon up the recorded 
warnings he received, will be astonished at their frequency : but if to these be ad- 
ded the hints of a less obvious nature, which were thrown out in his presence, (a 
few of which will be found referred to at the foot of the page,) {t) it will seem as if 
the good Shepherd had been all along in pursuit of this one lost sheep. 

Not least of all is it the aim of these remarks to suggest that the character of 
Judas is entitled to far more attention than it commonly receives at our hands. We 
a,re too apt, it may be, to set aside the warning which his crime presents, as if such 
revolting wickedness could not possibly concern us. But he who weighs the matter 
attentively will come to a very different result: and those in the Ministry must feel 
that the warning of the Traitor speaks even trumpet-tongued to them. 

26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount 
of Olives. 

27, 28 And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because 
of Me this night : for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the 
sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before 
you into Galilee. 

29, 30, 31 But Peter said unto Him, Although all shall be offended, 
yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, 
That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt 
deny Me thrice. But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die 
with Thee, I will not deny Thee in any wise. Likewise also said they 
all. 

Concerning all the preceding verses, the reader is referred to the notes on St. 
Matthew xxvi. 30 to 35, — where almost the same words are repeated. 

The blessed company have now crossed the brook Cedron, and reached the foot 
of the Mount of Olives, — "where was a Garden, into the which He entered, and 
His Disciples. ,; (w) 

32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane : and 
He saith to His Disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray. 

Leaving eight of the Disciples near the entrance of the Garden, our Saviour is 
found to withdraw with the three most favored of their number: — 

33, 34 And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and 
began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy ; and saith unto them, 
My Soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death : tarry ye here, and watch. 

These words in our translation, expressive of our Lord's Agony, " come far short 

(s) Ps. xli. 9 : quoted in St. John xiii, 18. 

(t) St. Matthew vi. 19 to 24, — on which last verse, see the note : xix. 28 and 30, — where see 
the note ; xxii. 11, where see the note. St. Mark x. 21 to 31, — on which last verse, see the 
note. St. Luke xiii. 15 to 34, &c; (w) St. John xviii. 1. 

25 



386 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

of the original expression, which render Him suddenly possessed with fear, horror, 
and amazement, encompassed with grief, and overwhelmed with sorrow, pressed 
down with consternation of mind, tormented with anxiety of Spirit." (x) See more 
in the notes on St. Matthew xxvi. 37 and 38. 

35, 36 And He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and 
prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And 
He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee ; take away 
this Cup from Me : nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt. 

37, 38 And He cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto 
Peter, Simon, sleepest thou ? couldst not thou watch one hour ? Watch 
ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, 
but the flesh is weak. 

39, 40, 41, 42, 43 And again He went away, and prayed, and spake 
the same words. And when He returned, He found them asleep again, 
(for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer Him. 
And He cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, 
and take your rest : it is enough, the hour is come ; behold, the Son of 
Man is betrayed into the hand of sinners. Rise up, let us go ; lo, he 
that betrayeth Me is at hand. And immediately, while He yet spake, 
cometh Judas, one of the Twelve, and with him a great multitude with 
swords and staves, from the chief Priests and the Scribes and the El- 
ders. 

The Evangelist St. Mark follows his predecessor in this part of the Gospel with 
singular closeness. For a few remarks on all the foregoing verses, it shall there- 
fore suffice to refer the reader to the Commentary on St. Matthew xxvi. 40 to 47. 

44 And he that betrayed Him had given them a token, saying, 
Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He; take Him, and lead Sim 
away safely. 

Judas may have added this from an apprehension that our Lord might escape, 
as he had often done before, from the very hands of His enemies. 

45 And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to Him, and 
saith, Master, Master ; and kissed Him. 

"And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come ?"(?/) On what pre- 
cedes, see the notes on St. Matthew's Gospel, — xxvi. 48 to 50. 

46, 47 And they laid their hands on Him, and took Him. And one 
of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high 
Priest, and cut off his ear. 

" The servant's name was Malchus." Simon Peter drew the sword.(z) Concern- 
ing the miracle which followed, see the note on St. Luke xxii. 51. 

48, 49, 50 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come 
out, as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take Me ? I was 
daily with you in the Temple teaching, and ye took Me not ; but the 
Scriptures must be fulfilled. And they all forsook Him, and fled. 

Thus fulfilling the prophecy in verse 27. 

51, 52 And there followed Him a certain young man, having a linen 
cloth cast about his naked body ; and the young men laid hold on him : 
and he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked. 

(x) Bp. Pearson. (y) St. Matthew xxvi. 50. (z) St. John xviii. 10. 



XIV.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 387 

This is felt, at once, to be a very remarkable history ; peculiar as it is to the pre- 
sent Gospel, and standing alone, — introduced by nothing, and, as it seems, leading 
to nothing. It is difficult to resist the suspicion that the "young man" in question 
was no other than the Evangelist St. Mark himself. He seems to have been aroused 
from rest by the commotion in the street, — to have descended, half-clad, in order to 
witness the disturbance, — and to have followed our Lord a little way into the city; 

when the incident here related occurred, and led to his hasty flight That 

the anecdote has been related for a wise purpose, no one can doubt : it may well, 
therefore, engage a portion of our attention, although conjecture be all we have to 
offer concerning it. 

53, 54 And they led Jesus away to the High Priest : and with him 
were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the Scribes. 
And Peter followed Him afar off, even into the Palace of the High 
Priest ; and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire. 

"For it was cold," — observes the beloved Disciple.(a) The nights in Palestine 
are in fact intensely cold during the Paschal season. St. Peter, having obtained 
admission within the high Priest's palace by St. John's means,(6) takes his seat 
with the servants and others near the charcoal fire which burned in the lower part 
of the Hall, and which alone supplied the place with light. Our Lord meantime 
was at the upper end, surrounded by enemies. St. Peter's history will be found 
continued below, in verse 66. The Evangelist proceeds with the history of our 
Lord's Passion. 

55, 56, 57, 58, 59 And the chief Priests and all the council sought 
for witness against Jesus to put Him to death ; and found none. For 
many bare false witness against Him, but their witness agreed not 
together. And there arose certain, and bare false witness against 
Him, saying, We heard Him say, I will destroy this Temple that is 
made with hands, and within three days I will build another made 
without hands. But neither so did their witness agree together. 

The reader is referred to the note on St. Matth. xxvi. 61. It will be observed 
that " blasphemous words against this Holy Place," was the charge which the false 
witnesses brought against St. Stephen. (c) 

60, 61 And the high Priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, 
saying, Answerest Thou nothing ? what is it ivhich these witness against 
Thee ? But He held His peace, and answered nothing. Again the 
high Priest asked Him, and said unto Him, Art Thou the Christ, the 
Son of the Blessed ? 

62, 63, 64, 65 And Jesus said, I am : and ye shall see the Son of 
Man sitting on the Right Hand of Power, and coming in the clouds of 
Heaven. Then the high Priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need 
we any further witnesses ? Ye have heard the blasphemy : what think 
ye ? And they all condemned Him to be guilty of death. And some 
began to spit on Him, and to cover His face, and to buffet Him, and to 
say unto Him, Prophesy : and the servants did strike Him with the 
palms of their hands. 

Those wretched miscreants who spat upon the face of Him who is described as 
"the Brightness of [the Father's] Glory, and the express image of His person, "(d) 
had been beheld long before by the keen eye of prophecy. They occupy a distinct 
place in Isaiah's solemn picture of the humiliation of the Son of Man : " He hid not 
His face from the shame and the spitting." 

(a) St John xviii. 18. (&) See St. John xviii. 15, 16. 

(c) Acts vi. 13. {d) Heb. i. 3. 



388 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Concerning what precedes, the reader is referred to the notes on St. Matthew 
xxvi. 63 to 68. 

66, 67 And as Peter was beneath in the Palace, there cometh one 
of the maids of the high Priest : and when she saw Peter warming him- 
self, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of 
Nazareth. 

She knew St. Peter " when she saw him warming himself," — because the blaze 
of light then made his features visible. 

68 But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what 
thou sayest. And he went out into the porch ; and the cock crew. 

It will be observed that though Simon Peter changed his place, (withdrawing 
from the light of the fire to the darkness of the porch,) he did not escape a second 
and a third fall. " It is in vain to avoid external occasions of temptation, while the 
liability to fall arises from within : and whenever we are ready to deny Christ, the 
occasion for doing so will seldom be wanting." (e) It follows, — 

69 And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood 
by. This is one of them. And he denied it again. 

No wonder she knew him ; for she had just before let him in, and had seen him 
with St. John, who was known to her as our Lord's Disciple.(/) 

70 And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely 
thou art one of them : for thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeth 
thereto. 

The dialect of Galilee, to which country all the Apostles seem to have belonged, (#) 
was unpolished and corrupt ; arising probably out of the intercourse and admixture 
of its inhabitants with the neighbouring Heathen, whence their country was even 
called " Galilee of tlie Gentiles "QC) This circumstance rendered the Apostles at 
once distinguishable from the natives of Juclsea. 

71, 72 But he began to curse and swear, saying, I know not this 
Man of whom ye speak. And the second time the cock crew. And 
Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the 
cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice. And when he thought 
thereon, he wept. 

The reader will find these verses commented upon in the notes on St. Matthew 
xxvi. 74, 75. 

St. Peter's conduct on this occasion seems to us very wonderful ; and doubtless it 
is a surprising thing that one so loving and stout-hearted should have proved thus 
faithless in the hour of trial. But we read his history to little purpose, if we flatter 
ourselves that ioe could never have acted thus, and the like. Kather, let us be well 
persuaded that we behold our own image, as in a mirror, in all such pages of the 
Gospel as the present. His conduct is an exact picture of the resolutions which 
men make when alone with God, at their prayers, as contrasted with their conduct 
a few hours afterwards, when assailed by Temptation. And in fact, when we read 
the history of St. Peter's fall, can we be so unjust to the great Apostle as not to 
perceive that it must have been indeed a tremendous night, and his a terrible trial, 
or he could never thus have fallen ? We must remember the vanished hope, when 
he beheld his adorable Master the sport of cruel men, — buffeted, insulted, con- 
demned : we must picture the darkness within, as well as without him ; dreaded 
assaults, not only of " flesh and blood/' but of those spiritual foes also, whose malice 
must assuredly have made itself felt during this, "the hour of darkness." Lastly, 
there was the desertion of nine of the Apostles, — and the treachery of one: so that 
Simon Peter must have felt himself alone among enemies, — liable, at any moment, 

(e) Williams. (/) St. John xviii. 15 to 17. 

(g) Acts i. 11 : ii. 7. (h) Is. ix. 1, quoted in St. Matth. iv. 15. 



XV.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 389 



to be called upon to share the fiery trial which was hut too clearly destined for his 
j i0RDt — He who shall attentively consider all this, instead of indulging in surprise 
at the Apostle's weakness, will probably rather feel disposed to make much of the 
Apostle's warning, — " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The 
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."(0 " Considering thyself/ 7 as it is 
elsewhere said, " lest thou also he tempted. "(k) 



CHAPTER XV, 



1 Jesus brought hound, and accused he/ore Pilate. 15 Upon the clamor of the com- 
mon people, the murderer Barabhas is loosed, and Jesus delivered up to he cruci- 
fied. 17 He is crowned with thorns, 19 spit on, and mocked. 21 Fainteth in 
hearing His Cross. 27 Hangeth between two thieves. 29 Sufereth the triumphing 
reproaches of the Jeivs. 39 But confessed by the centurion to he the Son of God. 
43 And is honourably buried by Joseph. 

1 And straightway in the morning the chief Priests held a consulta- 
tion with the Elders and Scribes and the whole Council, and bound 
Jesus, and carried Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate. 

It was now the morning of Friday. The Evangelists are unusually full and par- 
ticular in their narrative of the Passion of our blessed Lord ; so that, by a careful 
comparison of the Gospels, the progress of the history from hour to hour may be 
discovered. "What was done at the Council for example, is discoverable from St. 
Luke: (a) while St. Matthew proceeds in this place to describe the fruitless repent- 
ance of Judas. (b) For some remarks on this verse, the reader is referred to the 
notes on St. Matthew xxvii. 1, 2. 

2, 3, 4, 5 And Pilate asked Him, Art Thou the King of the Jews ? 
And He answering said unto him, Thou sayest it. And the chief 
Priests accused Him of many things : but He answered nothing. And 
Pilate asked Him again, saying, Answerest Thou nothing ? behold how 
many things they witness against Thee. But Jesus yet answered 
nothing ; so that Pilate marvelled. 

Concerning the preceding verses, enough will be found in the notes on St. Mat- 
thew's Gospel :(c) while the sacred narrative itself may be completed by a reference 
to St. John,— xviii. 29 to 38. 

One of the " many things" whereof the chief Priests accused our Blessed Lord, 
was, that He stirred up the people, "teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from 
Galilee to this place. When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the Man 
were a Galilaean? And as soon as he knew that He belonged unto Herod's juris- 
diction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time."(<2) 
St. Luke, whose words these are, proceeds to describe a fresh scene of our Lord's 
Passion. Herod, in the end, sent his Prisoner back to Pilate. It follows, 

{i) St. Matth. xxvi. 41. (J c ) Gal. vi. 1. 

(a) See St. Luke xxii. 66 to 71. (b) St. Matth. xxvii. 3 to 10, — where see the notes. 

(c) See St. Matth. xxvii. 11 to 14. (d) St. Luke xxiii. 5 to 7. 



390 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Now at that feast he released unto 
them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. And there was one named 
Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with 
him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the multi- 
tude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto 
them. But Pilate answered them saying, Will ye that I release unto 
you the King of the Jews ? (For he knew that the chief Priests had 
delivered Him for envy.) But the chief Priests moved the people, that 
he should rather release Barabbas unto them. And Pilate answered 
and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto Him 
whom ye call the King of the Jews? And they cried out again, 
Crucify Him. Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath He 
done ? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify Him. And 
so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them : 
and delivered Desus, when he had scourged Him, to be crucified. 

" They accused Pilate at Rome for all the violences and rapines which he had 
committed, and by this act he thought to pacify them."(e) 

16, 17, 18, 19, 20 And the soldiers led Him away unto the hall, 
called Praetorium ; and they call together the whole band. And they 
clothed Him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it 
about His head, and began to salute Him, Hail, King of the Jews! 
And they smote Him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon Him, 
and bowing their knees worshipped Him. And when they had mocked 
Him, they took off the purple from Him, and put His own clothes on 
Him, and led Him out to crucify Him. 

The ancients found heavenly teaching in every line of Holy Writ. Thus Origen 
remarks concerning the verse before us, — " of the cloak, it is mentioned that they 
took it off Him ; but of the crown of thorns, the Evangelists have not spoken : so 
that there are now no longer those ancient thorns of ours, since Jesus has taken 
them from us upon His reverend Head." The allusion is to that undoing of the 
ancient curse (f) which seems intended by our Lord's wearing a crown of thorns ; 
and to which the ancient Fathers delight in alluding. 

Throughout all the preceding verses, the Evangelist St. Mark treads with won- 
derful exactness in the footsteps of St. Matthew. It shall suffice therefore to refer 
the Reader to the notes on the earlier Gospel, (g) — calling his attention to two in- 
teresting particulars which St. Matthew has here supplied, but which St. Mark 
omits : namely, the warning which Pilate received from his wife, " when he was set 
down on the judgment seat," — and the senseless ceremony which the same Roman 
Governor performed, before giving up the Holy One to be crucified. " He took 
water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the 
blood of this just person. See ye to it."(^) 

But the Saviour of the World is already on His way to Crucifixion : 

21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming 
out of the country, the father of Alexander and Kufus, to Ibear His cross. 

" Simon obtained not this office by chance, but was brought to the spot by God's 
Providence, that he might be found worthy of mention in the Gospel, and worthy of 
the Ministry of the Cross of Christ. It was meet not only that the Saviour should 
carry His Cross, but also that we should take part therein, being employed in a 
service so beneficial to us. Yet would it not have profited us so much to take it 
upon us, as it has profited us that He should take it upon Himself." (i) 

(e) Bp. Pearson. (/) Gen. iii. 18. See the note on St. Matth. xxvii. 29. 

(g) See the notes on St. Matth. xxvii. 15 to 31. 

(h) St. Matth. xxvii. 19 and 24, 25. (i) Origen. 



XV.] ON ST. mark's gospel. 391 

St. Mark alone, it is, who mentions " Alexander and Rufus," — (two well-known 
Disciples, it may be supposed,) — as the sons of the man who had the blessed 
privilege of bearing the Cross of Christ. Perhaps this was the same Rufus 
to whom St. Paul sends a loving message, in the last chapter of his Epistle to the 
Romans ;(&) adding a salutation to "his Mother and mine." Was she then the 
wife of Simon the Cyrenian? — See more in the note on St. Matthew xxvii. 32. 

It is reasonable to think that St. Mark published his Gospel at Rome. He will 
therefore have probably mentioned the names of Alexander and Rufus because those 
two living witnesses were able to attest the truth of what he wrote. 

From the City-gate to the scene of Crucifixion Simon bore our Saviour's Cross. 
It follows, — 

22, 23 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being 
interpreted, The place of a skull. And they gave Him to drink wine 
mingled with myrrh : but He received it not. 

This was a stupefying draught, — the merciful intention of which was to make 
the sufferer unconscious of the coming torture. But Christ must drain the cup of 
suffering to the very dregs ; and therefore will not partake of the opiate which some 
loving hand now offers to His lips. 

24, 25 And when they had crucified Him, they parted His garments, 
casting lots upon them, what every man should take. And it was the 
third hour, and they crucified Him. 

The Reader is requested here to read the notes on St. Matthew xxvii. 33 to 35. — 
It was therefore at six o'clock in the morning that Pilate passed sentence on our 
Lord :(l) and at nine, that " they crucified Him.'-' At twelve the mysterious dark- 
ness began: at three, He expired on the Cross :(m) at six in the evening, they 
buried Him.(w) Thus have the hours of the day become consecrated by the Cross 
and Passion of our Saviour Christ ! To Christian hearts the hours of the day no 
less than the days of the week are full of Sim! 

26 And the superscription of His accusation was written over, THE 
KING OF THE JEWS. 

27, 28 And with Him they crucify two thieves ; the one on His right 
Hand, and the other on His left. And the Scripture was fulfilled, 
which saith, And He was numbered with the transgressors. 

Alluding to a well-known place in the fifty-thiid of Isaiah, — to which our Saviour 
had already directed the attention of His Disciples, when, at the end of the Paschal 
Supper, He foretold that "this that is written must yet be accomplished in Me, 
' And He was reckoned among the transgressors/ v (o) — Concerning what precedes, 
see the notes on St. Matthew xxvii. 37 and 38. 

One of the ancients remarks finely that in the two thieves who were crucified with 
Him, " one on the right Hand, and the other on the left," "was represented that 
separation of all mankind which shall be made in the Judgment : 7 \p) and " because 
there shall be a division of believers to the right, and unbelievers to the left, one of 
the two is saved by justification, of Faith." (2) 

29, 30, 31 And they that passed by railed on Him, wagging their 
heads, and saying, Ah, Thou that destroyest the Temple, and buildest 
it in three days, save Thyself, and come down from the cross. Like- 
wise also the chief Priests mocking said among themselves with the 
Scribes, He saved others ; Himself He cannot save. 

" So desperately wicked is the human heart, that it came to this, — that while they 
exulted in triumphant malice over Him whom they now had so thoroughly in their 
power, as they thought, they reproached Him with the very works of mercy He had 

(7c) Rom. xvi. 13. (I) See St. John xix. 14 to 16. 

(m) St. Matth. xxvii. 45 to 50. (n) St. Luke xxiii. 53, 54. 

(o) St. Luke xxii. 37, quoting Is. liii. 12. (p) Leo. (q) Hilary. 



392 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

done, even with the dead man whom He had called from the grave ; for that is the 
act which they seem to allude to. But as they fulfilled every other title, so did they 
also mark Him out now as the SAVIOUR, and bear witness to Him as the true 
Jesus. All the three Evangelists have recorded those words ' He saved others/ ;; (r) 
— See the note on St. Matthew xxvii. 39, 40. 

32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the Cross, that 
we may see and believe. 

Did they then choose this sign in their blindness, and suppose that such a display 
of Divine Power would have wrought in them conviction ? If so, little indeed did 
they know themselves, — who, when Christ rose from Death, refused to believe. . . . 
Or did not this challenge rather proceed from the Enemy of Man's Salvation, — the 
old Serpent himself; who felt that the Seed of the Woman was already bruising his 
head, — that the Cross had become the instrument of His power, — and that the 
strength of Hell was being overcome by His sufferings ? 

"If Thou be the Son of God," (as it is said in St. Matthew's Gospel,) "come 
down from the Cross."(s) "But He, on the contrary, doe's not come down from the 
Cross, because He is the Son of God." (if) 

And they that were crucified with Him reviled Him. 

33, 34 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over 
the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus 
cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which 
is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? 

Consider how the mysterious complaint which these words embody, is the very 
burden of the twenty-second Psalm, — from which the words are quoted. See verses 9 
and 11 of that Psalm. It is, indeed, a complaint of perpetual recurrence in the Book 
of Psalms, — as if this most terrible calamity of all, and perhaps the most mysterious 
of the sufferings of the Son of Man, had been constantly presented to the mind of 
the inspired Psalmist.(w) But concerning the three preceding verses, see the notes 
on St. Matthew xxvii. 42 to 46. 

35, 36 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, 
said, Behold, He calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a spunge full 
of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, Let 
alone ; let us see whether Elias will come to take Him down. 

37 And Jesus cried with a loud Voice, and gave up the Ghost. 

38 And the Veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to 
the bottom. 

This is the only one of the portents following our Redeemer's Death, which all 
the three Evangelists agree in recording, (x) This may be because the veil of the 
Temple was typical of His flesh, (as the spirit Himself assures us,)(j/) — which was 
now cruelly rent and torn on the Cross. 

39 And when the centurion, which stood over against Him, saw that 
He so cried out, and gave up the Ghost, he said, Truly this Man was 
the Son of God. 

Take notice that miracles cluster round the Cross of Christ, — not only before, 
but also after Death. We have already read of the miraculous darkness : the "loud 
Voice," with which at the instant of dissolution, ("the ninth hour,") our Saviour 
repeatedly cried out, was miraculous also. Both St. Matthew and St. Mark notice 
that those mysterious words of agony, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
Me?" were uttered "with a loud voice:"(2) and all the three Evangelists record 
that when He committed His Spirit into the Hands of His Father, He "cried 

(r) Williams. (s) St. Matth. xxvii. 40. {t) Chrysostom. 

(u) See Ps. x. 1: xxvii. 9: xxxv. 22: xxxviii. 21: lxxi. 12. 
(x) See St. Matth. xxvii. 51: St. Luke xxiii. 45. (y) Hebr. x. 20. 

(z) St. Matth. xxvii. 46, and St. Mark xv. 34. 



XV.] 



ON ST. mare's gospel. 393 



again with a loud voice," (a) — not like an ordinary person at the point of death ; but 
like One who "had power to lay down His life, and to take it again V'(b) Accord- 
ingly St. Mark, in the verse before us, notes particularly that it was when the Cen- 
turion "saw that He so cried out, and gave up the Ghost," he confessed that this 
could be no other than the Son of God ! — " The miracle," says Bishop Pearson, 
" was not in the death, but in the voice : the strangeness was not that He should 
die, but that at the point of death He should cry out so loud. He died not by, but 
with, a miracle." 

How much more truly of Him than of Elisha,(c) (His type,) might it be said, 
"after His Death His Body prophesied :"(d) for what more striking miracle was 
ever shown forth in His adorable person, than that which attended the piercing of 
His side ?(e) Not only was the Yeil rent, — not only was there an Earthquake and 
a rending of the rocks, — but the graves also were opened, "and many bodies of 
the Saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His Kesurrec- 
tion."(/) Verily, " He did wonders in His Life, and at His Death were His works 
marvellous:" but "for all this, the people repented not: neither departed they 
from their sins."(^) 

" Thus was the work of Kedemption finished ; and the Redeemer's Body hung 
lifeless upon the Cross. Christ had been ' crucified/ and was ' dead/ If His en- 
emies had denied or doubted of it, the very stones would cry out and confirm it. 
Why did the Sun put on mourning, why were the graves opened, but for a funeral? 
Why did the Earth quake ? why were the rocks rent ? why did the frame of Nature 
shake, but because the God of Nature died?" — So far Bishop Pearson, — alluding 
to those other portentous signs which St. Matthew has alone recorded. The reader 
is referred to the remarks which have been already offered on the earlier Gospel, — 
chapter xxvii. 47 to 54. 

40, 41 There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was 
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, 
and Salome; (who also, when He was in Galilee, followed Him;) and 
ministered unto Him, and many other women which came up with Him 
unto Jerusalem. 

# 42 And now, when the even was come, because it was the Prepara- 
tion, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 

On which day no manner of work might be done : because, therefore, it wanted 
only a short time to sunset, when the Sabbath would begin, no time was to be lost. 
Accordingly, 

43 Joseph of Arimathgea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited 
for the Kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and 
craved the Body of Jesus. 

The Evangelist notices the boldness of Joseph of Arimathaea, on this occasion, 
because, although a Disciple of our Lord, he had hitherto been so " secretly, for 
fear of the Jews,"— as St. John informs us. (h) To " wait for the Kingdom of 
God," or "for the Consolation of lsrael,"(0 denotes the faithful looking forward to 
the promised Coming of Messiah. " It was divinely provided that this man should 
have been rich,"(k) remarks Bede, "in order that he might have access to Pilate ; 
for no mean man could have obtained access to the Governor: and also that he 
should have been just, in order to receive the Body of the Lord." 

Nicodemus joined him in the holy office of providing for our Saviour's Burial: 
whereby "they confessed Christ, when to all worldly appearance He could not 
profit them ; and when all human prudence would have condemned their interfer- 
ence. ^ Their action is like most of the best actions of the Saints of God in Scrip- 
ture, in that it was opposed to worldly wisdom and prudential policy. ,; (0 

"The design of the Jews," says Bp. Pearson, " 'made His grave with the wick- 

(a) St. Matthew xxvii. 50 : St. Mark xv. 37 : St. Luke xxiii. 46. 

(b) St. John x. 18. (c) Alluding to 2 Kings xiii. 21. (d) Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 13. 
(e) See St. John xix. 34. (/) St. Matth. xxvii. 51 to 53, where see the notes. 
[g). Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 14, 15. (h) St. John xix. 38. 

(t) St. Luke ii. 25, where see the note, (k) St. Matth. xxvii. 57. (I) Williams. 



394 A PLAIN COMMENTAEY [CHAP. 

ed '.\m) but ' because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His 
mouth ;' because He was no ways guilty of those crimes for which they justly suf- 
fered ; that there might be a difference after their death, though there appeared 
little distinction in it ; the counsel of His Father, the design of Heaven, put Him 
' with the rich in His Death/ and caused a Counsellor and a Ruler of the Jews to 
bury Him." — That Counsellor, (by which is meant a member of the high court of 
Sanhedrin,) had craved of Pilate the Body of Jesus : 

44 And Pilate marvelled if He were already dead : 

Rather, "that He was." The Roman Governor was surprised to find that life 
was so soon extinct : for crucifixion was a very lingering death. He considered not 
the amazing sufferings through which the Saviour of the World had gone ever 
since the previous evening ; and which had so enfeebled His sacred limbs and hu- 
man frame, that at the end of six hours of anguish on the bitter Cross, His Soul 
had become severed from His Body. This circumstance, however, of His speedy 
death, " can hardly be regarded otherwise than as miraculous." (n) 

45, 46 and calling unto him the centurion, lie asked him whether 
He had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, 
he gave the Body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took Him 
down, and wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him in a sepulchre 
which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the 
sepulchre. 

" Not in vain," remarks Origen, "is it said that the Body was wrapped in clean 
linen, and laid in a new tomb, and a great stone rolled to the mouth : but to show 
that everything touching the Body of Jesus must be clean, and new, and very 
great." 

Thus He, who, in life, " had not where to lay His head,"(o) in death also was in- 
debted to a stranger for the resting place of His body. "And what could He have 
to do with a sepulchre, to whom Death could not properly belong ? What had He 
to do with a tomb on Earth, whose seat was in Heaven ? and who was only in the 
grave for three days ; not so much like one lying in death, as like one resting upon 
a bed?"(j?) 

47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where 
He was laid. 

" Sitting over against the sepulchre," — as St. Matthew declares. (q) " There sat 
they in the most blessed of all employments, — namely, in meditation on Christ's 
Death." " While the rest," says Jerome, " left the Lord, the women continued in 
their offices, as expecting what Jesus had promised. And on this account they de- 
served to be the first to see the Resurrection ; for ' he that endureth unto the end, 
the same shall be saved/ " 

m) Is. liii. 9. (n) Bp. Lonsdale and Archd. Hale. 

o) St. Matthew viii. 20. (p) Augustine. (q) St. Matth. xxvii. 61. 



XVI.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 395 



CHAPTER XVI 



1 An Angel declaretli the Resurrection of Christ to three women. 9 Christ Him- 
self appeareth to Mary Magdalene : 12 To two going into the country : 14 Then to 
the Apostles, 15 whom He sendeth forth to preach the Gospel. 19 And ascendeth 
into Heaven. 

"As Christ died for us and was buried, so is it to be believed that He went down 
into Hell." (a) This momentous doctrine, forming as it does a distinct clause in 
the Apostles' Creed, has been judged by our Church worthy of being contained in 
a separate Article. The event alluded to obtains no historical notice indeed in the 
Gospel ; but it belongs to the present place, the interval of time, namely, between 
the burial of our Lord's Body, and His rising to life again on the third day. 

Our Lord's Soul did not, of course, descend into that dismal region where the 
fallen angels are "reserved into everlasting chains under darkness until the judg- 
ment of the great Day :"(b) Du t on ^J m to that invisible place which is the appointed 
habitation of departed souls until the general Resurrection : and to that part of it 
where " the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burthen of the 
flesh, are in joy and felicity."(c) This great Truth may be gathered with certainty 
from several places of Scripture, which it shall suffice to indicate at the foot of the 
page :{d) from the two last it will be discovered that the Holy Spirit has seen fit 
further to reveal the purpose with which our Saviour's Soul went among the souls 
of men "in safe keeping." "That He should go to that place was a necessary 
branch of the general scheme and project of Redemption, which required that the 
Divine "Word should take our nature upon Him, and fulfill the entire condition of 
Humanity in every period and stage of man's existence, — from the commencement 
of life, to the extinction and renewal of it."(e) 

But the course of the Evangelical narrative now invites our attention to the his- 
tory of the morning of the first Easter Day: 

1 And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the 
mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might 
come and anoint Him. 

But Mary, the sister of Lazarus, had come beforehand, (as our Lord Himself de- 
clared,) "to anoint His Body to the burying."(/) Take notice that she who is 
here called "Mary the Mother of James," and in the last verse of the former chap- 
ter " Mary the Mother of Joses/%) was lately styled " Mary the Mother of James 
the less and ofJoses."(h) 

2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they 
came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 

Concerning these two verses of Scripture, see what has been already offered on 
St. Matthew xxviii. 1. — As these holy women approached the Sepulchre, "when it 

(a) Article III. (&) St. Jude, verse 6. (c) Burial Service. 

(d) Ps. xvi. 10, quoted and explained by St. Peter, in Acts ii. 25 to 31 :— Ephes. iv. 9 :— 1 
St. Peter iii. 18 to 20 : iv. 6. (e) Bp. Horsley. 

(/) St. Mark xiv. 8. (</) St. Mark xv. 47. (h) St. Mark xv. 40. 



396 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

was yet dark,"(0 they were full of anxiety as to how they should proceed when 
they reached the place of their Lord's rest : 

3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone 
from the door of the sepulchre ? 

"For it was very great/' as St. Mark immediately adds: first observing, — 

4, 5 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled 
away : for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they 
saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white gar- 
ment : and they were affrighted. 

The supernatural means by which the rolling away of the stone had been effected, 
St. Matthew describes at large, — chap, xxviii. 2 to 4 ; to the notes on which place 
the reader is referred. Take notice that the Angel (the "young man,") was seen 
"sitting on the right side" of the sepulchral chamber into which the women had 
entered, — concerning which position, see the note on St. Luke i. 11. 

6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of 
Nazareth, which was crucified : He is risen : He is not here : behold 
the place where they laid Him. 

Some remarks on this will be found in the notes on St. Matthew xxvii. 5 and 6. 

7 But go your way, tell His Disciples and Peter that He goeth be- 
fore you into Galilee : there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you. 

" His Disciples, — and Peter :" — how much of Love and Mercy was there in this 
mention of the Apostle who had thrice denied his Lord ! and who may well be 
thought, at this very time, to have been swallowed up with sorrow, — to have felt 
that he was "not meet to be called an Apostle/' Take notice that for his further 
comfort and assurance, to him was vouchsafed a special appearance of his risen 
Lord. (A;) 

St. Mark records the Angel's announcement of the appearance in Galilee ; but 
concerning the appearance itself, he is silent. Enough has been already offered on 
this subject in the Commentary on St. Matthew's Gospel.(Z) 

8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre ; for they 
trembled and were amazed : neither said they any thing to any man, 
for they were afraid. 

But " did run to bring His Disciples word," — as St. Matthew relates.(m) The 
same Evangelist also records the wonderful incident which befell them by the 
way.(rc) 

9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He 
appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven 
devils. 

This then was the first of the ten recorded appearances of our Saviour after His 
Resurrection, — five of which belong to the first Easter-Day. The circumstances 
under which our Lord revealed Himself to Mary Magdalene are given at length by 
St. John, in his Gospel, (o) 

10, 11 And she went and told them that had been with Him, as 
they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that He was 
alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. 

12, 13 After that, He appeared in another form unto two of them, 

(i) St. John xx. 1. (k) St. Luke xxiv. 34. 1 Cor. xy. 5. 

(I) See the notes on St. Matth. xxviii. 7 and 16. (m) St. Matthew xxviii. 8. 

(«) St. Matthew xxviii. 9. 10. (o) St. John xx. 11 to 17. 



XVI.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 397 



as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told 
it unto the residue : neither believed they them. 

This is the appearance to Cleopas and his companion, at Emmaus ; which that 
very companion, (for St. Luke himself is thought to have been he,) delivers at 
length in the last chapter of his Gospel, (p) Take notice, however, that St. Mark 
records the reception which the story of the two Disciples met with, — a circum- 
stance which St. Luke has withheld, and concerning which the reader is referred 
below, to the note on ver. 14. 

A wonderful change seems to have passed over the appearance of our Lord, at 
His Resurrection. He was the same, indeed, yet another ; and thus, was mistaken 
by Mary, in the garden, for the gardener,(g) — and was recognized neither by Cleo- 
pas and his companion,(r) nor by the seven Disciples in the ship. (s) St. Mark 
seems to express the same thing in this place when he says that Christ "appeared 
in another form ." 

14 Afterward, He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and 
upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they 
believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen. 

That is, their risen Lord rebuked the Eleven Apostles for disbelieving the evidence 
of Mary Magdalene,(£) — of the rest of the company of women,(w) — of Cleopas and his 
companion. (x) This is much to be noted ; for we are prone to speak of " the in- 
credulity of St. Thomas," as if he alone had shown symptoms of infirmity in this 
respect. True indeed it is that he, by resisting their combined evidence, became 
specially obnoxious to rebuke : yet it is evident that in his failing, the whole body 
of the Apostles had largely participated. 

Nor may we speak of their conduct in this respect without reverent wonder, — 
without surprise, tempered by a salutary sympathy for the strangeness and diffi- 
culty of their position. 

Lastly, let it be observed that neither by His rebuke to St. Thomas, nor to the 
Eleven Apostles, does our Lord reprove inquiry into the grounds of the Faith. He 
does not condemn the examination of evidence: but the withholding of belief in the 
presence of sufficient evidence. He upbraided the Eleven " with their unbelief and 
hardness of heart, because tney believed not them which had seen Him after He was 
risen." 

It will perhaps be regarded as a very improbable suggestion that the words 
which follow were uttered long after the occasion spoken of in the preceding verse: 
but the fact may be regarded as certain. 

15 And He said unto them, Go ye into all the World, and preach 
the Gospel to every creature. 

The largeness of the Commission thus given, is emphatic. " Go ye therefore, and 
make Disciples of all nations," it is said in St. Matthew's Gospel, (y) " Repentance 
and remission of sins" was to be preached " among all nations, beginning at Jeru- 
salem."^) "Ye shall be witness unto Me," said our Lord, "both in Jerusalem, 
and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the Earth."(a) 
These injunctions stand in remarkable contrast with the Commission which the 
Twelve received from their Lord during the days of His earthly Ministry. (&) 

The Apostles then, were to preach the Gospel to every creature ; " baptizing 
them," as it is said in St. Matthew's Gospel,(c) "in the Name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; 

Take notice that Baptism as well as Faith is here required by our Lord : the 
former cannot be neglected therefore, without imminent peril. 

(p) St. Luke xxiv. 13 to 35. (q) St. John xx. 15. (r) St. Luke xxiv. 16. 

h) St. John xxi. 4: and see ver. 12. (t) See above, verses 10 and 11. 

(u) See St. Luke xxiv. 11. (x) See above, ver. 13. (y) St. Matth. xxviii. 19. 

(z) St. Luke xxiv. 47. (a) Acts i. 8. (b) See St. Matth. x. 5, 6. 

(c) St. Matth. xxviii. 19, — where see the notes. 



398 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

" This saying seems, in the first place, to point out who are the fit subjects for 
Holy Baptism . ... 'He that believeth' — may he baptized. 'If thou believest 
with all thine heart, thou mayest,'(c?) were the express words of the Deacon Philip 
to the Ethiopian eunuch. 'He that believeth :' but in what? No doubt .... 
in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost. So in effect, and almost 
in words, the eunuch confessed : so Timothy doubtless professed his good profession 
before many witnesses ;(e) and so Christians have made profession at the holy font 
of Baptism in every age of Christian History "(f) 

" He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved." That is, he shall forthwith 
be delivered from Death, — shall be introduced into the Ark of Christ's Church, — 
and be put into a state of Salvation: shall be made "a member of Christ, a child 
of God, and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven." Finally, "if he hold fast his 
belief, and mature his virtue; if he persevere in prayer, and by the grace of God 
grow to the full stature of a perfect man in Christ, — he shall be saved " in the 
great and terrible Day.(^) 

But he that believeth not shall he damned. 

" He that rejects the Gospel when offered to him, as it will be, with full evidence 
of its truth, shall have no part in its saving mercy; but shall be left to the condem- 
nation due to him from God's justice for his sins. There are many passages in the 
New Testament which speak strongly and fearfully of the sinfulness and punish- 
ment of unbelief. (A)— Our Lord does not say anything of Baptism in the latter 
clause of this sentence, because refusal to believe would carry with it refusal to be 
baptized, as a necessary consequence."^') 

17, 18 And these signs shall follow them that believe ; in My Name 
shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak with new tongues ; they 
shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not 
hurt them ; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 

In strict conformity with our Lord's promise, all these wonderful gifts are found 
in actual operation in the first ages of the Church. Thus, unclean spirits were ex- 
pelled by Philip the Deacon: (A;) the Gentile friends of Cornelius, (I) and the twelve 
Disciples at Ephesus,(??i) are found to have " spoken *with tongues:" the Seventy 
had " power given them to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power 
of the enemy :"(n) " gifts of healing" are mentioned both by St. Paul(o) and by St. 
James, ( p) as remaining in the Church. Thus, instances are even recorded of all these 
privileges of the first believers, — except that which regards the "drinking of any 
deadly thing." It was to be expected that these miraculous gifts would die out of 
the Church, (or rather, that God would withhold from men the power of exercising 
the gifts which He is no where said to have revoked,) when the need of them had 
ceased ; namely, when the Faith had become widely extended, and firmly estab- 
lished. 

But has the Church entirely lost her precious birth-right, and do no such signs as 
those here spoken of " follow them that believe V Let us, on the contrary, be well 
persuaded that the mighty works under discussion are daily enacted by the faith* 
f u l ? — surely although invisibly ; and indeed, after a very lofty fashion also. Evil 
inclinations overcome, and wicked imaginations effectually repressed: a divine 
theme, (the language of Heaven,) constantly engaging "the best member that we 
have :" intercourse with sinners, and familiarity with a sinful world, — yet no harm 
incurred : with the eye, polluting sights encountered, — by the ear, noxious discourse 
drunk in, — yet, (by God's mercy,) without defilement : ministrations to sick souls, 
and their consequent recovery : — what are all these glorious privileges of Christian 
men, but daily fulfillments of the Divine promise concerning what " signs" should 
" follow them that believe ?" 

(d) Acts viii. 37. (e) 1 Tim. vi. 12. 

(/) Moberly. (g) Moberly. 

(h) See St. Luke xii. 46. St. John iii. 18, 36 : v. 38, 44, 46, 47 : xii. 48. Heb. iii. 12. 1 St. 
John v. 10. Rev. xxi. 8. 

(i) Bp. Lonsdale and Archd. Hale. (k) Acts viii. 7. 

(I) Acts x. 46. (m) Acts xix. 6. 

(n) St. Luke x. 19. Compare Acts xxviii. 5. (o) 1 Cor. xii. 9. 
(p) St. James v. 14, 15. 



XVI.] 



ON ST. mark's gospel. 399 



19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received 
up into Heaven, and sat on the Right Hand of God. 

That is, after our Lord on different occasions, for forty days, had spoken to His 
Apostles " of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of Gon,"(q) " He was received 
up into Heaven." The scene of the Ascension was the Mount of Olives, situated in 
the district called Bethany ;(r) whither having conducted His Disciples, the Saviour 
of the World "lifted up His Hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while 
He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into Heaven :"(s) they, 
all the while, beholding Him ; " and a cloud received Him out of their sight." (f) 

This first event had been represented typically, year after year, by the High 
Priest under the Law, — who "was an express type of the Messias and His priestly 
office. The atonement which He made was the representation of the propitiation 
in Christ for the sins of the World : and for the making this atonement, the High 
Priest was appointed once every year to enter into the Holy of Holies, and not 
oftener ... He showed thereby that the 'High' Priest of good things to come, by a 
greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not made with hands/ was to ' enter in once 
into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal Redemption for us/(m) The Jews did 
all believe that the Tabernacle did signify the World, (x) and the Holy of Holies the 
highest heavens : wherefore, as the High Priest did, slay the sacrifice, and with the 
blood thereof did pass through the rest of the Tabernacle, and with that blood enter 
into the Holy of Holies ; so was the Messias here to offer up Himself, and being 
slain, to pass through all the Courts of this World below, and with His blood to 
enter into the highest heavens, — the most glorious seat of the Majesty of God. 
Thus Christ's Ascension was represented typically."(?/) — It contains distinct pro- 
phetic notice, in Psalm lxviii. 28, and Micah ii. 13. 

Thus then do we believe " that the Only-Begotten and Eternal Son of God, after 
He arose from the dead, did with the same soul and body with which He rose, by a 
true and local translation, convey Himself from the Earth, on which He lived, 
through all the regions of the air, through all the celestial orbs, until He came into 
the Heaven of Heavens, the most glorious presence of the Majesty of God." 

His session "at the Right Hand of God," was in like manner foreshown both in 
type and prophecy. "Joseph, who was betrayed and sold by his brethren, was an 
express type of Christ ; and though in many things he represented the Messias, 
yet in none more than in this, that being taken out of the prison, he was exalted to 
the supreme power of Egypt." For, " this was a clear representation of the Son of 
Man, who, by His sitting on the Right Hand of God, obtained power to rule and 
govern all things both in Heaven and Earth."(z) — No place of Prophecy, again, can 
be imagined more distinctly descriptive of this crowning event in our Lord's His- 
tory, than what is found in Psalm ex. 1 ; — a place which is accordingly found 
quoted on no less than four distinct occasions in the Gospel, (a) 

Now, " the Right Hand of God," is the place of perfect Happiness ; according to 
that of the Psalmist, "At Thy Right Hand [are] pleasures for evermore."(6) And 
the expression is used, first in regard of that absolute power and dominion which 
Christ hath obtained in Heaven :(c) next, in regard of that Honour, Glory, and 
Majesty which He hath obtained there ;(d) lastly, because now, after all the labours 
and sorrows and sufferings of this world, He resteth above in unspeakable joy and 
everlasting felicity. The substance of the doctrine is, that sitting at the Right 
Hand of God was our Mediator's solemn entry upon His Royal office, as to the 
execution of that full dominion which was due unto Him : whereby was fulfilled the 
prophecy of the Angel Gabriel at His conception, — " The Lord God shall give unto 
Him the throne of His Father David ; and He shall reign over the House of Jacob 
for ever, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end."(e) 

The Evangelist proceeds, in a single verse of his Gospel, to sum up the life-long 
labours of the Apostles of the Lamb ; — labours which have left no earthly record, 
but not one of which is forgotten in Heaven. 

(q) Acts i. 3. (r) St. Luke xxiv. 50. (s) St. Luke xxiv. 50, 51. 

(t) Acts i. 9. (u) Heb. ix. 11, 12. 

(x) Observe what light this throws ou Heb. ix. 1. (y) Bp. Pearson. 

(z) Bp. Pearson : quoting Gen. xli. 40, 42, 43. 

(a) Namely, in St Matth. xxii. 44: Acts ii. 34, 35: Heb. i. 13: x. 12, 13. 

(b) Ps. xvi. 11. (c) Consider St. Matth. xxvi. 64. 
Id) Consider Heb. i. 3; viii. 1. 

(e) St. Luke i. 32, 33. The text is mostly from Bp. Pearson. 



400 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord work- 
ing with them, and confirming the Word with signs following. Amen. 

"They went forth," — but not immediately; for our Lord had already "com- 
manded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, hut wait for the promise 
of the Father.C/") " Tarry ye in Jerusalem," (were His words,) "until ye be en- 
dued with power from on high."(^) But when the Day of Pentecost had come, and 
with it the promise of the Comforter had been fulfilled, "they went forth," — fur- 
nished with "a mouth and wisdom, which all their adversaries were not able to 
gainsay nor resist." (h) 

"Signs," (that is, Miracles,) followed their preaching of the 1 Word, — as Christ 
had promised :(i) " for He is faithful that promised ;"(!•) and He "wrought with 
them." "Lo, I am with you alway," (such are the last words of St. Matthew's 
Gospel,) " even unto the end of the World. Amen." 

The Reader is requested to refer to the remarks which have been already offered 
on those words. 

Each of the Evangelists, in turn, concludes his Gospel with a word solemnly as- 
serting the living Truth of the inspired record : a word of devout affirmation, which 
as it were sets the seal of the Spirit on every syllable that has gone before ; and 
which declares the Evangelist to be, — like "the Amen" of whom he writes, — a 
" faithful and true witness." 

(/) Acts i. 4. (g) St. Luke xxiv. 49. (h) St. Luke xxi. 15. 

(i) See above, verses 17, 18. (k) Heb. x. 23. 



THE PRAYER. 

God the King of Glory, who hast exalted Thine only Son Jesus 
Christ with great triumph unto Thy Kingdom in heaven ; we beseech 
Thee, leave us not comfortless ; but send to us Thine Holy Ghost to 
comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour 
Christ is gone before, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy 
Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



THE FOUR HOLY GOSPELS 



ST. LUKE 



CHAPTER, I. 



1 The Preface of Lake to 7iis whole Gospel. 5 The Conception of John the Bap- 
tist, 26 and of Christ. 39 The prophecy of Elizabeth, and of Mary, concerning 
Christ. 57 The nativity and circumcision of John. 67 The prophecy of Zacha- 
rias, both of Christ, 76 and of John. 

St. Luke, who wrote his Gospel after those of St. Matthew and St. Mark had 
been published, will be found to supply many particulars of our Lord's life which 
the two earlier Evangelists omit. He was divinely guided to begin his Narrative 
from a much earlier period than they; and to "set forth in order" the history of 
the Birth, not only of our Blessed Saviour, but of His Forerunner likewise. It has 
been piously, and reasonably thought, that he derived some of his information as to 
these events, (subject to the suggestions and guidance of the Holy Ghost,) from the 
Virgin Mother herself. In the course of this portion of his Gospel, occur the three 
Inspired Hymns which make part of our Daily Service. 

St. Luke then proceeds to relate the same events, generally, as are found in St. 
Matthew and St. Mark ; but always with important differences, in matters of detail. 
Five consecutive chapters, however, (ch. xiii. to ch. xvii.) contain information pe- 
culiar to the present Gospel. 

Though not actually one of the Apostolic body, he seems to have been an eye- 
witness of many of the events which he describes. (See below, the note on verse 
3.) And there are places in his Gospel where he has been permitted to come won- 
derfully near his Lord ; as when he describes the mysterious hour of His Agony in 
the Garden : — xxii. 41 to 46. 

He begins his Narrative with relating something about himself; his qualification 
for the work of an Evangelist, and the purpose with which he wrote his Gospel : — 
where every word is full of wonder, and even of difficulty. The- Reader will also, 
(it is trusted,) find that every statement may be turned to edification and delight, 
as well. St. Paul relates(a) that St. Luke was a Physician of the Body. "The 
Brother, whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches, ;; (6) is found 
to have been also a skillful Physician of the Soul. 

1, 2 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a 
declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, 

(a) Colossians iv. 14. (b) 2 Cor. viii. 18. 

26 



402 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were 
eye-witnesses, and ministers of the Word : 

These first four verses are called the " Preface" to St. Luke Gospel : from which, 
we learn many things of importance ; as, first, that there was a time when, from 
the report of eye-witnesses, many narratives of our Lord's Life, besides the four 
which we now possess, had "been committed to writing. But observe, — their Au- 
thors had " taken in hand" a task which they were not divinely commissioned to 
perform. It may be inferred from what is here said, that, to be in possession of the 
personal notices of eye-witnesses even, was not a sufficient qualification to enable 
a man to become an Evangelist ; inasmuch as all the narratives here alluded to, 
have perished. St. Luke did not so "take in hand" to write a Gospel. The Holy 
Spirit moved him ; — whereupon it seemed good to him ; — and he wrote. 

3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all 
things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent 
Theophilus, 

You observe that St. Luke contrasts the way in which lie had obtained his infor- 
mation, with that in which the "many" who had "taken in hand" to write a His- 
tory of our Lord's Life, had obtained theirs. They wrote from tradition : St. Luke 
had enjoyed "perfect understanding of all things from the very first," — probably 
as an eye-witness. The Church has indeed always inclined to the belief that he 
was one of the Seventy Disciples, — whose sending out, he alone describes in his 
tenth Chapter. That portion of Scripture is therefore appointed to be read on St. 
Luke's Day. 

4 that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein 
thou hast been instructed. 

This, then, was the object with which this Gospel was written. The Evangelist 
seems to have bestowed all his labour in building up one Gentile heart in the Chris- 
tian faith. And God blessed him in the deed ; for thereby the whole Church of 
Christ hath been, and will be, edified for ever. Shall we sometimes disdain a nar- 
row field for labour, and be discontented at having to minister (if need be) to a sin- 
gle soul? 

About Theophilus, whom St. Luke addresses, we know nothing : but his name 
signifies "Beloved of God;" and (0 reader!) be sure of this, that if thou art be- 
loved of God, St. Luke's Gospel is specially addressed to thee. 

5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judsea, a certain 
priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia : 

David distributed the priests into twenty-four courses ;(c) when "the eighth" lot 
came forth "to Abijah." (ver. 10.) Zacharias was descended from one of the 
priests who belonged to his " course." 

and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was 
Elisabeth. 

The Old Testament names immediately meet us. " Elisabeth" is the same word 
as " Elisheba,"(d) and "Mary" as "Miriam."(e) 

6, 7 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the 
commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. And they had 
no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now 
well stricken in years. 

The expression in the original is, — "they were both far advanced in their days:" 
as if implying that this holy pair had well nigh reached the end of their earthly 
race. 

(c) 1 Chron. xxiv. 1—18. (d) Exodus vi. 23. (e) Exodus xv. 20. 



I.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 403 

8, 9 And it came to pass, that while he executed the Priest's office 
before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the 
Priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the Tem- 
ple of the Lord. 

10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without, at 
the time of incense. 

Refer, here, to Leviticus xvi. 17. 

11 And there appeared unto him an Angel of the Loud standing on 
the right side of the altar of incense. 

The dawn of the Gospel takes place in the Temple of God. 

Concerning the Altar of incense, see Exodus xxx. 1 to 9. It stood ""before the 
veil that is by the ark of the testimony." Incense was symbolical of Prayer ; 
whence it is said in the Book of Revelation that the " odours" in the golden vials, 
are " the prayers of Saints" — chap. v. 8. See also Revelation viii. 3, 4 ; and the 
note on St. Matthew ii. 11 may be consulted. 

We are reminded by this description of where the Angel stood, not only of the 
place of Session of the Eternal Son,(/) — but also that it was on the right side of 
the Holy Sepulchre that a heavenly Messenger was seen after the Resurrection of 
our Lord ;(g) and on the right side of the ship that the next was lowered on the cap- 
turing of the second miraculous draught of fishes. (Ji) 

12, 13 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell 
upon him. But the Angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias : for thy 
prayer is heard ; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son. 

So that, in former years, Zacharias had prayed earnestly for children : but he 
had long since made up his mind that God had refused his petition. The Angel 
informs him that it was far otherwise. 

Until this time, only two cases of conception, predicted by an Angel, are recorded 
to have occurred: namely, the prediction respecting Isaac, made to Abraham ;(i) 
and the prediction respecting Samson, made to Manoah's wife.(&) See the note 
on St. Luke ii. 21. 

and thou shalt call his name John. 

See the note on the latter part of St. Luke ii. 21. 

14, 15 And thou shalt have joy and gladness ; and many shall re- 
joice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and 
shall drink neither wine nor strong drink : and he shall be filled with 
the Holy Ghost, even from his Mother's womb. 

That is to say, the vow of the Nazarite should be upon him, (as it had been upon 
Samson,) (I) from the time of his birth. Concerning that vow, see Numbers vi. 
2, 3. 

16, 17 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord 
their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of 
Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobe- 
dient to the wisdom of the just ; to make ready a people prepared for 
the Lord. 

This is best explained by a reference to the actual prophecy of Malachi, (iv. 5, 6,) 
alluded to by the Angel. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the 
coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord : and he shall turn the heart of 
the Fathers to the Children, and the heart of the Children to their Fathers." The 
Baptist came " in the Spirit and power of Elias," inasmuch as he was one who 

(f) St. Mark xvi. 19 [g\ St. Mark xvi. 5. (h) St. John xxi. 6. 

(i) Genesis xvii. 21, &c. '(&) Judges xiii. 3. \l) Judges xiii. 4, 5. 



404 A PLAIN COMMENTARY. [CHAP. 

" constantly spoke the truth, boldly rebuked vice, and patiently suffered for the 
Truth's sake." (to) 

18, 19 And Zacharias said unto the Angel, Whereby shall I know 
this ? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And 
the Angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the 
presence of God ; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee 
these glad tidings. 

An awful, yet most calm rebuke, truly ; and worthy of an Angel from Heaven. (n) 
He that speaks to thee is Gabriel, (that is "the Man of God,") whose office in 
Heaven it is to stand in the presence of the Most High. I, who in the days of old 
was sent to Daniel, (o) behold am now sent with heavenly tidings unto thee! .... 
How must the heart, which a moment before wavered, have been overcome by the 
solemn recollections which every word of the glorious Speaker awakened ! 

20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until 
the day that these things shall be performed ; because thou believest 
not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. 

So that Zacharias received a sign, though a very different one from what he had 
expected : and an appropriate sign it was ; for behold, the faculty of speech, which 
he had misused to express mistrust in God's promises, was for a fixed time with- 
drawn. He became deaf moreover, as well as dumb ; for, when the Baptist was to 
be circumcised, we shall find that the neighbours "made signs to his Father, how 
he would have him called/' ver. 62. 

In the words actually employed by Zacharias, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
respectively,^) there does not seem to be much difference ; but the Speakers were 
very diversely affected. While her's was the hesitation of Faith, (a) which timidly 
asked for explanation, — his was the reluctance of Unbelief, which required a sign. 
Hence, her doubt was solved, — his, punished. 

21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tar- 
ried so long in the Temple. 

They were waiting for him to come out and bless them. " How was he honoured 
in the midst of the people in his coming out of the sanctuary !" — as it is said by the 
son of Sirach. " He went down, and lifted up his hands over the whole congrega- 
tion of the children of Israel, to give the blessing of the Lord with his lips."(r) 

22 And when he came out, he could not speak unto them : and they 
perceived that he had seen a vision in the Temple : for he beckoned 
unto them, and remained speechless. 

He could not pronounce the accustomed words of Blessing. Surely it was a 
highly significant circumstance that at the moment when the good tidiugs of the 
Gospel had been proclaimed, and an event had been announced by which the Law 
was to cease, the Priest should come forth from the Sanctuary of God with dumb 
lips ! Consider St. Luke xvi. 16 ; and St. Matthew xi. 13. 

23 And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration 
were accomplished, he departed to his own house. 

24, 25 And after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and hid 
herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the 
days wherein He looked on me, to take away my reproach among men. 

She speaks after the manner of the daughters of Abraham, — with whom, to go 
childless was accounted a reproach. 

The case of Elisabeth more nearly resembles that of Sarah, than of any other 

(m) Collect for St. John Baptist's Day. (n) Compare Jude ver. 9. 

(o) Daniel viii. 16: ix. 21. (p) See ver. iv. 34. 

(q) See verse 45. (r) Ecclesiasticus 1. 5, 20. 



!•] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 405 



pious Matron -whose history is given in the Bible :(s) but Rebekah, Rachel, Manoah's 
wife, and Hannah, are all additional instances of that mysterious economy which 
from the beginning had been preparing the minds of faithful men for a Birth in 
"the latter days" which should be out of the course of Nature: the Birth of One 
whose name should be called "Wonderful." Accordingly, in ver. 36, we shall find 
the Angel Gabriel bringing forward this very case of Elisabeth, in order to reconcile 
the Mind of the Blessed Virgin to the mysterious destiny which was in store for 
herself. 

26 An in the sixth month the Angel Gabriel was sent from God 
unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 

No common Angel, but one of the highest order ; as was meet, at the sending 
down from Heaven of the most Blessed message which had ever yet reached this 
suffering Earth. 

That message was to exalt Human Nature above the Cherubim, by proclaiming 
the Incarnation of the Word. Yet the Archangel Gabriel hastens with love and 
obedience to fulfil his embassy. "And," to quote the pious words of Bishop 
Taylor, "if we were to reduce our prayers to action, and do God's will on earth as 
the Angels in Heaven do it, we should promptly execute every part of the Divine 
Will ; though it were to be instrumental in the exaltation of a brother above our- 
selves." 

27 to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the 
house of David ; and the virgin's name was Mary. 

Something has been already said (in the Commentary on St. Matthew's Gospel) 
concerning the Divine Economy by which it was over-ruled that Mary should have 
been "espoused" to Joseph, at the time of the Annunciation; and immediately 
afterwards have become his Wife. See notes on St. Matth. i. 16, 18, 24. It was 
needful in this manner, at first, to shroud the mighty mystery of our Lord's Birth 
from the eyes of carnal men: and (what is more) it was seen fit by this master- 
piece of divine contrivance, to defeat the vigilance of the Powers of Darkness also. 

Do but note with what amazing simplicity, the most wonderful event which had 
happened in all the ages, is described ! This was the hour for which Creation had 
groaned, ever since the Fall. The eyes of Patriarchs and Prophets had ever been 
turned in wonder and adoration towards this event. Faith and Hope had supported 
themselves " since the world began," in sure belief that the day for the disclosure 
of the great mystery here revealed, must at last arrive. When it came, how unlike 
did the manner of its coming prove, to what men had expected ! The House was 
David's House indeed ; yet, reduced to what a low condition ! In the secrecy of 
her private chamber, — to a Virgin, — dwelling in a despised city, — far from Bethle- 
hem of Judasa, the scene of the promises, — the Angel Gabriel brings the wondrous 
tidings which were destined to make all the ends of the Earth rejoice ! 

See the second note on St. Luke ii. 38. 

28 And the Angel came in unto her, 

The Angel came in unto her, — so that the Blessed Virgin was within when she 
heard the heavenly tidings. Sarah, in like manner, was " in the tent," when she 
heard the promise. (f) In connection with this subject, consider the following 
texts,— St. John xi. 20 ; 1 Tim. v. 13 ; Tit. ii. 5. 

and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee : 
blessed art thou among women. 

The Angel is instructed to bid Mary "Hail;" that is, to bring her a message of 
Peace and Joy : whereby God revokes the sentence which He had pronounced on 
our first Mother, — " In sorroiv thou shalt bring forth children."(«) 

29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast 
in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 

(s) See note on ver. 37. {t) Genesis xviii. 9, 10. («) Genesis iii. 16. 



406 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

30 And the Angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary : for thou hast 
found favour with God. 

He calls her by her name, — as if to inspire confidence, and show that he knew 
her. 

81 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a 
Son, and shalt call His Name JESUS. 

It should not escape notice that these words are formed exactly upon those of the 
prophet Isaiah vii. 14:(cc) and what follows (ver. 32,) is a distinct allusion to 
another passage in the same prophet, namely ix. 6, 7. 

32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest : 
and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father 
David. 

Keminding her thereby of many an ancient prophecy which had gone before ; 
and teaching her that the Offspring of her body was to be none other than the 
Christ. 

33 And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever ; and of His 
Kingdom there shall be no end. 

34 Then said Mary unto the Angel, How shall this be, seeing I 
know not a man? 

The Blessed Virgin clearly understood that this promise was made to her in her 
Virgin estate. 

35 And the Angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost 
shall come upon thee, and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow 
thee : therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall 
be called the Son of God. 

By which words, it is worth observing that the Angel Gabriel declared to the 
Virgin the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. 

There was this contrast between the Old and the New Creation ; that whereas, 
in the first, God "spake and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast;" — in 
the second, He wrought secretly and silently, — " coming down/' as the Psalmist 
speaks, (?/) with reference to the days of Messiah, " like the rain into a fleece of 
wool, even as the drops that water the Earth." 

One of the very earliest of the Fathers, (Ignatius, second Bishop of Antioch,) 
says of this, — that it was "a crying mystery wrought in the silence of God: a 
memorable saying, which the Church has never been able to forget. 

36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son 
in her old age : and this is the sixth month with her, who was called 
barren. 

Mary asked for no sign, yet a sign (the most fitting imaginable!) is given her; — 
given in love, not in anger as in the case of Zacharias. 

Elisabeth was the Blessed Virgin's " cousin." Hence her wondrous son also was 
the Kinsman of Christ. 

37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 

There is an allusion here to the words of Genesis xviii. 14. The case of Elisa- 
beth resembled that of Sarah. See the note on vei\ 25. 

38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto 
me according to thy word. 

And the Angel departed from her. 

(x) Compare St. Matthew i. 21 and 23. {y) Ps. lxxii. 6. 



!•] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 407 



She submits to it, rather as a mysterious dispensation which she could not tell 
how to comprehend, than glories in it as a privilege. Her answer befits the Mother 
of One who was declared to be " meek and lowly ;" owning herself but the Hand- 
maid of Him who was to be her Son. 

Observe the wondrous contrast with what took place "in the beginning." At 
the Fall of Man, that old serpent, Satan, held parley with a Woman, and deceived 
her by the Spirit of Pride. In order to the Kestoration of our Nature, an Arch- 
angel discourses with another Woman, and persuades her through her Humility. 

And here, it may be well worth remarking (with Bishop Taylor), that "the holy 
Virgin came to her great perfection and height of piety, by a few, and those, 
modest and unattractive, exercises and actions. St. Paul travelled over the world; 
preached to the Gentiles and disputed against the Jews ; wrote Epistles ; suffered 
dangers, injuries, affronts, and persecutions to the height of wonder ; whereby he 
won for himself a crown. But the holy Virgin attained perfection by the means of 
a quiet and silent piety, by internal actions of love, devotion, and contemplation : 
and instructs us that silent affections, the splendours of an internal devotion, the 
union of love, humility, and obedience, the daily offices of prayer and praises sung 
to God, acts of faith and fear, of patience and meekness of hope and reverence, re- 
pentance and charity, and those graces which walk in a veil and silence ; make 
great ascents to God, and as sure progress to favour and a crown, as the more 
ostentatious and laborious exercises of a more public religion/' 

39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country 
•with haste, into a city of Juda ; 

Thirty-eight cities of Judah "in the mountains," are enumerated in the Book of 
Joshua (xv. 48 to 60) : but Tradition has always pointed out "Kirjath-Arba, which 
is Hebron/ ; (z) as the dwelling-place of the venerable pair to whom Mary hastened. 

40 and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. 

She seems to have taken the holy pair by surprise, through the fervent haste 
with which she performed her journey. (The grace of the Holy Spirit knows 
nothing of slow endeavours !) Surely the mountains of that "hill country," — the 
forest, and every tree therein, — broke forth into singing, and Earth was joyful; for 
the Lord had redeemed Jacob, and comforted His people. («) "How beautiful upon 
the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings!" (6) 

41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of 
Mary, the Babe leaped in her womb ; and Elisabeth was filled with the 
Holy Ghost. 

These holy women, meeting to compare and unite their joys, and then made pro- 
phetic and inspired, must needs have discoursed like Angels ; for (as a pious Bishop 
has remarked) all the faculties of Nature were turned into Grace. It is not easy to 
imagine the rapture of this blessed meeting. Never, but in Heaven, was there more 
joy and ecstasy ! 

42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou 
among women, and blessed is the Eruit of thy womb. 

" Observe the " loud voice." Verily, if she had not spoken as she did, the very 
stones must have cried out ! 

Notice also, that she repeats the Angel's salutation ; see ver. 28. 

Rightly does Elisabeth call our Saviour Christ, " the fruit of thy womb :" for 
she spake of One " who took Man's nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, of 
her substance."(c) 

43, 44 And whence is this to me, that the Mother of My Lord should 
come to me ? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in 
mine ears, the Babe leaped in my womb for joy. 

(z) Joshua xv. 54. (a) Isaiah xliv. 23, and xlix. 13. (6) Isaiah Hi. 7. 

(c) Article II. 



t 
408 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

It has been said, — " Grace introduces things to which Nature is a stranger." 
The Forerunner, yet unborn, bears testimony to his yet unborn Lord ; — a signifi- 
cant circumstance, surely ; as indicative of the coming of a Kingdom where myste- 
ries are hidden from the wise and prudent, but revealed unto Babes 1(d) 

We shall behold our Savtour in like manner coming to His servant, (the Greater 
to the Less !) for Holy Baptism. See note on St. Matt. iii. 13. 

45 And blessed is she that believed : for there shall be a performance 
of those things which were told her from the Lord. 

Every word of this address(e). is clearly prophetical, — for which the declaration 
in ver. 41 prepares us. Elisabeth sees the whole extent of the mystery. Not only 
does she declare the present wonder, that Mary is the Mother of the Redeemer ; 
and the future issue, that all things shall be fulfilled which have been foretold her ; 
but she is able also to declare the state of heart in which her kinswoman received 
the Angel Gabriel's message : Past, and Present, and Future open to her prophetic 
sight. 

Thereupon was poured forth the Divine " Magnificat," — whose echoes yet fill the 
Churches of Christendom. The Hymn of the Blessed Virgin is manifestly con- 
structed upon the same model as that strain of thankfulness which Hannah gave 
utterance to, on a similar occasion ;(/) and with which indeed it should be compared 
throughout. The germ of both heavenly compositions is to be found in a yet more 
ancient Song, — namely, that of Sarah, contained in Genesis xxi. 6. 

46, 47 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my 
spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 

Now, " the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joij, Peace.' ; (#) 

Observe how she drops, in her exceeding exultation, the thought of self. Her 
joy is not in herself, but in GOD her SAVIOUR. 

48 For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden : for, 
behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 

She speaks not of her poverty, — and yet, she was very poor ; but (after the man- 
ner of a Hebrew mother) her words have reference to the reproach of childlessness 
which God had removed from her. Compare ver. 25. What a profound and glo- 
rious meaning do the common words of rejoicing among the Mothers of Israel, (h) 
assume on the lips of the Virgin Mother of our Lord ! — the " Blessed Virgin" let 
us call her, — and so, fulfill her prophecy. 

49 For He that is mighty hath done to me great things ; and holy is 
His Name. 

" That Soul," as Bede remarks, " can alone duly magnify the Lord, for whom He 
deigns to do mighty things." 

50 And His Mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to 
generation. 

To quote the same writer, once more, — " As if she had said, Not only for me hath 
He that is mighty done great things ; but in every nation, he that feareth God is 
accepted of Him.'" 

This is almost a quotation from Psalm ciii. 17. 

51 He hath showed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the 
proud in the imagination of their hearts. 

That is, Those who, in the imaginations of their hearts, are proud, — He hath 
scattered. 

52, 53 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted 

(d) St. Matth. xi. 25. (e) Ver. 42 to 45. (/) 1 Samuel ii. 1 to 10. 

(<7) Galat. v. 22. 

(/*) See Leah's words, — Genesis xxix. 32 : and Hannah's, — 1 Sam. i. 11. 



!•] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 409 



them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things ; and 
the rich He hath sent empty away. 

With verses 51, 52, 53, compare the corresponding parts of Hannah's Song, — 
namely, 1 Sam. ii. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 

The following places of Scripture will also be found worth referring to, in illus- 
tration of the three last verses, viz., Job v. 11 : Psalm cxiii. 7 : Ezekiel xvii. 24 : 
xxi. 26. 

Some of the wonders to be achieved by the Introduction of the Gospel are here 
glanced at. First, is described the dethronement and casting down of the Devil, 
and of all his evil host,(i) — together with the exaltation of "the poor of this world, 
rich in faith," to be "heirs of the Kingdom." (A;) Next, it is prophesied how they 
who hunger after Eternal Life with their whole soul,(Z) shall be filled, when 
Christ shall appear in glory ; while they who, rejoicing in their self-righteousness, 
think themselves rich, shall in the end be sent empty away. 

54 He hath holpen His servant Israel, in remembrance of His Mercy ; 
This verse seems intended to recall Psalm xcviii. 3. 

55 as He spake to our Fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever. 

The allusion in this verse to the last words of the prophet Micah (vii. 20) seems 
unmistakable. - 

The Blessed Virgin speaks, of course, of the true spiritual Israel. "For," as St. 
Paul explains, "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel :"(m) but " the Israel 
of God"(w) are "such as are of a clean heart."(o) " They ivhich are of Faith, the 
same are the children of Abraham. "(p) And this promise is not narrowed by any 
limits; but to the very end of time there shall never lack believers, — whereby Abra- 
ham shall have a " seed, for ever." 

It is a divine thing that the Blessed Virgin should have thus glanced back to the 
beginning, from the endj and by this allusion to God's promise made to 
Abraham, (q) should have virtually admitted, and in the very highest sense, "that 
there had not failed aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the 
house of Israel. All had come to pass."(r) 

If any do inquire how it happens that this Hymn, poured forth in expression of 
the Blessed Virgin's Joy and Thankfulness, should have become a portion of the 
Church's Daily Service, — let them know that it does not contain one word of exul- 
tation but what every humble Christian may make his own. When the Eternal 
Word was made flesh, it was not, of course, the Blessed Virgin in particular, but 
mankind in general, which He designed to honour. The purpose of the Son of God, 
when He honoured the Blessed Virgin so far as in, and from, her to become Man, 
was to advance Human Nature by assuming it into the Unity of His Divine Person; 
so that, being born of her, He might procure not only hers, but our common Salva- 
tion. Every member of the great Human Family may therefore sing the "Magni- 
ficat ;" and when he bears his part in that divine Anthem, should learn to make the 
Blessed Virgin's raptures a private and a personal concern: — " My soul doth mag- 
nify the Lord, and my Spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour ; because He did regard 
the low estate of us poor mortal men, — His afflicted servants. For behold, in conse- 
quence of the Incarnation of the Son of God, all generations of mankind, aye, and 
every order of the Angelic Host, shall for evermore pronounce us ' Blessed :' for 
the Mighty One did mighty things for us, when He united Himself to our fallen 
Nature : wherefore Holy is He ; and Blessed for evermore be His Holy Name !" 

56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to 
her own house. 

During those three months Prayer and Meditation rather than converse, was 
surely the resource of this pair of holy Matrons : for unspeakable was the blessed- 

(*) Compare St. Luke x. 18. [h) St. James ii. 5. 

(0 Compare St. Luke xv. 16, 17, 23 (the case of the Gentile world :) St. Matthew xv. 
26, 27, Ac. ( m ) Romans ix. 6. 

( w ) Galat - vi. 16. ( ) Psalm lxxiii. 1. (p) Galat. iii. 7. 

tq) Genesis xii. 3, xvii. T, Ac. (r) Joshua xxi. 45, and xxiii. 14. 



410 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

ness to which they had been respectively called. And now, when Elisabeth was 
about to become a Mother, they parted; and we are not informed that they ever met 
again. 

57, 58, 59 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should "be de- 
livered ; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbours and her 
cousins heard how the Lobd had showed great mercy upon her ; and 
they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day 
they came to circumcise the child ; and they called him Zacharias, after 
the name of his father. 

Rather, " they were for calling him," — "They wanted to call him." Compare St. 
Matthew iii. 14. 

60, 61, 62 And his Mother answered and said, Not so ; but he shall 
be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred 
that is called by this name. And they made signs to his Father, how 
he would have him called. 

They "made signs" to Zacharias, because he was now deaf as well as dumb. 
See the note on verse 20. 

63, 64 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His 
name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened 
immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. 

As Unbelief had bound him, so Faith now set him free. And, as an ancient 
writer remarks, it was but reasonable that when the voice of the Word came forth, 
— see St. John i. 23, — the tongue of his Father should have been loosed likewise. 

65, 66 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them : and all 
these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of 
Judaea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts ? 
saying, What manner of child shall this be ! And the Hand of the 
Lord was with him. 

67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and 
prophesied, saying, 

The first purpose in which he employed the recovered gift of speech seems^ to 
have been the pouring out of that Inspired Hymn, — the " Benedictus," — which 
Ploly Church has since adopted as a part of her daily utterance. Well may she 
have clone so! for every word here, prophetically spoken, has reference to the 
Spiritual Keign of Messiah ; and the blessings commemorated, belong not to the 
nation of the Jews only, but, in the full extent of their signification, to all the peo- 
ple of God. 

68 Blessed he the Lord God of Israel ; for He hath visited and re- 
deemed His people, 

See how his prophetic speech glances on to the last page of the Gospel ! And 
yet, it is not to be supposed that the inspired speaker had any conception of the 
sublime mystery which his words enfolded. He opened his lips to praise the God of 
Israel for having at last "visited/' — that is, "looked graciously upon," — His peo- 
ple ; and wrought for them the long-promised deliverance from their enemies : but 
he knew not the true nature of that deliverance, though he was divinely guided to 
call it by its proper name, — Redemption. See Ephes. i. 7 : Coloss. i. 14 : Rev. v. 9. 

69 and hath raised up an Horn of Salvation for us in the house of 
His servant David ; 

Or, as it stands in the Prayer-book, "a mighty Salvation;" for "a horn" is the 
emblem — because, with certain animals, it is the instrument — of strength. Hence 



!•] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 411 



such expressions as are found in Jeremiah xlviii. 25, Psalm lxxv. 4, 10, cxii. 9, &c. 
Compare 1 Sam. ii. 10, and Psalm xviii. 2 : hut especially Psalm cxxxii. 17. 

Note also, that here and elsewhere, Kingly power is chiefly intended ; whence 
"horns" actually stand for "Kings" in the Book of Daniel, and other parts of 
Scripture, (s) 

70 (as He spake by the mouth of His holy Prophets, which have 
been since the World began :) 

For the whole volume of the Old Testament is but one long prophecy of Christ : 
" Yea, and all the Prophets, from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as 
have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days."(£) 

To speak more truly, it was God, (as we learn from this place,) who spoke by 
their mouth. Compare the language of Acts i. 16, and see the note on St. Matt. 
i. 22. Our own Hooker has said on this subject, — " They neither spake nor wrote 
any word of their own, but uttered syllable by syllable as the Spirit put it into 
their mouths ; no otherwise than as the harp or the lute doth give a sound accord- 
ing to the discretion of his hands that holdetli and striketh it with skill." .... It 
is remarkable that the very word for a Phophet, in Hebrew, is thought by the 
learned to imply one who speaks as another moves him. 

This appeal to God's "holy Prophets of old," is introduced parenthetically: 
verses 69 and 71 must be taken together. 

71, 72 that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand 
of all that hate us ; to perform the Mercy promised to our Fathers, and 
to remember His holy covenant ; 

According to the mind of the Spirit, the reference in this place is, of course, to 
ghostly, not to bodily enemies. Christ, — the Horn spoken of in ver. 69, — is de- 
clared, in ver. 71, to be " Salvation from our enemies,^ 7 &c. And thereby, in the 
verse which follows, it is prophetically foretold that the Lord God of Israel was 
about "to, shoio mercy to our Fathers, and to remember his holy covenant" with 
them. 

73, 74, 75 the oath which He sware to our Father Abraham, that 
He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our 
enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness 
before Him, all the days of our life. 

Here, the Holy Spirit is His own interpreter. The reference is to God's great 
oath to Abraham, contained in Genesis xxii. 16 to 18, — and alluded to in Hebrews 
vi. 13, 14. Compare the language of Psalm cv. 8 to 10. 

It seems then, that those famous words, — " I will bless thee, and .... multiply 
thy seed as the stars of Heaven,"(ii) — were fulfilled, in their highest sense, when it 
was "granted unto" men, that is, Power was given them,(x) to serve God in Holi- 
ness and Righteousness(?/) all the days of their life. For consider, that this was 
brought about by the out-pouring and gift of the Holy Ghost ; whereby God pro- 
cured to the Father of the Faithful, in Christ, a spiritual seed, numerous as the 
stars of Heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore. Compare Galatians 
iii. 14. 

It appears further, that the words, — " Thy seed shall possess the gate of his ene- 
mies," — besides their obvious, historical sense, which was fulfilled in the da} 7 s of 
King David, — received their perfect fulfillment in the days of the Gospel ; when, by 
our Saviour's Advent, the Human Race were "delivered out of the hand of their 
.enemies," — Sin and Death. See Horn. vi. 18, 22. 1 Cor. xv. 24 to 26 ; also 55 to 
57. Titus ii. 14. 2 St. Peter i. 4. 1 St. John v. 4, 5.— Take notice, by the way, 
that these, (which Zacharias mentions,) were the two great heads of Blessing which 
Eliezer seems to have recounted to Laban and Bethuel, when they sent away 
Rebekah to become Isaac's wife. See Genesis xxiv. 60. 

And thus, it is declared that the entire fulfillment of all the glorious promises 
which God had once made to the Fathers, was now at length about to be performed 
to them; — for, as it is elsewhere said by Christ Himself, — "all," (that is, all the 

(s) Daniel vii. 7, 8. Zech. i. IS. Revel, xiii. 1. (t) Acts iii. 24. Compare Acts x. 43. 

(m) Gen. xxii. 17. (a;) Compare Rev. xi. 3. {y) Compare Eph. iv. 24. 



412 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Fathers, — for He was speaking of them, — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,) "live unto 
Him."(s) 

" Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto His people Israel, according to 
all that He promised. There hath not failed one word of all His good promise 
which He promised by the hand of Moses His Servant. ;, ( a ) I n such terms could 
the wise King of Israel express his sense of God's Faithfulness, Constancy, and 
Love. Where shall we find language adequate to the expression of ours, — we, "on 
whom the ends of the "World are come ?'(p) 

76 And thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest : for 
thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways ; 

The Father turns, in his prophetic rapture, to address his infant child ; foretelling 
that he should "be/' (for that is the meaning of "being called") "the prophet of 
the Most High" God.(c) We have here, besides, an allusion to Isaiah xl. 3 ; so 
that the Gospel itself is briefly summed up in this inspired Hymn. 

77, 78, 79 to give knowledge of Salvation unto His people by the 
remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God ; whereby 
the Dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that 
sit in Darkness and in the shadow of Death, to guide our feet into the 
way of Peace. 

" Dayspring" is here a name of Christ ; whether it should be translated the 
"East,"— or the " Sun-rising," (d)— or the "Branch," as in Zech. iii. 8. There is 
here an evident allusion to Isaiah ix. 1, (quoted in St. Matth. iv. 16 :) but the rea- 
son of the expression " the shadow of Death" will best appear by a comparison with 
Psalm xxiii. 4 ; where, as Hammond beautifully points out, it is implied that the 
sunlight lingers longest on the hills, — the valleys being all the while veiled in 
gloom, and wearing soonest a funereal shadow. 

80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in the spirit, and was in 
the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel. 

The former of these two statements, we shall presently find repeated with respect 
to the Messias. See ch. ii. 40. — The "deserts" here spoken of do not necessarily 
imply such a howling wilderness as that of Jordan. In Judaea every tract of waste, 
uncultivated country was called a desert ; whether its barren surface produced no- 
thing but "reeds shaken by the wind,"(e) or whether there happened to be "much 
grass in the place."(/) What is meant therefore probably, is, that the youthful 
Nazarite was brought up in solitude and retirement, — remote from all the influ- 
ences of the Town. There, he increased in stature, and waxed strong in spirit ; 
and, by "enduring hardness, "(,90 prepared himself for the wondrous office to which 
the good Providence of God had designed him from his Mother's womb. 

For, instead of raiment, he wore a hairy garment and a leathern girdle. More- 
over, God fed him with locusts ; and " satisfied" him, from day to day, " with honey 
out of the stony rock."(7i) And thus, the Baptist grew to manhood ; (for we hear 
no more of him until he had attained the age of thirty years ;) an Orphan, doubt- 
less, from his earliest youth. But be sure that " when his Father and his Mother 
had forsaken him, then the Lord took him up."(i) 

THE PRAYER. 

We beseech Thee, Lord, pour Thy Grace into our hearts ; that, 
as we have known the Incarnation of Thy Son Jesus Christ by the 
message of an Angel, so, by His Cross and Passion, we may be brought 
unto the Glory of His Resurrection ; through the same Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 

(z) St. Luke xx. 38. (a) 1 Kings viii. 56. (b) 1 Cor. x. 11. 

(c) Compare verse 32. (d) Compare Malachi iv. 2. (e) St. Matth. xi. 7. 

(/) Compare St. Matth. xiv. 13, 15 with St. John vi. 10. (g) 2 Tim. ii. 3. 

(h) Psalm lxxxi. 16. Compare St. Matth. iii. 4. (t) Psalm xxvii. 10. 



II.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 413 



CHAPTER II. 



1 Augustus taxeth all the Roman empire. 6 The nativity of Christ. 8 One Angel 
relateth it to the Shepherds. 13 Many sing praises to Gtod for it. 21 Christ is 
Circumcised. 22 Mary purified. 28 Simeon and Anna prophesy of Christ. 40 
Who increaseth in wisdom. 46 Questioneth in the Temple with the Doctors. 51 
And is obedient to His parents. 

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree 
from Csesar Augustus, that all the world should he taxed. 

A decree for a general enrolment and numbering of names, rather than for a 
Census of property, seems to be here spoken of. And the expression, "all the 
world," probably does not mean all the Roman Empire, but only the whole of Pal- 
estine. 

2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of 
Syria.) 

Volumes have been written on this verse of Scripture. A person named Varus 
was President of Syria at the time here spoken of. Cyrenius (or Quirinus) did not 
succeed to the office till about eleven years after : but, (what is remarkable,) on 
coming to his Presidentship, he certainly did conduct a census. To reconcile the 
statement of the Evangelist with the known history of the period, has been felt to 
be a task of great difficulty. 

But, it is to be observed, that St. Luke does not say that Cyrenius was President 
of Syria at the time of the "taxing." He merely says that he was, then, governor 
of the province ; and this, Cyrenius may very well have been, although the Presi- 
dentship was in other hands. St. Luke's authority on a point of history is, of 
course, more trustworthy than that of any uninspired writer ; and when he asserts, 
(as here he seems to do,) that "the taxing" at the time of the Nativity proved the 
first [of two] taxings which were made while Cyrenius governed Syria, — what diffi- 
culty need we feel in accepting the blessed Writer's assurance on the subject? — 
These remarks shall suffice : but the reader is referred to the note on St. Luke iii. 
1 : also to the notes on St. Matthew i. 16, and St. Luke iii. 36. 

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 

This seems to imply the careful record which every Jewish family preserved of 
its descent ; whereby they were enabled, on an occasion like the present, to repair 
to the city from which the founder of their line had originally come. 

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Naza- 
reth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem ; 

Bethlehem was the true "City of David:" for his father, Jesse, was of that 
city. (a) It appears also from a comparison of verses 11 and 15, that the Shep- 
herds knew it by that name. But Jerusalem, as the Seat of David's Royalty, was 
now, almost exclusively, so called. 

(because he was of the house and lineage of David :) 

As St. Luke himself shows in the next chapter, — making use, it may be, of the 

(a) 1 Sain. xvi. 1 and 4. Compare St. John vii. 42. 



414 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

genealogy which the records of Bethlehem furnished. See also St. Matthew's first 
chapter. 

5 to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 

The Blessed Yirgin went up to "be taxed, as well as her wedded husband. She 
was, therefore, herself " of the house and lineage of David." See the note on St. 
Matthew i. 16. 

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accom- 
plished that she should be delivered. 

The Bible may be regarded as a Book which removes the veil from History, and 
reveals the reason of it. The Providence of God is there discovered to us, overrul- 
ing the actions of mankind, and adapting them to ends and purposes of which their 
authors were little conscious. Thus, the present " taxing," whether dictated by 
the ambition, or the curiosity, or the avarice of the Roman Emperor, — is shown to 
have furnished an occasion for drawing this holy pair from their remote home in 
Nazareth of Galilee, to Bethlehem of Judsea; the village which the finger of Pro- 
phecy had long before pointed out as destined to be the place of Messiah's birth. 
The season of the taxing is found, moreover, to have corresponded exactly with the 
date of the Nativity. Thus, the official return of the Bethlehemites, stored up 
among the Roman Archives, will have become documentary evidence of the most 
unquestionable kind, concerning the very foundation of the Faith. So entirely 
was Augustus ministering to the Divine pleasure, while, in the exercise of Imperial 
power, he followed the dictates of his own unfettered will. 

7 And she brought forth her first-born Son, 

"First-born," — because none had been born before Him. The word is not used 
to imply that any were born after. See the first note on St. Matthew i. 25. 

and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger : 

It has been said, — "No man will have cause to complain of his coarse robe, if 
he remembers the swaddling-clothes of this Holy Child ; nor to be disquieted at his 
hard bed, when he considers Jesus laid in a manger." 

Since this blessed Mother, after she had brought forth her first-born Son, swathed 
Him herself, and with her own hands deposited His infant limbs in a manger, as 
St. Luke seems clearly to imply ; — it is reasonable to infer that His Nativity was, 
as His sinless Conception had been, — out of the course of Nature, and miraculous ; 
and that the holy Mother, by a painless birth, had experienced the reversal of the 
sorrowful sentence passed on our Mother Eve. — recorded in Genesis iii. 16. 

What is, at least, quite certain, — hereby was reversed the calamity which our 
first Mother had brought upon the Human Race. As, by a woman, Death had been 
conveyed to all mankind, — so was a woman now made the blessed Instrument 
whereby He who is our Life came into the world. 

because there was no room for them in the Inn. 

"JSTo room for them in the Inn !" No room found for Him who filleth all things. 
And is it not so still? Do we not find room for all other things-; yet no room is 
found for Christ ? 

8 And there were in the same country Shepherds, abiding in the 
field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 

By the invitation of these poor shepherds to Bethlehem, we are taught that none 
are fit to come to Christ but those who are poor in spirit, despisers of the world, 
guileless, simple-hearted. And with reference to the pastoral Office, a pious writer 
has said concerning those who watch their flock as well by night as by day, — 
"these are Shepherds who first converse with Angels, and finally shall enter into 
the presence of the Lord." 



II.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 415 

9 And, lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory 
of the Lord shone round about them : and they were sore afraid. 

" Came upon them," here means stood suddenly before them, — as in St. Luke 
xx. 1. Acts iv. 1 : xii. 7, &c. 

10, 11 And the Angel said unto them, Fear not : for, behold, I 
bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For 
unto you is born this clay in the city of David, a Saviour, which is 
Christ the Lord. 

The first persons in the world who are apprised of the actual Advent of the Mes- 
siah, are the Shepherds of Bethlehem, who keep watch over their flock by night. 
A singularly honored occupation, truly ; to have numbered of old among those who 
pursued it, Jacob,(6) Moses, (c) and David ;(d) all eminent types of Christ: — to 
have furnished our Lord, moreover, with an appellation in which He delighted ;(e) 
and an image under which He conveyed some of His most solemn and impressive 
teaching \{f) 

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the Babe wrap- 
ped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 

Compare verses 7 and 16. This seems to show that on the day, or rather, on the 
very night of the Nativity, this wondrous vision of Angels was vouchsafed to the 
Shepherds. 

13, 14 And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the 
Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, 
and on Earth Peace, good will toward Men. 

This, then, was the first " Christmas-Carol ;" — where Angels were the Choristers, 
and Salvation was the theme, and Heaven and Earth bowed down to listen. What 
a jubilant Hymn must this have been, on the redemption of the whole Human 
Eace, if one sinner's repentance can suffice to fill the courts of Heaven with joy ! 

A single glorious Angel having communicated the joyous tidings, — and so, in a 
measure, prepared the minds of these simple swains for what might follow, — "a 
multitude of the heavenly host ;, (<7) are suddenly revealed to their wondering sight; 
and the heavenly strain which follows, breaks on their ravished ears. It was the 
birth-day of the New Creation, (h) A new corner-stone was being laid. "Well, 
therefore, may the Morning-Stars have sung together, and all the Sons of God have 
shouted for joy !(i) 

How much is left in Holy Scripture for the heart of man to realize ! How brief 
and simple are its sublimest statements ! How calm and unadorned its most won- 
derful descriptions! Consider such places as the following: — St. Matthew iv. 23, 
xvii. 2: St. Mark i. 13, xvi. 19. St. Luke ii. 51, 52, x. 18, xxii. 43, xxiv. 27 and 
51, &c. &c. &c. See the note on St. Matthew iii. 5, 6. 

15 And it came to pass, as the Angels were gone away from 
them into Heaven, the Shepherds said one to another, Let us now go 
even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which 
the Lord hath made known unto us. 

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the 
Babe lying in a manger. 

Yet, even there, as He lay, — wrapped in swaddling bands, and reclining in that 

(b) Gen. xxx. 31 : xxxi. 38 — 41. Such also was the occupation of Jacob's sons ; — see Gen. 
xxxvii. 13 and xlvii. 3. 

(c) Exod. iii. 1. (d) 1 Sam. xvi. 11: xvii. 15. (e) St, John x. 11—16. 
(/) St. Matth. xxv. 32, 33 : xviii. 12 : St. Luke xv. 3—7, &c. 

(g) See Daniel vii. 10. Hebrews xii. 22. Rev. v. 11, &c. 

(h) See the end of the note on St. Matth. iii. 17. (0 Job xxxviii. 7. 



416 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

manger, — as God, He filled Creation. For "the Son of Man" which "came down 
from Heaven," was "in Heaven."(ft) So Cowper, in a well-known Hymn: 

As much, when in the manger laid, 

Almighty Ruler of the sky, 
As when the six days' work He made, 

And filled the morning-stars with joy. 

But the remark had been made 1450 years before, by Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria. 

In consequence of the repeated statement that a manger cradled the Infant 
Saviour,(7) painters have loved to represent Him as reclining between the ox and 
the ass : and the prophecy in Isaiah i. 3, has been (somewhat fancifully, perhaps,) 
connected with the circumstance. " The Manger," (for so it should be rendered,) 
does in fact here denote that part of the home-stead which was set apart for the 
cattle ; and it seems a fitting thing that the second Adam should thus have been 
among the dumb creatures in the hour of His Nativity, no less than during the 
hour of His Temptation. See St. Mark i. 13. 

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying 
which was told them concerning this Child. 

They could not contain their rapture, for God had filled their hearts to overflow- 
ing. "My cup runneth over," saith the Psalmist. (m) 

18, 19 And all they that heard it, wondered at those things which 
was told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and 
pondered them in her heart. 

The indications afforded in the Gospel of this Blessed Woman's character, are 
exceedingly few. The present statement, (which is found partly to recur in ver. 51,) 
is one of the most remarkable, — namely, that she possessed "the ornament of a 
meek and quiet spirit ;" which treasured up every intimation of God's Love, and 
brooded over the recollection of His many and unspeakable mercies, in the recesses 
of her own pure heart. 

20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all 
the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. 

These " holy and humble Men of heart," — Shepherds of Bethlehem, — were there- 
fore the foremost who were chosen to do homage to the Infant Saviour ; therein 
taking precedence even of the Royal and the Wise !(«) To " bless the Lord," — to 
" praise Him and magnify Him for ever," is found to have been instinctively their 
occupation, on their return. 

21 And when eight clays were accomplished for the circumcising of 
the Child, 

He who came to fulfill the Law,(o) submits like every other descendant of Abra- 
ham to be " circumcised on the eighth day ;" " so teaching us to be strict in our 
duties, and sparing in the right of privilege and dispensation." " He sheds His 
blood now, in drops ; giving an earnest of those rivers which He did afterwards 
pour out for the cleansing all Human Nature, and extinguishing the wrath of God." 
And thereupon was bestowed that Holy Name at which " every knee should bow, 
of things in Heaven, and things in Earth, and things under the Earth."(p) 

His name was called JESUS, which was so named of the Angel be- 
fore He was conceived in the womb. 

To have a name bestowed by God before the birth, is recorded to have occurred 
altogether in only four cases ; that of Ishmael and Isaac, in the Old Testament, (q) 
— that of John Baptist and our Blessed Lord in the New. Of these persons, Ish- 
mael was named after conception ; Isaac and St. John, like our Saviour, were 
named before. 

(7c) St. John iii. 13. (I) verses 7, 12, 16. (m) Psalm xxiii. 5. 

(n) See St. Matthew ii. 1, &c. (oj St. Matthew v. 17. 

(p) Philippians ii. 10. (q) Genesis xvi. 11, and xvii. 19. 



ii.] on st. luke's gospel. 417 

22 And when the days of her Purification according to the Law of 
Moses were accomplished, they brought Him to Jerusalem, to present 
Him to the Lord : 

This was at the end of forty days ;(r) whence the Feast of "the Purification of 
St. Mary the Virgin," (which our Church wisely prefers to call "the Presentation 
of Christ in the Temple,")(s) is celebrated on the 2d of February. 

The incident which follows, occupies sixteen verses of the Gospel ; and is encom- 
passed, as a great writer points out, " with a greater variety of circumstance and 
detail than any other of the recorded events of our Saviour's Infancy." 

23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, Every male that openeth 
the womb shall be called holy to the Lord ;) 

Reference is made to Exodus xxxiv. 19. 

24 and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the Law 
of the Lord, A pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons. 

The Blessed Mother made the offering appointed in Leviticus xii. 8 for a poor 
person, unable to attain to the more costly offering which the Law prescribed to 
those who could afford it, — namely, a lamb of the first year.(^) 

25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was 
Simeon ; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the Con- 
solation of Israel : and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 

" The Consolation of Israel" denotes the personal Advent of our Saviour Christ, 
— to which many among the Jews were at this time looking anxiously forward. 
Compare the language of ver. 38. St. Mark xv. 43. St. Matth. xi. 3. St. John 
i. 19, 20. St. Luke iii. 15. 

26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should 
not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 

Before he saw Death, it was promised to Holy Simeon that he should see the 
Lord's Anointed, — whom an Apostolic Father calls "Life in Death." This an- 
nouncement to Simeon may be regarded as the earliest streak of dawn, — the first 
harbinger of the coming day of the Gospel. 

27, 28 And he came by the Spirit into the Temple : and when the 
parents brought in the child Jesus, to clo for Him after the custom of 
the law, then took he Him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 

29, 30 Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, accord- 
ing to Thy Word : For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, 

How like to those words of Israel to Joseph, — " Now let me die, since I have seen 
thy face."(ii) 

Not only had Simeon's eyes " seen," but " his hands had handled :" yea, he had 
embraced and circumscribed in His arms, Him that filled all the World. Simeon, 
however, is bent on bearing testimony to God's faithfulness in keeping His pro- 
mise: and so well satisfied is he with it, "that straightway he desires to live no 
longer; foreseeing that he should never more find comfort in any other object this 
world could minister." 

- 31, 32 which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people ; a 
light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel. 

The prophetic intimation, contained in this last verse, of the scope and purpose 
of Messiah's coming, {x) is what has so endeared this brief, burning Hymn of holy 

(r) Leviticus xii. 2, 4. (s) See the Collect in the Book of Common Prayer. 

(*) Levit. xii. 6. («) Gen. xlvL 30. 

(x) With which compare Isaiah xliii. 6 : xlix. 6 and lx. 1-3. 

27 



418 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Simeon to the heart of all Christendom. Holy Church, by the eye of faith, sees 
daily, in her second Lesson, that Salvation which Simeon beheld with his bodily 
eyes ; and she pours out her thanksgiving in his own prophetic words. 

We have repeated this inspired Song so often, that our Spirits are scarcely stirred 
any longer by its sublimity: but with what ecstatic fervour must it have flowed 
from the lips of that favoured Servant of God, — conscious, while he uttered it, that 
he embraced in his arms the Desire of all nations, — Him whom all Creation groaned 
for, — the Incarnate Jehovah ! 

33 And Joseph and His Mother marvelled at those things which 
were spoken of Him. 

34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary His Mother, Be- 
hold this Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; 
and for a sign which shall he spoken against ; 

Christ was to prove the occasion of falling to as many of the Jewish nation as 
should reject Him: but of rising "to become the Sons of God," to as many as should 
" believe on His name."(?/) The prophet Isaiah had declared as much, when he 
said of Messiah, — " He shall be for a Sanctuary ;" (adding in the same breath,) — 
" but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence." (z) 

35 (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) 

Simeon is supposed to allude to the day of the Crucifixion ; when the Mother, 
pierced with many sorrows, was a witness of the Cross and Passion, and precious 
Death of her Divine Son. (a) 

that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. 

It seems to be implied that the doctrine of Christ, no less than Christ Himself, 
— who had been likened, on this very occasion of His appearance, to a Refiner's 
fire,(Jj) — was destined to prove a great test of individual character ; a wondrous 
means of revealing what was in the hearts of mankind. " For the preaching of the 
Cross," says St. Paul, "is to them that perish foolishness ; but unto us which are 
saved, it is the power of God."(c) So St. Peter, (d) — "Unto you, therefore, which 

believe, He is precious ; but unto them which be disobedient a stone of 

stumbling and a rock of offence; even to them which stumble at the word, being 
disobedient." St. Paul describes the Gospel, as, " a discerner of the thoughts and 
intents of the heart."(e) While our Lord says plainly, — "He that rejeeteth Me, 
and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have 
spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day ."(f) 

36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, 
of the tribe of Aser : 

St. Paul, in like manner, declares of himself that he was of the tribe of Benja- 
min ;(g) which shows how carefully, even to a late period, individuals of the Jewish 
nation preserved the record of their descent. But the case of Anna is the more ex- 
traordinary ; since Aser (that is " Asher") was one of the ten tribes which the King 
of Assyria led away captive into Assyria, — and which had never returned. See 2 
Kings xvii. 6. 

37 she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years 
from her virginity ; and she was a Widow of about fourscore and four 
years/which departed not from the Temple, but served God with Fastings 
and Prayers night and day. 

(y) St. John i. 12. («) Isaiah viii. 14. (a) St. John xix. 25. 

(b) Malachi iii. 2. See below, the note on ver. 38. 

(c) 1 Cor. i. 18 : and see all the rest of the chapter; also ii. 14. Compare 2 Cor. ii. 15, and 
St. John ix. 39. 

(d) 1 Pet. ii. 7, 8. (e) Hebrews iv. 12. (/) St. John xii. 48. 

(g) Rom. xi. 1, and Phil. iii. 5. 



II.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 419 

She had been a widow for 84 years, — and was therefore upwards of a hundred 
years old. Her wedded life had been of but seven years duration, and she had ever 
since dedicated herself to the service of God. She was therefore one of those 
"widows indeed," (as St. Paul speaks,) who are entitled to honour; and, as such, 
she won for herself this glorious mention in the Book of Life. " Now, she that is 
a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and 
prayers night and day." (7*) 

38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the 
Lord. 

" The returns of prayer, and the blessings of piety," says an old writer, " are 
certain ; and though not dispensed according to our narrow expectations, yet shall 
they so come, — at such times and in such measures, — as shall crown the piety, and 
satisfy the desires, and reward the expectation. It was in the Temple, the same 
place where she had for so many years poured out her heart to God, that God 
poured forth His heart to her: sent His Son from His bosom; and there she 
received His benediction." 

Contemptuous things are sometimes said of a congregation consisting of an old 
man and woman, — a poor man and his wife. Yet this was the very Congregation 
here assembled, — and Christ was among them ! 

and spake of Him to all them that looked for Redemption in Jeru- 
salem. 

It was thus then that the Lord, even the Messenger of the Covenant, suddenly 
came to His Temple, — as the prophecy of Malachi had foretold (iii. 1.) How 
secretly and silently it was done ! Consider in like manner the singular fulfillment 
of Hosea xi. 1 (in St. Matthew ii. 15 ;) of Jerem. xxxi. 15 (in St. Matt. ii. 18:) of 
Isaiah xi. 1, &c. (in St. Matt. ii. 23 :) of Isaiah liii. 4 (in St. Matt. viii. 17.) Con- 
sider even the unlooked for completion of Zechariah ix. 9 (in St. Matt. xxi. 5,) and 
of Malachi iv. 5 (in St. Luke i. 13 to 17.) Surely these unexpected fulfillments of 
ancient prophecies should make us very thoughtful. How know we but what 
unfulfilled prophecy may take us equally by surprise, and find us equally unpre- 
pared? See for example St. Matt. xxiv. 42, — a prophetic warning which is 
repeated in xxv. 13, &c. &c. 

See the note on St. Matthew iv. 14. 

39 And when they had performed all things according to the Law of 
the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. 

But first they went down into Egypt, — as St. Matthew had before explained, (i) 
It is the manner of the sacred writers, when they pass over an event in silence, thus 
to supply no hint of their omission. 

40 And the Child grew, and waxed strong in Spirit, filled with Wis- 
dom : and the Grace of God was upon Him. 

See the note on ver. 52. 

41 Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of 
the Passover. 

According to the requirement of the Jewish Law, — Exodus xxiii. 15, 17 : xxxiv. 
18, 23. Deut. xvi. 1, 16. 

- 42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem 
after the custom of the Feast. 

43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the Child 
Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem ; and Joseph and His Mother knew 
not of it. 

4:4 y 45 But they, supposing Him to have been in the company, went a 

(h) 1 Tim. v. 5. (i) St. Matthew ii. 13—15. 



420 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

day's journey ; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquain- 
tance. And when they found Him not, 

For whosoever seeks Jesus, (says a pious Bishop,) must seek Him in the offices 
of Religion, in the Temple ; not amongst the engagement and pursuits of worldly 
interests. 

46 they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him. And it came 
to pass, that after three days they found Him in the Temple, 

They had gone one day's journey, and had to return: on the third day they found 
Him. 

It has "been piously and beautifully suggested by the author last quoted, that Joseph 
and the Blessed Virgin, after a long and fruitless search, — " almost despairing, 
faint and sick with travel and fear, with desire and tedious expectations, at last 
came into the Temple to pray to God for conduct and success; knowing and believ- 
ing assuredly that if they could find God, they should not long miss to find the Holy 
Jesus. And their faith/' he adds, " deceived them not ; for they sought God, and 
found Him that was God and man, in the midst and circle of the Doctors." .... 
Certain it is that ice also, if we would find Chkist, must seek Him where He is ever 
to be found, — in His Holy Temple. 

sitting in the midst of the Doctors, both hearing them, and asking 
them questions. 

Whereby, as the same writer has piously remarked, He consigned this truth to 
His Disciples : that they who mean to be doctors, and teach others, must first learn 
of those whom God and public order hath set over us, in the mysteries of Religion. 

47 And all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding 
and answers. 

This mention of " His ansioers" proved that the learned Rabbies were not slow 
to question Him in turn: while the amazement which they testified at the proofs 
He gave of His understanding, seems to imply that He was induced to discourse to 
them likewise. So "filled with Wisdom," was He, — as we read in ver. 40: such 
" increase" had there already been. See ver. 52. 

It is written in a certain place, — " I have more understanding than My teachers, 
for Thy testimonies are My study ."(&) 

48 And when they saw him, they were amazed : and His Mother 
said unto Him, Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us ? behold, Thy 
Father and I have sought Thee sorrowing. 

49 And He said unto Them, How is it that ye sought Me ? wist ye 
not that I must be about My Father's business ? 

Our Blessed Lord's reply to His Mother's mournful remonstrance is clearly 
directed against the language in which that remonstrance was conveyed. She had 
said, — Thy Father and I have sought Thee." The Eternal Son makes answer that 
He had been where He ought to be, — in His FATHER S House; (for so the words 
should be translated:) and therefore asks, How it came to pass that they had sought 
Him ? . . . Which, by the way, are the first words recorded to have been spoken 
by our Saviour Christ. 

50, 51 And they understood not the saying which He spake unto 
them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was 
subject unto them: 

From this time forward, we hear no more of Joseph. He is thought to have been 
an old man ; and to have died soon after. Observe, that he is not mentioned in St. 
Mark vi. 3, or in St. John ii. 12. — For a few words about Nazareth, the scene of 
©ur Lord's Infancy and Youth, see the note on St. Luke iv. 16. 

(k) Psalm cxix. 99. 



III.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 421 

but His Mother kept all these sayings in her heart. 

See the note on ver. 19. 

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with 
God and Man. 

We are indebted to St. Luke's Gospel, for the only glimpse of the sacred person 
of our Lord with which we are favoured, from the time of the return to Nazareth, 
(recorded in ver. 39,) until the period of His Baptism. What is first said of Him, 
generally, (in ver. 43,) is found to have been equally applicable to the Baptist, at 
the same time of his life. Compare chap. i. 80. But, of our Blessed Lord it is 
added, that He was " filled with Wisdom ; ,; and it is specially noted, in the present 
verse, that He increased in wisdom as He increased in stature. St. Luke also men- 
tions (in ver. 51) that our Saviour lived in subjection to His reputed Parents. To 
these slight intimations, must be added what is suggested, if it be not implied, by 
the inquiry in St. Mark vi. 3, — "Is not this the Carpenter?" — and we have been 
presented with the sum of all that has been expressly revealed concerning the early 
years of the Son of Man. 



THE PRAYER. 

Almighty and everliving God, we humbly beseech Thy Majesty, 
that, as Thy only-begotten Son was this day presented in the Temple 
in substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto Thee with pure 
and clean hearts by the same Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 



CHAPTER III 



1 The preaching and baptism of John. 15 Sis testimony of Christ. 20 Herod im- 
prisoneth John. 21 Christ baptized, receiveth testimony from Heaven. 23 The 
age and genealogy of Christ, from Joseph upwards. 

1, 2 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pon- 
tius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Gali- 
lee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of 
Trachonitis, and Lysanius the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas 
being the high-priests, 

By all these conspiring notes of time does the Holy Evangelist guide us to the 
date of John's preaching : a mighty event, truly, to be fixed by so many concurrent 
circumstances. Learned men, however, in modern days, have perceived a difficulty 
here, which seems never to have struck our Fathers in the Faith as any difficulty 
at all. " The fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cassar/' dates from August, 
A.-D. 28, to the same month in A. D. 29. But there is good reason for fixing the 



422 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Birth of Christ to an earlier period than the spring of B. C. 4. (a) Thus our Lord 
would have been more than 32 years of age at His Baptism : whereas St. Luke says 
that He then " began to be about thirty;" and the inspired Writer doubtless meant 
to say what he said ; and no other thing. 

This certainly occasions a difficulty : for it does not seem a very likely thing that 
St. Luke should be here fixing the year of the Crucifixion — as pious men were once 
contented to believe. On the other hand, it is ten thousand times more improbable, 
or rather it is simply incredible, that this Blessed Writer, (to whom so many events 
beyond mortal ken were revealed,) should have fallen into a mistake (!!!) concern- 
ing one of the most ordinary facts in the History of his own time. What remains 
then, but to suggest that, as St. John reckoned the hours of the day in a peculiar 
manner, so St. Luke reckoned the regnal years of Tiberius from some unusual 
epoch — tAvo years earlier than the period commonly assigned to the beginning of 
his reign ? There is nothing at all improbable in this suggestion. The years of 
Augustus Cassar are variously counted fromj^ye different epochs. But it certainly 
is a strange thing that St. Luke should have reckoned the reign of Tiberius, from 
an epoch (as far as we yet know) peculiar to himself. And this shall suffice on a 
subject concerning which volumes have been written. 

It is humbly suggested that a few difficulties of this class may have been suffered 
to find place in Holy Writ, in order to exercise the faith of persons who, while they 
feel such intellectual trials very keenly, are but little affected by those which im- 
peril the salvation of the ordinary class of mankind. This remark seems applicable, 
besides, to such texts as St. Luke ii. 2, and ver. 36 of the present chapter. 

And does it not appear as if the Holt Spirit would by this means humble our 
pride, and convince us of our own ignorance ? Some Heavenly doctrine is pro- 
pounded ; and we declare, " It is high: I cannot attain unto it/ ; (6) This is only 
reasonable. But a plain historical fact — a fact of the driest and most ordinary 
kind — is next stated; and the result is just the same. It is found to defy all the 
ingenuity, and all the learning, and all the experience, of all the world ! . . . . See 
the note on St. Matthew i. 16 : especially the remarks at the end. 

Concerning the Herod and the Philip here mentioned, see the note on St. Mark 
vi. 17. Upon the deposition of Archelaus, (their brother — mentioned in St. Mat- 
thew ii. 22,) Pontius Pilate was sent from Rome as Governor (or Procurator') of 
Judaea. It may be right, however, to state in this place, that the Philip here men- 
tioned is not the Philip we read of below, in ver. 19, (where see the note ;) but an- 
other brother of the Herod there mentioned. Herod [Antipas] and Philip were 
sons of Herod the Great by the same wife — Cleopatra of Jerusalem. 

the Word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the Wil- 
derness. 

The same mode of expression is found in the Old Testament. " The Word of 
God came to Shemaiah,"(c) and " to Nathan." (d) We also read of " the Word of 
the Lord that came unto Hosea,"(e) and " to Micah.'X/) Compare also Jeremiah 
i. 2, 4, 11, 13 : ii. 1, &c. But the maimer of these communications is one of " the 
secret things which belong unto the Lord our God."(#) 

Yet, if you would know the substance of the message which the Word of God 
brought to the Baptist, you may in part gather it from the subsequent statements of 
the Baptist himself. See for example, St. John i. 33 : also ver. 31. 

3, 4, 5, 6 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching 
the Baptism of Eepentance for the remission of sins ; as it is written 
in the book of the words of Esaias the Prophet, saying, The voice of 
one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain 
and hill shall be brought low: and the crooked shall be made straight, 
and the rough ways shall be made smooth ; and all flesh shall see the 
Salvation of God. 

(«) See the end of the note on St. Matth. ii. 20. (b) Psalm cxxxix. 6. 

c) 1 Kings xii. 22. (d) 1 Chron. xvii. 3. (ej Hosea i. 1. 

/) Micah i. 1. (g) Deut. xxix. 29. 



III.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 423 

This citation from "the book of the words of Isaiah/' — xl. 3 to 5, — is, in part, 
common to all the four Evangelists :(Ji) but it is given most fully by St. Luke, — to 
whose Gospel the words " Every Valley," &c, to the end, are peculiar. They are 
beautifully descriptive of the progress and effects of the Gospel in the world. What 
so effectually lifts up the lowly and meek, and abases the proud : — casting down 
the swelling imaginations of the heart, and every high thing which exalteth itself 
against God? By this, " straight paths are made for our feet,"(i) and the rugged 
way is made plain for us to walk in. 

7 Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of 
him, generation of vipers, 

That is, "Offspring of vipers," — implying that they inherited the wickedness of 
their sires. See the first note on St. Matthew xii. 34. 

who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? 

That is, to seek, by applying to me for Baptism, to escape the righteous vengeance 
of God. Wherefore he proceeds : 

8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of Repentance, 

Prove your repentance sincere, by a change of life : for " every good tree bring- 
eth forth good fruit." (k) See the notes on St. Matthew xii. 33, 34. 

and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our 
Father : for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise 
up children unto Abraham. 

Presume not upon God's promises made to Abraham, and to his seed: overlook- 
ing the power of the Almighty to fulfill His words in more than one mysterious 
way. See the note on St. Matt. iii. 9 ; and take notice that he had already called 
them the " offspring" (or seed) "of vipers," — in ver. 7. 

The tendency of the heart to rely on the promises of God, as if they were uncon- 
ditional; instead of conforming the life to His precepts, which really are absolute, 
has been pointed out in a note on St. Luke iv. 12. 

In connection with this subject, read Jeremiah vii. 

9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees : every tree 
therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast 
into the fire. 

See the note on St. Matthew iii. 10. 

10, 11 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then ? 
He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him 
impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat let him do 
likewise. 

This amounts to an exhortation to Brotherly Love; or, as is commonly called 
in Holy Scripture, Charity. " But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his 
brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him — how dwell- 
eth the Love of God in him?"{l) 

12, 13 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, 
Master, what shall we do ? And he said unto them, Exact no more 
than that which is appointed you. 

These were the tax-gatherers, or persons whose business it was to collect tribute. 
The lawless rapacity of this class of officials is revealed by the reply which the Bap- 
tist makes to them. Concerning the lesson taught by that reply, see the following 
note. , 

(h) St. Matt. iii. 3 : St. Mark i. 3 : St. John i. 23. (i) Prov. iv. 26, as quoted in Heb. xii. 13. 
(k) St. Matth. vii. 17 (?) St. John iii. 17. 



424 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what 
shall we do ? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither 
accuse any falsely ; and be content with your wages. 

This reply of the Baptist to the soldiers surely supplies a sufficient answer to 
those well-intentioned, but misguided persons, who maintain the unlawfulness of 
bearing arms. In reply to the question — "And what shall we do?" he does not 
bid the men abandon their profession ; but merely requires of them the perform- 
ance of " their duty in that state of life to which it had pleased God to call them." 
See the last note on St. Luke vii. 9. The same remark applies equally to what was 
said to the publicans — in ver. 13. 

The men who asked this question were probably not regular soldiery; but an 
armed force, bound on one of those military expeditions which the feuds of Herod's 
successors made so common : and the answer they obtained shows, plainly enough, 
the sins to which they were most addicted. 

15, 16 And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in 
their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not ; John an- 
swered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water ; but One 
mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to 
unloose ; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire : 

He contrasts his Baptism with that which Christ should hereafter bestow : not 
a mere outward washing of the body with water, but an inward purifying, — a 
searching spiritual influence, like that of fire. But his words had a literal fulfill- 
ment and intention also : see the note on St. Matt. iii. 11. 

17 whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His 
floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner ; but the chaff He will 
burn with fire unquenchable. 

To make a separation between the righteous and the wicked, — even as a winnow- 
ing-fan separates the chaff from the wheat, — is the office constantly claimed to Him- 
self, under different figures, by our Blessed Lord. See, for example, St. Matt. xiii. 
30 ; also 47, 48. Again, see St. Matt. xxv. 32, 33, — where the sheep and the goats 
supply our Lord with a familiar image. 

Delightful it is to discover Almighty God employing the same figures in the Old 
Testament as in the New. Thus, the threshing-floor and the fan obtain notice in 
Isaiah xli. 15, 16, — and Jerem. xv. 7, and li. 2 : — while the sheep and the goats are 
found to recur in Ezek. xxxiv. 17. And what wonder? Was not the same Inspir- 
ing Spirit the Divine Author of both Testaments ? 

Take notice, therefore, that the Heavenly ''Husbandman," (for so He is styled 
by the Eternal Son in St. John xv. 1,) has His Vineyard and His Corn-fields ; — His 
flocks and His herds ; — His wine-press, and His barns, and His threshing-floor : — 
His Labourers, and His Servants, and His Shepherds : — all of which, in turn, sup- 
ply Him with materials for His Heavenly teaching. See the note on St. Matt. 
iii. 12. 

18, 19, 20 And many other things in his exhortation preached he 
unto the people. But Herod the Tetrarch, being reproved by him for 
Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod 
had done, added yet this above all, that he shut up John in Prison. 

The scene of his captivity was the castle of Machaerus, — a fortress at the very 
borders of Herod's dominions. 

But the whole narrative is an anticipation ; for, as will be seen from a compari- 
son of St. John ii. 13 with iii. 24, the Baptist was not cast into prison until a period 
subsequent to the First Passover. It would seem as if St. Luke were anxious to 
exhibit the history of John at one view, and to connect his bold preaching with the 
imprisonment in which it issued. 

And probably this, which is a very favourite method with the Holy Spirit, is 
not without its teaching. By coupling the remote cause with its ultimate conse- 



III.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 425 



quence ; — the course pursued, with the results it eventually led to ; — (dropping 
every intermediate fact, and all irrelevant circumstances ;) — the Inspired Writers 
forcibly remind us how He must regard our Lives and Actions and Characters, who 
seeth, as well as "declareth, the end from the beginning." (m) 

Concerning the incident here alluded to, rather than described, see the notes on 
St.. Mark vi. 17 — 20. It shall suffice, in this place, to mention that the Herod spo- 
ken of, was Herod Antipas, — son of that Herod who murdered the Holy Innocents. 
His lawful wife was a daughter of Aretas, king of Petra in Arabia : Herodias, (a 
grand-daughter of Herod the Great, and therefore niece to Herod Antipas,) had 
married Philip, — another of her uncles ; whom she forsook in order to live in adul- 
tery with the person here mentioned. The history of the Herods is one long his- 
tory of adultery, incest, and murder. 

21, 22 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, 
that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the Heaven was opened, 
and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon 
Him ; and a Voice came from Heaven, which said, Thou art My be- 
loved Son ; in Thee I am well pleased. 

St. Luke notices the Baptism of our Lord with brevity ; but he mentions two cir- 
cumstances of exceeding interest and preciousness. He is the only Evangelist who 
relates that our Lord was "praying" after His Baptism, when the visible descent 
of the Spirit took place, — and the Voice was heard from Heaven, proclaiming His 
Divine SoNship : and it is worthy of observation that our Saviour is stated to have 
been in the act of prayer on all the three occasions when the same Heavenly Voice 
was heard. Besides the present, see the account of the Transfiguration, — when, 
"as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered ;"'(n) and that third oc- 
casion recorded by St. John, (xii. 28,) when the request of the Son was audibly 
answered from Heaven. 

Further, — St. Luke alone it also is, who marks with precision that the "Holy 
Ghost descended in the bodily shape like a dove upon Him." But for these express 
words, it might have been pretended, with some show of reason, that no bodily 
form was seen ; — whereby a most instructive circumstance would have been lost. 
See the note on St. Matt. iii. 16, 17. 

So many remarks on this wondrous incident have been already offered in the 
notes on St. Matthew's Gospel, (iii. 13 to 17,) and St. Mark, (i. 9 to 11,) that the 
Reader is referred to those places for further information. 

23 And Jesus Himself began to be about thirty years of age, 

Our Lord, at this time, may have completed twenty-nine years of His earthly 
life. He therefore " began to be about thirty years of age ;" — which was the age of 
Joseph, when he stood before Pharaoh •(d) and of David, "when he began to 
reign/' (p) These were eminent types of Christ. 

being (as was supposed) the Son of Joseph, 

Men supposed Him to be naturally sprung from Joseph of Nazareth, — who was 
indeed legally His Father, being the Blessed Virgin's wedded Husband. See the 
note on St. Matt. i. 16. 

The genealogy which follows, is manifestly that of Joseph ; and may have been 
actually obtained by the Evangelist from the archives of the census itself. 

which was the son of Heli, 

But in St. Matthew's Gospel, (i. 16,) it is said, — "Jacob begat Joseph." These 
two statements are reconciled by a venerable tradition derived from the'descendants 
of the holy family. It declares Heli to have been legally the Father of the Blessed 
Virgin's husband ;— while his natural parent was Jacob. The two lines of descent, 
given respectively by St. Matthew and St. Luke, converge in the persons of Mat- 
than, (who is mentioned in St. Matt. i. 15 ;) and Matthat, (whose name will be 
found in the next ensuing verse of the present chapter of St. Luke's Gospel.) These 

(m) Isaiah xlvi. 10. (n) St. Luke ix. 29. 

(o) Gen. xli. 46. ( p ) 2 Sam. v. 4. 



426 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

men became successively the husbands of the same heiress (Estha,) — by whom each 
had issue : whereby the first became naturally,— the second, legally, — the grand- 
father of Joseph. 

24, 25, 26, 27 which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of 
Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which 
was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the 
son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, 
which was the son of Nagge, which was the son of Maath, which was 
the son of Mattathias, which was the so7i of Simei, which was the son of 
Joseph, which was the son of Jucla, which was the son of Joanna, which 
was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, 

All the eighteen names from Heli (in ver. 23) to Rhesa, inclusive, are recorded 
no where but in this place. How, or in what sense, Rhesa "was the son of Zoro- 
babel," does not appear. His name is not found in 1 Chron. iii. 19, 20, — where the 
children of Zorobabel are enumerated. 

which was the son Salathiel, 

The same statement occurs in Ezra (iii. 2 ; v. 2,) and in Haggai, (i. 1, 12; ii. 2.) 
Moreover, it is found repeated in St. Matthew's Gospel, — i. 12, where see the second 
note. But, from 1 Chron. iii. 17 to 24, it would appear that, in strictness, Zoroba- 
bel was the son of Pedaia, — Salathiel's brother. Naturally, therefore, Salathiel 
will have been his uncle ; and only legally, his parent. 

The two genealogies according to St. Matthew and St. Luke, having met at this 
place, — and having both exhibited the glorious names of Salathiel and Zorobabel 
among the ancestors of our Blessed Lord, again diverge, — to meet again in the per- 
son of David the King. 

which was the son of Neri, 

Neri was his actual Father. Compare the statement in St. Matt. i. 12, and see 
the note there. 

28, 29, 30, 31 which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of 
Addi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, 
which was the son of Er, which was the son of Jose, which was the son 
of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, 
which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Simeon, which was the 
son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, 
which was the son of Eliakim, which was the son of Melea, which was 
the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of 
Nathan, which was the son of David. 

Here the two genealogies again converge, — see the last note but one. The " Na- 
than" here mentioned is, obviously, a person wholly distinct from the prophet men- 
tion in 2 Sam. xii. He was the elder brother of Solomon, — whose descendants St. 
Matthew has recorded. See 2 Sam. v. 14, and 1 Chron. iii. 5. 

32, 33, 34 which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which 
was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of 
Naason, which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of ^ Aram, 
which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was 
the son of Juda, which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of 
Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, 

These well-known names are common to both the genealogies. With that of 
" Abraham/' St. Matthew's genealogy begins. _ 

Twenty worthies remain, of which only one is found to occasion the least diffi- 
culty. 



III.] 



on st. luke's gospel. 427 



35, 36 which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor, 
which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was 
the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of 
Sala, which was the son of Cainan, 

This insertion of the name of a second Cainan, (besides the Cainan in verse 37,) 
is one of the hardest things to explain and account for, in the Holy Gospels; for 
the name does not occur in Genesis xi. 12, between the names of Arphaxad and 
Salah, where we should, of course, expect to find it ; nor indeed elsewhere in the 
Hebrew Bible. It is found, however, in a Greek Translation of the Pentateuch, 
which was made before the time of our Lord ; and which (because it was commonly 
read in the Synagogues, and therefore familiarly known to the people,) the Evan- 
gelists and Apostles are found to have freely used and quoted. 

The humble student of the Gospels will do well to believe, on the testimony of 
St. Luke, that there actually was such a person as Cainan, — the son of Arphaxad 
and father of Sala ; while, at the same time, he may cheerfully admit that, as yet, 
he sees not how the fact is to be reconciled in a satisfactory manner with the par- 
ticulars (of age and of descent) which Moses was divinely moved to record. It does 
not, of course, prove, that when he has occasion to reason concerning the early 
generations of mankind, he need in the least degree distrust the statements which 
the Hebrew text supplies. The " Spirit of Truth,"(<?) by whom Moses and St. Luke 
were alike inspired, may well be deemed his sufficient guarantee on this head. 

The case, after all, admits of easy illustration. Two things are indeed stated 
which seem to be inconsistent ; but the same might be said, with at least equal 
truth, of the assertion in St. Matthew i. 8, that " Joram begat Ozias," — and the cir- 
cumstantial statement in 2 Kings xiv. 21, that Azariah (that is, Ozias or Uzziah.) 
was the son of Amaziah. These two statements seem wholly incompatible, and in- 
consistent ; but they are proved not to be so. Thus again, as we have already seen, 
Ezra the priest and Haggai the prophet concur with St. Luke, (see above ver. 27,) 
in describing Zorobabel, their contemporary, as the son of Salathiel; and, St. 
Matthew even says, " Salathiel begat Zorobabel" (i. 12) : but the same Ezra ex- 
plains that Zorobabel was the son of Padaiah.(r) These statements appear to be 
contradictory, but they are not really so. They only seem contradictory, at first, 
because we do not at first understand them Let us remember, when difficul- 
ties of this kind try us to the uttermost, (and they were doubtless intended to be a 
trial,) that they are not nearly so serious as those which must have assailed the 
faithful in Israel when they reasoned on the prophecies which had gone before con- 
cerning the Advent of Christ. See also the note on another difficult text, — namely, 
chap. ii. 2. 

_ It will appear, therefore, that either Evangelist, in his respective genealogy, has 
displayed in one particular his acquaintance with the else-unrevealed details of Old 
Testament History: — St. Matthew, by recording Caleb's marriage with Rahab ; — 
St. Luke, by vindicating for the second Cainan a place among the ancestors of the 
Messiah. 

37, 38 which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, 
which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech, which was the 
son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of 
Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan, 
which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the 
son of Adam, which was the son of God. 

While St. Matthew, therefore, contents himself with deriving the descent of Mes- 
siah from Abraham, — the Father of the Jewish people, (s) and the patriarch to 
whom the promises were originally given ; St. Luke traces back Messiah's line to 
Adam, — the Father of the whole human race. The former Evangelist wrote his 
Gospel especially for the use of his own nation : it was sufficient, therefore, that he 
should show that the Saviour was "Abraham's seed."(0 But the latter Evan- 
gelist, like the great Apostle whom he accompanied, addressed himself to Jew and 

(q) St. John xvi. 13. (r) 1 Chron. iii. 19. (s) St. John viii. 33, 39, &c. 

(t) St. Matthew i. 1, 2. 



428 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Gentile, alike. Accordingly, he exhibits the Saviour as the promised " Seed of 
the Woman," who should hereafter bruise the Serpent's head ;{u) and in whom all 
the great human family has an equal interest, — as children (by adoption) of the 
same Almighty Father, and heirs (by promise) of the same eternal Kingdom. 

e Seth was the son of Adam; — for Adam " begat a son in his own likeness, after 
his image ; and called his name Seth." (a:) But Adam was the son of God ; — for 
"in the day that God created man, — in the likeness of God made He him."(y) 

It cannot be by accident that the number of the names in this genealogy, — first 
and last, — should be exactly seventy-seven. 

4 

THE PRAYER. 

Almighty God, who hast given us Thy only-begotten Son to take our 
nature upon Him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin ; 
grant that we being regenerate, and made Thy children by Adoption 
and Grace, may daily be renewed by Thy Holy Spirit ; through the 
same our Lord Jesus Christ, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and 
the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 



CHAPTER IV. 



1 The Temptation and Fasting of Christ. 13 He overcometh the Devil. 14 Begin- 
neth to preach. 16 The people of Nazareth admire His gracious words. 33 He 
cureth one possessed of a devil. 38 Peter's mother-in-law, 40 and divers other 
sick persons. 41 The devils acknowledge Christ, and are reproved for it. 43 He 
preacheth through the Cities. 

Concerning the Temptation of Christ, — the great event with which the present 
chapter commences, — the reader is referred to a long note at the beginning of St. 
Matthew iv. — What has been there said, shall not be repeated in this place. 

"Behold," says one of the ancients, "He is among the wrestlers, who, as God, 
awards the prizes. He is among the crowned, who crowns the heads of the Saints/ 7 

1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, 

It is necessary to bear in mind that the last event which obtained notice, was 
the Baptism of our Lord in the river Jordan : with obvious reference to which, He 
is now described as " being full of the HOLY GHOST"(a) His Temptation fol- 
lows. "And thus," says Leighton, " shalt thou be sure to be assaulted, when thou 
hast received the greatest enlargements from Heaven : either at the Sacrament, — 
or in Prayer, — or in any other way. Then look for an onset. This arch-pirate lets 
the empty ships pass, but lays wait for them when they return richest laden." See 
the notes on the last half of St. Mark i. 12 : also the notes on St. Matthew iv. 1. 

and was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness, 

Concerning our Lord's conflict with the Powers of Darkness, much has been 

u) Gen. iii. 15. (x) Gen. v. 3. 

y) Gen. v. 1. Compare i. 26, 27. (a) See St. Luke iii. 22. 



IV.] 



on st. luke's gospel. 429 



already remarked in the notes on St. Matthew, chap, iv : and something more will 
"be found in the note on St. Mark i. 13. This great event lies on the very thresh- 
old of the sacred History in the three first Gospels ; and in each our Lord's ap- 
proach to it is described in terms of the same import. " Sweet is it," says Leigh- 
ton, " in all things, to be carried : not to go of ourselves any way; but that, of each 
step, it may be said, — He was led by the SPIRIT! led to be tempted, on purpose 
that he might return with the glory of the victory." 

"The Apostle doth fitly style our Lord Jesus 'the Captain' or Leader 'of our 
Salvation. '(6) It was meet He should be made ' perfect by sufferings.'(c) He 
therefore leads the way ; putting on us nothing that He hath not first encountered." 

2 Being forty days tempted of the Devil. 

Eor the space of forty days was our Blessed Lord tempted ; but the three mar- 
vellous scenes which St. Matthew and St. Luke describe, belong to the last day : 
and these, because they are the only part of the Temptation which concerns us, 
are the only part recorded. Over all the rest, a veil of mysterious silence has been 
drawn. See the first note on St. Mark i. 13. 

And in those days He did eat nothing : and when they were ended, 
He afterward hungered. 

It has been already pointed out, (in the note on St. Matthew iv. 2,) that Moses 
and Elijah had observed a similar miraculous fast, before Him. Those two mighty 
personages, — who appeared together in Glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, (d) 
— symbolize respectively the Law and the Prophets : between which, and the Gos- 
pel, this forty-days fast of their great Antitype, served to show that there was an 
harmonious correspondence and agreement. 

And it must be obvious to remark, that in imitation of this mighty transaction, 
the Church of Christ observes her Lent-fast of forty days : not straining her weak 
powers therein, as if in rivalry of her Lord ; but maintaining a humble distance, 
and seeking only to tread faithfully in His footsteps, — although planting a weak 
and most uncertain foot. 

3 And the Devil said unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, com- 
mand this stone that it be made bread. 

Upon this Temptation, see the notes on St. Matthew iv. 3. 

It was all his object to discover whether, in the disguise of the frail and fainting 
form before him, there might be concealed the Messiah, the Desire of all nations, — 
his own foretold Vanquisher. Hence, his repeated address, — "If thou be the Son 
of God." 

Take notice how the Devil treats those whom he is permitted to tempt. He sees 
that they want Bread: he offers them a Stone! 

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall 
not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 

It was out of mere condescension and love towards us, that our Saviour thus 
answered the Tempter : for He met his suggestion in language which any one of 
ourselves might equally make use of under the like circumstances. And marvellous 
it is to contemplate the wisdom which thus knew how to select out of the heavenly 
Armory a weapon which should suffice at once for the mysterious requirements of 
the Incarnate God, and for those of creatures weak and sinful as ourselves. The 
quotation is from Deut. viii. 3. 

This place of Scripture, upon our Saviour's lips, informs us that for all our 
needs, — for those alike of our higher, and those of our lower nature, — "we are to 
hold ourselves dependent entirely on the promised protection and providence of 
God; a protection," to use the words of a great writer, "which is ever to be sought 
agreeably to His revealed Word and "Will. It is a reply therefore to every infernal 
suggestion that we should either despair of God's goodness, or distrust His power, 
— that we should seek the satisfaction of our lower wants by unlawful or unhallowed 
means, or impatiently refuse to abide the issue of our honest endeavours, — thus, 

(6). Hebrews ii. 10. (c) Hebrews ii. 10. (d) St. Matth. xvii. 3. 



430 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

with the Saviour of Mankind, to make answer to the Tempter, — It is written, Man 
shall not live by bread alone." 

It is obvious to notice the breadth which is thus given to that petition in the 
Lord's Prayer, — " Give us this day our daily bread." See note on St Matt. vi. 11. 

On the present verse, more will be found in the note on St. Matt. iv. 4. 

5 And the Devil, taking Him up into an high mountain, showed unto 
Him all the Kingdoms of the World in a moment of time. 

Foiled in his attempt to seduce the Second Adam by the snare of carnal appetite, 
— the Enemy tries next the lure of Worldly ambition. Satan "takes" our Lord 
"up into an high mountain," — bearing Him, it may be, through the air, by the 
permission of Him with whom he had to do. See the note on St. Matthew iv. 5. 

He there discovers to the Incarnate Son a most wondrous sight, — namely, "all 
the Kingdoms of the World/ 7 and, (as St. Matthew adds,) "the glory of them." 
Moreover, the better to dazzle human imagination, and overset the judgment, he 
performs this act of Temptation "in a moment of time:" like a warrior who collects 
the force of many strokes into a single mighty blow. All the majesty of the four 
great Empires, — their united strength and splendour, — their fame and glory, — and 
whatever else it is unsafe for Man to set his heart on, or even to behold; but which 
nevertheless, he loves and longs for; — all is made to sweep before the calm gaze of 
the second Adam, in unspeakable magnificence and beauty! See a few words more 
on the subject in the note to St. Matthew iv. 8. 

It has been finely pointed out, by an ancient Bishop, how fitting it is that all the 
Kingdoms of the World, and the glory of them, should be displayed "in a moment 
of time." " For here it is not so much the rapid glance of sight which is signified, 
as the frailty of mortal power which is declared. For in a moment all this passes 
away; and oftentimes the glory of this World has vanished before it has arrived." 

Another says, — "A moment of Time ! For the Present is but a moment in com- 
parison of Eternity." 

6 And the Devil said unto Him, All this power will I give Thee, 
and the glory of them : 

That is, — of these Kingdoms. See the place in St. Matthew iv. 8. 

for that is delivered unto me : and to whomsoever I will, I give it. 

Was this, in any respect, a true boast ? For instance, — Has God really delivered 
Earthly Power and Glory into the hands of Satan ? 

Certainly not altogether; for "there is no power but of God : the powers that be, 
are ordained of God."(c) Again, — Pomp, and State, and Magnificence, — Glory, as 
it may be called, — dwells chiefly in Kings' Courts. Now, Kings are the Lord's 
Anointed: clothed with His authority; and, (doubt it not!) regarded by Him with 
special favour, — as images of Himself. In what limited sense, then, did Satan 

speak truly, when he said, "All this power and glory .... is delivered 

unto me?" For the falsity of the words which follow, shall be pointed out in the 
next note?. 

That Satan had been permitted by God to take up his abode in this part of God's 
Creation, which we inhabit, — we know. The marvellous extent to which he had 
usurped dominion over the bodies of men, — is frequently set before us.(y) St. 
Paul speaks of him, in one place, as "the Prince of the power of the Air."(^) In 
another, he calls him the god,(h) —and our Saviour styles him the Prince, — of this 
Wbrld:{i) seems to say that the Earth is his House:(k) or rather, (being a Prince,) 
his Palace :(l) that he occupied it, once, like a strong man armed :(m) and that he 
required binding, before his goods could be spoiled. St. John (probably) says that 
"the whole World lieth in the hands," or "under the power, of the Wicked 
One :"(?i) and our Lord Himself scarcely says less, in Acts xxvi. 18. Now, when 
to all this, is added the well known fact that God permits Satan to tempt His ser- 

e) Romans xiii. 1. (/) St. Luke xiii. 16, in particular, maybe consulted. 

g) Epbes. ii. 2. (h) 2 Cor. iv. 4. (t) St. John xii. 31 : xiv. 30 : xvi. 11. 

(k) St. Matthew xii. 29. (I) St. Luke xi. 21. 

(m) For his employment here below, see Job i. 7 : ii. 2. Also 1 St. Peter v. 8. 
(n) 1 St. John v. 19. 



IV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 431 

vants(o) in. order thereby to make proof of their faithfulness ; and when it is remem- 
bered that the splendours of this World, — riches, and honour, and glory, — the very 
things, remember, against which our Saviour so earnestly, and so faithfully, cau- 
tions us, — are the lures with which the Enemy of souls most successfully baits his 
hook . — may we not presume that we have discovered his meaning ? ascertained 
the limited sense in which he could dare to say that all the good things of Earth 
had been delivered over to him ? 

7 If Thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be Thine. 

Yes, — If CHRIST would worship him : but not else. 

The boast which goes before, was worthy of the Father of Lies ; a splendid Lie, 
— yet full of weakness. "That is delivered unto me." By whom "delivered?" 
Thou confessest, then, that there is a Greater One than thyself in Creation, — whose 
vassal thou art! ... . And " To whomsoever I will, I give it." That is false, — 
as the words which follow prove. See the note on St. Matthew iv. 9. 

An old African Bishop asks, — "And dost thou, whose lot is the unquenchable 
fire, dare to promise to the Lord of all, that which is His own ? Dost thou think 
to have Him for thy worshipper, from dread of whom the whole Creation trembles?" 
He might have added, — And dost thou offer earthly "Kingdoms," "power," and 
"glory," to Him whose "is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory V\p) 

8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind Me, 
Satan : 

"Thus, when anything moves to debauch, and draw off the heart from God, it is 
to be beat away with indignation. And thus, in all conflicts, continue fighting in 
thy Lord's strength : give not over, resist still, and the Enemy shall flee, as here." 

for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him 
only shalt thou serve. 

Written — in Deuteronomy vi. 13. See the note on St. Matthew iv. 10. Our 
Lord might have said to the Tempter, — Thou shalt worship Me: but then, how 
would his example have availed us? He used words which, under similar circum- 
stances of Temptation, might be used by the humblest of His servants. See the 
note on St. Matthew iv. 7. 

This Temptation was the last of the three, in actual order; and accordingly, it 
stands third in St. Matthew's Gospel. "Our Saviour was pleased thus to bear 
many assaults," says a good man, "and thus to force and beat off the Tempter by 
the "Word, both for our Instruction and our Comfort: who otherwise, for Himself, 
could immediately have repelled him, and sent him back at first. But indeed, 'He 
pleased not Himself ; (g) in anything: had an eye to us, in all He did and suffered; 
and did all in reference to our advantage. how should we love him I" 

9 And he brought Him to Jerusalem, and set Him on a pinnacle of 
the Temple, 

See the note on St. Matthew iv. 5. 

and said unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down 
from hence : * 

The Tempter next assails our Lord on the side of Vain-glory, or Spiritual Pride. 
He will find himself powerless as before against the Holy One. " The Prince of 
this World cometh," said our Saviour once to His Disciples, " and hath nothing in 
Me:\r) See the first note on St. Matthew iv. 6. 

10, 11 for it is written, He shall give His Angels charge over Thee, 
to keep Thee : and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any 
time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone. 

(o) Job i. 12 : ii. 6. 1 Cor. x. 13. 2 St. Peter ii. 9, &c. (p) St. Matthew vi. 13. 

(q) Romans sv. 3. {r) St. John siv. 30. 



432 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The Devil can quote Scripture in support of his foulest purposes. It is no suf- 
ficient recommendation therefore, — either of counsel, suggested from without ; or 
of doubts, arising from within, — that of this thing, or that thing, it may "be said, 
with some show of truth, "It is written." 

Better, however, in all such cases, to follow our Saviour's method. He contests 
not the place of Scripture quoted ; but He meets it with another. He might have 
disputed the text, — exposing the subtilty of its misapplication ; and condemning 
the wickedness which could misquote, — (see the second note on St. Matthew iv. 6,) 
in order to mislead : but He teaches us " a more excellent way." " And this down- 
right, sure method," says Leighton, " beats off the sophister with another quotation, 
— clearly and plainly carrying that truth which he opposes and we adhere to. So, 
though thou canst not clear the sense of an obscure Scripture, thou shalt always 
find a sufficient guard in another that is clearer." 

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not 
tempt the Lord thy God. 

Not that our Saviour takes to Himself (as He might have done,) the awful title, 
— " The Lord thy God." He simply quotes the command which Satan was tempt- 
ing Him to transgress. See the notes on St. Matthew iv. 7. 

You perceive that, whereas the Adversary quoted a Promise; (which, moreover, 
he exhibited disjoined from its context, and in a garbled form :(s) our Saviour op- 
poses him with a Precept. The Promise, absolutely stated, is gratifying, because 
it involves no duties. The Precept, on the contrary, points to continued obedience, 
and prescribes a long, and therefore painful course of virtuous action. — Thereby, a 
great lesson is unmistakably conveyed to us all. True indeed it is that God's pro- 
mises to His creatures, when attentively examined, are all found to be conditional : 
equally true is it that His precepts are all, as delivered by Him, absolute : — yet is 
it the nature of blind spiritual Presumption to rely on God's Promises, as if no con- 
dition were annexed to their fulfillment : to substitute Reliance for Obedience ; and 
to represent to itself God's decrees respecting Man, as absolute and unconditional, 
— rather than as dependent wholly upon the foreseen decisions of that human Will 
which the same Almighty Being created free to choose between good and evil. 

This temptation of our Saviour therefore which, in St. Luke's Gospel occupies 
the third place, may be regarded as the great type of Religious Presumption, and 
Spiritual Pride. Satan seeks to persuade the Incarnate Son that the Divine support 
is absolutely certain ; is wholly unconditional, and stands pledged to Him irrevoca- 
bly. .... Of how many proud souls, (who yet fancied themselves humble and 
meek,) has the same insinuation proved the downfall ! How many persons among 
ourselves, at the present day, are the dupes of a Religious system which, by thus 
exhibiting only a partial and distorted view of the Truth, favours the same perni- 
cious error, and most unscriptural view ! 

13 And when the Devil had ended all the Temptation, he departed 
from Him for a season. 

When the Devil had ended all the Temptation, or rather "every hind of Tempta- 
tion" — (for that is what the Evangelist says,) — he " departed" from the Holy One. 
Yet, not as he came. He began the conflict, strong ; he departed from it, weak; he 
assailed his Enemy, free ; he departed from Him, bound. (f) And this is much to 
be noted. 

Further, — even from the Holy One, Satan departed only "for a season!" We 
must therefore always be prepared for new onsets ; never supposing ourselves safe 
from them, so long as these, the days of our warfare, last. See however the com- 
fortable words quoted on this subject in the note on St. Matthew iv. 11. 

St. Luke, who will hereafter give us the fullest account of the Agony in the Gar- 
den,^) is the only Evangelist who hints that the Tempter departed from our Lord 
but "for a season:' 1 or, (as the words should properly be translated,) "until 
a season." Satan's next assault was reserved for the close of that Ministry which 
was now about to begin. Refer to, and by all means consider, St. Luke xxii. 53 : 
St. John xiv. 30 : together with that hint of approaching triumph, — St. John xii. 

(s) See the note on St. Matthew iv. 6. (t) See St. Matt. xii. 29. 

(u) St. Luke xxii. 43, 44. 



IV.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 433 



31. As, in the Wilderness, by every allurement of Pleasure, — so, in the Garden, 
and on the Cross, by every avenue of Pain, — did the Devil seek to shake the second 
Adam from His steadfastness. And this also may teach us what we have to expect ; 
at one time, the seductions, — at another, the threats, — of an evil World. "And 
who is sufficient for these things V\x) 

14 And Jesus returned in the Power of the Spirit into Galilee : 

He came "in the power of the Spirit:" for is He not the Great Captain of our 
Salvation? and had He not just vanquished the Enemy of our Race ? The phrase 
just quoted, recalls the language of verse 1, and is said with manifest reference to 
His Baptism, — when He was once more "anointed" (as St. Peter speaks,) "with 
the Holy Ghost and with power "{y) — Read verse 18 ; and notice how aptly the pro- 
phecy and its fulfillment suit each other. 

Take notice, that the occasion of this departure into Galilee is recorded in St. Mat- 
thew iv. 12, and St. Mark i. 14, — where see the notes. 

15 and there went out a fame of Him through all the region round 
about. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. 

16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up : 

He is desirous to communicate the knowledge of Himself to those among whom 
He had been brought up, — the inhabitants of the city in which the first twenty-nine 
years of His earthly life had been passed. — Good men, in ancient days, who 
delighted to find living counsel in every line of the Book of Life, suggest that Christ 
thereby taught us to benefit and instruct first, our brethren, — then, to extend our 
kindness to the rest of our friends. 

A modern Traveller describes the scenery about the home of our Saviour as very 
wonderful. Having walked to the top of the hill over Nazareth, — " Here," he says, 
" quite unexpectedly, a glorious prospect opened to the view. The air was perfectly 
clear and serene ; and I shall never forget the impression I received, as the 
enchanting panorama burst suddenly upon me. There lay the magnificent plain of 
Esdraelon ; on the left was seen the round top of Tabor over the intervening hills, 
with portions of the little Hermon and Gilboa, and the opposite mountains of Sa- 
maria. Then came the long line of Carmel itself. In the west, lay the Mediterra- 
nean gleaming in the morning-sun : seen, first,, far in the south on the left of Car- 
mel; then, interrupted by that mountain; and again appearing on its right. 
Below, on the north, was spread out another of the beautiful plains of Northern 
Palestine. . . 

"In the Village below, the Saviour of the World had passed His Childhood: and 
there are certain features of Nature which meet our eyes now, just as they once met 
His. He must often have visited the fountain near which we had pitched our tent : 
His feet must frequently have wandered over the adjacent hills : and His eyes 
doubtless have gazed on the splendid prospect from this very spot. Here the Prince 
of Peace looked down upon the great plain where the din of battles so oft had 
rolled, and the garments of the warrior been dyed in blood : and He looked out, too, 
upon that Sea, over which the swift ships were to bear the tidings of His Salvation 
to Nations and to Continents then unknown \" 

and, as His custom was, He went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath 
day, and stood up for to read. 

We know, from Acts xiii. 15, that other persons were allowed to address, the 
people in the Synagogue, besides the Priest. From this place, we learn that other 
persons might "read" publicly, also. Observe the hint in the text as to what the 
"custom" of the Saviour of the World was, in the days of His humiliation. 

It appears from the Acts of the Holy Apostles, that the Law(z) and the 
Prophets(a) were read in the Synagogues every Sabbath-day : at the end of which, 
"a word of exhortation" to the people, was delivered. See Acts xiii. 15. 

17, 18, 19 And there was delivered unto Him the Book of the Pro- 
fa) 2 Cor. ii. 16. (y) Acts x. 38. See Acts iv. 27 : and compare St. Luke i. 35. 
(z) Acts xv. 21. '«) Acts xiii. 27. 
28 



434 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

phet Esaias. And when He had opened the Book, He found the place 
•where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He 
hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor ; He hath sent Me 
to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and 
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 

Our Lord, unrolling the Book of His Prophet, (a roll, like those which are used 
in the Jewish Synagogues at this day,) fixed upon the words which are found in the 
"beginning of the 61st chapter ; either making choice of that passage because He 
designed to preach from it; or, (what seems more likely,) because it was the por- 
tion of Scripture appointed to be read, in regular course, on that day. But there 
was a divine Providence in the matter, be sure. See above the note on verse 14. 

Observe, that, instead of "the poor/' — it is in the original, "the meek:" a beauti- 
ful comment on St. Matthew v. 3, as compared with St. Luke vi. 20. See St. Mat- 
thew xi. 5. — Observe also, that instead of "recovery of sight to the blind," the He- 
brew, (as our Bibles show us,) has "the opening of the prison to them that are 
bound/' A remarkable comment of the Spirit ! Compare Psalm cxlvi. 7, 8. — See 
also Acts xxvi. 18. 

20 And He closed the Book, and He gave it again to the Minister, 
and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the Synagogue 
were fastened on Him. 

How minute is all this, and exactly descriptive of the scene : — the closing of the 
Book, — the giving it to the Attendant or Servant, — the resuming of His seat ; and 
then, the fixed gaze of all within the synagogue. Doubt not that there was some- 
thing unearthly in His manner : that His Divinity flashed through the poor fleshly 
garment in which it was enshrined, and "could not be hid!" — Consider ver. 22, 
below ; and see the last note on St. Matthew vii. 

21 And He began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture ful- 
filled in your ears. 

That is, — the Prophet spake in My Person, and by My Spirit, when he committed 
these words to writing, more than seven hundred years ago : and behold, at last, I 
am come into the World, — I of whom Isaiah wrote ; and the words which you have 
been listening to, find their fulfillment, at this present day, — and they are fulfilled 
in Me. — See above, the note on ver. 14. 

to have heard the Discourse which followed! — "the gracious words," in order 
to drink the sound of which, Angels must have thronged the place, unseen. 

22 And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words 
which proceeded out of His' mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's 
Son? 

They spoke as men who remembered His "manner of life from His youth ;" — 
remember Joseph the Carpenter, (see St. John i. 4, 5 ;) and the lowly Maiden, our 
Lord's Mother, whom they looked upon as Joseph's wife ; together with many 
others of their kindred. Compare what was said on another similar occasion : — St. 
Mark vi. 2, 3. 

It has been already pointed out, (in the note on ver. 20,) that there must have 
been something wondrous heavenly in the manner of our Saviour, to account for 
passages like the present, which so frequently recur in the Gospels. But who so 
dull as not to perceive that, on the occasion here recorded, there was more than 
usual wonder in His sayings? They beheld, — to all appearance, — their humble 
townsman suddenly claiming to be the subject of a well-known prophecy ! But, in 
reality, it was the eternal Son, emptied of His Glory indeed, yet still the same Al- 
mighty One, by whose Spirit the Prophets had spoken, — turning to the written 
record of His Servant's words, (words which had proceeded from Himself,) and 
condescending to become their Interpreter ! How must the heart of every one have 
burned within him at so wondrous a spectacle ! 



IV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 435 

23 And He said unto them, Ye will surely say unto Me this pro- 
verb, Physician, heal thyself; whatsoever we have heard done in Caper- 
naum, do also here in Thy country. 

Our Lord spake this, knowing the secret thoughts of his auditory. From His 
word we learn that, notwithstanding the admiration and delight which His Dis- 
course had occasioned, the people were reasoning within themselves as follows: — 
" He has wrought wonders at Capernaum. Why does he not work them here ? Is 
not this Joseph's son? Why does He not improve his own lowly condition, and 
that of all his family? ' Physician, heal thyself!' We demand this thing of Thee, 
as a sign ; and then, we will believe Thee." 

Note however, by the way, that as yet we have heard of only one miracle which 
had been wrought in Capernaum ; namely, the healing of the nobleman's son.(6) 

24 And He said, Verily I say unto you, No Prophet is accepted in 
his own country. 

In this way, then, our Saviour answers the thoughts of his auditory. It is ob- 
servable that, first, He meets the proverb which they were thinking of, with an- 
other ; the tendency of theirs having been to require miracles at His hands, the 
proverb which He cites assigns the reason why He will not work any ; namely, be- 
cause by no display of miraculous power could He win credit with the men of 
Nazareth, among whom he had been brought up. 

He appeals, next, to Holy Scripture ; and proceeds to vindicate the strict con- 
formity of His present conduct with that which God had observed towards His 
chosen people of old. For He shows that miracles were not vouchsafed anciently 
to the persons by whom — or at the seasons in which — they might have been most 
expected : but simply according to the good will and pleasure of Almighty God. 

25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days 
of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, 
when great famine was throughout all the land ; 

Observe, by the way, that the " six months" are not noticed in the Old Testa- 
ment History of the event here referred to. See 1 Kings xvii. 1, and xviii. 1. St. 
James, however, — verse 17, — mentions the time with the same exactness as our 
Lord. 

26 but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city 
of Sidon, unto a woman that ivas a widow. 

See the affecting History of Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath, in 1 Kings 
xvii. 8, &c. 

What awful interest, by the way, attaches to every passage in the Old Testament 
thus appealed to, by our Lord ! The Finger of Him, by whose inspiring Spirit the 
Bible was given, laid upon a particular History, surely invests it evermore with 
special delight and wonder ! 

27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the pro- 
phet; and none of them was. cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. 

For the history of Naaman's cure, by Elisha the prophet, see 2 Kings v. 

The teaching of these two narratives, on the present occasion, was clearly this : 
As Elijah was not sent to one of the widows of Israel — but to a Gentile woman, 
the lone widow of Sarepta ; and as Elisha was commissioned to work no cures on 
the lepers of Israel, but on a Gentile soldier — Naaman the Syrian : so should it 
create no surprise in the men of Nazareth if a preference were shown to Strangers, 
on the present occasion also ; if our Saviour wrought wonders in Capernaum, and 
refused to work any among them. 

28 And all they in the Synagogue, when they heard these things, 
were filled with wrath, 

(l) St. John iv. 46 to 54. 



436 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The very men who so lately " bare Him witness, and wondered at His gracious 
words!" (ver. 22.) They were filled with wrath at the hint which the latter part 
of His discourse conveyed. Such language always inflamed the Jews to madness, 
— as in Acts xxii. 21, 22. This Jealousy had been set forth in Prophecy, — see 
Deuteronomy xxxii. 21 ; and was displayed by our Lord, in Parable, — see St. 
Luke xv. 28. 

29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city ; and led Him unto 
the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast 
Him down headlong. 

On the south-west part of the town of Nazareth, the hill breaks off in a perpen- 
dicular wall, — forty or fifty feet in height. That must have been the spot to which 
these murderers sought to conduct their Fellow-townsman. 

How wondrous an illustration, by the way, was thus afforded to the aptness of 
the proverb which our Lord had just before cited against them! What evidence 
could prevail with hearts which were thus evilly disposed? See the note on 
verse 24. 

30 But He, passing through the midst of them, went His way ; 

Compare the other occasions when the Holy One was obliged to do the like: — 
St. John viii. 59: x. 39: xii. 36. And notice, that we are again reminded of the 
union of the Divine and Human Nature, in the person of our Lord. He had been 
speaking, as God, in the Synagogue — verses 18 to 21. As Man, He here saves his 
life by flight. Not but what He must be thought to have saved his life by miracle; 
but the act of escape was human — like that which He afterward enjoined on his 
disciples. See St. Matthew x. 23. 

31, 32 and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught 
them on the Sabbath days. And they were astonished at His doctrine : 
for his Word was with power. 

See the last note on St. Matthew vii. — and observe that not only was the Sa- 
viour's Word with power ; but he proceeded to confirm it " by signs following/' 
A mighty work ensues, which is related also by St. Mark— i. 23 to 26 : where see 
the notes. 

33, 34 And in the Synagogue there was a man which had a spirit 
of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us 
alone ; 

For aught that appears to the contrary, the afflicted man was at first a silent and 
orderly member of the congregation. At the presence of the Holy Jesus, however, 
the unclean spirit within him cannot contain his trouble. The very presence of 
Christ is torture to devils. See all the notes on St. Matthew viii. 29. 

The Reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark i. 24, for many observations on 
the present verse, which cannot be here repeated. 

what have we to do with Thee, TJwu Jesus of Nazareth ? art Thou 
come to destroy us ? I know Thee who Thou art : the Holy One of 
God. 

Ever after the Temptation of our Saviour in the Wilderness by Satan, (the chief 
of the fallen Angels,) the devils are found to have known Christ. It was no 
longer, "If Thou be the Son of God/' (as in verses 3 and 9,) but " I knoiv Thee 
who Thou artl 7; . . . Compare verse 41. . . . The tidings that their great Enemy 
had, in some mysterious way, at last appeared, must have spread like lightning 
through all the host of fallen Spirits. 

Not that it is to be supposed that they knew the real Nature of Him with whom 
they had to do; " for," as we are expressly told, "had they known, they would 
not have crucified the Lord of Glory :"(c) but they were convinced that, in some 

(c) 1 Cor. ii. 8. 



IT.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 437 



sense, He was the Son of God. Of the Reality of His Humanity, there could be 
no doubt. 

" JESUS of Nazareth" was the title by which, afterwards, the Saviour of the 
World became commonly called, and was best known. It is a strange thing, that 
this name, (which fulfilled prophecy, and showed how effectually the mystery of the 
Nativity had been hid from the ken of evil spirits,) should be so soon found in the 
mouth of a devil. We have met with the appellation only once before; namely, in 
St. John i. 45. 

35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out 
of him. 

Our Lord rejects his testimony. Doubt not but what the confession in the for- 
mer verse was either the cry of abject fear ; or (what seems more likely) the subtle 
device of Satan to terrify mankind ; to mar the progressive character of our Sa- 
viour's teaching; and cast suspicion and discredit on the Truth itself. See the 
note on St. Mark i. 25. 

And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, 
and hurt him not. 

But by "throwing him in the midst," and " tearing him," (as St. Mark records,) 
the unclean Spirit did the man all the harm he could. See the note on St. Mark 
i. 26. 

There may be a comfortable message to man, concealed under these repeated 
notices of the violence of the Evil Spirit in the hour of its ejectment. See par- 
ticularly St. Mark ix. 25 to 27. It has been remarked by a thoughtful writer, that 
" something similar is evermore finding place; and Satan vexes with temptations 
and with buffetings none so much as those who are in the act of being delivered 
from his dominion for ever." 

36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, 
What a word is this ! for with authority and power He commandeth the 
unclean spirits, and they come out. 

Take notice, then, that this miracle of healing was wrought on the Sabbath-day. 
An ancient bishop discourses as follows on the subject; — "The work of Divine 
healing commenced on the Sabbath : Christ signifying thereby that He began 
anew where the Old Creation ceased — in order that He might declare at the very 
beginning that the Son of God was not under the Law, but above the Law. 
Rightly, also, He began on the Sabbath, that He might show himself the Creator, 
who interweaves His works one with another, and follows up that which He had 
before begun. Just as a builder, determining to reconstruct a house, begins to 
pull down the old one, not from the foundation, but from the top, so as to apply His 
hand first to that part where He had before left off/' 

37 And the fame of Him went out into every place of the country 
round about. 

38 And He arose out of the Synagogue, and entered into Simon's 
house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever ; and 
they besought Him for her. 

See the note on St. Mark i. 30. — Concerning " Simon's wife's Mother," see the 
note on St. Matthew viii. 14. 

39 And He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: 

"Rebuked the fever:"-— just as, before, He had rebuked the unclean Spirit ;(d) 
and as, on a later occasion, " He rebuked the winds and the sea."(e) Speaking 
words to it, doubtless, — as to a subject creature. See the note on St. Matthew 
viii. 9. 

and immediately she arose, and ministered unto them. 

[d) See verse 35. (e) St. Mark iv. 39. 



438 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The first use she made of her recovered strength, was to employ it in her Mas- 
ter's service. And does she not become a pattern therein to Christians, who, on 
their restoration to spiritual health, should employ their powers in ministering to 
Christ, in the person of their poorest members of His mystical body ? See the 
note on St. Mark v. 32. 

The Reader is referred to St. Mark's rather fuller account of this miracle ; and 
to the notes upon St. Mark i. 31. 

40 Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with 
divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on 
every one of them, and healed them. 

See the note on St. Mark i. 32. " Observe His Divine power and goodness," 
writes Leighton, " shining forth in the miraculous cure of all diseases. And what- 
soever be thy spiritual maladies, though never so many and so desperate, yet come. 
Never any came to Him, and went away uncured." 

41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, 
Thou art Christ the Son of God. And He rebuking them suffered 
them not to speak : for they knew that He was Christ. 

See above, the note on verse 34. 

42 And when it was day, He departed and went into a desert place : 

He withdrew at this early hour into a lonely place, for the purpose of Prayer, — 
as St. Mark is careful to inform us. See St. Mark i. 35. 

43 and the people sought Him, and came unto Him, and stayed Him, 
that He should not depart from them. And He said unto them, I must 
preach the Kingdom of God to other cities also ; for therefore am I 
sent. 

Simon Peter, and the others, came in quest of their Great Benefactor. See how 
St. Mark notices this same circumstance : — i. 36 to 38. 

44 And He preached in the Synagogues of Galilee. 

This was our Lord's first great Ministerial Journey. How briefly described ! 
And should not this very circumstance induce us to dwell upon it, in thought, the 
longer ? The humble endeavour to do so, will be rendered easier by a reference to 
the parallel places, — namely, St. Matthew iv. 23 to 25 ; and St. Mark i. 39. 

The Saviour of the World might, indeed, by abiding in the same place, have 
drawn all men unto Himself, — as an ancient Bishop remarks : but He did not do 
so^ because He would give us an example to go about, and seek those who are per- 
ishing ; as the Shepherd, his lost sheep. 

THE PRAYER. 

Lord, we beseech Thee, grant Thy people grace to withstand the 
temptations of the World, the Elesh, and the Devil, and with pure 
hearts and minds to follow Thee the only God ; through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 



V.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 439 



CHAPTER V. 



1 Christ teacheth the people out of Peter's ship. 4 In a miraculous taking of fishes, 
showeth how lie will make him and his partners fishers of men. 12 Cleanseth the 
Leper. 16 Prayeth in the Wilderness. IS Healeth one sick of the palsy. 27 Call- 
eth Matthew the publican. 29 Eateth with sinners, as being the Physician of souls. 
34 Foretelleth the fastings and afflictions of the Apostles after His Ascension. 36 
And likeneth faint-hearted and weak Disciples to old bottles and worn garments. 

1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon Him to hear 
the Word of God, He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret : 

Otherwise called the "Sea of Galilee," and the "Lake of Tiberias." See the 
note on St. Mark i. 16. — One of the ancients remarks, — "When the Lord had per- 
formed many and various kinds of cures, the multitude began to heed neither time 
nor place in their desire to be healed. The evening came, — they followed ; a lake 
is before them, — they still press on." 

2 and saw two ships standing by the Lake : but the fishermen were 
gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 

The miracle which follows, and which our Lord wrought on the occasion of the 
call of Simon and Andrew, James and John, to their Apostleship, is peculiar to 
the present Gospel : but the call of those Disciples is found also in St. Matthew iv. 
18 to 22, and St. Mark i. 16 to 20. The accounts should, of course, be carefully 
compared. The result will be, surprise to find the same incident so very diversely 
narrated : but, in fact, St. Luke supplies everything which the two earlier Evan- 
gelists had omitted ; and repeats scarcely anything which they had said. 

See the notes on St. Matthew iv. 18. 

3 And He entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and 
prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And He 
sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. 

A convenient position, — in which our Lord is found to have delivered the par- 
rabies contained in St. Matthew xiii. See the note on St. Mark iv. 1. He entered 
the Ship and was upon the Sea, in order the better to fish for the men upon the 
shore : but He had His eye, specially, on the two noble pair of Brethren — whom 
He had already drawn to His side indeed, but not yet called to Apostleship. 

4 Now when He had left speaking, He said unto Simon, Launch out 
into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 

The Divine Speaker, " when He had left speaking," proceeded to confirm the "Word 
by signs following. Compare what is said in the note prefixed to St. Matthew viii. 
Observe, that the Second Adam was now about to exercise " dominion over the fish 
of the Sea," — which was the first grant of empire which God gave to Man.(a) 
" Thou hast put all things under His feet," says the Psalmist ; (divinely applying 
to the Second Adam what was originally spoken of the First :) — " the fish of the 
sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea." (5) 

(a) See Genesis i. 26. (&) Psalm viii. 6, 8 : quoted in Hebrews ii. 6 to 8. 



440 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

5 And Simon answering said unto Him, Master, we have toiled all 
the night, and have taken nothing : nevertheless, at Thy word I will 
let down the net. 

It is written, — " Sorrow may endure for a night, "but Joy cometh in the morn- 
ing."^) 

Compare what is said concerning these same Fishermen on another similar occa- 
sion, — St. John xxi. 3 and 5, when the second miraculous draught of fishes took 
place : and doubt not, that on both occasions, the net was lowered in perfect faith. 

6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of 
fishes : 

The net was lowered " at Christ's Word:" and see the result! Obedience ever 
inherits a blessing. 

Consider further, the mere worldly advantage of having Him for a guest and in- 
mate ! The Holy One who so multiplied the store at Cana, where He had been 
kindly entertained, — now showers down plenty upon the man from whose boat He 
had been teaching. The net breaks,— the ship sinks, — beneath the largeness of 
His bounty. 

Was it not so with Obed-Edom, in whose house the Ark (the Symbol of His pre- 
sence,) continued three months ?(c£) Fared it not so with the Widow of Zarep- 
hath,(e) and the Shunaminite^jQ- — with whom Elijah and Elisha, (His chosen ser- 
vants,) respectively, sojourned? Doubt not that so it ever is ! Laban was blessed 
for his son-in-law Jacob's sake ;(g) and Potiphar, for his servant Joseph's ;(h) while 
God gave St. Paul all the two hundred and seventy-six souls which sailed with him.(i) 
A cup of cold water given, for the love of Christ, to the meanest of Christ's Ser- 
vants, shall in no wise lose its reward. 

and their net brake. 

Contrast this with what is said in St. John xxi. 11, — " and for all there was so 
many, yet was not the net broken:" in which words of "the Disciple whom Jesus 
loved," there seems to be a reference to the present place in St. Luke's Gospel. 

" Their net brake ;" yet the fish escaped not. Here was a double miracle, — as 
will be found pointed out in the latter part of the note on St. Mark i. 31. 
Observe the last words of St. Matthew iv. 21, — and see the note there. 

7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other 
ship, that they should come and help them. 

_ " They beckoned unto their partners :" for Andrew was in the ship, as well as 
Simon, — although his name is not mentioned. 

Why did they beckon and not call f An ancient writer was of opinion that Peter 
used a sign, being unable to speak for astonishment. See ver. 9. They had doubt- 
less never taken such a draught before. 

And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 

Every part of this miracle is full of wonder,—; full of prophetic meaning. The 
entire incident may be regarded as a parable, or a prophecy, in action : so particu- 
larly related, — only because every particular has a deep symbolic import. There 
were " two ships," as there were two Churches, the Gentile and the Jewish ; pursu- 
ing with one mind the same occupation ; and both, we read, were filled. A great 
draught of fishes was, however, only then captured, when the Net was let down at 
Christ's Word : — the toil of the long dark night had been fruitless. And did it 
not fare so in the Church's history ? The net was broken in consequence, — as at 
this day the Church is rent and torn by reason of our unhappy divisions : whereby, 
not only her Discipline gives way, but her unity is destroyed, and the safety of the 

(c) Psalm xxx. 5. (d) 2 Samuel vl. 10 to 12. (e) 1 Kings xvii. 9 to 24. 

(/ ) 2 Kings iv. 8 to 17. (g) Gen. xxx. 27. (h) Gen. xxxix. 5. 

(i) Acts xxvii. 24 and 37. 



V.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 441 

souls within her is endangered ; and yet they are not therefore lost. The ships 
moreover begin to sink ; but they sink not, — for Christ is in them. 

In all these respects, this miracle is to be compared with another prophetic inci- 
dent, — namely, the second miraculous draught of fishes, related by St. John in the 
last chapter of his Gospel ; and having obvious reference to the final destiny of the 
same Church, whose earthly progress is here depicted. On this occasion Christ 
sits on the unquiet waters ; — on that, He is found, after His Resurrection, standing 
on the fixed, motionless shore. Here, the net is cast on either side ; is drawn up 
into the ships ; and is found to have taken fishes of every kind, — good and bad, 
large and small: — there, the net is cast "on the right side;" is drawn to land; and 
is found to be "full of great fishes" only. The number of them is moreover speci- 
fied, — an hundred and fifty and three ; as if in allusion to the number of God's 
elect.(&) Here, again, the net breaks ; but there, — " for all there were so many, yet 
was not the net broken." Observe, lastly, that on this first occasion, it was pro- 
mised to St. Peter that he should "catch men;" that is, win Disciples, make con- 
verts, to Christ. On the second, he is commanded to "feed the sheep" of God; — 
that is, to tend the people already gathered into His pasture, — those who have 
already become " the sheep of His hand." It is wrong, — at least it is dan- 
gerous and unwise, — to indulge in fanciful expositions of Holy Scripture ; but how 
so many, and such striking points of contrast can be overlooked or disregarded, it 
is hard to understand. We may not be able to trace out the analogy of an incident 
like the present, in perfect detail : but shall we therefore fail to follow it out as far 
as we are able? Consider whether it is likely, — or rather, whether it is credible, — 
that so many minute particulars should be recorded without an object. Consider, 
next, the symbolic meaning attached by the Spirit to other events, in themselves 
strictly historical: as the history of Hagar and Sarah, in Galatians iv. 21 to 31. 
Lastly, compare these two miracles with the parable of the draw-net in St. Matthew 
xiii. 47 to 50 : and then, — dull indeed must he be, and slow of heart, who can read 
the present narrative without the deepest conviction that it teems with hidden, sym- 
bolic teaching of the loftiest kind. Such, at least, has been the belief of the wisest 
and holiest in every age. 

8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, 
Depart from me ; for I am a sinful man, Lord. 

Thus Peter, while spreading his own net for fish, is himself taken in the net which 
a Greater Fisherman has spread invisibly for him. 

Compare the exclamation of the Widow of Zarephath to Elijah. "What have I 
to do with thee, thou man of God ? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remem- 
brance ?"[T) Simon Peter, in like manner, becomes conscious of his sinfulness when 
he finds himself in the presence of God. Consider that saying of holy Job : — " I 
have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth Thee. 
Wherefore I abhor myself." (m) Consider also the following texts : — Judges vi. 22, 
23 : xiii. 22. Isaiah vi. 5. Daniel x. 16, 17. 

Take notice, however, that the present miracle was in a singular manner, an ap- 
peal to the Disciples' Faith. Some fish they expected to catch ; even many fish, they 
hoped for. But the draught was excessive, — and "their hearts burned within 
them,"(w) — and something whispered Simon Peter, "It is the Lord !"(o) 

9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught 
of the fishes which they had taken : 

Andrew, namely; and probably "hired servants," — as in the boat which be- 
longed to the sons of Zebedee. See St. Mark i. 20, where the note may be con- 
sulted. 

10 and so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which 
were partners with Simon. 

And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not ; from henceforth thou shalt 
catch men. 

(k) See the Burial Service : and consider Rev. vii. 4 to 8, and xiv. 1. 

(I) 1 Kings xvii. 10. ( m ) Job xiii. 5, 6. 

(n) St. Luke xxiv. 32. (o) Compare St. John xxi. 7. 



442 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Kather, — From henceforth thou shalt take in thy net [not fishes, but] men, aliye ! 
Capture them, that is, not for death, hut for life. Thou shalt draw men by the net 
of the Gospel, out of the gloomy and troubled, waters of this Life, into the Region 
of Eternal Day; (for Christ calls men "out of Darkness," as the same St. Peter 
elsewhere says, "into His Marvellous Light:") (p) where Angels shall gather the 
good into vessels, — Angels, who are already expecting their arrival on the shore ! 
See St. Matthew xiii. 48, 49. 

The prophecy here delivered, began to be fulfilled on the first Christian Day of 
Pentecost, — when, after St. Peter's sermon, "the same day, there were added unto 
them about three thousand souls "(q) See the note on St. Matthew iv. 19. 

But notwithstanding the prominence given to the fisher's craft, on the present 
and other occasions, by our Lord Himself; notwithstanding, also, its aptness to re- 
present the great object of ministerial desire, — namely, to win many souls to 
Christ ; (for which the servant toils patiently and long, yet knows not what suc- 
cess His Master will give him!) — the heart of Christendom has yet preferred an- 
other figure, almost to the exclusion of this : pronouncing with one mouth that she 
loves best to behold in him who has the cure of souls, an image " of the Good Shep- 
herd" — who gave His Life for the sheep ! It is the charge which Simon Peter re- 
ceived after the second miraculous draught of fishes, — (to "feed the flock of 
GoD,"(r) — His " sheep" and His "lambs,") — which has thrown this earlier promise 
and appellation into the shade. (s) The Elder Covenant, like the Gospel, recognizes 
both images. See Ezekiel xxxiv. and xlvii. 9, 10. 

11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, 
and followed Him. 

He knows nothing of Human Nature who thinks that these men forsook little, 
when they followed Christ. They forsook all they had, — all they loved and cared 
for. They even forsook themselves. 

12 And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a 
man full of leprosy : who seeing Jesus, fell on Ms face, and besought 
Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. 

The reader is referred to the notes on St. Matthew viii. 2, and St. Mark i. 40. 

13 And He put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will : be 
thou clean. 

Contrast the manner of this cure with that performed on Miriam. " Moses cried 
unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, God, I beseech Thee."(tf) But our Saviour 
" spake, — and it was done." Contrast also the manner of Elijah's miracles : — 1 
Kings xvii. 21 : xviii. 36, 37 : St. James v. 17, 18, (which it is instructive to com- 
pare with 1 Kings xvii. 1, and xviii. 42 to 45 :) &c. 

"I will;" — that is the saying of God, — and God only ; the saying of Him, whose 
Almighty Will is the cause of all things. When His servants wrought Miracles, 
far different was the phrase they used. See Genesis xli. 16, where Joseph says, 
"It is not in me: GOD shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." Compare also 
Daniel ii. 30; and above all, Acts iii. 6 and 12. 

And immediately the leprosy departed from him. 

Leprosy, — the most hideous of all disorders, and by man's art known to be incu- 
rable, — was the type of Sin. To touch a leper was to incur pollution :(u) not be- 
cause the malady was in itself contagious ; but to convince men of the deep defile- 
ment of that more terrible malady of the soul, of which Leprosy was the type. 
Observe, however, that when our Lord would cleanse one who was ( 'futt of lepro- 
sy," He did it by His touch; and it was to teach men that as Sin had no place in 

p) 1 St. Peter ii. 9. (?) Acts ii. 41. 

' •) Compare 1 St. Peter v. 2, with St. John xxi. 15, 16, 17. 

% i) St. Paul himself set the example of this preference. See Acts xx. 28. The early Chris- 
tians however seem to have been very fond of the symbol of a fish, — using it oftener perhaps 
than any other, on their signets. 

(0 Numb. xii. 13. (") Leviticus v. 3. 






V.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 448 

Hini, so could no defilement pass upon Him either. Disease could not vex the 
second Adam ; who had taken upon Himself our Human Nature, indeed, but not 
our fallen Human Nature. He came into the world to "take our Infirmities and 
bear our Sicknesses/' as an Evangelist,^) — interpreting, not quoting, the words of 
a Prophet, (y) — has declared: but He bore them like a burthen, — without participa- 
tion, and without pollution; because "in Hini," as in a Fountain, "was Life. v (z) 

See the first note on St. Mark i. 41. 

"This King's Touch," says Leighton, "cures all sorts of Diseases. It did so 
while He walked in a low, despised condition on Earth ; and it does so still by that 
virtual Divine Power, now that He is in Heaven. And although His Glory there 
is greater, His Compassion is not less than when He was here ; and His compassion 
always was, and is, directed much more to souls diseased, than to bodies, as they 
are better and more valuable." 

14 And lie charged him to tell no man : but Go, and show thyself 
to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses com- 
manded, for a testimony unto them. 

This seems to mean that when the priests had admitted the cleansing to be com- 
plete, and accepted the offerings prescribed on such occasions by the Law, (a) those 
offerings would remain for ever an abiding witness or testimony against them, if 
they presumed still to deny the claims of Jesus of Nazareth to be the promised 
Messiah. 

Or it may mean that the offerings would be a testimony of our Saviour's obser- 
vance of the Law. 

15, 16 Eut so much the more went there a fame abroad of Him : 
and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him 
of their infirmities. And He withdrew Himself into the Wilderness, 
and prayed. 

On this, an ancient Bishop remarks, — "Our Redeemer performed His Miracles 
by day, and passed the night in Prayer ; hinting to perfect preachers that as they 
should not entirely desert the active Life from love of contemplation, so neither 
should they despise the joys of contemplation from an excess of activity ; but, in 
silent thought, imbibe that which they might afterwards give back in words to their 
neighbour s." 

17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as He was teaching, that 
there were Pharisees and Doctors of the Law sitting by, which were 
come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem : and the 
Power of the Lord was present to heal them. 

To heal whom ? The Pharisees and Doctors of the Law ? Clearly not. The 
truth is, the whole scene rose up before the Evangelist, while he wrote ; so that he 
used the word " them" with reference to the many sick persons who (as he knew) 
had been brought to our Saviour on this occasion, and were waiting for an oppor- 
tunity of being healed. Concerning the cures which He may have now wrought on 
those other persons, we hear nothing. Our attention is called, in the next and fol- 
lowing verses, to the case of a poor suffering Paralytic ; who, because he came late, 
was debarred the usual mode of access to the Great Physician. He doubtless 
thought himself singularly unfortunate, in consequence. He little knew the blessed- 
ness which awaited him : little suspected, that his obstacle was to turn out the 
very occasion and instrument of God's Glory, and his own greatest good ! See the 
note on St. Matthew ii. 16 ; and the second note on St, Mark v. 24 and 35. 

On that expression, " the Power of the Lord was present to heal," — see chap. 
vi. 19. 

18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with 

(x) St. Matth. viii. 17. (y) Isaiah liii. 4. (a) St. John i. 4. 

(a) Leviticus xiv. 10, 21, 22. 



444 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

a palsy : and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before 
Him. 

The Header is referred to the notes on St. Mark ii. 3. 

19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him 
in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, 

Which was easily done, in a country like Palestine, where there is commonly a 
flight of steps outside the House ; and where the roof (or house-top,) is usually flat, 
— so as to be a convenient place for discourse,(6) for walking,(c) or for prayer -,{d) 
and furnished with a battlement or parapet, (e) at the extremity. 

But hoio exactly the four men(/) who bore the paralytic, performed the act next 
described, — see St. Mark ii. 4, — the present writer has never seen quite accounted 
for : nor do recent travellers in Palestine explain it satisfactorily. There seems to 
have been something peculiar in the construction of this particular house. 

and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst 
before Jesus. 

Truly, " the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by 
force. ;; (#) 

Our Countryman, Bede, says beautifully,— " Oftentimes, amid the very sweet- 
nesses of secret prayer, and, as it may be called, the pleasant converse with God, a 
crowd of thoughts, disturbing the clear vision of the mind, shuts out Christ from 
its sight. Let us not, then, remain in the lowest ground, where the crowds are 
bustling ; but aim at the roof of the House, — that is, the sublimity of the Holy 
Scriptures, and meditate on the Law of the Lord I" 

20 And when He saw their faith, He said unto him, Man, thy sins 
are forgiven thee. 

What is required of persons to receive Forgiveness of sins ? . Repentance, whereby 
they forsake Sin; and Faith, whereby they steadfastly believe the promises of 
God. — Why then was this man forgiven, since, by reason of his helplessness and 
infirmity, he could give no signs of either Faith or Repentance ? Because he pro- 
mised them both, by his four sureties, — see St. Mark ii. 3 ; — which promise, as soon 
as he was able, himself was bound to perform. 

The Reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark ii. 3 and 5 : also on St. John 
v.7. 

Take notice that this man had put up no petition : but his palsied body told his 
need; while his action was a loud and earnest prayer. 

21 And the Scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who 
is this which speaketh blasphemies ? Who can forgive sins, but God 
alone ? 

See the note on St. Mark ii. 7. 

They wanted " an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace 
given;" and our Lord was prepared to grant them all they wanted. Theirs, how- 
ever, was not the weak Faith, which timidly asks for a sign; but the obdurate 
temper which resists every appeal. These men were secretly charging our Lord 
with Blasphemy, and sneering at His prudence in setting up a claim to powers 
spiritual and unseen. Whence, it follows, — 

22, 23 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said 
unto them, What reason ye in your hearts ? Whether is easier, to say, 
Thy sins be forgiven thee ; or to say, Rise up and walk ? 

That is, — to utter words which lead to no visible consequences, or to utter words 



b) 1 Sam. ix. 25. (c) 2 Sam. xi. 2. {d) Acts. x. 9. 

e) Deut. xxii. 8. (/) See St. Mark ii. 3. {g) St. Matth. xi. 12. 



v.] on st. luke's gospel. 445 

which are meant to disturb the visible course of Nature ? — Our Lord does not com- 
pare the acts themselves : but the safety of claiming the power to perform them. 
The Header is referred to the notes on St. Mark's Gospel, — ii. 8 and 9. 

24 But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power upon 
Earth to forgive sins, (He said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto 
thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. 

Because it is easier to deliver a saying, than to perform a miracle, our Lord pro- 
ceeds to exhibit a stupendous act of Almighty Power. See the notes on St. Mark 
ii. 10 and 11. 

25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that 
whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 

Well had it been prophesied of the days of Messiah, — " Strengthen ye the weak 
hands, and confirm the feeble knees V'(h) .... See the note on St. Mark ii. 12. 

" That whereon he lay :" — for it was a poor couch, or pallet, and could hardly be 
called " a bed/' — He departed in the direction of his home ; but the crowd was 
excessive, — see ver. 19. The wondering assembly must therefore have fallen back, 
and made way for the man : fear helping to do what amazement would hardly have 
effected. For the Evangelist proceeds, — 

26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were 
filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to-day. 

27, 28 And after these things He went forth, and saw a publican, 
named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom : and He said unto him, 
Follow Me. And he left all, rose up, and followed Him. 

The remarks which have been already made on the call of Levi, (that is, of St. 
Matthew.) in St. Mark's Gospel, — chap. ii. 14, — are so entirely applicable to this 
place, that the Reader may be simply referred thither. 

Like St. Mark, the present Evangelist hastens on to give an account of the great 
feast which St. Matthew made, long after, to his Divine Master. See the note above 
referred to ; and compare the note on St. Matthew ix. 9. 

29 And Levi made Him a great feast in his own house : and there 
was a great company of Publicans and of others that sat down with 
them. 

30 But their Scribes and Pharisees murmured against His Disciples, 
saying, Why do ye eat and drink with Publicans and Sinners ? 

Concerning the Scribes, see the note on St. Mark iii. 22 : and concerning the 
" Publicans and Sinners," see the note on St. Mark ii. 15. 

31, 32 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole 
need not a Physician ; but they that are sick. I came not to call the 
righteous, but sinners to repentance. 

See the notes on St. Mark ii. 17. 

"A great encouragement to sinners," writes Leighton, "but no encouragement 
at all to sin. He came to call sinners ; but it was to call them to Repentance. If 
thou bring thy sins to Jesus Christ, as thy malady and misery, to be cured of 
them, and delivered from them, — it is well : but to come with them as thy beloved 
darlings and delight, thinking still to retain them, and to receive Him, thou mis- 
takest Him grossly, and miserably deludest thyself. The great Redemption He 
wrought, was, to separate our hearts and Sin. We know Him not, if we take it 
otherwise. And this says clearly, that though He hath come to us, and stretched 
forth His hands long among us, — few of us are come to Him. Oh, how few have 
trod on the neck of their beloved sin to come to Jesus Christ V 

(h) Isaiah xxxv. 3. 



446 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

33 And they said unto Him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, 
and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but 
Thine eat and drink ? 

See the notes on St. Mark ii. 18. 

34, 35 And He said unto them, Can ye make the children of the 
bride-chamber fast, while the Bridegroom is with them ? But the days 
will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and 
then shall they fast in those days. 

The reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark ii 19, 20 ; and should take notice 
that these words of the "Bridegroom" himself, explain why Holy Church directs 
her children to interrupt their Lent Fast on Sundays ; and to regard all Sundays 
and Saints' Days in the Year, as Feasts. " The children of the Bride-chamber" 
cannot fast when the Bridegroom is presented to their notice ; either in His own 
Person, or glorified in the persons of His Saints. 

36 And He spake also a parable unto them ; No man putteth a piece 
of a new garment upon an old ; if otherwise, then both the new maketh 
a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with 
the old. 

On these words, some remarks have been already offered in the note on St. Mark 
ii. 21. 

Two inconveniences are specified : the new piece causeth a rent in the old gar- 
ment ; and the old garment disliketh the new piece. Having thus briefly pointed 
out the twofold evil which would have resulted from the course which the Scribes 
and Pharisees recommended, our Blessed Lord proceeds to discourse of that evil, 
more in detail : showing, by two several examples, the mischief of imparting a 
body of new Doctrines to men who had been brought up in an entirely different 
system. First, He shows the fatal consequence of such a proceeding. 

37, 38 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles ; else the new 
wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. 
But new wine must be put into new bottles ; and both are preserved. 

The reader is again referred to the notes on St. Mark's Gospel — ii. 22. By a 
further striking saying, which is peculiar to St. Luke, our Lord shows the reluc- 
tance with which men, accustomed to the Ceremonial Law, would receive the Gos- 
pel of the Kingdom. 

39 No man also having drunk old tvine straightway desireth new : 
for he saith, The old is better. 

Our Lord's Discourse may be said to conclude with three short Parables. See 
the first words of verse 36. It is worth observing that Doctrine is here again com- 
pared to Wine : but whereas, in the former instance, the danger of hastily im- 
parting new Truths to persons not duly prepared to receive them, was spoken of — 
a danger which arises out of the nature of the thing imparted : in this place, allu- 
sion is made to the obstacle presented by the Receiver himself. Men, by the very 
law of their constitution, prefer that which is old to that which is new. And to 
this natural disposition of His creatures, He who " knew what was in Man," is 
content to make his solemn and instructive appeal. 

This, therefore, furnishes another reason for the progressive course which our 
Lord was pursuing towards his disciples ; and of which we have so many notices 
in the Gospels. Thus, in the last days of His ministry, he could say, " I have yet 
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now."(i) He had discoursed 
of " earthly things," and men " believed not:" how should they believe if He told 
them of " heavenly things V'(k) He spake the Word to the people, therefore, at all 
times, " as they ivere able to bear it." (I) 

(i) St. John xvi. 12. (h) St. John iii. 12. (I) St. Mark iv. 33. 



VI.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 447 

As the Master had acted, so did the Disciple. St. Paul was careful to feed the 
Christians of Corinth "with milk, and not with meat," — because he found them 
" not able to bear it."(m) Towards his Hebrew converts, he was content to pursue 
the like course ; remarking that " strong meat belongeth to them that are of full 
age."(n) And doubtless these hints have been set on eternal record for our guidance 
in the communication of Divine Truth. 



THE PRAYER. 

Almighty and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of Faith, 
Hope, and Charity; and, that we may obtain that which Thou dost 
promise, make us to love that which Thou dost command ; through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 



CHAPTER VI. 



1 Christ reproveth the Pharisees' blindness about the observation of the Sabbath, by 
Scripture, Reason, and Miracle. 13 Chooseth Twelve Apostles. 17 Healeth the 
diseased. 20 Preacheth to His Disciples before the people, of blessings and curses. 
27 How we must love our enemies. 46 And join the obedience of good works to the 
liearing of the Word: lest in the evil day of temptation loefall, like an house built 
upon the face of the earth, loithout any foundation. 

1 And it came to pass on the second Sabbath after the first, 

The particular Sabbath which St. Luke here speaks of, is not known : but it was 
one which fell somewhere about the Passover season — for, (as we see,) the corn was 
ripe. See the note on St. Mark ii. 23. It came to pass at such a time, 

2 that He went through the corn-fields ; and His Disciples plucked 
the ears of corn, and did cat, rubbing them in tlieir hands. And cer- 
tain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not law- 
ful to do on the Sabbath days ? 

, 3 And Jesus answering them said, 

See how kindly he takes their part — answering their enemies for them ! He is 
ever thus towards those who put their trust in him : " hiding them privily by His 
presence from the provoking of all men ; keeping them secretly in His Tabernacle 
from the strife of tongues. ;; («0 He said, — 

4, 5 Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when him- 

(») 1 Cor. iii. 12. - (n) Heb. v. 12, 13, 14. («) Psalm xxxi. 22. 



448 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

self was an hungered, and they which were with him ; how he went into 
the House of God, and did take and eat the show-bread, and gave also 
to them that that were with him ; which it is not lawful to eat but for 
the Priests alone ? And He said unto them, that The Son of Man is 
Loud also of the Sabbath. 

The reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark ii. 23 to 28, concerning this entire 
transaction. A few more notes will be found in the corresponding place of St. 
Matthew's Gospel — xii. 1 to 8. A mighty miracle next comes before us. 

6, 7 And it came to pass also on another Sabbath, that He entered 
into the Synagogue and taught : and there was a man whose right hand 
was withered. And the Scribes and Pharisees watched Him, whether 
he would heal on the Sabbath day ; that they might find an accusation 
against Him. 

See the notes on St. Mark iii. 1 and 2. — St. Matthew here supplies what St. Luke 
omits. See St. Matthew xii. 11 and 12, with the notes thereon. 

8, 9, 10, 11 But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man which 
had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And 
he arose and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you 
one thing ; Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil ? 
to save life, or to destroy it ? And looking round about upon them 
all, He said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so : 
and his hand was restored whole as the other. And they were filled 
with madness ; and communed one with another what they might do to 
Jesus. 

It must suffice once more to refer the reader to the notes on St. Mark iii. 3, 
4, 5, 6. 

12 And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a moun- 
tain to pray ; and continued all night in prayer to God. 

Compare this remarkable disclosure with what St. Mark says — chap. i. ver. 35 ; 
and take notice that on that occasion, our Divine Master prepared himself by pro- 
longed Prayer for His First great Ministerial Journey : (6) on this, for the solemn 
Call of His Twelve Apostles, which was to take place on the morrow — as it is said 
in the next verse How are we taught hereby, in what manner to com- 
mence any work of piety — to prepare ourselves for any great undertaking! And 
how severe a rebuke is it to our short and lifeless devotions, thus to read of Him 

who " continued all night in prayer to God V Compare also St. Matthew 

xiv. 23, or St. Mark vi. 46. 

But did the Son of God require the aid and support of Prayer? This form of 
putting the question is apt to mislead us : for thereby the attention is called away 
from the luhole Person of Christ, to His Divine Nature — in respect of which, He 
was One with the Father; and therefore, Himself the Source of all Spiritual 
Strength. But doubtless, as the Son of Man, — as the Word " made flesh," — our 
Saviour prayed for supplies of Grace, and obtained them in answer to His prayers. 
Consider St. Luke xxii. 42, 44 ; and St. Matthew xxvii. 46. We may never overlook 
the entire reality of our Lord's Human Nature : never so maintain the Truth of 
His GoDhead, as to show ourselves forgetful of the Truth of His Manhood. When 
we think of His Humanity, let us conceive of it as of the sinless Humanity of Adam 
before the Fall ; and we shall not err. 

If any do prefer, in the prayers of Christ, the Head, chiefly to behold a living 
Pattern, and perpetual Reproof to ourselves, His Members — we object not. For 
our imitation, doubtless, in great part, these mysterious scenes were set on eternal 
record. But our Lord's prayers may not be regarded as an unreal thing ; offered 
up, as well as recorded, for Man's sake — rather than for His own. 

(b) Recorded in St Mark i. 39,— St. Matthew iv. 23,— St. Luke iv. 44. 



VI.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 449 

13 And when it was day, He called unto Him His Disciples : and 
of them He chose Twelve, whom also he named Apostles : 

" He chose :" — but in Acts x. 41, the Apostles are said to have been " chosen by 
God." And, — " He called:" — but in St. John xvii. 6, 9, 12, they are said to have 
been given to Him by the FATHER. Is it not true, that after Guidance has been 
effectually sought by earnest Prayer to God, the work on which we are about to 
engage becomes not ours, but His. 

" Twelve" — for the reason mentioned in the first note on St. Mark iii. 14. These 
"He ordained,'' (St. Mark says) "that He might send them forth to preach."(c) 
Hence their title of " Apostle," — a word which denotes " One sent forth ;" and is 
translated Messenger in Philippians ii. 25. — Compare Haggai i. 13, and Malachiii. 7. 

The successors of the Apostles are called Bishops ; and those titles were at first 
indifferently used, as appears by a comparison of Philippians ii. 25 with 1 Timothy 
iii. 1 ; but, in process of time, the term " Apostles 7 ' became restricted to the Twelve. 
Let it be noted however that these great Ambassadors of Christ had a special dig- 
nity of their own : — (1st.) as being immediately called by Christ Himself: — (2ndly) 
as being infallibly guided: — (3rdly) as being universally charged; (that is, having a 
general commission to do all things pertaining to the Ministry of Salvation, in all 
places, and towards all persons:) — (4thly) as being miraculously gifted with the 
skill of speaking all languages, — with the knowledge of all secrets, — with the power 
of confirming their doctrine by signs and miracles, — and of imparting the like 
spiritual gifts to others by the Imposition of their hands. In all these respects, 
they had not, and could not have, Successors. Descent, (or, as it is called, Succes- 
sion,) supplies in the present day the place of the first ; their own Writings, of the 
second: a several See, of the third: Schools and Universities, of the last. 

But then, besides these special and peculiar Gifts, they had a solemn Office; 
namely, they were Church Governors, appointed to order and settle the affairs of 
Christ's Spiritual Kingdom ; and therein, (beside the preaching of the Gospel and 
baptizing, common to them with other Ministers,) to ordain a succession of the 
great Governors of the Church. In this respect, (in respect of their Office, namely,) 
they had, — they must needs have had, — Successors ; and to those Successors we 
give the name of Bishops. 

14, 15, 16 Simon, (whom He also named Peter,) and Andrew his 
brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and 
Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, and 
Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the 
traitor. 

These twelve great names will be found remarked upon, at some length, in the 
notes on St. Mark's Gospel, — iii. 16 to 19: whither the Reader is referred. — 
"Surely," {says Leighton,) "of all that ever lived on earth, the most blessed was 
this handful and small company which our Lord chose for His constant attendants, 
— to see His Divine Miracles, — to enjoy His sweetest society, — and to hear His 
Divine Doctrine. "What a holy flame of Love must have burned in their hearts, — 
who were always so near the Sun of Righteousness !" 

17 And He came down with them, and stood in the plain, 

Not " the plain," but " a plain (that is, a level) spot :" for our Lord was upon a 
Mountain. What follows, is St. Luke's shorter version of the " Sermon on the 
Mount," (as the Discourse in St. Matthew v. vi. and vii. is called:) and this is much 
to be noted, for it reminds us that the statements in St. Matthew and St. Luke are 
to be attentively compared throughout. 

18, 19 and the company of His Disciples, and a great multitude of 
people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre 
and Sidon, which came to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases ; 
and they that were vexed with unclean spirits : and they were healed. 

(c) St. Mark iii. 14. 

29 



450 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

And the whole multitude sought to touch Him : for there went virtue 
out of Him, and healed them all. 

Concerning the places enumerated above, in verse 17, the Reader may consult 
the notes on St. Matthew iv. 24, 25 ; and St. Mark iii. 8. — On the statement in ver. 
19, he is requested to read the notes on St. Mark v. 31. The Sermon on the Mount 
begins at this place. 

20 And He lifted up His eyes on His Disciples, and said, Blessed be 
ye poor : for your's is the Kingdom of God. 

"We have sometimes seen it pointed out that since, in St. Matthew, (v. 3,) we find 
"Blessed are the poor in spirit," — not Poverty of Estate, but Lowliness of Heart, 
has here the promise of a Blessing. 

But let no one be so cruel as to rob the poor man of his Inheritance, (as this most 
precious promise may be called,) by seeking thus to explain it away. " I hold it 
for a most infallible rule, in Expositions of Sacred Scripture," (says Hooker,) "that 
where a literal construction will stand, the furthest from the letter is commonly the 
worst." Now, "a literal construction will stand" here; — is in strict keeping with 
our Lord's other recorded sayings ; (as, St. Luke xviii. 24, 25 : St. Matthew xix. 
23, 24 ;) — and is required by what follows in ver. 24. It is not hard to see how con- 
ducive to Holiness is a lowly Estate ; how many helps it affords to the practice of 
Piety; from how many snares it defends a man. Then only are the "poor" in 
their possessions not " blessed," when they are covetous in their dispositions : not 
"rich in Faith." But Poverty cheerfully submitted to and patiently endured, is 
doubtless full of Blessedness, — will certainly inherit a blessing. Consider, by all 
means, 2 Cor. vi. 10 : and St. James ii. 5, — where there seems to be a reference to 
the present place. See also the note on St. Matt. v. 3. 

21 Elessed are ye that hunger now : for ye shall be filled. 

An excellent living Writer supposes that among the multitude addressed by our 
Lord, there may have been many who were actually suffering Hunger, in conse- 
quence of their long attendance on His footsteps : and he refers to St. Matth. xiv. 
15, and xv. 32. So that the paraphrase of our Lord's words would run thus : — 
" Blessed are ye, whose Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness leads you patiently 
to endure bodily Hunger, while you follow Me : for ye shall be filled with Bread 
from Heaven." (d) 

Blessed are ye that weep now : for ye shall laugh. 

"In the eye of Heaven," says an ancient Bishop, "Blessedness begins at the 
point which, in human estimation, is reckoned the extreme of Misery." See St. 
John xvi. 20 to 22. Of our Blessed Lord it is stated twice, that He hungered ;(e) 
and twice, that He thirsted ;(f) three times it is said that He " wept. ; '(#) It is not 
once recorded that He smiled. 

22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall 
separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out 
your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. 

" Separate you ;" — that is, from their Religious Assemblies ; as in St. John ix. 
22, 34: xii. 42. See especially St. John xvi. 2. 

" Your name": — that is, the name of " Christian." (h) See St. Matthew xxiv. 9. 
— St. Peter, — (who heard our Lord pronounce the words in the text,) — alludes to 
them in his first Epistle : — iv. 14, and 16. So also may St. James be thought to do, 
in ver. 7 of his second chapter ; when his previous allusion to St. Luke vi. 20, 
(already noticed, )(i) is considered. 

23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy : for, behold, your 

(d) St. John vi. 32 to 35. (e) St. Matthew iv. 2 : xxi. 18. 

(/) St. John iv. 6, 7 : xix. 28. (g) St. Luke xix. 41. St. John xi. 35. Hebrews v. 7. 
(h) Which was a very early appellation. See Acts xi. 26 : xxvi. 28. 
(i) See above, the end of the note on ver. 20. 



vi.] on st. luke's gospel. 451 

reward is great in Heaven : for in the like manner did their fathers unto 
the Prophets. 

24 But woe unto you that are rich ! 

It is obvious that Poverty and Riches, in the literal sense of those words, are here 
spoken of: see above, on ver. 20. And consider St. Mark x. 23, 24: and St. James 
v. 1. Bat our Lord does not, of course, denounce " Woe" on persons simply 
because they are rich, (as He denounces it on the Pharisees, in St. Matthew xxiii. 
13 to 16.) Nor does He denounce woe, at all ; but rather says, " Alas! for you that 
are rich :" (which is the force of " Woe' 7 in St. Matthew xxiv. 19 ;) 

for ye have received your consolation. 

" For ye that, trusting in your riches, and accounting them sufficient for your 
Happiness, neglect the spiritual treasures which I offer you, — may be assured that 
you have received all your enjoyment in this world, and have no ground for expect- 
ing any in the world to come. - " Verses 22 and 23 may be compared with St. Mat- 
thew v. 11, 12 ; where see the notes. In connection with verse 24, recollect the 
words of Abraham addressed to Lazarus, — St. Luke xvi. 25. 

25 Woe unto you that are full ! for ye shall hunger. 

"For ye that are full of earthly good things, are in imminent peril of not desiring 
anything better. And all such shall one day find the want of both heavenly and 
earthly goods/' 

The Parable of Lazarus is again brought to our remembrance by these solemn 
sayings. Consider how the Rich Man, who had " fared sumptuously every day/' 
being in torments, prayed that a drop of water might be sent to " cool his 
tongue !"(&) 

Woe unto you that laugh now ! for ye shall mourn and weep. 

" Alas ; for as many of you as spend all your lives in careless and ungodly mirth. 
For the portion of all such is the place of torment/ 7 

26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you ! for so did 
their fathers to the false prophets. 

Thus " Woe" has been four times denounced, — corresponding with the four pro- 
clamations of "Blessed" which preceded. What was "said to them of old time," 
— and. which St. Matthew gives next, (v. 21 to 43,) — is in a great measure sup- 
pressed by St. Luke : with reference however to all that he omits, he proceeds with 
the word " But :" 

27, 28 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good 
to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them 
which despitefully use you. 

In conformity with which precept of her Lord, the Church, in her liturgy, directs 
us to pray for " our enemies, persecutors and slanderers." Compare the words of 
the text, with St. Matthew v. 44, and see the note there. 

We are not to think that the Prophets, — as David, throughout the Book of Psalms, 
— violate the spirit of this precept. Their imprecations are against GOB'S ene- 
mies ; not against their own. Those awful words in Psalm cix., for instance, which 
shock the carnal ear, (verses 6 to 13,) prove to have been words "which the Holy 
Ghost by the mouth of David, spake concerning Judas, which was guide to them that 
took Jesus'."(Z) If, therefore, David " devoteth his enemies to destruction," (as it 
is said in the heading of Psalm lxix,) — he is found, throughout., to speak prophet- 
ically, in the person of Christ. (m) Or again, they are his own enemies, only be- 
cause they are the enemies of God, and His Church : whether " flesh and blood,"(w) 
— (as when David prays to be delivered " out of the hand of the wicked, out of the 

(h) St. Luke xvi. 24 (I) Acts i. 16 : and see ver. 20. 

(m) Compare verse 4 of that Psalm, with St. John xv. 25 . — verse 9, with St. John ii. 17, 
and Romans xv. 3 :— ver. 21, with St. John xix. 29 : — ver. 25, with Acts i. 20. 

(n) Ephes. vi. 12. 



452 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

hand of the unrighteous and cruel man:"(o) or the Spiritual Enemies of Man's Sal- 
vation. 

29, 30, 31 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer 
also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take 
thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee ; and of him that 
taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. 

Concerning verses 29 and 30, the reader is referred to the notes on St. Matthew 
v. 41 and 42. Compare verse 31 with St. Matthew vii. 12, and see the note there. 

32, 33, 34 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye ? 
for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them 
which do good to you, what thank have ye ? for sinners also do even 
the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what 
thank have ye ? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much 
again. 

Verses 32 to 34 should be compared with St. Matthew v. 46, 47, — where see the 
notes. St. Matthew, instead of " sinners/' says " Publicans ;." concerning whom 
see the note on St. Mark ii. 15. — "What thank have ye?" (for which St. Mat- 
thew(|?) gives "What reward have ye?") signifies — What favor can ye expect at 
the hands of God ? 

35, 36 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for 
nothing again ; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the 
Children of the Highest : for He is kind unto the unthankful and to 
the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. 

These verses are illustrated by St. Matthew v. 44, 45 and 48 ; and should be com- 
pared with them. 

It will be perceived that the entire contents of St. Matthew vi. are omitted in 
this part of St. Luke's Gospel. It is because St. Luke intended to supply the say- 
ings which St. Matthew there records, later, — when the same Divine Speaker re- 
peated the self-same sayings, or the like of them. This method of the Evangelists 
tends to the enriching of the Gospel Treasury, and is full of instruction and delight. 

37, 38 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged : condemn not, and ye 
shall not be condemned : forgive, and ye shall be forgiven : give, and 
it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken 
together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with 
the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you 
again. 

Compare verses 37 and 38 with St. Matthew vii. 1 and 2 ; (where see the notes ;) 
and observe how useful the later Gospel is in completing the sense of the earlier 
one. But our Lord does not say "shall men give." His words "[they] shall 
give," probably signify only "shall be given:" just as "[they] require," in St. 
Luke xii. 20, is Englished, — " shall be required." . . . Where the vest is large and 
loose, as in the East it is, corn may be carried in the bosom. See Psalm lxxix. 12, 
and xxxv. 13. 

39, 40 And He spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the 
blind ? shall they not both fall into the ditch ? The Disciple is not 
above his Master : but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master. 

That is, — Greater Virtue cannot be expected in the Disciple than was displayed 
by the Master. Strictly to resemble his Master, is the praise of a perfect Disciple. 

(o) Psalm lxxi. 4. (p) St. Matth. v. 46. 



VI.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 453 

But besides this, — No keenness of spiritual discernment can be looked for in the 
blind. Whence it follows, — 

41 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy Brother's eye, 
but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye ? 

Consider the conduct of Judah, when he passed sentence on Tamar, — Genesis 
xxxviii. 24: and, still more remarkably, of David, when " Nathan's parable of the 
ewe lamb caused him to be his own judge." (g) How many men come under the 
censure of the present passage ! 

Take notice in how marked a manner Sin is here (verses 39 to 42,) spoken of as 
something which blinds the eye ; and blocks up the door at which Knowledge 
chiefly enters. Surely an apt figure! since To see GOD, is the blessing promised 
to " the pure in heart :"(r) while correct spiritual discernment is often spoken of as 
the privilege of the Just. (s) Little sins are motes, — which slightly impair the fac- 
ulty of vision : great sins are beams, — which entirely destroy it. He therefore that 
lives in Sin walks in Darkness. Consider the constancy of the Sacred Imagery, by 
a reference to such places as the following, — St. Matthew vi. 22, 23, (where see the 
notes ;) xv. 14: St. John iii. 19, 20 : ix. 39 to 41 : 2 Cor. iv. 4: 2 St. Peter i. 9 : 1 
St. John ii. 9 and 11, &c. 

42 Either how canst thou say to thy Brother, Brother, let me pull 
out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the 
beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam 
out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the 
mote that is in thy brother's eye. 

The Reader is requested to read the remarks already offered on this verse, in the 
notes on St. Matthew vii. 5. Our Lord is showing that he " is not a good man 
who, although he reproves others for their faults, does bad actions himself." He 
proceeds, therefore, to say, — " For there is no good tree which bringeth forth bad 
fruit :" or, as it is here rendered, — 

43, 44, 45 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit ; neither 
doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known 
by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bram- 
ble-bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of 
his heart bringeth forth that which is good ; and an evil man out of the 
evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil : for of the 
abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. 

46 And why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which 
I say? 

For if God be our absolute Lord, — we, His vassals, — He has a right to require 
our service: we are bound to do what He commands. To cry, " Lord, Lord," — 
and not " to do the things which He says," — is \o deny, even while we confess 
Him. 

Concerning verses 43 and 44, see the notes on St. Matthew vii. 18 and 16. Verse 
45 recurs in St. Matthew xii. 35. Compare verse 46 with St. Matthew vii. 21, — 
and see the notes there. 

4T, 48 Whosoever cometh to Me, and heareth My sayings, and doeth 
them, I will show you to whom he is like : he is like a man which built 
an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock : and 
when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and 
could not shake it : for it was founded upon a rock. 

49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without 

(q) 2 Sam. xii. See the heading of that Chapter. 

(r) St. Matth. v. 8,— with which compare 1 St. John iii. 2, 3. 

(«) St. John vii. 17. Psalm xix. 8. Ecclesiasticus xxi. 11. 



454 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 



a foundation built an house upon the earth ; against which the stream 
did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that 
house was great. 

Take notice, that there was nothing to distinguish these two houses outwardly. 
Both were fair to view. The difference lay entirely in the foundation on which 
they were respectively built ; — the one, piled up on the soft and yielding earth, or 
rather on the shifting and unsteady sand ; (which was no foundation at all ;) the 
other, based on the solid rock. 

The three preceding verses have been discussed at such length in the notes on 
St. Matthew, — vii. 24 to 27, — that it shall suffice to refer the reader back to the 
earlier Gospel. But it may be worth pointing out that the short clause in verse 48, 
peculiar to St. Luke, — "and digged deep," — derives singular illustration from what 
is the practice to this day, in Palestine. A recent traveller, describing the house 
of stone in which he lodged, at Nazareth, says, that the owner, " in order to lay 
the foundations, had dug down to the solid rock, — as is usual throughout the coun- 
try, — on this occasion, to the depth of thirty feet" 

And thus ends the "Sermon on the Mount:" — for a short review of which, the 
reader is referred to the notes on St. Matthew vii. 27. " Others may grow stale," 
exclaims pious Leighton, "but this Sermon, never so often read over, is always 
new. Oh, how full of Divine Doctrine ! How plain, and yet how high and excel- 
lent: delighting the soul, as a bright day, — clear all along! Our Saviour begins 
with that great point which all are concerned in, and all naturally someway desir- 
ous to know, — the Doctrine of Blessedness : and the rest of His Discourse follows 
out the same argument, directing the way to Happiness in the graces of Purity, 
Meekness, Mercy." 

THE PRAYER. 

Lord, we pray Thee that Thy Grace may always prevent and follow 
us, and make us continually to be given to all good works ; through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 



CHAPTER VII. 



1. Christ findeth a greater Faith in the Centurion, a Gentile, thanin any of the Jews. 
10 Healeth his Servant being absent. 11 Baiseth from Death the Widow's Son at 
Nain. 19 Answereth John's messengers with the declaration of His miracles. 
24 Testifieth to the people what opinion He held of John. 30 Inveigheth against 
the Jews, who, with neither the manners of John nor of Jesus, could be won. 36 And 
showeth by occasion of Mary Magdalene, how He is a friend to sinners, not to main- 
tain them in sins, but to forgive them their sins, upon their Faith and Repentance. 



1 Now when He had ended all His sayings in the audience of the 
people, He entered into Capernaum. 

This was after the " Sermon in the Mount," contained in the preceding Chapter. 



VII.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 455 



The reader is referred to the note on St. Matthew viii. 1, and the beginning of the 
note on verse 2. 

2 And a certain Centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was 
sick, and ready to die. 

The narrative which follows, is to be compared carefully, throughout, with the 
corresponding narrative in St. Matthew's Gospel, — viii. 5 to 13. It will be seen, 
first of all, that the notice of the love which the Roman Soldier bore towards his 
Slave is peculiar to this Gospel. 

The Centurion was a Proselyte to the Jewish Religion. The Religion of Heathen 
Rome had failed, (as well it might!) to supply the wants of such a spirit as his. 
He had been guided to embrace the purest system of all which existed in his day ; 
and " the Father of Mercies and God of all comfort" (a) left him not without further 
light ; but first guided him to the knowledge, and now brought him into the very 
presence of Him, who is the Light Itself. 

The Centurion's Servant was "ready to die;" the daughter of Jairus was just 
dead:(&) the widow of Nain's Son was on the way to burial :(c) Lazarus had been 
lying in the grave four days.(d) Almighty Power is no less required to dispel the 
beginnings of Illness, than to raise a dead corpse to life. 

3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto Him the Elders of the 
Jews, beseeching Him that He would come and heal his Servant. 

The Roman Centurion sent Jewish Elders to Christ, probably because he con- 
ceived that it would be more acceptable to Him to be addressed by persons of His 
own Nation ; as well as a more respectful proceeding to approach One of such sur- 
passing sanctity through the Ministers of Religion. As for coming in person, — he 
stood so low in his own estimation, that he thought himself unworthy to draw near. 
A further explanation why his choice may have fallen on these particular persons 
is supplied by the circumstance stated in the 5th verse ; namely, because he had 
himself built the Synagogue of Capernaum, in which they probably ministered. 

4, 5 And when they came to Jesus, they besought Him instantly, 
saying, That he was worthy for whom He should do this : For he loveth 
our Nation, and he hath built us a Synagogue. 

It is marvellous how much of individual character is revealed by these short Bible 
narratives. Not only had the Centurion a " Faith which could move mountains/ 7 
but a burning Love was his also. It was not to obtain his own, but his Servant's 
cure, — the cure of a sick Slave, — that he had laboriously contrived this solemn em- 
bassy of Jewish Elders ; and in the next verse, we shall find that he further sent to 
Christ a deputation of his " friends." We scarcely need the assurance (in ver. 2) 
that the Centurion loved the servant for whom he was prepared to do so much ! It 
further appears that he had proved the strength of his love towards the Jewish peo- 
ple by the munificent act recorded in verse 5. And these two incidents put to- 
gether, remind us that the Centurion was one of those noble hearts which look out 
beyond themselves; for opportunities of Liberality : or, (if you will,) one of those 
consistent characters, which, in their zeal to confer a public benefit, do not over- 
look the more sacred claims of their own household. 

Observe, then, that here was no dead principle, but a living Faith. This man 
was not one of those who delight in watching their own feelings, and in describing 
and talking about them. His whole care was to act up to the light which he enjoy- 
ed. He showed his Faith by his Works : and take notice, that " Faith, if it have 
not Works, is dead, being alone."(e) 

He was, besides, a man of most deep Humility : see the first note on verse 6 ; and 
observe the language of that, as well as the ensuing verse. 

6 Then Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far 
from the house, the Centurion sent friends to Him, saying unto Him, 
Lord, trouble not Thyself: 

(a) 2 Cor. i. 3. (6) St. Matthew ix. 18. (c) See below, ver. 12. 

(d) St. John xi. 39. (e) St. James ii. 17, 18. 



456 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

This, then, was the message which the Soldier sent to Christ, when he beheld 
those blessed footsteps "not far from the house.'' St. Matthew further reveals the 
beautiful circumstance that the Centurion could not endure the doubt of what might 
be the issue of this second deputation ; but hastened forth from his door to deliver 
the message with his own lips ! .... At first he sent " the Elders of the Jews :" 
presently, he "sent friends:" at last, he came himself. A sense of undesert, — a 
deep feeling of his own unworthiness, ("neither thought I myself worthy to come 
unto Thee !") — was what had delayed his personal approach so long. But the 
coldness of his self-distrust thawed away at last, under the ardour of his mingled 
Zeal, an.d Love: for his Faith, (which burned the brighter as the Object of it ap- 
proached his dwelling,) had long since reminded him that he had asked an unne- 
cessary favour in requesting that our Lord would "come and heal his servant/' (f) 
" Trouble not Thyself," he therefore says : 

7 for I am not worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof: 
wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee : but 
say in a word, and my Servant shall be healed. 

The Centurion desired to hear words like those which the same Great Physician 
had addressed some time before to the father of a child who lay sick in the same 
city, "Go thy way ; thy son liveth."(<7) See the first note on St. Matt. viii. 8. 
Himself a soldier, he did but wish to hear " the word of command," as it were, 
uttered : certain as to what must be the consequence. 

8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, 
and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth ; and to another, Come, and he 
cometh ; and to my Servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 

For the correct understanding of these words, see the note on St. Matthew viii. 9. 
The Centurion knew that Diseases were all, in like manner, subject to the command 
of Him with whom He spoke. So indeed they are; and " so also," says Leighton, 
" He rebukes the Diseases of the Soul, and they are gone. Oh, if we did but be- 
lieve this, and put Him to it ! For Faith doth, in a manner, command Him, — as 
He doth all other things." 

Contrast this Centurion's Faith, with that of another Gentile Soldier, — Naaman 
the Syrian : 2 Kings v. 11, 12. 

9 When Jesus heard these things, He marvelled at him, and turned 
Him about, and said unto the people that followed Him, 

In this way the Evangelists, every now and then, lift the curtain slightly from 
the scenes they describe. You discover, from these last words, what it was which 
the Centurion saw " not far from the house," — and which induced him to leave the 
chamber where his servant lay a-dying : — our Saviour drew near, attended, not 
only by the Elders of the Jews, but also by a multitude of persons. It was, in fact, 
a part of that mighty company, which, after the Sermon on the Mount, followed 
our Lord down the mountain side. See St. Matthew viii. 1. 

Concerning the statement that our Saviour "marvelled," see the first note on 
St. Matt. viii. 10. See also St. Mark iii. 5, and St. Luke viii. 23. 

I say unto you, I have not found so great Faith, no, not in Israel. 

A Roman soHier, then, was the first-fruits of the Gentile world!— -Consider that 
Moses,(7i) Joshua, and David were warrior-saints in the Old Testament : two Cen- 
turions, — (for Cornelius of Csesarea was also a Centurion,) (i) — are patterns of Faith 
and Prayer, in the New. And observe that our Lord does not require the Centu- 
rion of Capernaum to forsake his calling. The profession of arms is honourable in 
God's sight ; and " a devout soldier"(&) may be not so rare a character as some sup- 
pose. See the note on St. Luke iii. 14. 

/) St. Luke vii. 3. (g) St. John iv. 50. 

h) Compare Exod. ii. 12 with Acts vii. 22, 24 and 25. See also Exod. ii. 17 and 19. 

i) Acts x. 1. {h) Acts x. 7. 



VII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 457 

10 And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the Ser- 
vant whole that had been sick. 

Our Lord had said to the Centurion — " Go thy way ; and as thou hast believed, 
so be it done unto thee !" This we learn from St. Matthew viii. 13. But observe, 
— the Centurion did not go. He needed not "the evidence of his senses," (as the 
phrase is,) that as Christ had spoken, so had it been done. He left that pitiful 
method of conviction for others. " They that were sent, returned; and found the 
servant whole/' 

11 And it came to pass the day after, 

" The day after" the healing of the Centurion's Servant ; which probably took 
place on the same day as the Delivery of the Sermon on the Mount. See St. Matt. 
viii. 5. Our Saviour will therefore have been journeying southward ; and when on 
the confines of Galilee and Samaria, a little to the South of Mount Tabor, it will 
have come to pass, — 

that He went into a City called Nain ; and many of His Disciples 
went with Him, and much people. 

"Many of His Disciples," — "much people." It was pointed out above, (in one 
of the notes on verse 9,) what multitude this was. The "Sermon on the Mount" 
had been pronounced, probably, only yesterday : the concourse of persons who had 
listened to it, had not therefore yet dispersed. Take notice, further, that the crowd 
here described, encountered another lesser crowd, (as it is said in the next verse,) 
emerging from the city-gate. It was in the presence of that vast assembly, there- 
fore, that the second recorded miracle of raising the Dead took place. 

The MS. Journal of a friend — recently from the Holy Land — furnishes the fol- 
lowing extract. — " A few interesting spots retain names very similar to those by 
which they are mentioned in Scripture. On descending the northern slope of the 
little hill of Hermon, we came to a village ; and, on inquiring its name from one of 
the natives who met us, were told it was Nein. Oh ! how the word sounded on our 
ears. We knew it was Nain ; but to hear it so called by one living there, was in- 
expressibly delightful .... A few poor, and for the most part roofless houses, 
and a spring of clear and living water, is all that we found there. 

" Here then it was that the ever Blessed One met a poor sorrowing widow, who 
was following her only son to the grave. There is the road, down which no doubt 
the sad and mournful company were passing. Beyond^ too, may be easily traced 
the path along which the Divine Saviour approached. A few graves at the lower 
part of the hill still mark an ancient burying-place. ... On this exact spot, I felt 
it was, that the Lord of Life vanquished Death Could I do other than won- 
der and adore V 

It is interesting to find that on this little village, the Christian pilgrim has had 
his eye fixed from the earliest time. It was duly recognized by the Crusaders also, 
when they visited the Holy Land. 

Take notice how miracle is here linked on to miracle. The stupendous act of 
power which follows, was wrought unsolicited — unlike the former miracle, which 
was in answer to prayer. And we are thereby reminded of the mighty blessings 
which many a- time have overtaken ourselves, unsought — exceeding not only our 
hopes, but even our very desires. 

The reader will find a remark on the verse next ensuing, in the note on St. Luke 
viii. 42; and in the last note on St. Matthew ix. 25. It shall be only further 
pointed out in explanation of what follows, that the ancients buried their dead 
outside the walls of their cities. 

12 Now when He came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there 
was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a 
widow : and much people of the city was with her. 

What a picture of desolation is here given in a few words ; "A dead man — the 
only son— of a widowed mother," Consider Jeremiah vi. 26 : Zechariah xii. 10 : 
Amos viii. 10 : and the many places in Scripture where a widow's sorrow is made 
the very type of grief. 



458 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

As an ancient Bishop of Nyssa, in Cappadocia, feelingly remarks : " St. Luke 
has told us the sum of her misery in a few words. The mother was a widow : with 
no further hope of having children ; nor with any upon whom she might look in 
the place of him that was dead. To him alone she had given suck. He alone 
made her home cheerful. All that is sweet and precious to a mother, was he alone 
to her! .... A young man,'" (as it is said in ver. 14): " that is, in the flower of 
his age ; just ripening into manhood ; just entering upon the time of marriage : the 
scion of his race ; the branch of succession ; the sight of his mother's eyes ; the 
staff of her declining years !".... Doubtless, it was a case singularly calculated 
to excite compassion. Not only was "much people of the city" with her: but, as 
it follows, — 

13 And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, 

Take notice how the Human feeling of compassion attends the exercise of Divine 
power, which is to follow. See the note on St. Luke viii. 23. 

and said unto her, Weep not. 

By those words teaching us also (be sure) not to be sorry, as men without hope, 
for them " which sleep in Jesus."(Z) For what was He who spake, but "the Resur- 
rection and the Life T\ni) Of whom it has been said that He shall hereafter " wipe 
away all tears V'(n) 

14 And He came and touched the bier : and they that bare Mm 
stood still. 

" Life had met Death : wherefore the bier stopped." So says an old Arabian 
bishop: adding — " It was not thus Elijah raised the widow's son — 'stretching him- 
self upon the dead three times :\o) nor Elisha — when he applied mouth, eyes, and 
hands, to the same parts of the dead :(p) nor Peter, when he prayed for Tabitha.(g) 
But this was none other but ' God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those 
things which be not, as though they were.'(r) Whence it follows," — 

And He said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. 

Which was also His word to the daughter of Jairus : St. Mark v. 41. The youth 
was lying decked for burial — enclosed in no coffin, but exposed ; as is usual in the 
East. Starting into life therefore, at the Divine summons, it is added, — 

15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And He de- 
livered him to his mother. 

What words can describe such a scene as followed ? . . . Well may it be said of 
our Lord that "He delivered him to his mother:" (s) for the young man had been 
snatched, like a captive, from the hand of Death ; rescued from the power of the 
Grave. " The last Enemy that shall be destroyed,"^) already receives a death- 
blow, therefore ; and the Conqueror hath a right to divide the spoil with whom 
He will. 

16 And there came a fear on all : and they glorified God, saying, 
That a great Prophet is risen up among us ; and, That God hath visited 
His People. 

Which words are almost a quotation from the Hymn called Eenedictus : St. Luke 
i. 68, 69. Take notice that " there came a fear on all :" traces of which feeling are 
often discoverable in the accounts of our Saviour's miracles. See St. Luke v. 26 : 
viii. 37. St. Mark iv. 41. 

17 And this rumour of. Him went forth throughout all Judaea, and 
throughout all the region round about. 

I) 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14 {m\ St. John xii. 25. In) Rev. vii. 17 : xxi. 4. 

x o) L Kings xvii. 21. (p) 2 Kings iv. 34. (q) Acts ix. 40. 

(r) Romans iv. 17. (s) Compare 1 Kings xvii. 23. 2 Kings iv. 36. St. Luke ix.42. 

(0 1 Cor. xv. 26. 



VII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 459 

18, 19 And the disciples of John showed him of all these things. 
And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Oesus, 
saying, Art Thou He that should come ? or look we for another ? 

The memorable transaction here described has been already discussed, at con- 
siderable length, in the notes on St. Matthew's Gospel — xi. 3 : whither the reader 
is referred. The Baptist was at this time a prisoner in Herod's castle of Machserus. 

20 When the men were come unto Him, they said, John Baptist 
hath sent us unto Thee, saying, Art Thou He that should come ? or 
look we for another ? 

21, 22, 23 And in the same hour He cured many of their infirmities 
and plagues, and of evil spirits ; and unto many that ivere blind He 
gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and 
tell John what things ye have seen and heard ; how that the blind see, 
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the- deaf hear, the dead are 
raised, to the poor the Gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whoso- 
ever shall not be offended in me. 

Concerning these last words, see the note on St. Matthew xi. 6. 

As our Lord so often declared of men, that they should be "known by their 
fruits," (ii) — so does He, in the preceding verses, and in many other places, (x) ap- 
peal to his own works as the evidence of His being the Messiah. 

For, " in that day/' (it had been foretold by the prophet,) " shall the deaf hear 
the ivords of the Book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out 
of darkness. The meek also," (it was added,) " shall increase their joy in the Lord, 
and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." {y) Accordingly, 
it was now the crowning work of all, that, " to the poor the Gospel is preached." 
And, as we know, they at least, " heard Him gladly "(z) Compare what St. James 
says on this subject — ii. 5. That which made this feature in our Lord's ministry 
so remarkable, was the contemptuous manner in which the Jewish Doctors had been 
wont to treat the humbler sort of people — as appears from St. John vii. 49 : ix. 34. 
By " Poverty," however, doubtless the same thing is intended, in this, as in other 
places of the Gospel ; namely, that condition of heart which is usually found to be- 
long to persons endued with a very slender portion of this World's goods. 

The reader will find more on this subject in the note on St. Matthew xi. 5. 

24, 25, 26, 27, 28 And when the messengers of John were departed, 
He began to speak unto the people concerning John : "What went ye 
out into the wilderness for to see ? A reed shaken with the wind ? 
But what went ye out for to see ? A man clothed in soft raiment ? 
Behold, they which are gorgeously appareled, and live delicately, are 
in kings' courts. But what went ye out for to see ? A Prophet ? Yea, 
I say unto you, and much more than a Prophet. This is he, of whom 
it is written, Behold, I send My Messenger before Thy face, which 
shall prepare Thy way before JThee. For I say unto you, Among those 
that are born of women there is not a greater Prophet than John 
the Baptist : but he that is least in the Kingdom of God is greater 
than he. 

These verses will be found to recur in St. Matthew xi. 7 to 11 ; where they have 
been discussed at some length. The reader is therefore referred to the notes on the 
earlier Gospel. Our Saviour is here reminding the people of the reverence in 
which they once held the man whose inquiry had been just recited in their ears. 
It was no familiar sight which had drawn so many thousands of them into the 
Wilderness : no spectacle to be found in the courts of kings, which had led them 

(«) St. Matth. vii. 16, 20, &o. (x) St. John v. 36 : x 25, 38 : xiv. 11 : xv. 24, &c. 

{y) Isaiah xxix. 18, 19. {%) St. Mark xii. 37. 



460 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

into the "Waste. But they had gone to behold a mighty Prophet ; and such an one 
our Lord assures them they had actually seen : for a greater (He declares) had 
never been born of woman. 

Take notice, that He who spake the words recorded by the Prophet Malachi — iii. 
1, (quoted above in ver. 27,) was certainly Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts. Just as 
certain is it, from St. Matthew iii. 3, that Christ is the Lord before whose face 
John Baptist prepared the way. Christ is therefore Jehovah. 

29 And all the people that heard Him, and the Publicans, justified 
God, being baptized with the Baptism of John. 

They "justified God," that is, acknowledged His Justice, Mercy, Truth, and 
Goodness : — with reference to which, as it seems, our Lord declares, (in verse 35,) 
that " Wisdom is justified of all her Children." This verse and the next are pecu- 
liar to St. Luke. They have been thought by some to contain the sayings of 
Christ ; but it is more likely that these are the words of the Evangelist. For the 
historical fact here alluded to, see St. Luke iii. 12. 

30 But the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsel of God 
against themselves, being not baptized of him. 

That is, — " they frustrated the Counsel of God towards themselves : made His 
merciful intentions and gracious purpose, manifested in the ministry of John, of no 
effect, through their Pride and Obstinacy." This is spoken only generally, how- 
ever. Many of the Pharisees had come to John for Baptism, — as appears from St. 
Matthew iii. 7. 

31, 32, 33, 34 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the 
men of this generation ? and to what are they like ? They are like 
unto children sitting in the market-place, and calling one to another, 
and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have 
mourned to you, and ye have not wept. For John the Baptist came 
neither eating bread nor drinking wine ; and ye say, He hath a devil. 
The Son of Man is come eating and drinking ; and ye say, Behold a 
gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners ! 

Our Lord merely means that He did not observe such fasts as St. John observed, 
and imposed upon His Disciples. The foul imputations to which he thereby ex- 
posed Himself, are discovered from no other place of Holy Scripture, besides the 
present. 

Again, — that the Saviour Himself was repeatedly charged with "having a devil/' 
we know from St. John vii. 20 : viii. 48, 52 : x. 20. But in this place only is it 
also recorded that the same thing was said of His Forerunner. 

For some observations on the four last verses, the Reader is referred to the notes 
on St. Matthew xi. 16 to 19. John Baptist is regarded as a type of the Law, which 
brought men to Christ, and prepared His way accordingly. There were natures 
which neither the Severity of the Law, nor the Graciousness of the Gospel, could 
win over. Yet had Christ His faithful children, — His true Disciples, — under 
either Dispensation. As it follows, — (speaking of Himself, — under the name of 
Wisdom,) — 

35 But Wisdom is justified of all Her Children. 

See above, on ver. 29 : also, the note on St. Matthew xi. 19. 

The Reader is requested further, to take notice, that our Lord's Discourse did 
not end with these words. To know what He added, see St. Matthew xi. 20 to the 
end of the chapter. It will be perceived that He concluded with a gracious invita- 
tion to all "that labour and are heavy laden: and I," saith He, "will give you 
rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in 
heart : and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My bur- 
den is light."(«) 

(a) St. Matthew xi. 28 to 30. 



vii.] on st. luke's gospel. 461 

The effect of this blessed address on at least one among the multitude, — will be 
discovered from the narrative which follows. 

36 And one of the Pharisees desired Him that He would eat with 
him. And He went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. 

"One of the Pharisees" — mentioned in ver. 30, perhaps. And he may have 
proffered this act of Hospitality in consequence of the intimation in ver. 34, that 
the Son of Man had "come eating and drinking/' His name is given in ver. 40. 

A memorable transaction follows, full of affecting interest and beauty; and con- 
cerning which, not a little of a controversial character has been written. Some 
persons have thought that the Woman who is here related to have anointed our 
Lord, was Mary the Sister of Lazarus. But this is a pure assumption ; and the 
conjecture is an unfair one; for there is not the least ground for supposing that 
the blessed creature of whom the Saviour declared that she had "chosen that good 
part which should not be taken away from her,"(5) — was at any time such an one 
as is here meant by " a sinner." Others have even thought that St. Luke in this 
place describes the incident which took place at Bethany, and which is described 
by the other three Evangelists :(c) but that is simply impossible. Our Translators, 
(as the heading of the present Chapter shows,) were of opinion that " Mary Magda- 
lene," who is mentioned in the beginning of the next Chapter, was the Woman 
here spoken of: concerning which conjecture, (for it is no more than a conjecture,) 
all that can be said is, that it is possibly correct. 

37, 38 And, behold, a Woman in the city, which was a sinner, when 
she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an 
alabaster box of ointment, and stood at His feet behind him weeping, 

To understand how this was done, it must be borne in mind that, anciently, per- 
sons reclined at meals. Placed in a recumbent posture, — their feet also resting upon 
the couch or sofa whereon themselves lay, — any one desirous of approaching them 
closely, would perforce stand behind them ; and might easily perform the act of 
Love and Humility which is next described. 

and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the 
hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the 
ointment. 

The singular resemblance of the present transaction to that recorded in connec- 
tion with the Supper at Bethany, immediately before the Last Passover,(c£) cannot 
fail to strike every Reader. Let us beware, however, of inquiring concerning it, 
(with the Traitor,) — "To what purpose is this waste ?"(e) but rather rejoice in the 
repeated record of an incident which cannot but be full of divine teaching, and deep 
significancy. 

It is well said by an excellent living writer, (contrasting the two incidents,) — 
" what brought this Woman with the alabaster box of ointment to Jesus, was the 
earnest yearning after the forgiveness of her sin ; and she, in her deep shame and 
abasement of soul before Him, presumed not to approach Him nearer than to anoint 
His feet only, standing the while behind. Kissing those feet with her lips, and 
wiping them with the hair of her head, she realized, as it were in an outward act, 
the bidding of St. Paul, — ' as ye have yielded your members servants to Unclean- 
ness, and to Iniquity unto Iniquity ; even so now yield your members servants to 
Righteousness unto Holiness/ "(jf) She used the " long hair," which was "a glory 
to her," in order to wipe her Lord's feet ; as if confessing that our best gifts " only 
find their true place, when acknowledging their subjection and doing service to 
Him." 

39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden Him saw it y he spake 
within himself, saying, This Man, if he were a Prophet, would have 

(6) St. Luke x. 42. (c) St. Matth. xxvi. 6, 7. St. Mark xiv. 3. St. John xii. 3. 

(d) See the references above, in note(c). (e) St. Matthew xxvi. 8. (/) Romans vi. 19. 



462 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him : for 
she is a sinner." 

The discernment of spirits was accounted the mark of a true Prophet ;(g) and 
such knowledge was recognized as the very note of Messiah, (h) — as the Confes- 
sion of Nathanael.^") and of the Woman of Samaria,(/f) show. Consider also the 
blasphemy of the soldiers, when they had blind-folded our Lord, — St. Matthew 
xxvi. 67, 68. 

This Pharisee was murmuring against the Great Physician, for conveying Life 
and Health ; — and against one diseased, yea, at the point to die, for coming to Him 
for cure. Little did he advert to the fact that here was a Physician standing be- 
tween two diseased persons : differing, however, chiefly in this, — that the Pharisee's 
was the more dangerous case of the two ! 

Our Saviour proceeds forthwith to convince His entertainer that He is a Pro- 
phet, — by showing him that He knows " what manner of man this is " that enter- 
taineth Him. " The Pharisee .... spake within himself" and yet was answered; 
— for it follows : — 

40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to 
say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. 

41, 42 There was a certain Creditor which had two Debtors : the 
one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they 
had nothing to pay, He frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, 
which of them will love Him most ? 

43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom He forgave 
most. And He said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 

In this parable, (says a grave and learned Bishop,) — " We are the debtors ; and 
our debts are sins ; and the creditor is God. The Kemission of our sins is the frank 
forgiving of our debts ; and for that, we are obliged to return our love. ;; Frankly 
to forgive, is "to forgive out of mere grace and favour." 

Simon had "rightly judged/' — not that he who sins most largely, will, when 
forgiven, love the most ; but that he who most keenly feels the burden of his guilt, 
— and who therefore has the liveliest sense of his need of Forgiveness, — will repay 
with most love the Being who removes his burden. For it has been truly pointed 
out that he "to whom little is forgiven," "is not necessarily he who has sinned 
little ; but he who is lacking in any strong conviction of the exceeding sinfulness of 
Sin ;" he who is unconscious of his need of a Saviour. The warning therefore be- 
comes personal, to Simon : reveals him to himself. And here, he who reads these 
blessed pages in the right spirit, will pause to consider on how many other occa- 
sions our Lord did the like ; showed that He was yearning after a human soul, by 
the practical and personal turn which He gave to His Discourse. Consider, for 
example, the answer which the Lawyer obtained to his memorable question, — " And 
who is my neighbour V'Q) 

In this place, accordingly, our Lord goes on to apply the parable which He had 
just delivered, to the case of his entertainer and the sinful Woman ; — who even now, 
it would appear, was hiding her shame by bending over His feet to kiss them. The 
proportion of fifty to five hundred, doubtless* in the ears of the Pharisee, expressed 
the relative position in which himself and that poor creature actually stood towards 
God. But on the lips of the Divine Speaker, those numbers rather represented 
their respective sense ofundesert: their respective consciousness of Sin. 

44, 45, 46 And He turned to the Woman, and said unto Simon, 
Seest thou this Woman ? I entered into thine house, thou gavest Me 
no water for My feet : but she hath washed My feet with tears, and 
wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest Me no kiss : but 
this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss My feet. 

(g) Consider 1 Kings xiv. 6 '- 2 Kings i. 3 : v. 26. 

(h) Isaiah xi. 3, 4. Compare St. John ii. 25. (?') St. John i. 49. 

(&) St. John iv. 29. (I) St. Luke x. 29. See verses 36 and 37. 



VII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 463 

My head with oil thou didst not anoint : but this woman hath anointed 
My feet with ointment. 

Take notice how He is pleased thus graciously to enumerate and dwell upon every 
particular of her homage. She may have thought herself unnoticed ; certainly, un- 
heeded. But no expression of her love had escaped the eyes of Him with whom she 
had to do ! 

And the next thing which strikes us, is the want of respectful consideration with 
which the Saviour had evidently been treated by this Pharisee. Water for the 
feet, was, (and to this day, is,) a common oriental attention :(m) while a Salutation 
with the lips, (w) and wherewithal to anoint the head,(o) — would, (as it seems,) 
have been only becoming courtesies on an occasion like the present. All these, 
however easily procurable, had been withheld : whereas the feet, washed at the 
fountain of tears, had been made, by this guilty woman, the object of extraordinary 
honour. On them, also, (instead of on the forehead,) had she bestowed her many 
kisses : and fragrant ointment, instead of common oil, had been employed to testify 
the depth of her jo y at His presence ! 

47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are for- 
given ; for she loved much : but to whom little is forgiven, the same 
loveth little. 

This seems to mean, — It is clear, from her conduct, that she has been forgiven 
manij sins : for you see that she loves much. Whereas, he to whom little is for- 
given, — that is, '•' to whom, according to his own views of himself, little is forgiven, 
because he regards his sins as few, — the same loveth little." . . . The sentence is 
certainly a hard one : but it must be explained by the light of the foregoing Para- 
ble ; which shows that Forgiveness comes first, and Love follows after. 

48 And He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 

An act of Absolution which cannot be regarded as any encouragement to Sin, yet, 
as the strongest encouragement imaginable to Sinners : and so it is remarked in the 
heading of the present Chapter. Here was one sunk very deep in pollution. Her 
history, indeed, we know not: but we know concerning her that Sin had been her 
choice, and Shame her portion, until the present hour. We know further, that in 
the end, there was sincere Repentance on her side: entire Forgiveness on the part 
of God. Which things are "written for our learning: that we, through patience 
and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope."(j?) 

49 And they that sat at meat with Him began to say within them- 
selves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also ? 

Which reminds us of what had occurred in the case of the cure of the Paralytic, 
— borne of four. See St. Luke v. 20, 21. See also the note on St. Mark ii. 7. they 
regarded Him as a mere Man ; and, What Man, (say they,) can pretend to forgive 
Sin ? Take notice, therefore, that while they murmured in Unbelief, — she, in the 
fullness of her Faith, came to Him as GOD, to obtain forgiveness of her sins. 
Whence it follows, — 

50 And He said to the Woman, Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in 
Peace. 

See the note on St. Mark v. 34. 

Faith, then, had been the root, — and Love, (as our Lord Himself has just reminded 
us,-) the Flower; or rather, the Fruit: "Faith which worketh by Love." (q) And 
this corresponds with the beautiful picture of spiritual growth which St. Peter has 
drawn, in the first chapter of his second Epistle, — verse 5 to 7. 

Compare the words which our Lord addressed to the Woman of Canaan, — St. 

(m) Genesis xviii. 4: xix. 2 : xxiv. 32 : xliii. 24, &o. 

(«) Gen. xxix. 13 : xxxiii. 4: xlv. 15. Exodus xviii. 7. St. Matthew xxvi. 49. 

(o) Ruth iii. 3. Psalm xxxiii. 5. Daniel x. 3. St. Matthew vi. 17. 

(p) Romans xv. 4. (q) Galat. v. 6. 



464 A PLAIN COMMENTARY. [CHAP. 

Matthew xv. 28 ; and take notice that as there it was Earnestness and Humility, so 
here it is Penitence and Love which meets the eye ; but our Saviour, in both cases, 
commends the Faith of the applicant. We see only the Branches : He, — the Boot. 



THE PRAYER. 

God, Who hast prepared for them that love Thee such good things 
as pass man's understanding ; pour into our hearts such love toward 
Thee, that we, loving Thee above all things, may obtain Thy promises, 
which exceed all that we can desire ; through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 



CHAPTER VIII 



3 Women minister unto Christ of their substance. 4 Christ, after He had preached 
from place to place, attended with His Apostles, propoimdeth the Parable of the 
Sower, 16 and of the candle. 21 Declareth who are His Mother, and Brethren. 22 
Rebuketh the winds. 26 Casteth the legion of Devils out of the man into the herd 
of swine. 37 Is rejected of the Gadarenes. 43 Healeth the woman of her bloody 
issue. 49 And raisethfrom death Jairus' Daughter. 

1 And it came to pass afterward, that He went throughout every city 
and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of 
God : and the Twelve were with Him, 

One of the ancients, who was also a Countryman of our own, remarks on this, 
that — "like the Eagle enticing its young ones to fly, our Lord, step by step, raises up 
His Disciples to heavenly things. He first of all teaches in the synagogues, and 
performs Miracles. Next, He chooses twelve, whom He names Apostles ; He after- 
wards takes them with Him, as He preaches throughout the cities and villages." 
Lastly, — He sends them forth alone, as we read in St. Matthew x. 1 to 5. 

2 and certain Women, which had been healed of evil spirits and in- 
firmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, 

The same statement is repeated in St. Mark xvi. 9. This Mary came from Mag- 
dala, — the city mentioned in St. Matthew xv. 39 ; and it is probably meant that she 
had been a person of most unholy life, in whom many evil spirits had once taken 
up their habitation. Consider St. Luke xi. 26. 

3 and Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and 
many others, which ministered unto Him of their substance. 

These holy women enjoyed the blessed privilege of waiting on our Saviour's 
footsteps, and supplying His earthly needs. One connected even with Herod's Court 
was among them. Compare St. Matthew xxvii. 55, 56. 



VIII.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 465 



4 And when much people were gathered together, and were come to 
Him out of every city, He spake by a Parable : 

The parable of " the Sower" follows, — which is found related in all the three 
Gospels. The Reader is referred chiefly to the notes on the same parable in St. 
Mark's Gospel, — (chap. iv. 3 to 9, and 14 to 20,) — for many remarks, which could 
not be repeated in this place. See also St. Matthew's Gospel, — xiii. 1 to 9, and 18 
to 23 ; and the notes there : especially the note on ver. 2. 

This parable was delivered to a multitude standing on the shore, by our Saviour 
as He sat in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. See the note on St. Mark iv. 1. 

5 A Sower went out to sow his seed : 

A familiar image, truly ; yet, how ennobled by the use which our Saviour here 
makes of it ! 

To know how large an amount of teaching lies concealed in that word, — "seed," 
see the note on St. Mark iv. 14 : also on St. Matthew xiii. 8. Take notice further, 
that as by the image of a corn of wheat, our Lord here teaches us how to live; so 
does His great Apostle, from the same source, instruct us how to die. Consider 1 
Corinthians xv. 35 to 49. 

Observe, that the Sower goes forth to sow "his seed." Now, the Sower is our 
Saviour Christ: "who receives not the word, as borrowed," (says an Arabian 
Bishop,) "for He is by nature the Word of the living God." If the term be 
extended to the Ministers of Christ, then let them beware how they sow any other 
seed than His ! 

See more in the note on St. Mark iv. 3. 

and as he sowed, some fell by the way side ; and it was trodden down, 

The certain fate of seed cast upon the highway! Yet St. Luke alone it is, who 
notices this circumstance. We learn from the language of all the three Gospels 
that the seed is less endangered by carelessness from within, than by hostility from 
without. It is less the chance tread of passenger thoughts coming and going, than 
the active malice of the Devil, which is to be dreaded. 

One of the ancients points out that our Lord says not, — " he sowed some by the 
way side ;" but that " some fell" there. For he who soweth, soweth with good 
intent. It depends upon the hearer, where the seed shall fall. 

6 and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock ; 
and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked 
moisture. 

" An unchanged, unsoftened heart, like an evil soil, disappoints the fruit. Though 
sown by a weak: hand, yea, possibly a foul one, yet, if received into a clean and 
honest heart, it will fructify much." 

The way-side is interpreted to mean a heart trodden and hardened by the continual 
passage of evil thoughts. The rock denotes the hardness of self-will : a nature un- 
subdued, unyielding, unbroken. 

Venerable Bede observes, that "the moisture at the root of the seed is the same 
as what is called in another parable the oil, to trim the lamps of the Virgins ;(a) 
that is, Love and steadfastness in Virtue." 

See more in the note on St. Mark iv. 6. 

7 And some fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprang up with it, 
and choked it. 

The seed did not fall so much among thorns that were full grown, as in ground 
where the roots of these had not been carefully weeded out. Hence, as a thought- 
ful modern writer continues, " they grew together, — only the thorns overtopped the 
good seed : shut them out from the air and light ; and drew away the moisture 
which should have nourished them It is not here, as in the first case, that 

(a) St. Matth. xxv. 3, b, 8. 

30 



466 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

there was no soil ; nor yet, as in the second case, that there was a shallow soil. 
What was deficient was careful husbandry." 
See more in the note on St. Mark iv. 7. 

8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an 
hundredfold. 

"Whence then is the difference? Not from the seed. That is the same to all. 
Not from the Sower, neither ; for though these be divers, and of different abilities, 
yet, it depends little or nothing on that. Indeed, he is the fittest to preach who is 
himself most like his message ; and comes forth, not only with a handful of seed in 
his hand, but with store of it in his heart, — the word dwelling richly in him.(b) 
Yet, the seed he sows, being this Word of Life, depends not on his qualifications in 
any kind ; either of common gifts, or special grace. People mistake this greatly ; 
and it is a carnal conceit to hang on the advantages of the Minister, or to eye that 
much." .... The words are Archbishop Leighton's. 

"A hundredfold!" Such increase attends a good man's sowing. Thus it fared 
with Isaac when he sowed in the land of the Philistines, "and the Lord blessed 
him," — as we read in Genesis xxvi. 12. 

See more in the note on St. Mark iv. 8. 

And when He had said these things, He cried, He that hath ears to 
hear, let him hear. 

9 And His Disciples asked Him, saying, What might this Parable 
be? 

Some remarks will be found on what precedes in the notes on St. Mark iv. 9 and 
10, to which the reader is referred. 

10 And He said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the 
Kingdom of God : _ 

See the note on St. Matthew xiii. 11 ; and observe what follows in that Gospel, 
with the notes thereon. 

but to others in Parables : that seeing they might not see, and hear- 
ing they might not understand. 

Observe the reason assigned for this in St. Matthew xiii. 13. St. Luke omits the 
quotation from Isaiah which is found in St. Matthew xiii. 14, 15, and St. Mark 
iv. 12. 

11 Now the Parable is this : The Seed is the Word of God. 

12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the 
Devil, and taketh away the Word out of their hearts, lest they should 
believe and be saved. 

Concerning this portion of the Divine exposition of the Parable of the Sower, the 
reader is referred to what has been already offered in the notes on St. Mark iv. 14 
and 15. 

13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the 
word with joy ; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and 
in time of temptation fall away. 

" rocky hearts !" exclaims pious Leighton, " How shallow, shallow, are the 
impressions of Divine things upon you ! Religion goes never further than the up- 
per surface of your hearts. You have but few deep thoughts of God, and of Jesus 
Christ, and of the things of the world to come. All are but slight and transient 
glances ! 

" The seed goes not deep. It springs up indeed, but any thing blasts and 
withers it. There is little room in some. If trials arise, either the heat of perse- 

(b) Coloss. iii. 16. 



VIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S gospel. 467 

cution without, or of temptation within, this sudden spring-seed can stand before 
neither.'' 

See more in the note on St, Mark iv. 16, 17. 

14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they 
have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and plea- 
sures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 

This parable, as St. Luke gives it, abounds in singular touches which are pecu- 
liar to his Gospel. See the notes on verse 15. In this place, it will be seen that 
he alone preserves the statement that characters of a certain class, " when they have 
heard, go forth, and are choked with cares," &c. The expression seems to indicate 
the restlessness of such characters ; as contrasted with "the patient abiding of the 
meek." 

What a lively picture is here presented to us of those thickening cares, which at 
first interfere with growth in Holiness, — and at last, unless they be cut away, 
destroy the spiritual life altogether ! 

Some hearts, then, are a highway ; some, a rock ; some, thorny ground. By such 
terms, at least, the reception which men give to the Word, when, like seed, it is 
sown in their ears, — may be fitly represented. " Take heed, therefore, how ye 
7iear,"(c) saith the Spirit. And, verily, it cannot be so easy a matter to hear 
aright ! . . . . See more in the note on St. Mark iv. 19. 

15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and 
good heart, having heard the Word, keep it, 

" In an honest and good heart:" the words are found only in the present Gospel, 
and are highly expressive of the character which becomes fruitful in good works. 
As for captious inquiries concerning Human Goodness, we know indeed that " there 
is none good but one, that is Goo:"(tZ) and yet Scripture, Reason, and Experience, 
convince us that some natures afford a better soil for the growth of Spiritual seed, 
than others. * 

St. Luke also alone it is who says that these persons " keep" the Word : that is, 
they hold it fast. Our Lord declares of such that they shall " never see Death."(e) 
In the language of our Advent Collect, they " inwardly digest" the Word ; and by 
patience and comfort of it, they " embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed Hope of 
Everlasting Life."(/) 

See more in the note on St. Mark iv. 20. 

and bring forth fruit with patience* 

" With patience :" — a memorable word ! There must be " patient continuance in 
well-doing :"(g) perseverance unto the end. Consider the places referred to on the 
subject of the great Christian grace of Patience, in the note on St. Matthew iv. 7. 

" 'He that hath ears to hear/ as our Saviour closes, ' let him hear.' The Lord 
apply our hearts to this work ; and though discouragements should arise without, 
or within, and little present fruit appear, but corruption is rather stronger and 
greater, yet, watch and pray. Wait on ; it shall be better. This fruit is to be 
brought forth ' with patience.' And this Seed, this Word, the Lord calls by that 
very name, the ' Word of His Patience: '(h) Keep it, hide it in thy heart, and in due 
time it shall spring up. And this Patience shall be but for a little while. The day 
of Harvest is at hand, when all who have been in any measure fruitful in Grace, 
shall be gathered into Glory." 

16 No man, when he hath lighted a Candle, covereth it with a ves- 
sel, or putteth it under a bed ; but setteth it on a Candlestick, that 
they which enter in may see the light. 

" Having spoken of the effect of the Word upon the hearers, He now tells His 
Disciples what they must do as teachers of the Word." See the note on St, Mark 
iv. 21, and on St. Matthew v. 15. 

(c) 2 St. Luke viii. 18. (d) St. Matth. xix. 17. (e) St. John viii. 51. 

(/) Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent. (g) Romans ii. 7. {h) Rev. iii. 10. 







468 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

17, 18 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest : neither 
any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed 
therefore how ye hear : for whosoever hath, to him shall be given ; and 
whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seem- 
eth to have. 

" How ye hear." In St. Mark iv. 24, it is — " What ye hear." . . . . " Even that 
which he seemeth to have," — is peculiar to this Gospel. The phrase marks the un- 
reality of the possession so neglected ; and may be compared, or rather, contrasted, 
with the language of St. Luke xvi. 12. 

19 Then came to Him His Mother and His Brethren, and could not 
come at Him for the press. 

Concerning the "Brethren of our Lord," see the note on St. Matthew xiii. 55. 
How mighty must the crowd have been to have occasioned such an incident as this ! 

20, 21 And it was told Him by certain which said, Thy Mother and 
Thy Brethren stand without, desiring to see Thee. And He answered 
and said unto them, My Mother and My Brethren are these which hear 
the Word of God, and do it. 

This was surely said for the comfort of as many as should come after : and it is 
well worthy of remark how our Blessed Lord, in countless ways, contrived that 
" as many as are afar off,"(0 — even we, at this distant day, — should be made to 
feel that advantages of the highest order are ours; privileges, equal to any which 

were enjoyed by Kinsmen and Disciples in the Days of the Son of Man 

These verses occur in St. Mark's Gospel, — iii. 31 to 35 ; where see the notes. 

22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that He went into a ship 
with His Disciples : and He said unto them, Let us go over unto the 
other side of the Lake. And they launched forth. 

This was done, as St. Matthew relates, (viii. 18,) " when Jesus saw great multi- 
tudes about Him." The blessed company were about to cross over from the West- 
ern to the Eastern side of the Lake, in the direction of Decapolis. 

23 But as they sailed he fell asleep : 

Jonah was a memorable type of Christ : and we read of him also, that in the 
midst of the mighty storm, " he was fast asleep."^') 

As man, our Saviour slept: as GOD, He stilled the storm. In some such man- 
ner we are often reminded at once, of the Divine and Human nature of our Lord. 
Thus, immediately after cleansing the leper, He is related to have " withdrawn 
Himself into the Wilderness, and prayed:" {I) when He performed the stupendous 
miracle at Capernaum, on the Centurion's servant, He is said to have " mar- 
velled :"{m) and when He was about to call Lazarus out of the grave, it is stated 
that "Jesus ivept."(n) 

See the notes on St. Mark iii. 5 : vii. 34: St. Luke iv. 30 : vii. 13. 

and there came down a storm of wind on the lake ; and they were 
filled with water, and were in jeopardy. 

" There came down a storm of wind." This is what happens in the case of moun- 
tain-lakes ; and is observed to take place to this day on the Sea of Galilee. See the 
note on St. Mark i. 16. 

24 And they came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, Master, master, 
we perish. Then He arose, and rebuked the Wind and the raging of 
the Water : and they ceased, and there was a calm. 

(t) Acts ii. 39. (/c) Jonah i. 5. (I) St. Luke v. 16. 

(m) St. Luke vii. 9. (n) St. John xi. 35. 



VIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 469 

Our Lord rebuked both the Wind and the Sea ;(o) accordingly, the one ceased, 
the other grew calm. First, the Wind was silenced ; then, the Sea : because that 
was a cause, this, an effect. Even from so minute a circumstance as this, one may 
gather a lesson ! 

" The floods have lifted up, Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice, the 
floods have lifted up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of 
many waters : yea, than the mighty waves of the sea."(.p) 

25 And He said unto them, Where is your Faith ? And they being 
afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of Man is this ! 
for He commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey Him. 

They forgot that this was He of whom the Psalmist had said, " Thy way is in 
the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known l"(q) 

26 And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over 
against Galilee. 

Our Lord had now reached the Eastern shore of the Lake. "We are about to be- 
hold Him performing a mighty act, illustrative of the very purpose of His coming: 
for, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the 
works of the Devil." {r) 

27 And when He went forth to land, there met Him out of the City 
a certain man, 

So St. Mark says, (s) but we learn from St. Matthew viii. 28, that there were two 
persons : of whom it seems that one was so exceedingly fierce, and proved so very 
conspicuous, that St. Mark and St. Luke have confined themselves to his history. 

which had Devils long time, and wore no clothes, neither abode in 
any house, but in the tombs. 

Concerning this, see the last note on the second half of St. Matthew viii. 28. 

28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before Him, and 
with a loud voice said, What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, thou Son 
of God Most High ? I beseech Thee, torment me not. 

The very presence of Christ is torture to the evil Spirits. Compare what hap- 
pened in the synagogue of Capernaum, St. Luke iv. 33, 34 : and note the behaviour 
of the deaf and dumb Spirit when " he saw Christ." (t) This reminds us that 
Heaven would not be Heaven to the unholy. 

29 (For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the 
man. 

It is called an "unclean spirit." Is it possible that such possession was the re- 
sult of sensual indulgence and unclean living? that unbridled lust laid men open 
to these incursions of the Powers of Darkness ? See the notes on St. Mark v. 1. 

For oftentimes it had caught him : and he was kept bound with 
chains and in fetters ; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the 
Devil into the wilderness.) 

_ This is even more particularly described by St. Mark v. 4, 5. — The result of this 
violence is mentioned by St. Matthew, namely, " that no man might pass by that 
way."(u) 

30 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name ? And he said, 
Legion : because many devils were entered into him. 

o) St. Mark iv. 39. (p) Psalm xciii. 3, 4. (q) Psalm Ixxvii. 19. 

r) 1 St. John iii. 8. (s) St. Mark v. 2. (t) St. Mark ix. 20. 

«) St. Matthew viii. 28. 



470 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

" Legion !" a name suggestive not only of numbers, "but of organized strength, 
tried courage ; distinction of ranks, and unity of purpose. As there was " a mul- 
titude of the heavenly host;"(x) as also there were more than "twelve legions of 
Angels"(y) ready to do the bidding of the Incarnate Son ; — so does Satan's King- 
dom discover military resources also. Himself " the Prince of the devils :" (z) un- 
der him, " Principalities and Powers,"(a) and other ranks of inferior spirits ; which 
have different degrees of strength, (6) depending perhaps on their different degrees 
of wickedness. (c) Our Lord describes the Enemy as "a strong man armed," and 
speaks of his " armour "(d) Hence, the Christian, who has to contend with him, 
or his agents, is furnished with " weapons of warfare/'(e) also ; "the whole armour 
of God ;" girdle, and breast-plate, — shield, and helmet, and sword.(y) See the 
notes on St. Luke xi. 22. 

The reader is referred to the notes on St. Matthew xii. 43 to 45. 

31 And they besought Him that He would not command them to go 
out into the Deep. 



Rather, into the "bottomless pit;" for the word here used is "the 
which probably in this place denotes the pit of Hell. 

St. John the Divine beheld (in the Spirit) " an Angel come down from Heaven, 
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid 
hold on the Dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan ; and bound 
him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and set a seal upon him 
that he should deceive the nations no more."(<7) These are mysterious words, 
which we cannot presume to explain : but, taken in connection with the text, they 
seem to imply that the bottomless pit is reserved for the Apostate Angels ; and 
that it was the prayer of this Legion of Spirits that Christ would not anticipate 
their sentence, by sending them thither " before the time/ ; (/i) Compare St. Jude, 
verse 6. 

32 And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the moun- 
tain : and they besought Him that He would suffer them to enter into 
them. 

See the notes on St. Mark v. 12. 

33 And He suffered them. Then went the devils out of the man, 
and entered into the swine : and the herd ran violently down a steep 
place into the Lake, and were choked. 

See the note on St. Mark v. 13. 

34, 35 When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and 
went and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out 
to see what was done ; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of 
whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, 
and in his right mind ; and they were afraid. 

Take notice, then, how complete the recovery had been ; that he who, an hour 
ago, had been a frantic demoniac, was already converted into a meek disciple of 
the Lamb. All this is implied by the statement, that he was now to be seen " sit- 
ting at the feet of Jesus ;" for this was the attitude of a Disciple. It was thus 
that Scholars received the instructions of their Master. See Deut. xxxiii. 3. 2 
Kings iv. 38. St. Luke x. 39. Acts xxii. 3. Compare Ezekiel viii. 1 : xiv. 1 : xx. 
1 : xxxiii. 31. 

36, 37 They also which saw it told them by what means he that was 
possessed of the devils was healed. Then the whole multitude of the 

(a:) St. Luke ii. 13. (y) St. Matthew xxvi. 53. (z) St. Matth. ix. 34. 

(a) Eph. i. 21, and vi. 12 : Rom. viii. 38 : Col. ii. 15. (b) St. Matth. xvii. 21. 

(c) St. Matthew xii. 45. (d) St. Luke xi. 21, 22. (e) 2 Cor. x. 4. 

(/) Ephes. vi. 14 to 17. . (g) Rev. xx. 1 to 3. (h) St. Matth. viii. 29. 



viii.] on st. luke's gospel. 471 

country of the Gadarenes round about besought Him to depart from 
them ; 

They forgot that they had been delivered from a scourge which had rendered it 
unsafe for any man " to pass by that way."(i) They overlooked the blessing which 
had befallen two (A;) of their own most afflicted citizens ; whereby they had been 
restored to their families and to themselves. Above all, they gave no heed to the 
actual presence of Christ their Saviour. They could think only of the swine that 
had been lost. They were confounded at the amazing history they had heard ; and 
wished for nothing so much as the departure of One who had, in reality, shown 
Himself their Friend, and greatest Benefactor. 

How hard it is to recognize the Hand of God in anything which interrupts our 
present enjoyment ; brings us loss; and, in any way, interferes with our worldly 
prosperity ! We overlook the actual blessings which mingle with the most afflict- 
ing dispensation. We do not consider how near we may have been brought, by 
chastisement, to the sacred person of our Lord. We simply are impatient and 
afraid. We desire nothing so much as to be as, and what, we were. 

for they were taken with great fear : and He went up into a Ship, 
and returned back again. 

He took them at their word. He granted their prayer : yet, surely, in wrath, or 
in sorrow, rather than in mercy ! See the note on St. Matthew vii. 8. 

38 Now the man out of whom the devils were departed, besought 
Him that he might be with Him ; 

See the notes on St. Mark v. 18. 

39 but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and 
show how great things God hath done unto thee. 

Sometimes our Lord invited men to follow Him, and they resisted His invita- 
tion.^) Here, when one expressed a wish to follow, he is not allowed to do so. — In 
like manner, the Saviour sometimes enjoined silence on those whom He healed. (m) 
Here, He commands the very opposite course . . . Doubtless, He makes trial of 
each in a peculiar way ; has different demands for different persons ; and shows to 
every one the path which will conduct him most safely to the Land of Everlasting 
Rest. See the note on St. Matthew xi. 5, and on St. Mark v. 19. 

And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how 
great things Jesus had done unto him. 

40 And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people 
gladly received Him : for they were all waiting for Him. 

He beheld them, as He approached the Western shore of the Lake, drawn up to 
receive Him. Compare St. Mark v. 21, and the note there. 

41 And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a Ruler 
of the Synagogue : 

The Reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark v. 22. 

42 and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought Him that He 
would come into his house: for he had one only Daughter, about twelve 
years of age, and she lay a dying. 

"One only Daughter." — So, at Nam, and after the Transfiguration, it was an only 
Son-.(tt) and at Bethany, an only Brother. The Great Physician knows who stand 
in the greatest need ! 

(i) St. Matthew viii. 28. (k) See above, the first note on verse 27. 

(l) St. Luke ix. 59 : xviii. 22. (m) St. Matt. viii. 4 : ix. 30 : xii. 16. St. Luke viii. 56. 

00 St. Luke vii. 12, and St. Luke ix. 38. 






472 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

43 But as He went, the people thronged Him. And a Woman 
having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living 
upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 

St. Luke "the Physician" (o) does not add, (as St. Mark does, in this place,)Q>) — 
"but rather grew worse." 

Concerning the words of the text, see the note on St. Mark v. 26. 

44 came behind Him, and touched the border of His garment : and 
immediately her issue of blood stanched. 

" The garment of Christ," says an ancient writer, " represented the mystery of 
His Incarnation." It is probable that he meant thereby to imply, that "he that 
will be saved" "must believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ."(<2) 
See the notes on St. Mark v. 27. 

Concerning " the border of His Garment," see the note on St. Matthew viii. 20. 

45 And Jesus said, Who touched Me ? 

Not as though He needed the information ; for this was He who said to Na- 
thanael, — "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw 
thee."(r) . . . Compare the language of Elisha to Gehazi, — 2 Kings v. 26. — See the 
note on the latter part of St. Mark v. 30. 

This was not an encouraging reception, as men speak. Consider the following 
texts :— St. Matthew xv. 23 to 26 : and St. John i. 38. 

46 When all denied, Peter and they that were with Him said, 
Master, the multitude throng Thee, and press Thee, and sayest Thou, 
Who touched Me ? And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched Me : for 
I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me. 

The poor woman had approached His Sacred garments as men are said to touch 
relics ; with a blind faith in their mysterious virtue and efficacy. Even thus, she 
obtained a blessing ; for it was — Faith. But Christ would not so be touched. He 
will have us know that the Fountain of grace is the living God, — who beholdeth all 
things in Heaven and Earth ; and who claims of His rational creatures a reasonable 
worship. 

Do but think how full, to overflowing, must have been the House of clay wherein 
the Saviour of the World condescended to make His habitation ; that the virtue of 
His Divinity, — like the precious ointment on Aaron's head, — should have thus gone 
down to the very skirts of His clothing ! (s) Consider St. John v. 26. 

Compare St. Luke vi. 19 ; and see the notes on St. Mark v. 31, 32. 

47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trem- 
bling ; and falling down before Him, she declared unto Him before all 
the people for what cause she had touched Him, and how she was healed 
immediately. 

Take notice, that in this miracle the cure came first. This was vouchsafed as a 
help and encouragement ; that so, the open confession which the Saviour requires, 
and which must follow, — see Acts viii. 37, — might prove the easier. — It is further 
remarkable as having been a miracle within a miracle ; — and one, wherein Christ 
wrought without a word, or sign. 

48 And He said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort : thy Faith 
hath made thee whole : go in peace. 

Our Lord had used the self-same form of address, in the former Chapter, to the 
" woman which was a sinner :" — vii. 50. Faith is the hand which lays hold on the 
Blessing. 

(o) Coloss. iv. 14. (p) St. Mark v. 26. 

(q) See that most precious part of our whole Church Service, — the Athanasian Creed. 

(r) St. John i. 48. (s) Psalm cxxxiii. 2 



VIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 473 

49 While He yet spake, there cometh one from the Ruler of the 
Synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy Daughter is dead ; trouble not 
the Master. 

For the fatigue to which our Blessed Saviour was being exposed must have been 
apparent to all. See the note on St. Mark v. 24. 

To raise the dead seemed impossible. Such a wonder had been recorded once of 
Elijah, (t) twice of Elisha.(?t) But how could such a thing be expected on the 
present occasion ? When the damsel drew her parting breath, the last ray of Hope 
became extinct also. 

50 But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, Fear not : 
believe only, and she shall be made whole. 

And had not our Lord supplied him with a mighty ground of confidence by the 
miracle which He had wrought on the way ? The note on St. Mark v. 36 may be 
referred to. 

51, 52 And when He came into the house, He suffered no man to go 
in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of 
the maiden. And all wept, and bewailed her : but He said, Weep not, 
she is not dead, but sleepeth. 

In the eyes of " the Father of Spirits" she did but sleep ; did but wait till He, 
(who is the Resurrection and the Life,) should come to waken her. 
See the notes on St. Mark v. 37, 38, 39. 

53, 54 And they laughed Him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. 
And He put them all out, 

The scorner is not suffered to be a witness of Christ's miracles. Thus our Lord 
illustrated one of His own sayings, by His own example. See St. Matthew vii. 6. 

Elijah in like manner, (.r) and Elisha,(^/) are found to have been even alone when 
they raised the dead. 

55 and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And 
her spirit came again, and she arose straightway : 

The first few words of verse 55 are found also in 1 Kings xvii. 22. The Reader 
is referred to the notes on St. Mark v. 40, 41, 42. 

and He commanded to give her meat. 

The King of Heaven and Earth, cares, therefore, for the meal of a little child ! — 
See the notes on St. Mark v. 43. 

56 And her parents were astonished : but He charged them that they 
should tell no man what was done. 

The three examples above specified, (z) were so many confirmations under the 
Law, of a Resurrection to Life after Death ; and we have three to equal them under 
the Gospel. (a) One, we have been already considering. Another took place at 
Nain. " Thus Christ raised the dead in the chamber, and in the street ; from the 
bed, and from the bier :" and, not content with this, He proceeded to the grave of 
Lazarus. — These three miracles under the Gospel were so many proofs, and preludes,, 
of the Last and General Resurrection. 

The present miracle seems to have been attended with some features of exceeding 
solemnity, for three only of the Apostles were deemed worthy to behold it, — the 
same three who were the chosen witnesses of Christ's greatest Glory, (b) as well as 

(t) 1 Kings xvii. 22. («) 2 Kings iv. 35. and xiii. 21. 

(a:) 1 Kings xvii. 19,— compared with ver. 23. (y) 2 Kings iv. 33. 

(z) In the note on ver. 49. (a) Concerning which, see the note on St. Matth. ix. 25. 

(6) St. Matthew xvii. 1, 2._ 



474 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

of His lowest Humiliation, (c) The injunction to "tell no man what was done," is 
fully explained by the temper of mind of the assembled company, recorded in 
verse 53. 



THE PRAYER. 

Almighty God, with Whom do live the spirits of them that depart 
hence in the Lord, and with Whom the souls of the faithful, after they 
are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity ; we 
beseech Thee, that it may please Thee, of Thy gracious goodness, 
shortly to accomplish the number of Thine elect, and to hasten Thy 
Kingdom ; that we, with all those that are departed in the true faith of 
Thy Holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in 
body and soul, in Thy eternal and everlasting Glory ; through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 



CHAPTER IX. 



1 Christ sendeth His Apostles to ivork miracles, and to preach. 7 Herod desired to 
see Christ. 17 CumsTfeedetJifve thousand. 18 Enquireth ivhat opinion the world 
had of Him : foretelleth His Passion. 23 Proposeth to all the pattern of His 
patience. 28 Transfiguration. 37 He healeth the lunatic. 43 Again fore- 
warneth His Disciples of His Passion. 46 Commendeth Humility. 51 Biddeth 
them to show mildness toicards all, without desire of revenge. 57 Divers would fol- 
low Him, but upon conditions. 

1 Then He called His twelve Disciples together, and gave them 
power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. 

St. Luke is speaking of the Twelve Apostles, whose names he gave in chap. vi. 
14 to 16. Concerning the several catalogues of the Apostles, see the note on St. 
Mark iii. 15 : and, for some remarks on each of those great Saints, the Reader is 
referred to the Commentary on St. Mark iii. 16 to 19. 

2 And He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God, and to heal 
the sick. 

Hitherto, "as an Eagle .... fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her 
wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings,"(«) — so had the Lord dealt with 
His Apostles. But it is now time that they should make their first Ministerial 
Journey alone ; and He proceeds to deliver to them His parting Charge and Com- 
mission. Concerning the four ensuing verses, enough has been already offered in 
the notes on St. Matthew x. 1 to 15, — to which the Reader is accordingly here 
referred. 

(c) St. Matthew xxvi. 37. (a) Deut. xxxii. 11. 



ix.] on st. luke's gospel. 475 

3, 4, 5 And He said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, 
neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money ; neither have 
two coats apiece. And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, 
and thence depart. And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go 
out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony 
against them. 

6 And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the 
Gospel, and healing every where. 

St. Mark, — vi. 12, 13, — relates this incident in a very interesting manner ; but 
we must refer to St. Matthew's narrative if we would understand the words which 
follow. The last-named Evangelist relates that "when Jesus had made an end of 
commanding His Twelve Disciples, He departed thence to teach and to preach in 
their cities. "(b) In other words, He took His third Great Ministerial Journey, and 
He took it alone. 

7, 8 Now Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him : 
and he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was 
risen from the dead; and of some, that Elias had appeared; and of 
others, that one of the old Prophets was risen again. 

"John" was said to have "risen from the dead;" because the Baptist had been 
killed and was buried: "Elias/' to have "appeared," — for Elijah was translated, 
and had never seen death. Elijah, we know, was expected to appear before the 
Advent of Christ. Hence the inquiry in St. John i. 21, and in St. Matthew xvii. 
11 : — hence also the suspicion which Ave shall find expressed lower down, in verse 
19 ; — and hence the scoff of the populace as our Saviour hung upon the Cross, — 
"Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save Him."(c) 

9 And Herod said, John have I beheaded : but who is this, of whom 
I hear such things ? And he desired to see Him. 

With which remarkable words St. Luke dismisses one of the most striking and 
instructive histories in the Bible. He will be found, in an earlier part of his Gos- 
pel, (namely, in chap. iii. 19, 20,) to have narrated the imprisonment of the Baptist. 
In this place therefore he passes over what St. Matthew, (d) and especially St. 
Mark,(e) have described so much in detail. 

From the combined narrative of the three Evangelists we obtain a striking picture 
of the downward progress of one who has entered on a career of crime. At first, 
sensible of the beauty of Holiness, though recommended by its very sternest 
preacher, and conscious of the power and authority with which John spoke, Herod 
had not only gladly listened, but even largely obeyed him. Next, influenced by a 
criminal passion, he shuts up the Saint in prison. Even so, however, he is careful 
to secure the personal safety of his captive ; and he makes provision that the disci- 
ples of John may have free access to their Master. At last "when a convenient day 
was come," Herod is found capable of giving orders that the Baptist should be put 
to death. He would surely have recoiled with horror, could he but have seen the 
end from the beginning ! 

A tortured conscience is the consequence ; and the murderer can discern nothing 
less than the Baptist restored to life in the wondrous histories which at this time 
reached him concerning our Lord. "And he desired to see Him." But it was 
the curiosity not of Faith, but of Unbelief; of a heart hardening, if not already 
hardened, against holy impressions. The report of our Saviour's heavenly Dis- 
courses, — His Acts of Love, — His Miracles of Mercy, — wrought none of those 
blessed effects on Herod, which they produced on guileless and innocent hearts. 
He longed to see Christ, " because he had heard many things of him ; and he 
hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him."(f) His interview with the Saviour 
accordingly set the seal upon his iniquity ; and "became the means of handing down 

(6) St. Matth. xi. 1. ( c ) St. Matth. xxvii. 49. (d) St. Matth. xiv. 3 to 12. 

(e) St. Mark vi. 17 to 29. (/) St. Luke xxiii. 8. 






476 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

his name to the latest age of the Church, in connection with that of Pontius Pilate, 
as the murderer of " the Prince of Life."(#) 

The Reader who desires more on this subject, maybe referred to the notes on St. 
Matthew xiv. 1 to 10 : and on St. Mark vi. 17 to 29. 

10 And the Apostles, when they were returned, told Him all that 
they had done. And He took them, and went aside privately into a 
desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 

This will be found more particularly related in St. Mark's Gospel, — chap. vi. 30 
to 32 ; where see the note. Travellers describe such "a desert place/' — that is, a 
barren tract of uncultivated ground, at the north-eastern extremity of the Lake, not 
far from which stood Bethsaida- Julias. 

11, 12 And the people, when they knew it, followed Him: and He 
received them, and spake unto them of the Kingdom of Gob, and 
healed them that had need of healing. And when the day began to 
wear away, then came the Twelve, and said unto Him, Send the multi- 
tude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, 
and lodge, and get victuals : for we are here in a desert place. 

The Reader is again referred to the notes on St. Mark's Gospel, — vi. 33 to 36. 
The second Evangelist will be found, as before, to be more full and particular in 
this place than either St. Matthew or St. Luke. 

Did not the Disciples, in effect, doubt their Lord's power, when they made the 
request here recorded? "Yea, they spake against God. They said, Can God fur- 
nish a table in the wilderness? Behold," He hath done many mighty works: "can 
He give bread also, or provide flesh for His people V\h) 

13, 14 Eut He said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, 
We have no more but five loaves and two fishes ; except we should go 
and buy meat for all this people. For they were about five thousand 
men. 

So large is ever the Divine requirement: so slender, and (as it often seems) so 
wholly inadequate, the human means of satisfying it! Yet will God assuredly 
enable His servants to perform whatever He has Himself commanded, if there be 
but obedience and a willing mind, — the fruit of Faith. 

The Reader is referred to the notes on St. Matthew xiv. 17, — St. Mark vi. 37, — 
and St. John vi. 5 to 10. 

And He said to His Disciples, Make them sit "down by fifties in a 
company. 

According'to St. Mark, they were distributed in groups of fifty and of a hundred 
persons: "in which subordinate circumstance," remarks a thoughtful writer, "we 
behold His wisdom, who is the Lord and lover of order. Thus all confusion was 
avoided. There was no danger that the weaker, the women and the children, 
should be passed over ; while the stronger and ruder unduly put themselves for- 
ward. The Apostles were thus able to pass easily up and down among the multi- 
tude ; and to minister in orderly succession to the needs of every part." 

Take notice, here, how our Lord condescends to minute details : making them a 
matter of express direction. Many such intimations of the Divine Method occur 
in the Book of Life. One is found in the Sermon on the Mount, — St. Matthew vi. 
6, where see the note. The History of this very Miracle supplies another : see St. 
John vi. 12. A remark which was made at the end of the Commentary on St. 
Mark v. also, here presents itself. 

15 And they did so, and made them all sit down. 

The ancients, who gathered wisdom from every word of Scripture, point out that 

(g) See Acts iii. 15, and consider Acts iv. 27. (h) Psalm lxxviii. 19, 20. 



IX.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 477 

these men were made to sit down before the supply of food appeared ; in order to 
teach us that, with God, "things which be not" are "as though they were."(i) 

Refer here to the first note on St. Matthew xiv. 19 ; and the note on St. Mark 
vi. 40. 

16 Then He took the five loaves and two fishes, and looking up to 
Heaven, He blessed them, and brake, and gave to the Disciples to set 
before the multitude. 

Thus, after He had suffered the multitude to feel the pang of hunger, He waited 
till His Apostles applied to Him concerning their relief; — then, He took the bread 
at their hands ; — next, He restored it, fraught with the power of miraculous increase, 
back to the Apostles again : and all, in order that they might have the fullest testi- 
mony concerning what was done, and continue the more mindful of it .... A 
marvellous miracle, truly ! Very different from instantaneous growth, was the 
phenomenon it revealed ; for, by growth, we mean an unfolding, and progress to 
maturity, (whether slow or sudden,) according to a certain law: but here was 
growth without progress : or rather, increase without development. 

The act of taking the bread into His hands, seems to have been one of weighty 
import ; for it is distinctly noticed by all the four Evangelists. (k) By three of 
them, also, the looking up to Heaven is recorded. The reader is referred to the 
second note on St. Matthew xiv. 19 ; and to the notes on St. Mark vi. 41. 

17 And they did eat, and were all filled : and there was taken up of 
fragments that remained to them twelve baskets. 

See the notes on St. Matthew xiv. 20, and on St. Mark vi. 42, 43, 44. 

There remained " twelve baskets/' because, in conformity with our Lord's in- 
junction, the Twelve Apostles gathered up the fragments that remained. (Z) Take 
notice that to eat, and to " leave thereof," was a sure sign that there had been 
abundance, {m) 

He who reads the Gospel with attention, will be amazed to notice in how many 
respects, and on how many occasions, the Incarnate Son was engaged in acts 
strictly symbolical of, or rather closely corresponding with, what had been " in the 
beginning ;" thereby indirectly proclaiming His Divine power and GoDhead. Be- 
sides the five loaves, we here behold Him " blessing" the "ticofshes," and so feed- 
ing many thousands of persons. And what is this but the act of Him who, on the 
fifth day, " blessed them-, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the 
seas?"(n) .... The same verse proceeds^ — "And let the fowl multiply in the 
Earth:" reminding us, that, besides bread from Heaven, the same Almighty hand 
had rained upon His people in the wilderness " feathered fowls" "as thick as 
dust."(o) 

St. Luke having thus brought his narrative down to the eve of the third Pass- 
over, omits several incidents, (which are nevertheless set down in due order by St. 
Matthew and St. Mark;) (p) resuming his history with the account of a transaction 
which took place, also on the eastern side of the Jordan, in the course of the follow- 
ing year. The method is surely a very marvellous one. Who would suspect that 
between the 17th and 18th verses of this Gospel so many great events had been 
omitted; and that the transition is suddenly made to the neighbourhood of Csesarea 
Philippi, whither our Lord had conducted his Twelve Apostles ? 

The reader who would study this part of the sacred narrative with advantage, is 
referred to St. Matthew xvi. 1 to 12, or St. Mark viii. 10 to 26 ; where he is re- 
quested to read the notes. 

18 And it came to pass, as He was alone praying, His Disciples 
were with Him : and He asked them, saying, Whom say the people 
that I am ? 

St. Mark declares that our Saviour made this inquiry " by the way -"(a) so that 

{%) Komans iv. 17. (h) St. Matt. xiv. 19 : St. Mark vi. 41 : St. Luke ix. 16 : St. John vi. 11. 

(0 St. John vi. 12. (m) Consider Ruth ii. 14, 18, and 2 Kings iv. 43, 44. 

(n) Gen. i. 22. (o) Psalm lxxviii. 25, 28. 

(j>) St. Matthew xiv. 22 to xvi. 12, and St, Mark vi. 45 to viii. 26. (?) St. Mark viii. 27. 



478 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

there might seem to be some contradiction here. But, as an ancient Father gravely 
remarks — " This can only be a difficulty to him who has never prayed by the way." 
. . . The Blessed Company were now in the neighbourhood of the city once called 
Laish, (afterwards Dan,) near the sources of the Jordan ; having journeyed thither 
from Bethsaida-Julias. In answer to our Lord's inquiry — 

19, 20, 21, 22 They answering said, John the Baptist ; but some say, 
Elias ; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. He 
said unto them, But whom say ye that I am ? Peter answering said, 
the Christ of God. And He straitly charged them, and commanded 
them to tell no man that thing ; saying, the Son of Man must suffer 
many things, and be rejected of the Elders and Chief Priests and 
Scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. 

Concerning this important portion of Scripture, — the Confession, namely, of St. 
Peter, and the wondrous promise which it immediately drew from the Saviour of the 
World — so much has been already said, that it shall suffice in this place to refer the 
reader to the notes on St. Matthew's Gospel — xvi. 13 to 21 ; and on St. Mark viii. 
27 to 31. St. Luke, who omits the promise to St. Peter, omits also the rebuke 
which he addressed to Christ, as well as the terrible rebuke which was addressed 
to him in turn : after which the Evangelist adds — 

23 And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him 
deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 

The connection of this verse with what precedes would never have been suspected 
from the present Gospel; but (as already hinted) from the two earlier Gospels it is 
found that St. Peter, immediately after hearing the prophecy of his Divine Master's 
sufferings — His approaching Passion and Death — " Took Him, and began to rebuke 
Him."(r) Therefore it was that our Lord spake the words here recorded; words, 
which will be perceived to contain a covert allusion to the manner of His own death. 
Whereas St. Peter had said, "Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto 
Thee' ; — our Saviour makes answer, — " So far removed shall this be from the fact, 
that if any one of yourselves is willing to come after Me, and become My Disciple, 
let him know that he must share My Humiliation : must deny himself, as I have 
also done : must take up his Cross daily, and follow Me." . . . The Cross to be 
borne " daily" is a remarkable addition of the present Evangelist. The meaning 
of the phrase will be best understood by those to whom some " thorn in the nesh,' ; (s) 
— some abiding grief — hath been allotted as their constant portion. 

And this leads one to remark on the difference between " self-denial" and "bear- 
ing the Cross." The first is a man's own act, and requires the strenuous exercise 
of the will : the second implies patient submission to the will of another. 

24, 25, 26 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whoso- 
ever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it. For what is 
a man advantaged, if he gain the whole World, and lose himself, or be 
cast away ? For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, 
of Him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He shall come in His 
own Glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy Angels. 

" Such a necessity there is of Confession of Faith," says Bishop Pearson, " in 
respect of God — who commanded it, and is glorified by it : in respect of ourselves, 
— who shall be rewarded for it ; and in respect of our brethren — who are edified 
and confirmed by it." 

Christ "will appear," says Patrick, "not only in 'His own glory/ but ' in the 
glory of His Father' also: as if there were something more than He hath already 
received at His Right Hand; that is, He will come from thence to judge the quick 
and the dead — to appear as the supreme Lord and Governor of the World, to whom 
Men and Angels are accountable for their actions. This then is a thing still behind; 
and there are, it seems, some Royal Majestic Robes belonging to this high office, 
which He hath not yet put on." 

(r) St. Matthew xvi. 22. St. Mark viii. 32. (s) 2 Cor. xii. 7. 



IX.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 479 

Take notice that our Lord will come in the glory " of the Holy Angels" also. 
They will be present " to bear witness how much they, by the mission of God, have 
administered to the Salvation of Mankind." 

27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall 
not taste of death, till they see the Kingdom of God. 

This is expressed differently by St. Matthew and St. Mark. The former says — 
"till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom :"(7) the latter — "till they 
have seen the Kingdom of God come with power."(?<) We must explain this, the 
shortest statement of all, by those fuller ones: and it will appear that some great 
event is here alluded to, which certain of the Twelve were to witness before they 
died; and which might be described as Christ's coming with power in His own 
and His Father's Kingdom. This has been thought by some learned men to be 
the Destruction of Jerusalem, which took place about forty years later; but there 
can be little doubt, (as already explained in the note on St. Matthew xvi. 28,) that 
the allusion is to the Transfiguration — an event which immediately follows, in all 
the three Gospels."(a;) 

The connection of the mysterious announcement in verse 27, with what goes be- 
fore, has been already pointed out in the note on St. Matthew xvi. 27. The begin- 
ning of Christ's Glorious Kingdom had been already set up : not visibly, indeed, 
(for "the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation ;")(?/) nor was its hidden 
brightness such as mortal eyes could behold, and live. But it had really begun — 
begun here on earth; and in its true nature it was glorious. "The Glory which 
Thou gavest Me," said our Lord, praying to the Father, " I have given them: that 
•they may be one, even as We are One."(z) On which an excellent living writer 
remarks — "It follows that 'the Glory of the Only-Begotten of the Father' belongs 
also, in its degree, to the Church on Earth — to the Church in its days of waiting, 
of warfare, and of trial."(a) The great Apostle proclaims no less when he declares 
that " the brightness of the Law which shone on Moses' face was no brightness at 
all in comparison of the Glory of the Lord, which shone upon every baptized Corin- 
thian." For, contrasting the privileges of every Christian man with those of the 
Lawgiver of Israel, (b) he sa} r s — "We all, with unveiled face, reflecting like mir- 
rors the glory of the Lord, are being transfigured into the same likeness" — that is, 
" into Christ's image : going on from Glory to Glory ;"(c) — that is, from one de- 
gree of glory to another. From the Glory of Baptism to the Glory of Salvation : 
' from the Glory of Faith' (as one of the Ancients expresses it,) 'to the Glory of 
sight :' from the dim Glory of .Regeneration, to the ' Exceeding and Eternal weight 
of Glory'(cZ) of the Kesurrection." 

Of those glories therefore which will be hereafter beheld by every eye, the Son 
of Man is about to give His three most highly favoured Disciples a blessed fore- 
taste and earnest; for He was willing, says an Ancient Father, "to assure their 
very sight, and to show what kind of Glory that is wherewith He is to come, so far 
as it was possible for them to learn." They were to behold " the Kingdom of God," 
not as it seems to mortal eyes, but in its true nature, and as it appears in GOV S 
sight. Christ himself they were also to behold at the same time: not meanly clad, 
and " marred" in countenance, as to common eyes He appeared during the days of 
His Humiliation; but with shining raiment, " white as the Light," and a face that 
" did shine as the Sun." They beheld Him, in short, as it is promised that the 
just shall behold Him when he shall finally appear, (e) — namely, " as He is "(f) 

28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, He 
took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. 

(t) St. Matt. xvi. 28. (u) St. Mark ix. 1. 

(x) St. Matth. xvii. 1 : St. Mark ix. 2 : and St. Luke ix. 28. 

(y) St. Luke xvii. 20 (2) St. John xvii. 22. 

(a) Rev. George Moberly — in a valuable Sermon, called " The Transfiguration of Chris- 
tians." (6) Exodus xxxiv. 34. 

(c) 2 Cor. iii. 18 : the true meaning of which Scripture, it is believed, is given above. The 
same doctrine may be established from Colos. i. 27 : 1 Thess. ii. 12: and 2 St. Peter i. 3. See 
Rom. viii. 30: ix. 23: xv. 7. 1 Cor. ii. 7. 2 Cor. iv. 4, 6. Ephes. i. 18. Col. i. 27. 2 Thess. 
ii. 14. Heb. ii. 10. 1 St. Peter iv. U: v. 10. (d) 2 Cor. iv. 17. 

(e) Does not St. Peter allude to the Transfiguration in his First Epistle — v. 1. 

(f) St. John iii. 2. 



480 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

What mountain this was, is not known. Tradition points out- Mount Tabor in 
Galilee, as the scene of the Transfiguration; but there is no other reason for sup- 
posing that our Saviour had yet left the Eastern side of the Jordan. It is worth 
observing that all three Evangelists who have described this great Transaction con- 
spire in mentioning that it took place exactly one week after the former sayings. 

It would seem as if, having selected the highly favoured Sons of Zebedee and St. 
Peter out of the whole body of the Apostles, our Saviour took them apart, — as He 
is found to have done on another great occasion, (g) — to be with Him while He 
prayed : conducted them up an adjoining mountain ; and there occupied Himself in 
mysterious prayer. It may have been the Evening of the Day ; and deep slumber 
(as on the other occasion alluded to,) is found to have overcome the three weary 
Apostles. They were "heavy with sleep," as the present Evangelist relates. (Ji) 
Presently they awoke, and beheld their Divine Master engaged in solemn inter- 
course with the Father. 

29 And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, 
and His raiment was white and glistering. 

This was done "as he prayed:" which reminds us that at His Baptism also,(i') 
and in the Garden, (k) He prayed previously to the coming forth of the glories of 
the unseen World " Prayer," says a good man, "is the Key to Divine Mys- 
teries, to the discerning of Christ in the Law and the Prophets." By Prayer, loe 
also gather glory ; and become changed ; and hold communion with Him who is 
invisible. 

" The fashion of His Countenance icas altered" — answers to St. Matthew and St. 
Mark's phrase, " Re loas transfigured before them :"(?) for the change which passed 
upon the form and features of the Son of Man is the circumstance from which the 
entire Event derives its name — " The Transfiguration." What was the nature of 
this change, has not been revealed. St. Matthew indeed says that "His Face did 
shine as the Sun :"(m) but more than that seems to be implied by the statement of 
the text. We are reminded rather of St. Paul's repeated assurance that a change 
will pass upon us, — (and doubtless upon our forms and features, no less than upon 
the constitution of our mortal bodies,) — at our Resurrection from Death. (11) St. 
Mark's statement that our Lord, after His Resurrection, appeared to two of His 
Disciples "in another form," (o) is also brought to our remembrance : and the be- 
lief is suggested that while the three Apostles who witnessed the Transfiguration of 
the Son of Man remained fully aware that it was He whom they beheld, and none 
other, (for indeed His features remained the same,) yet that the foretaste of Future 
Glory with which He was now revealed to their mortal eyes, conveyed to His Divine 
Countenance also a foretaste of the mighty Change which was to pass upon it here- 
after : that St. John beheld Him noio, in short, as afterwards by Revelation he be- 
held Him, — " His Head and Hair, white as wool, as white as snow ; and His Eyes, 
as a flame of fire ; and His Feet, like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a fur- 
nace ; .... and His Countenance — as the Sun shineth in his strength." '(p) An 
old Writer remarks that "in His Transfiguration, we have a most exact pattern of 
our Resurrection." But this statement probably falls short of the Truth. There 
seems rather to have been as close an exhibition as human eyes could bear of the 
Lord as He will come in the Day of Judgment, — that is, " in the Glory of His 
Father with the Holy Angels :"(q) a partial revelation of that Glory in which even 
now He dwells, — "above the brightness of the Sun."(r) 

The raiment which became "white and glistering" — or, as St. Mark expresses it, 
"shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on Earth can white them,"(s) — 
no less than the dazzling lustre of the Face, is an attribute of glorious visitors from 
the other World: an attribute derived doubtless from their nearness to Him "who 
only hath Immortality, dwelling in the Light which no man can approach unto."(tf) 
Thus, of the Angel who rolled away the stone from the Holy Sepulchre, it is de- 
clared that "His countenance was like lightning, and His raiment white as 

(g) St. Matth xxvi. 37, 38. (70 See below, verse 32. (i) St. Luke iii. 21, 22. 

\k) St. Luke xxii. 41 to 43. (I) St. Matth. xvii. 2. St. Mark ix. 2. 
(m) St. Matthew xvii. 2. 

(«) 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. Phil. iii. 21. Consider 1 St. John iii. 2. Rom. viii. 18. 2 Cor. iv. 
17. Coloss. iii. 4. 

(o) St. Mark xvi. 12. {p) Revel, i. 14 to 16. (g) St. Mark viii. 38. 

(>•) Acts xxvi. 13. (s) St. Mark. ix. 3. (0 1 Tim. vi. 16. 



IS.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 481 



snow."(i«) "The Spouse in the Canticles," remarks pious Bishop Andrewes, 
" being asked concerning her Beloved's colours, saith of Him, ' My Beloved is white 
and rcd.'{x) 'White' of Himself, as when He was transfigured on the Mount. 
How comes the 'red' then? Not of Himself, but for us. That is our natural 
colour : for we are polluted in our own blood ;(?/) red is the colour of sin. (z) He, 
in Mount Golgotha, like unto us ; that we, in Mount Tabor, might be like unto 
Him !" 

30 And, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses 
and Elias : 

As our Saviour was attended by two when He visited Abraham at Mamre:(a) 
as two Angels guarded His Sepulchre, when He had risen ;(&) and two were His 
Messengers to the Eleven, at the time of His Ascension ;(c) so, at His Transfigura- 
tion, "behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias:" 

31 who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He should 
accomplish at Jerusalem. 

Every part of this wondrous narrative is exceedingly important and striking. 
Moses and Elijah, (as if to represent the Law and the Prophets, and to show the 
consent of the Gospel with both,) "appear in glory:" an attribute, as already re- 
marked, of Beings from the unseen World. And they are seen "talking with 
Jesus,"— -as St. Matthew and St. Mark relates. (cT) How remarkable a statement! 
These two mighty Saints, who by Faith had seen the Day of Christ afar off, and 
had been made glad thereby, — Moses and Elijah, are selected out of the whole 
"goodly company" which had gone before, thus to "talk" with the Saviour of the 
World ; and to behold, not so much His Glory as His Humiliation. joy unspeak- 
able, no less than privilege beyond all price ! How does it exceed our powers, rea- 
soning as living men, even to conceive the amount of their blessedness ! How may 
the types and shadows of the Law be presumed to have fled away before their 
brightening spiritual vision : the allegorical parts of true History, (e) to have teemed 
with hidden meanings : the dark places of Prophecy, to have grown bright and ob- 
vious ! Bat the Sacred Narrative, as usual, is severely brief. It does but 

inform us that the approaching Sacrifice of Christ's Death formed the subject of 
this discourse ; leaving us to infer from the word which St. Luke here employs, how 
" His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem" may have been conversed 
about by these mysterious Speakers. " His Exodus" is the expression of the Evan- 
gelist ; a hint which a pious Writer has thus expanded : — " May we not imagine the 
Deliverer of Israel addressed by the World's Redeemer in some such words as 
these, — ' By thy hand I did once vouchsafe to bring forth My people from the afflict- 
ing bondage of Egypt ; but lo, I am about to turn the multitude of the Gentiles from 
the Power of Satan unto God. Of old time, I made a path through the Red Sea 
for My redeemed ones to pass over ; but I am about to make a more wonderful way 
through the waves of Death, whereby to guide them. Yea, though the floods shall 
compass Me about, yet shall My Life be brought up from corruption. Thou re- 
memberest how the chariots and horsemen of Pharaoh, and the mighty host of 
Egypt, were seen overthrown in the midst of the Sea when the morning appeared : 
but I am about to triumph over principalities and powers, and overwhelm them in 
the Lake of Fire. Thou didst lead My people through the Wilderness, and gavest 
them the Law which had ' the shadow of good things to come ;' but now will I My- 
self be their Guide, and write a new Law in their hearts, (f) and teach them to wor- 
ship Me in Spirit and in Truth. Thou indeed didst bring Israel to the borders of 
the Promised Land ; but Jam Israel's true Shepherd, and they who follow Me shall 
pass even from Death unto Life.' "(g) 

(u) St. Matth. xxviii. 3. Compare St. Luke xxiv. 4. (x) Song of Solomon v. 10. 

ly) Lam. iv. 14. Ezek. xvi. 6. (z) Isaiah i. 18. (a) Gen. xviiL 2. 

(b) St. Luke xxiv. 4. (c) Acts i. 10. 

(d) St. Matt. xvii. 3, and St. Mark ix. 4. (e) Alluding to Gal. iv. 21 to 31. 

(/) Heb. viii. 10. See Jer. xxxi. 31 to 33. 

(g) Altered from Bishop Home. — If the Reader is oifended at this, or any other attempt in 
these pages, to supply the omissions of Scripture, he is welcome to reject them'. They are 
always hazardous attempts, and are never put forth without great hesitation. It is thought, 
however, that they may sometimes he found useful, 

31 



482 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

32, 33 But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with 
sleep : and when they were awake, they saw His Glory, and the two 
men that stood with Him. And it came to pass, as they departed 
from Him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here : 

So that the three Apostles did not awake till this mysterious transaction was 
ended. Then indeed they aroused themselves ; and it was to behold such a specta- 
cle as men will not look upon until they awake to the glories of the Everlasting 
Morning. " Perhaps they were oppressed with sleep," (says an Ancient Father,) 
" that after their rest they might behold the Resurrection." Terrified and aston- 
ished at the sight, (Ji) (as may well have been the case,) only one of their number is 
found to have ventured to break the solemn silence: moved thereto, as it would 
appear, by the departure of the Heavenly visitants, whom he would gladly have de- 
tained. Simon Peter, foremost on every occasion in speech or action, proceeds : 

and let us make three tabernacles ; one for Thee, and one for Moses, 
and one for Elias : not knowing what he said. 

It has been excellently remarked that " although St. Peter knew not what he 
said, yet the solemn record of his words intimates that they were not to fall to the 
ground, but were spoken divinely "(i) 

"If," (says Venerable Bede,) " the society of but two Saints seen for a moment 
with their Lord in glory could confer such a degree of delight that St. Peter wished 
to stay their departure even by doing them service, — how great a happiness will it 
be to enjoy the vision of God, amid choirs of Angels, for ever !" — See more, on these 
words of St. Peter, in the note on St. Matthew xvii. 4. 

34 While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them : 
and they feared as they entered into the cloud. 

For this was He of whom it was said, " Behold, He cometh with clouds." (Jc) 
Take notice that this was not a cloud which while it overshadows, darkens the face 
of the sky ; but it was "a bright cloud ;"(Z) the token of the Divine Presence ;(to) 
a cloud whose very shadow was glory. St. Peter, in a certain place, calls this cloud 
" the Excellent Glory ."(n) 

35 And there came a Voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My 
beloved Son: hear Him. 

St. Matthew adds, — "And when the Disciples heard it, they fell on their face, 
and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be 
not afraid." (o) 

36 And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. 

Refer here to the notes on St. Matthew xvii. 8. 

All this, then, took place at night. On the next morning, St. Matthew relates 
that " as they came down from the Mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell 
the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead."(p) It 
follows, — 

And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those 
things which they had seen. 

" Questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean. "(g) 
To know how the conversation of this blessed Company proceeded, as they came 
down "the Holy Mount," the reader must refer to the two earlier Gospels. (r) St. 
Luke proceeds to show that a night had been passed on the Mountain, and that it 
was now the following day : 

(h) St. Mark ix. 6. (i) Rev. I. Williams. (h) Rev. i. 7. 

(1) St. Matth. xvii. 5. (m) Exod. xl. 34, 35. 1 Kings viii. 10, 11. 

(n) 2 St. Pet. i. 17. (o) St. Matth. xvii. 6, 7. 

\p) St. Matth. xvii. 9. Compare St. Mark ix. 9. (q) St. Mark ix. 10. 

(r) St. Matthew xvii. 10 to 13, and St. Mark ix. 11 to 13 : — where see the notes. 



IX.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 483 

37 And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were come 
down from the hill, much people met Him. 

St. Luke does not explain that they came "running to Him," drawn by the 
heavenly lustre which had not yet quite faded away from His Divine Features ! — 
Concerning this, see the note on St. Mark ix. 15. Indeed, the Gospel of St. Mark 
is so full and particular on the subject of the lunatic child, that it should be con- 
tinually referred to by him who desires to be reminded of all the details of the stu- 
pendous miracle which follows. (s) 

38 And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I 
beseech Thee, look upon my son : for he is mine only child. 

" Mine only child :" — how powerful a plea ! ... So was the daughter of Jairus, 
whom our Saviour raised from the bed of Death, an only Daughter ;(f) and the 
Widow of Nain's son, whom He raised on the way to Burial, an only son.(u) Laza- 
rus, too, — who had lain four days in the grave, — was an only Brother. Such things 
are written for the special consolation of mourners ; whose tears are all noted by 
God, and who lays upon none a heavier burden than He will also enable them to 
bear. Nay, He has relief in store for those who need it most, as these examples 
were doubtless meant to teach us. 

39, 40 And, lo, a Spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and 
it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him, hardly departeth 
from him. And I besought Thy Disciples to cast him out ; and they 
could not. 

41, 42 And Jesus answering said, faithless and perverse genera- 
tion, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you ? Bring thy Son 
hither. And as he was yet a coming, the Devil threw him down, and 
tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean Spirit, and healed the child ; 
and delivered him again to his Father. 

These verses have been already the subject of ample comment in the notes on St. 
Mark ix. 18, 19, 20 ; and 25, 26, 27. 

43, 44, 45 And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. 
But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, He 
said unto His Disciples, Let these sayings sink down into your ears ; 
for the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. But they 
understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they per- 
ceived it not : and they feared to ask Him of that saying. 

From a comparison of this, with St. Matthew and St. Mark's account of the same 
conversation, it will appear that the saying which the Disciples "understood not," 
and "feared to ask of, ;; was a further prophecy which our Lord now delivered; 
namely, that the Jews should "kill Him," and that on the third day He should 
"be raised again."(x) 

The Keader will find some remarks on the foregoing verses in the notes on St. 
Mark's Gospel, (y) St. Luke is briefest, St. Mark fullest of all, in this place ; so that 
the latter should be constantly referred to, down to verse 50 of the present Chapter. 
It will be seen that the Blessed Company were passing through Galilee, privately, 
at the time that our Lord delivered these sayings to the Twelve, (z) — They finally 
reached Capernaum, which was the scene of the following incident.(a) 

46 Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should 
be greatest. 

(s) St. Mark ix. 14 to 29. (t) St. Luke viii. 42. (u) St. Luke vii. 12. 

(x) St Matth. xvii. 23. Compare St. Mark ix. 31. \y) St. Mark ix. 31, 32. 

fa) St. Matth. xvii. 22 : St. Mark ix. 30. 
(a) St. Matth. xvii. 24, and St. Mark ix. 33. 



484 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Not hereafter, but now. They disputed " which of themselves ivas the greatest." (6) 

47, 48 And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a 
child, and set him by Him, and said unto them, Whosoever shall receive 
this child in My Name receiveth Me : and whosoever shall receive Me 
receiveth Him that sent Me : for He that is least among you all, the 
same shall be great. 

This entire incident, related far more in detail both by St. Matthew and St. Mark, 
has been already fully remarked upon elsewhere.(c) 

49, 50 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out 
Devils in Thy Name ; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with 
us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not : for he that is not 
against us is for us. 

Concerning this incident also, which seems to have been an interruption of the 
divine discourse on the part of St. John, see the notes on St. Mark's Gospel.(^) The 
earlier Evangelists will be found to relate how the Discourse proceeded, after our 
Saviour had replied to the beloved Disciple. St. Luke here breaks off the narra- 
tive, — to introduce an incident of somewhat similar character, but which belongs to 
an altogether subsequent period. 

51, 52 And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should 
be received up, He steadfastly set His Face to go to Jerusalem, and sent 
messengers before His Face ; and they went, and entered into a Village 
of the Samaritans, to make ready for Him. 

The time alluded to is that solemn season, a few months before the last Passover, 
when our Saviour is found to have made the circuit of Samaria. The time had then 
come, (or rather, was approaching to its fulfillment,) "that He should be received 
up" into Heaven ; and accordingly He set His face like a flint(e) to repair to the 
scene of His approaching sufferings. The messengers which He sent before, gave 
additional solemnity to His act. 

53 And they did not receive Him, because His Face was as though 
He would go to Jerusalem. 

The enmity between the Jews and Samaritans was excessive, — as many a passage 
in the Gospel reminds us,(/) and as the present place sufficiently shows. This en- 
mity was considerably aggravated at the Season of the great Jewish festivals ; when, 
not on Mount Gerizim, but at Jerusalem, the whole nation testified their determina- 
tion to worship. Our Lord even " sends messengers before His face," openly " to 
make ready" for His approach. This explains why they " did not receive Him." 

54 And when His Disciples James and John saw this they said, Loud, 
wilt Thou that we command fire to come clown from Heaven, and con- 
sume them, even as Elias did ? 

They allude to the repeated act of Elijah, on a well-known occasion, when Ahaziah, 
King of Israel, sent soldiers to apprehend him.(g) Their inquiry gives a lively 
notion of the sense they entertained of their Lord's importance, as well as of their 
own burning zeal and jealousy on His behalf. 

55, 56 But He turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not 
what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to 
destroy men's lives, but to save them, 

r b) Compare the language of St. John xiii. 24. 

' :) See St. Matthew xviii. 1 to 5, and the notes there : also St. Mark ix. 33 to 37, and the 
notes there. 

(d) See St. Mark ix. 38 to 40. (e) Isaiah 1. 7. (/ ) St. John iv. 9 : viii. 48. 

\g) 2 Kings i. 9 to 12. 



X.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 485 

And they went to another village. 

57, 58 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain 
man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou 
goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the 
air have nests ; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. 

59, 60 And He said unto another, Follow Me. But he said, Lord, 
suffer me first to go and bury my Father. Jesus said unto him, Let 
the dead bury their dead : but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God. 

It is surprising to discover that both these incidents are related in succession "by 
St. Matthew, as having occurred on quite a distinct occasion. The Reader is there- 
fore referred to the remarks which he will find in the earlier Gospel. (Ji) 

61, 62 And another also said, Lord, I will follow Thee ; but let me 
first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus 
said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking 
back, is fit for the Kingdom of God. 

In the proverbial saying thus employed by our Lord, there seems to be an allu- 
sion to the call of Elisha, — "who was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, 
and he with the twelfth/' when "Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon 
him." Whereupon " he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray 
thee, kiss my Father and my Mother, and then I will follow thee."(0 

Our Saviour's answer implies that he who enters into the service of the Great 
"Husbandman,"^') an( l undertakes to "preach the Kingdom of God,"(Z) must not 
look wistfully back to that World which he professes to have renounced and 
forsaken. His hand is upon the plough ; and his eyes should look straight forward. 
He should give his whole heart to his master's work. 



CHAPTER X 



1 Christ sendeth out at once Seventy Disciples to work miracles, and to preach. 17 
Admonislieth them to be humble, and wherein to rejoice. 21 Thanketh His Father 
for his grace. 23 Magnifieth the happy estate of His Church. 25 Teacheth the 
lawyer hoio to attain eternal Life, and to take every one for his neighbour that 
needeth his mercy. 41 Reprehendeth Martha, and commendeth Mary her sister. 

" After these things" — that is, after making the circuit of Samaria — our Sa- 
viour, journeying towards Jerusalem, proceeded to make the circuit of Galilee 
also. Preparatory to this, He is found to have sent forth seventy disciples to pre- 
pare His way. This sending forth of the Seventy, which is recorded by St. Luke 
alone, (who is thought to have been one of their number,) (a) occupies the first six- 
teen verses of the present chapter. The parting charge which they received resem- 
bles in many respects, and forcibly recalls, the charge which our Lord had already 

(h) St. Matthew viii. 19 to 22. (t) 1 Kings xix. 19, 20. 

(k) See the note on St. Luke iii. 17. (I) See above, ver. 60. 

(a) See the note on St. Luke i. 3. 



486 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

given to the Twelve Apostles, on sending them forth. On both occasions it will be 
observed that He sent His Ambassadors " by two and two." 

1 After these things the Lord appointed other Seventy also, and 
sent them two and two before His face into every city and place, whither 
He himself would come. 

As the number of the Twelve Apostles appears to have reference to the number 
of the Patriarchs, so do these Seventy Disciples recall the number of the Elders 
who were called up into Mount Sinai to behold the wondrous vision of God, and to 
eat and drink in His presence ;(£) who moreover assisted Moses to govern the 
people. "An outline of the present ordinance," remarks one of the Fathers, "was 
set forth in the words of Moses ; who, at the command of God, chose out Seventy 
upon whom God poured out His Spirit."(c) How is it possible to avoid recalling 
in connection with the mission of the Twelve and the Seventy, that interesting record, 
twice found in the Books of Moses, that at Elim the children of Israel found " twelve 
wells of water and three-score and ten palm trees V'(d) 

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Therefore said He unto them, The harvest truly is 
great, but the labourers are few : pray ye therefore the Lord of the 
harvest, that he would send forth labourers into His harvest. Go your 
ways : behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither 
purse, nor scrip, nor shoes : and salute no man by the way. And into 
whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if 
the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it : if not, it shall 
turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drink- 
ing such things as they give : for the labourer is worthy of his hire. 
Go not from house to house. 

It will be perceived that the same words which our Lord addresses to the Seventy, 
in ver. 2, are found in His charge to the Twelve, in St. Matthew ix. 37, 38 ; where 
see the note. Verse 3, in like manner, recurs in St. Matthew x. 16: where also the 
note may be consulted. The injunction in ver. 4 is found in St. Matthew x. 9, 10, 
with which compare St. Mark vi. 8, 9, and St. Luke ix. 3. 

The language of verses 5 and 6 is more full than in the corresponding passage of 
our Lord's Charge to the Twelve — St. Matthew x. 12, 13, where see the notes ; — 
and helps to explain the concise record of the earlier Evangelist. Verse 7 should 
be compared with St. Matthew x. 11, — where the Commentary may be also re- 
ferred to. 

8, 9, 10, 11, 12 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive 
you, eat such things as are set before you : and heal the sick that are 
therein, and say unto them, The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto 
you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go 
your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust 
of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you : not- 
withstanding be ye sure of this, that the Kingdom of God is come nigh 
unto you. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that 
day for Sodom, than for that city. 

" That Day" is the great and terrible Day of the Lord — the Day of Days, which 
by reason of its momentous import, is often spoken of in Scripture simply as " the 
Day. ;; (e) . . . Compare these three last verses with St. Matthew x. 14, 15 — and see 
the note there. See also the note on St. Mark vi. 11. 

13, 14, 15 Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe unto thee Bethsaida ! for 
if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which have been 

(6) Exod. xxiv. 1, 9 to 11. (c) Cyril, referring to Numb. xi. 16, 24, 25. 

(d) Exod. xv. 27, and Numb, xxxiii. 9. 

(e) As in St. Matthew vii. 22. 1 Cor. iii. 13. 1 Thess. v. 4. 2 Tim. i. 12, 18 : iv. 8, Ac. 



X.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 487 



done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth 
and ashes. But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the 
Judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to 
Heaven, shall be thrust down to Hell. 

The reader is requested to refer to the notes on St. Matthew xi. 21, 22, 24, (where 
the same language is found,) for some observations on this striking passage. The 
precious assurance contained in the verse which follows^/) will be found already 
remarked upon in the Commentary on St. Matthew x. 40, where it recurs. 

16 He that heareth you heareth Me ; and he that despiseth you de- 
spiseth Me ; and he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me. 

Before proceeding to read the ensuing portion of the History, we are to remem- 
ber that an interval must have elapsed: whether short or long, cannot be declared 
with certainty. The Seventy had had time, at least, to make the discovery that 
the powers of the unseen world were subject to them, through the prevailing Name 
of Him who had sent them forth. 

17 And the Seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the 
devils are subject unto us through Thy Name. 

" They seemed indeed to rejoice rather that they were made workers of miracles, 
than that they had become ministers of preaching. "(#) Accordingly, in ver. 20, 
our Lord reminds them of the much higher ground of rejoicing which was theirs. 
But first, He replies to their address. 

18 And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from 
Heaven. 

A very striking saying, surely; and (to speak in the manner of men) one which 
conveys a notion of exceeding grandeur concerning the sudden and utter fall which 
Satan had sustained by the coming of Christ. It has been thought, indeed, that 
the fall of the Angels " which kept not their first estate,"(70 is alluded to in the 
words before us. But when it is remembered that Capernaum is said(i) to have 
been " exalted to Heaven," (which can only mean in respect of its mighty privi- 
leges,) and especially when it is considered that, at the time of our Lord's Advent, 
Satan had usurped dominion to a surprising extent over the souls and bodies of 
men — of which dominion, (as already observed,) he had now been most unexpect- 
edly, as well as most completely, despoiled ; it seems more reasonable to suppose 
that by this vivid comparison our Saviour did but intend to convey the sudden and 
amazing overthrow which His great enemy had sustained at his hands — an over- 
throw which had been shared by the rest of the evil angels, as their subjection to 
the Seventy clearly proved. To the All-seeing Eye of the Incarnate Son, the down- 
fall of Satan was a thing which might be gazed upon. Accordingly, He says, — " I 
beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven." The expression, (which was doubt- 
less intended to recall the language of Isaiah, with reference to Lucifer,) (h) further 
derives awful interest from the name by which St. Paul denotes the chief of the 
fallen angels — namely, " the Prince of the Power of the Air." (I), 

Our Lord proceeds to confirm the powers which he had already conveyed to the 
Seventy ; supplying at the same time a marvellous hint of some secret connection 
subsisting between Evil Spirits and the noxious part of the Animal Creation. 

19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, 
and over all the power of the Enemy : and nothing shall by any means 
hurt you. 

Consider how serpents and scorpions are ever connected in Holy Scripture with 
what is noxious to man.(m) Remember also, the parting promise of our Saviour 
Christ to his Church.(n) 

(/) Verse 16. (g) Cyril. (A) St. Jude verse 6. 

(i) In verse 15. \k) Isaiah xiv. 12. (I) Ephes. ii. 2. 

(m) Genesis iii. 1. Rev. xii. 9. : xx. 2. Numbers xxi. 6. Acts xxviii. 8. Psalm xci. 13. 
Eev. ix. 3 to 10, &c (n) St. Mark xvi. 18. 



488 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

, 20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject 
unto you ; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in Heaven. 

They are not forbidden to rejoice at finding the powers of Satan subject unto 
them; but a higher ground of rejoicing is pointed out.(o) 

When Gregory the Great sent Augustine the monk into Britain, A. D. 597, (to 
plant Christianity afresh in these islands,) he reminded him of this text, and cau- 
tioned him against being too much elated by any success with which God might 
have blessed his endeavours ; bidding him keep his eye turned inwardly, in strict 
self-examination. "And," said he, "if ever thou rememberest having offended 
against thy Creator, in word or deed, be thou mindful to call the same constantly 
to mind ; that so the memory of thine offence may keep down the proud swelling 
thoughts of thine heart. Whatever signs thou mayest have been enabled to per- 
form, consider them less as gifts made to thyself than to them, for whose sakes the 
power was conferred upon thee." 

" Names written in Heaven," and the like mode of speech, is not unusual with 
the Spirit. So He speaks by Moses, in the Law:(^>) by David in the Psalms :(q) 
by His Prophets Isaiah(r) and Daniel -.(5) by His Apostles St. Paul(tf) and St. 
John:(w) and so, on many occasions, (as in this place,) speaks the Ancient of Days 
in His own person, (x) 

There is an obvious connection between what goes before and what follows. 
" Our Lord knew that through the operation of the Holy Spirit, which He had 
given to His Apostles, many would be brought over to the faith ;"(y) and the 
prospect is here declared to have filled His human soul with mysterious joy: as it 
follows — 

21, 22 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in Spirit, and said, I thank Thee, 
Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that thou hast hid these things 
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes : even 
so, Father : for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are de- 
livered to Me of My Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, 
but the Father ; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom 
the Son will reveal Him. 

These two verses have been already met with, although in quite a different con- 
nection, in St. Matthew's Gospel, — whither the reader is referred for some remarks 
concerning them. (2) The Son of Man here rejoices not that the mysteries of the 
Gospel were hid from any; but that what had been hid from the proud had been 
revealed to the humble, — to those child-like hearts which are ever found in Christ's 
little ones. 

23, 24 And He turned Him unto His Disciples, and said privately, 
Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see : for I tell you, 
that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which 
ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye 
hear, and have not heard them. 

How striking are these words, which are tioice(a) found on the lips of Christ 
Himself, — "the Desire of all Nations !"(&) . . . He, — "unto whom all hearts are 
open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid/' — was fully aware of 
all those passionate yearnings which had been felt by His ancient Prophets, — "unto 
whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister ;" 
who saw the Day of Christ indeed, (c) but only afar off, and very darkly ; of which, 
therefore, they " inquired and searched diligently :" for, (as St. Peter informs us 
in a most precious passage,) they earnestly desired to know " what, or what man- 
ner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified 

(0) See the notes on St. Matthew ix. 13, and St. John v. 30. (^) Exocl. xxxii. 32. 

, {q) Psalm lxix. 28. (r) Isaiah iv. 3. (s) Dan. xii. 1. 

(t) Phil. iv. 3 : Heb. xii. 23. («) Rev - xiii. 8 : xvii. 8 : xx. 12 : xxi. 27. 

(x) Exocl. xxxii. 33: Rev. iii. 5. (y) Cyril. (s) St. Matth. xi. 25 to 27. 

(a) See St. Matth. xiii. 16, 17, — and the note there. (b) Haggai ii. 7. 

(c) St. John viii. 56. 



X.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 489 

beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that shall follow." (d) . . . . 
" Wherefore, they are not to be heard, which feign that the old Fathers did look 
only for transitory promises." (e) 

It is easy to discover a connection between what goes before, and what follows, 
in verse 25. Our Lord has been speaking of the names " written in Heaven." It 
follows, accordingly, — 

25 And, behold, a certain Lawyer stood up, and tempted Him, say- 
ing, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life ? 

The same question was afterwards addressed to our Lord by "a certain Rul- 
er ;"{f) and in reply, He rehearsed to him the precepts of the Second Table. At 
a yet later period of His Ministry, a Scribe or Lawyer inquired, " Which is the great 
commandment in the Law ?" Our Lord made answer in the words which will be 
presently found in verse 27.{g) 

26, 27 He said unto him, What is written in the Law? how readest 
thou ? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and 
with all thy mind ; and thy neighbour as thyself. 

This Scribe or Lawyer quotes from Deuteronomy vi. 4, 5, and Leviticus xix. 18. 
The first impression, on reading his reply, is, that he must have been an unusually 
attentive Student of the Books of Moses, to pick out for himself such a summary 
of their entire teaching; but from the circumstance already noticed, — namely, that 
our Saviour, on a certain occasion, used the same blended quotations, — it may be 
thought that this had become an approved method, in the Jewish Schools, of de- 
claring the essence of the Law. 

28 And He said unto him, Thou hast answered right : this do, and 
thou shalt live. 

" That is to say, — Fulfill My Commandments, keep thyself upright and perfect 
In them according to My will ; then thou shalt live and not die. Eternal Life is 
promised with this condition. But such is the frailty of man since the Fall ; such 
his weakness and imbecility, that he cannot walk uprightly in God's Command- 
ments ; but daily and hourly falls from his bounden duty, offending the Lord his 
God clivers ways."(7i) All this, however, the Lawyer understood not. Still less 
did he suppose that in the parable which he was about to hear, the helplessness of 
human nature was, in effect, set before him ; that he was, in truth, the man who 
fell among thieves, and that the good Samaritan was none other than the Blessed 
Speaker Himself ! . . . It follows: 

29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is 
my neighbour ? 

30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jeru- 
salem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his rai- 
ment, and wounded Mm, and departed, leaving Mm half dead. 

The Traveller in this Parable, who "went," (or rather, "was going") down from 
Jerusalem, had to traverse the wild, rocky road which leads to Jericho, and which 
preserves to this day its ancient dangerous character, as well as its ancient glowing 
aspect, — being, in some places, a savage mountain pass, well fitted for deeds of 
violence, such as our Lord here describes. 

31, 32 And by chance there came down a certain Priest that way: 
and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a 
Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on Mm, and passed 
hj on the other side. 

[d) 1 St. Peter i. 10 to 12. (e) Article vii. 

If) St. Matthew xix. 16,— St. Mark x. 17,— St. Luke xviii. 18. 
(g) St. Matth. xxii. 35, 40. St. Mark xii. 23 to 31,— where see the notes. 
(h) Second Homily of the Passion. 



490 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Take notice, that these persons looked upon the misery which they yet did not 
even attempt to relieve. The wounded man was doubtless a Jew : one of their own 
nation, therefore ; and thus, in the highest degree, entitled to some display of -active 
sympathy. And yet they showed him none. It seems as if the Levite had even 
gone a little out of his way, in order to look upon the wounded Traveller. 

33, 34, 35 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he 
was : and when he saw him, he had compassion on Mm, and went to 
Mm, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on 
his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And 
on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them 
to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him ; and whatsoever thou 
spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 

It should be observed that all this tenderness towards the wounded man, pro- 
ceeded from a Samaritan. He belonged to a people with whom the Jews had no 
dealings;^') whose name was a very bye-word of reproach and infamy ;(k) and 
who were regarded by them as aliens and strangers, (I) — almost reckoned with the 
very heathen. (m) On such an one, therefore, the bleeding Traveller had no claim 
whatever. A reason might, on the contrary, have been easily invented by the Sa- 
maritan for passing on, and leaving him to his fate. 

But this man had studied in a better school than the great bulk of either nation. 
He is found to have left no effort untried to mitigate the wounded man's sufferings. 
Regardless alike of the danger and fatigue, he conveys him to an Inn, — spares from 
his slender supply of money, as much as the stranger can require for two days,(w) — 
consigns him to the care of the host, — and departs with a loving injunction and a 
most generous promise. 

36 Which now of these three thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him 
that fell among the thieves ? 

The obvious answer would be, — " The Samaritan:" but it seems as if the Law- 
yer, being a Jew, could not bring himself to admit that a member of that hateful 
nation was entitled to such praise. He describes the character of the man in the 
Parable, instead: — 

37 And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus 
unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. 

Rather, — "Go, and show thou [mercy] likewise." In reading which words, (and 
they are the conclusion of the whole matter,) we cannot but be struck with the re- 
markable turn which our Blessed Lord had by this time given to the entire dis- 
course. In the beginning, the Lawyer had asked to be informed who was his 
" neighbour V Which class of persons ought he to regard as standing to him in 
that relation ? Instead of satisfying the man's curiosity in this respect, our Lord 
has related to him a Parable, which sets before his eyes a touching picture of active 
humanity on the part of the Samaritan towards a Jew. Now, that the wounded 
man was not looked upon as a "neighbour" by the Priest or the Levite ; but that 
he was so regarded, and rightly, by the Samaritan, is obvious. The lesson derived 
from the Parable of our Lord Himself, is not, however, that " every one who needs 
our mercy is to be taken for our neighbour." (o) Nothing of the kind. But the 
Blessed Speaker, after drawing from the Lawyer a free admission that, of the three 
persons concerned with the wounded man, the "neighbour" was "he that showed 
mercy on him," closes the conversation by proposing the conduct of the Samaritan, 
— the active benevolence which he displayed even towards an enemy, — as a model 
for imitation. Thus, the practice of Religion is revealed as the best help to the un- 
derstanding of it. The attention is diverted from considering who is the fit object 
of Love, and guided instead to the exercise of Love itself. As in every other part 
of the Bible, the object proposed is to school the heart, — not to inform the under- 
standing. 

(i) St. John iv. 9. (h) St. John viii. 48. {I) St. Luke xvii. 18. 

(m) See the note on St. Matth. x. 6. (n) See St. Matth. xx. 2. 

(o) See the heading of the Chapter. 



X.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 491 

Such a lesson, then, of Love and Mercy, — and nothing more, — must the parable 
of " The Good Samaritan" have conveyed to the Lawyer to whom it was addressed. 
Well would it be for us, indeed, were we careful to profit "by this, its practical teach- 
ing. " But indeed there are very few of us who have yet learned to exert them- 
selves as they might do for the relief of the general misery and destitution which 
they cannot but see about them. The World is full of it ; but is not full of that 
Heavenly Compassion which it was meant to call forth." (p) It is however the 
high privilege of the Christian who studies the written record of his Lord's Dis- 
courses, to see a prophetic meaning beneath the veil of the letter ; and however ex- 
quisite, however sufficient, the literal sense of the words spoken, it is not to be 
doubted that he only can be said to profit duly by the divine narrative, who has 
been guided to a part, at least, of its mystical meaning also. 

Human Nature, therefore, is the " man" in this parable : — Human Nature, which 
having forsaken the seat of Innocence and Holiness, — (the "Dwelling of Peace," 
as the name Jerusalem is explained to mean,) — is going down to the city of the 
curse. (q) The Enemy of our souls, (who "was a murderer from the beginning," (?*) 
and his evil angels, are those murderous ones under whose power our Nature is 
represented as having fallen. Stripped of that robe of Original Righteousness, (s) 
by the loss of which our First Parents became aware that they were " naked," (t) — 
and grievously wounded besides, in the most vital part, — what but a state almost of 
Death was ours when the Law came to us, and passed us by ? It looked upon Man 
indeed, (as the Priest and the Levite in the Parable looked upon the wounded Tra- 
veller;) but the Law, having looked, could do no more than "pass by on the other 
side :" for a law had not as yet been given, " which could give Life."(w) 

It was reserved for Christ,(cc) (the good Samaritan of the Parable,) to look upon 
us, and to feel compassion :(y) to draw near, (as He did by "the mystery of His 
Holy Incarnation :") — to heal the wounds of our Nature with the blessed medicine 
of His Word and Sacraments, (z) — (that "oil and wine" wherewith the great 
Physician "binds up that which was broken, and strengthens that which was 
sick :"(«)) — "for our sakes to become poor, that we through His poverty might be 
rich," (b) — (which was aptly represented when the Traveller set the wounded man on 
his own beast, and was content to perform the weary journey by his side, on foot:) 
— to convey Man, thus rescued from Death, to the Church, — (that Inn provided for 
the reception of all " strangers and pilgrims," travelling towards "abetter country, 
that is, an heavenly :")(c) — and there to " take care of him." .... All this, it was 
reserved for Christ (the Good Samaritan) to perform for Man. 

Indeed, "it was natural and proper, in answer to the question 'And who is my 
neighbour?' that our Lord should speak of one whom the Jew would not acknow- 
ledge as his neighbour ; and should represent such an one as doing, towards a Jew, 
something like what He was doing Himself towards the Jews, and towards man- 
kind. In fact, our blessed Lord, though Himself a Jew, and of the Royal Tribe and 
Family, was an 'alien to His Mother's children.' (d) He was called a Samaritan, 
and treated like an alien and an enemy by His own people the Children of the 
Jewish Church, in which He had vouchsafed to be born."(e) 

"Behold," (said our Blessed Lord,) "I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the 
third day I shall be perfected."(/) Accordingly, it is said in the parable that " on 
the morrow, when He departed, He took out two pence, and gave them to the host, 
and said unto him, Take care of him ;"— (that is, Continue to deal with the objects 
of My Love as /have dealt with them :)(g) " and whatsoever thou spendest more, 
when I come again, I will repay thee." And what is this, but a mysterious hint, 
first, — that Christ, at His departing, bequeathed to His Church great gifts, (and 
chiefly the Two Sacraments,) — gifts and graces which were to be exercised for the 
relief of sick souls, until His coming again? Next,— that when He "shall come 

(p) Rev. C. Marriott. (q) See Joshua vi. 26. (r) St. John viii. 44. 

(s) The reader is requested to consider the following places of Scripture :— St. Luke xv. 22 : 
2 Cor. v. 3 : Gal. iii. 27 : Rev. hi. 17, 18 : xvi. 15 : xix. 8. 

(0 Genesis iii. 7. ( M ) Consider Gal. iii. 21. (x) See Rom. viii. 3. 

{y) Consider the following texts :— St. Matth. ix. 36: xiv. 14: xv. 32: xx. 34. St. Mark i. 
41 : v. 19 : ix. 22. St. Luke vii. 13. Also consider St. Matth. xviii. 27, 33: and St. Luke xv. 
20,— remembering 10I10 is there spoken of. 

(z) Rev. xxii. 2. ( a ) Ezek. xxxiv. 16. Comp. Is. lxi. 1. 

(b) 2 Cor. viii. 9. (c) Heb. xi. 13 and 16. (d) Ps. lxix. 8. 

(e) Rev. C. Marriott. (/) St. Luke xiii. 32. 

(g) See the last words of ver. 34. Consider St. John xxi. 15, 16, 17. 



492 A PLAIN COMMENTAKT [CHAP. 

again in His glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and dead," He will not only 
graciously allow what Love and Zeal have done in His blessed Service, but will 
give it His mighty sanction also; and, (in the language of the Parable,) "repay" 
it i 

An interesting, and highly suggestive incident follows : — " A servant receives her 
Lord, — the sick her Saviour, — the creature her Creator. But if any should say, 
"Blessed are they who have been thought worthy to receive Christ into their 
houses," — grieve not thou: for He says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the 
least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.'"(7i) 

38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that He entered into a cer- 
tain village : and a certain woman named Martha received Him into 
her house. 

This must have been at " Bethany, — the town of Mary and her sister Martha/'(*) 
On the other occasion when our Lord is said to have been entertained at Bethany, 
it was "in the house of Simon the leper" that "they made Him a supper ."(&) 
Here, the house was Martha's. 

39, 40 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' 
feet, and heard His Word. But Martha was encumbered about much 
serving, 

In the language of God's ancient people, disciples were said to " sit at the feet" 
of their Teachers. (I) Thus, St. Paul was brought up "at the feet of Gamaliel." (m) 
But the phrase doubtless represents what was the habitual posture of the body. 
Consider what is said of the demoniac of Gadare, in St. Luke viii. 35. — The "serv- 
ing" alluded to,(n) implies attendance at the table. 

The character of these two sisters reappears on the other occasion already alluded 
to, when they again come before us. It is there recorded that "Martha served:" 
but of Mary, that she "anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her 
her hair."(o) 

Very expressive is the language of the original in this place. St. Paul may be 
thought to have alluded to the entire incident when he declared, in similar lan- 
guage, that it was the object of his precepts to the other sex, — "that they might 
attend upon the Lord loffliout distraction." { p) While Mary was thus blessedly 
engaged, Martha " came suddenly upon" the Teacher and His disciple, — 

and came to Him, and said, Lord, dost Thou not care that my sis- 
ter hath left me to serve alone ? bid her therefore that she help me. 

Observe, by the way, the smallness of the household, and the very humble nature 
of what is passing. She who provides the entertainment, has to prepare it like- 
wise ; and she must prepare it alone! Yet, who is the guest? The Lord of Hea- 
ven and Earth ! . . . . How should proud hearts bow down before such a spectacle, 
and forget their pride ! Poverty surely inherits a blessing ! 

"Mary commits her cause to the Judge," remarks an ancient Father, (q) "and He 
becomes her Advocate." How many examples there are in the Gospel, of Christ 
thus taking the part of them who trust their cause to Him!(r) 

41, 42 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, 
thou art careful and troubled about many things : but one thing is 
needful : and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be 
taken away from her. 

(h) Augustine, quoting St. Matthew xxv. 40. (i) St. John xi. 1. 

(k) St. Matth. xxvi. 6, compared with St. John xii. 1, 2. 

(I) Deut. xxxiii. 3. 2 Kings iv. 38. (m) Acts xxii. 3. 

(n) As in St. Luke iv. 39: xii. 37: xvii. 8: St. John xii. 2: Acts vi. 2, and elsewhere, 
(o) St. John xii. 2, 3. (p) 1 Cor. vii. 35. (q) Augustine, 

(r) As St. Luke vi. 3, (see the note there:) vii. 39, 40. St. Matthew xxvi. 10, &c. Consider 
Ps. xxxviii. 15 (margin), and x. 14, (16 in Prayer Book.) 



X.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 493 

Mary had chosen one thing: Martha was troubled about many. The double 
repetition of her name is a note of special earnestness. (s) 

He reads the Gospel to little purpose who finds here nothing beyond the account 
of two sisters, — one engrossed with worldly business, the other devoted to Religion ; 
of whom one incurs rebuke, and the other commendation. Martha is a great saint, 
no less than her sister ; and St. John's record is express, that " Jesus loved 
Martha." [f) She is here engaged in the active service of Christ ; and doubtless 
had chosen for herself a very blessed portion when she determined to minister to 
the human wants of her Lord. Behold, He has journeyed, and is weary, and 
" hath not where to lay His head/ ; (w) She has invited Him to her dwelling, and 
He has come to bless " her house " with His presence. Shall she not exert herself 
in an hour like this ? and by the pains she takes to entertain Him well, seek to 
testify the largeness of her gratitude, and love, and joy? If Hospitality be ever 
honourable, (x) how much more on an occasion like the present ! 

Not until she seeks to draw her sister away from Christ, therefore, is a syllable 
addressed to her in the way of reproof. The act of hospitality which so occupies 
her, cannot but be most acceptable in the eyes of her Divine guest : who says not 
that she has chosen a bad part ; but only that Mary has chosen a better. 

" Why better?" asks Augustine ; " Because it shall not be taken away from her. 
From thee, the burden of business shall one time be taken away ; for when thou 
comest into the heavenly country, thou wilt find no stranger to receive with hospi- 
tality. But for thy good it shall be taken away; that what is better may be given 
thee. Trouble shall be taken away, that rest may be given thee. But in the mean- 
time thou art yet at sea ; thy sister is in port." 

These words prepare us for another remark of the same great writer ; namely, 
that Martha was occupied, as the Church of Christ is occupied here below,— in the 
active service of Christ : Mary, as the same Church will be engaged hereafter in 
Heaven, — in devout adoration of His perfections. — Our Fathers in the Faith de- 
lighted in taking a somewhat similar view of the entire transaction, — when they 
pointed out that these two sisters respectively symbolize the active and the con- 
templative side of the religious life : both excellent, — yet the contemplative the 
more excellent of the two ; for it is " that good part, which shall not be taken 
away," — but rather endure throughout the ages of Eternity, and become perfected 
by the presence of Him who is its object. (y) The practical life has its own honours 
and its own rewards. Those who pursue it, are only then to be checked when they 
would cast blame on the conduct of such as have chosen the Word of God for their 
study, (z) and Christ Himself for their portion. (a) 



THE PRAYER. 

Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affec- 
tions of sinful men ; Grant unto Thy people, that they may love the 
thing which Thou commandest, and desire that which Thou dost pro- 
mise ; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, 
our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found ; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

(s) Compare St. Luke xxii. 31. (A St. John xi. 5. 

(u) St. Matth. viii. 20, and St. Luke ix. 58. 

fee) Romans xii. 13. 1 Tim. iii. 2. Titus i. 8. Heb. xiii. 2. 1 St. Peter iv. 9. 

iy) Compare St. John xvi. 22. (z) Ps. cxix. 18, 24, 54, 72, 97, 103, 105, 127, 162, &c. 

(a) Ps. xvi. 5: lxxiii. 26: cxix. 57: cxlii. 5, &c. 



494 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER XI 



1 Christ teacheth to pray, and that instantly. 11 Assuring that God so will give lis 
good things. 14 He, casting out a dumb devil, rebuketh the blasphemous Phari- 
sees. 28 And showeth who are blessed. 29 Preacheth to the people. 37 And 
reprehendeth the outward show of holiness in the Pharisees, Scribes, and Lawyers. 

1 And it came to pass, that as He was praying in a certain place, 
when He ceased, one of His Disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us 
to pray, as John also taught his Disciples. 

It was usual, among the Jews, for Masters to give their Scholars a Form of 
Pra}^er. St. John Baptist had given his Disciples such a Form, — which would have 
been preserved to this day, had it concerned us to know what it was. 

2 And He said unto them, When ye pray, say, 

The Prayer which follows, had been already delivered by our Saviour to His 
Disciples, in the Sermon on the Mount: then, unasked; now, in compliance with 
the request of a Disciple. See St. Matthew's Gospel, vi. 9 to 13, — and the notes 
there. This repeated delivery of the Lord's Prayer, reminds us of the two-fold 
delivery of His Commandments. (a) Very significant, surely, is the circumstance 
that the same Prayer was delivered on both occasions. Well may the Church make 
such frequent use of it in her Daily Service! 

Our Father 

"We are not taught to say " My Father/' but " Our Father ;" partly, to remind 
us of our Brotherhood in Christ, — partly, to remind us of the duty of Common 
Prayer. To say " My Father," was the peculiar prerogative of the Only-Begotten 
Son. See St. John v. 18 ; and the note which immediately goes before it. 

God is "our Father," because He is our Creator :(b) — because, by His Power, 
our life is sustained; by His Providence all our wants are supplied :(c) — and because, 
lastly, we are His adopted Children by Faith in Christ jESUS.(d) 

Which art in Heaven, 

These words, at the very beginning of the Lord's Prayer, are intended, (like the 
summons, "Lift up your hearts,") to carry our thoughts from Earth to Heaven; 
and to remind us where our conversation, as "the Sons of God,"(c) should be. 

Hallowed be Thy Name. 

This first petition of the Lord's Prayer, by the form it assumes, seems to testify 
anxiety on behalf of Almighty God : but, in reality, it is only a supplication offered 
up for ourselves, — a prayer that God's Name, (which is thrice Holy,) may be sancti- 
fied in us. 

And when, both in ourselves and others, that Holy Name is hallowed, — what will 
delay the fulfillment of the petition which stands in the second place ? 

Thy Kingdom come. 

By this petition, " the Church militant here in Earth" anticipates those " great 
voices in Heaven," which St. John heard, triumphantly "saying, The Kingdoms 

(a) See Deut. ix. 10, and x. 4. (&) Deut. xxxii. 6. (c) St. Matth. vii. 9 to 11. 

(d) Gal. iii. 26. (e) St. John i. 12 and 1 St. John iii. 1, 2. 



XI.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 495 



of this "World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ ; and He 
shall reign for ever and ever."(/) 

But it is,' in effect, a prayer for growth in Grace ; for the increase of Holiness, 
both in ourselves and others : " for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you."(#) 
The Kingdom, moreover, has been visibly set up on Earth : and " no doubt is come 
upon us :"(h) but as the Blind see not the Light, (in which they nevertheless " live, 
and move, and have their being,") so may it be with ourselves ! We have need 
continually to pray that God would bring us sensibly to the Knowledge of His 
Kingdom: and convince us of its "coming." 

Thy Will be done, as in Heaven, so in Earth. 

If men sought to do God's "Will on Earth, as constantly and faithfully as the holy 
Angels do His Will in Heaven, — (for they alway " do His commandments, hearken- 
ing unto the voice of His Word,"(i) — ) the coming of His Kingdom would be de- 
layed no longer. Faithfully to do His Will, is indeed to make Heaven begin here 
on Earth. Heartily to will what He willeth, is the nearest imaginable approach to 
perfection. 

The three former petitions are expressive of our solicitude for God's Glory. On 
our parts, they are petitions for grace "to worship Him, serve Him, and obey Him 
as we ought to do." The four which follow, have Man for their subject: and in 
them, we severally enumerate, and pray for the supply of, our own greatest needs. 

3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 

By which words, we "pray unto God that He will send us all things that be 
needful both for our souls and bodies." Thus, besides being a prayer for food and 
raiment, — (with which possessions, we are reminded that we ought to be content ;(&) 
and for which, we are warned against being over careful ;){l) — this petition has an 
obvious reference to the " true Bread which came down from Heaven :" even to 
" the strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of CHRIST." 
" For," as our Lord Himself speaks, " My Flesh is Meat indeed, and My Blood is 
Drink indeed."(m) And this is, of course, the loftiest meaning of the prayer. 

Yet more generally, — for our Lord's use of Deut. viii. 3, (concerning which, see 
the note on St. Luke iv. 4,) forbids any such limited application of that place of 
Scripture ; — we are hereby taught to place our entire dependence, to repose all our 
hopes and anxieties, on God : to refer all our needs, to commit all our schemes, as 
well as to resign the issue of every thing we undertake, to the disposition of His 
good Providence. 

Lastly, to do the Will of GOD the FATHER —us we learn from St. John iv. 32 
and 34, is to "have meat to eat" which the World knows not of. That is, spiritual 
strength and sustenance is derived to the Church from this source. Moreover, — 
"It is written, Man shall not live by Bread alone, but by every Word that pro- 
ceedeth out of the mouth of GoD."(n) There is therefore an allusion here to the 
commands and sanctions contained in the Book of Life ; concerning which, the 
Christian prays that he may find therein his daily strength and sustentation. 

And thus, although it would seem that, in this petition, our Blessed Lord, out of 
His great compassion toward our infirmities, had simply given the foremost place 
to a supplication in behalf of the temporal wants of His creatures, — it will be felt 
that even here, abundant provision has been made for the more spiritually minded ; 
enabling them to lift up their hearts above this earthly scene ; and to feel, with the 
Psalmist, even while they use the language of mere bodily craving ; — " My soul 
thirsteth for Thee: my flesh longeth for TheeV\d) "My flesh and my heart 
faileth: but GOD is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."Q?) 

4 And forgive us our Sins ; for we also forgive every one that is 
indebted to us. 

On this petition, and the memorable plea on which it rests, see the note in St. 
Matthew's Gospel, — vi. 12 : also the note on verses 14 and 15 of the same chapter. 

(/) Revel, xi. 15. ( g ) St, Luke xvii. 21. 

(A) St. Luke xi. 20; and St. Matth. xii. 28. (i) Psalm ciii. 20. 

(k) 1 Tim. vi. 8. (I) St. Matth. vi. 24 to 34. \m) St. John vi. 55. 

(n) St. Matthew iv. 4, — where our Lord quotes Deut. viii. 3. 

(o) Ps. lxiii. 1. Compare Psalm lxxxiv. 2. (p) Psalm Ixxiii. 26. 



496 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

To enforce the duty of forgiveness of Injuries, our Lord delivered " a Parable of 
the King that took account of his Servants ; and punished him who showed no 
mercy to his fellow." (q) We learn also from St. Matthew's Gospel, that the Blessed 
Speaker recurred to the present petition immediately after the former delivery of 
the Lord's Prayer :(r) and He is related by St. Mark to have used exactly similar 
language concerning this great duty, on a subsequent occasion, (s) 

And lead us not into Temptation. 

We are hereby reminded of the comfortable truth that the Adversary has no 
power, even to tempt us, — unless God permit him. When the Eternal Son was led 
into the Wilderness to be tempted by the Devil, He was led by the Spirit.^) All 
our Fear, and all our Devotion, ought therefore to be addressed to God. 

A connection may be perceived between this petition, and the last. There, we 
prayed to be forgiven for our past transgressions. Here, we pray to be saved from 
the commission of more. 

See the note on this petition in St. Matthew vi. 13 ; where the difference is pointed 
out between God's Trial of our Constancy, and Satan's Solicitation to Sin, — which, 
in the language of Scripture, are alike called " Temptation." 

But deliver us from Evil. 

• 

This may well be the concluding petition of the Lord's Prayer, — being the Crea- 
ture's cry to the Creator for final deliverance from all that stands in the way of his 
Eternal Salvation : Evil, — whether from without, or from within. That deliverance 
from the Evil One is implied, cannot, of course, be doubted; and probably this is 
the thing chiefly meant : in illustration of which hint, the Reader is particularly 
referred to the notes on St. Luke iv. 6. But more than that, if possible, is meant 
by these words. They are a prayer that God would deliver us, as St. Paul speaks, 
"from this body of death."(?<) By such language, (in the words of the same 
Apostle,) showing that "we ourselves groan within ourselves; waiting for the 
Adoption, to wit, the Redemption of the Body."(x) 

This petition, which is the largest in extent, of any, may be regarded as summing 
up, and comprehending, all our desires. It enables the Christian, into whatever 
tribulation he may happen to be cast, to vent the fullness of his grief; and, in the 
fewest possible words, to pray to God for effectual deliverance, — in Time and in 
Eternity. 

When our Lord first delivered His pattern Prayer, He added a few words enforc- 
ing the duty of Forgiveness of Injuries. (y) On this occasion, He delivers a Parable 
enforcing earnestness, or rather importunity in prayer. It is as if the Divine 
Speaker had said, — "You ask me for a form of words. It is well. Learn, how- 
ever, that that form must be poured forth heartily ; as the expression of the needs 
of each individual heart. Nor suppose, because your requests are not immediately 
granted, that therefore they will be denied altogether. Hearken to a parable." 

5 And He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and 
shall go unto him at midnight, 

GOD is that Friend.^) " At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto Thee," 
saith the Psalmist.(a) We learn from this place, that God is to be addressed with 
midnight prayers, as well as midnight praises ; and the example of Paul and Silas 
teaches us the same thing. See Acts xvi. 25. 

and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves ; 

The request, you observe, is for Bread ; concerning the meaning of which term, 
see above, the notes on verse 3. Consider, in connection with these two places, the 
language of ver. 11 ; and see the note there. 

(q) St. Matthew xviii. 23 to the end. (»■) St. Matthew vi. 14, 15. 

Cs) St. Mark xi. 25, 26. See also Ephes. iv. 32 : Coloss. iii. 13 : and Ecclesiasticus xxviii. 
lto 7, 

(0 St. Matthew iv. 1. («) Romans vii. 24. 

(x) Romans viii. 23. \y) St. Matthew vi. 14, 35. 

\z) St. John xv. 14. (a) Psalm cxix. 62. 



XI.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 497 



But why " three loaves ?" It seems reasonable on more accounts than one, to 
compare this place with Genesis xviii. 6. 

6 for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have no- 
thing to set before him ? 

The type, it may he presumed, of a sudden requirement — an unexpected want. 
Thus, in Nathan's " parable of the Ewe Lamb," the supposed occasion when the 
Rich man spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, was when " there 
came a traveller unto the rich man." (6) ... Or does the present parable perhaps 
exhibit the efficacy of intercessory prayer ? 

An ancient bishop beautifully puts the case of a stranger seeking Divine Know- 
ledge, a reason, at the hands of one who has it not to give. " Not having wherewith 
to satisfy his hunger, you are compelled to seek in the Lord's Book: for perhaps 
what he asks is contained there, but obscure. You are not permitted to ask St. 
Paul himself, or St. Peter, or any Prophet; for all that family is now~resting with 
their Lord ; and the ignorance of the world is very great — that is, it is midnight ; 
and your friend is urgent from hunger, and not contented with a simple faith. 
Must he then be abandoned ? Go to the Lord himself, with whom the family is 
sleeping ; ' Knock and Pray/ If He delays to give, it is because he wishes that 
you should the more earnestly desire what is delayed ; lest, by being given at once, 
it should grow common." 

Take notice, in passing, of the very humble sphere of life from which our Lord 
draws his illustration. It is because — " To the poor the Gospel is preached." (c) 
Well might the Psalmist exclaim, " Who is like unto the Lord, our God, who 
dwelleth on high; who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven 
and in the Earth V\d) 

7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not : the 
door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed : I cannot rise 
and give thee. 

Rather — " My children, as well as myself, are gone to rest." He says, " Trouble 
me not," and delays, only to kindle the greater desire — to occasion redoubled earn- 
estness. See the note on the next verse. 

An ancient Father refers all this, to these latter days, when there is " a famine 
of the Word; and those who once dealt the Gospel throughout the world, as it were 
Bread, are now in their secret rest with the Lord." Doubtless the Saints are God's 
" children ;"(e) and " the dead in Christ," — those " which sleep in Jesus/X/) — 
may well be spoken of as "in their beds."(#) "Let the Saints be joyful with 
glory," says the Psalmist, " Let them rejoice in their beds."(h) 

Consider, how it is only when " an open door"(i) is set before us, that we can 
hope for access to God. Hence our Saviour Christ calls himself " the door,"(&) — 
because He presents our petitions ; and because, offered in His most Holy Name, 
they become prevailing. (I) Hence, too, such expressions as we meet with in Acts 
xiv. 27 : 1 Cor. xvi. 9 : 2 Cor. ii. 12 : and Coloss. iv. 3. — Take notice that " the 
door" is more than " shut;" it is (in the original) "locked:" and so in St. Matthew 
vi. 6. The thoughtful reader will recollect a short but striking clause in St. Mat- 
thew xxv. 10. 

8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he 
is his Friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him 
as many as he needeth. 

Whether " three" or more. 

What a marvellous lesson is here set before us — even by the very Being who 
answereth Prayer ! He may see fit to delay granting our petitions : but He would 
have us persevere; and He will grant them in the end. " The Kingdom of Heaven 
suffereth violence; and the violent take it by force."(w) The present warning is 

(h) 2 Samuel xii. 4. (c) St, Luke vii. 22. (d) Psalm cxiii. 6. 

(e) 1 St. John iii. 1, 2, &c. (/) 1 Thess. iv. 14, 16. 

\g) Compare Job xvii. 13 Isaiah lvii. 2. 2 Chron. xvi. 14. (h) Psalm cxlix. 5. 
(i) Rev. iii. 8. (k) St. John x. 9. (I) St. John xiv. 13: xv. 16: xvi. 23. 

(ro) St. Matthew xi. 12. 

32 



498 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

by no means singular and solitary. Our Lord caused two blind men, on a certain 
occasion, thus to cry after him, and follow him into the house :(n) the two blind 
men at Jericho, He healed not, in like manner, until after they had called upon 
Him so as to incur the displeasure of the multitude :(o) but above all, to the Woman 
of Canaan, He thus acted — " answering her not a word," in reply to her prolonged 
and repeated cries — even repulsing her when at last she came and worshipped.(j9) 
And what other lesson than one of earnestness in Prayer, is taught us by Jacob's 
wrestling with an Angel until the breaking of the day? Jacob said, " I will not 
let Thee go, except Thou bless me. . . . And He said ... As a Prince hast thou 
power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. . . . And He blessed him 
there." (q) Whence his name, " Israel:" that is, a Prince of GOD. 

Observe, that the friend's compliance is not from friendship, but in consequence 
of the other's importunity; or rather " shamelessness," — for so it stands in the 
original: so that the argument strictly resembles that in the parable of " The Un- 
just Judge ;" or rather of " The importunate Widow ;" which was spoken " to this 
end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint." (r) Consider, by all means, 
St. Luke xviii. 1 to 8. 

Now, " God is Love."(s) Moreover, " Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither 
slumber nor sleep." (t) Consider therefore with how much greater certainty of 
success we shall knock at Heaven's Gate ! " He would not so encourage us to ask 
were He not willing to bestow. He is more willing to give than we to receive." 
There is no overcoming of reluctance here ; the reluctance, on the contrary, is all 
our own. 

The Divine Speaker proceeds to add a few words without any parable: "no 
longer in a figure, but plainly." 

9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye 
shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 

This, and the four following verses, (ver. 9 to ver. 13,) recur, with some small 
varieties of expression, in our Lord's Sermon on the Mount — St. Matthew vii. 7 to 
11: where the reader is requested to consult the notes. To " ask," — to " seek," — 
to " knock," — seem to imply different degrees of earnestness. 

10 For every one that asketh receiveth ; and he that seeketh findeth ; 
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 

"Receiveth," — not perhaps the very thing he asked for; but "that which is 
most expedient for him ; and therefore a better tiling than he knew how to ask. 
He " findeth" — something : a treasure, doubtless ; though perhaps not the very 
thing he sought. And " the door" is " opened," — whereby he may " go in and 
out, and find pasture."(it) See the note on St. Matthew vii. 8. 

11 If a Son shall ask bread of any of you that is a Father, will he 
give him a stone ? or if he ash a fish, will he for a fish give him a 
serpent ? 

The connection of this with what goes before is obvious. Notice in the prayer 
beginning " Our Father" the petition for " Bread;" and the subject of the mid- 
night request in verse 5 — where see the note. See what has been already written 
on St. Matthew vii. 9. 

12, 13 Or if he shall ask an egg^ will he offer him a. scorpion ? If 
ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children : 
how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to 
them that ask Him ? 

These words have already come before us in the " Sermon on the Mount," — St. 
Matthew vii. 10, 11 ; -where see the notes. A similar argument to that used above, 
is here repeated. There, it was, — If a common Friend, to escape molestation ; here, 

"(«) St. Matth. ix. 27, 28. (o) St. Matth. xx. 30 to 34 (p) St. Matth. xv. 22 to 26. 
(q) Gen. xxxii. 24 to 29. (r) St. Luke xviii. 1. (s) 1 St. John iv. 16. 

(t) Psalm cxxi. 4. (u) St. John x. 9. 



XL] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 499 

If a human Father, because bound by natural ties, grants the favour required of 
him — how much more shall Re who never sleepeth,(a;) and whose Mercy is over 
all His works : (y) how much more shall thy Heavenly Father, "grant thee thy 
heart's desire, and fulfill all thy mind !"(z) 

14 And He was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came 
to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake ; and the people 
wondered. 

Compare the account of this miracle in St. Matthew's Gospel — xii. 22, 23; where 
see the notes. 

15 But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub 
the chief the devils. 

The reader is referred to the note on St. Matthew xii. 24. Also, to a long note 
on St. Mark iii. 22. 

16 And others, tempting Him, sought of Him a sign from Heaven. 

"This pretended desire of a sign less equivocal, — a sign from Heaven, such as 
Moses exhibited before the Israelites, (a) — could only proceed from minds corrupted, 
as were those of the Pharisees, by the dangerous habit of trifling with the divine 
Oracles ; and making that accurate knowledge they possessed of the external means 
of Salvation, a mere instrument of pride and worldly advancement. Compare St. 
Matthew xii. 38, and the note there. 

17, 18, 19 But He, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every 
Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation ; and a House 
divided against a House falleth. If Satan also be divided against him- 
self, how shall his Kingdom stand ? because ye say that I cast out 
devils through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by 
whom do your sons cast them out ? therefore shall they be your judges. 

The reader is referred to all the notes on St. Matthew xii. 25, 26, 27 — where the 
three preceding verses will be found discussed at some length. Some remarks on 
the two first, (verses 17 and 18,) will be also found in the Commentary on St. 
Mark iii. 26. 

20 But if I with the Finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the 
Kingdom of God is come upon you. 

In St. Matthew xii. 28, instead of "The Finger of God," it is "The Spirit of 
God :" a most precious circumstance, since we are thereby reminded of the meaning 
of the former phrase when it occurs in Scripture. 

But why is the Spirit of God, spoken of as His Finger? Probably, first, because 
that little member possesses such wondrous activity, and is mainly employed in all 
the operations of the hands : wherefore, when the Magicians of Pharaoh would 
ascribe a miracle to the power of God's Spirit, they exclaim "This in the Finger of 
GrOD."(6)— To the finger, again, chiefly belong all works of Creative energy and 
skill : wherefore, the Heavens, (concerning which it is said in the Book of Job, 
'J By His Spirit He hath garnished" them,)(c) are described in Psalm viii. 3, as 
" the work of His Fingers."— Next, it may be because with this member words are 
consigned to writing : whence the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone, are 
saia to have been "written with the Finger of God ;"(d) with manifest reference to 
which, St. Paul speaks of an Epistle written "with the Spirit of the living God ; 
not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." (e)— We speak of the Bible, 
m hke manner, as written with the Finger of God ; by which we do but mean that 
it is inspired throughout by God's Holy Spirit. Consider Daniel v. 5, which de- 

(x) Psalm cxxi. 3, 4. {y) Psalm cxlv. 9. (a) Psalm xx. 4. 

(a) Exodus xvi. 4, 15 j referred to in Psalm lxxviii. 24, and in St. John vi. 30 to 32. 

(b) Exodus viii. 19. ( c ) job xxvi. 13. 
(rf) Exodus xxxi. 18: Deut. ix. 10. (e) 2 Cor. iii. 3. 



500 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

scribes how there " came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote" upon the wall; 
and "the part of the hand," (as we read in verse 24,) was sent from GOD. Re- 
member also how, on a certain occasion, the Incarnate Word Himself " stooped 
down, and with His finger wrote on the ground." (f) 

When acts of stupendous Power are attributed to the Finger of God, there seems 
further to be an allusion to the ease and despatch with which He performs 
His works. 

But the Reader is referred to the note on St. Matthew xii. 28, for some remarks 
upon the present verse. 

21, 22 When a Strong Man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are 
in peace : but when a Stronger than he shall come upon him, and over- 
come him, He taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and 
divideth his spoils. 

Our Saviour Christ Himself is that " Stronger than the Strong," — one of whose 
types in the Old Testament was Samson. He is a Warrior. Consider the follow- 
ing places of Scripture, — Psalm xlv. 3, and 5, (with which compare Rev. vi. 2: also 
xix. 15 and 21 ;) Ephes. iv. 8, (quoting Psalm lxviiii. 18 :) Coloss. ii. 15 : 1 Cor. xv. 
25, 26. To " divide spoils" is the act of victorious soldiers, — compare Numb. xxxi. 
27 : Joshua xxii. 8 : Judges v. 30 : 1 Samuel xxx. 24 : Psalm lxviii. 12 : Isaiah 
xxxiii. 23. Even thus it had been foretold of Christ Himself that He should "di- 
vide the spoil with the strong." (g) 

See the note on St. Matthew xii. 29 : also on St. Mark iii. 27, and the places there 
referred to. The Reader is also referred to the note on St. Luke viii. 30. 

"All his armour:" rather, "his complete suit of armour." '(h) — "Wherein he 
trusted:" — how much of dismay and disappointment is revealed in those few words. 

23 He that is not with Me is against Me ; and he that gathereth not 
with Me scattereth. 

The Reader is referred to the note on St Matthew xii. 30. 

24, 25 When the unclean Spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh 
through dry places, seeking rest ; and finding none, he saith, I will 
return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he 
findeth it swept and garnished. 

These wonderful words will be found remarked upon, at great length, in the notes 
on St. Matthew xii. 43. 

26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked 
than himself: 

" As if answering to the sevenfold graces of the Holy Spirit, by which the 
faithful Christian is confirmed and sealed." See the Hymn in the Ordination Ser- 
vice, beginning " Come Holy Ghost," &c. ; and consider the following places of 
Scripture: Rev. i. 4: iii. 1: iv. 5 : v. 6. Compare Isaiah xi. 2. 

For, in the case before us, " that most Holy Inhabitant has been quenched, (i) and 
grieved, (k) and thrust away." 

Consider, in connection with this, St. John v. 14. 

and they enter in, and dwell there : and the last state of that man is 
worse than the first. 

For, " it is impossible," says the Apostle, addressing the Hebrews, " to renew 
again such unto repentance :"(l) that is, such as "were once enlightened, and have 
tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have 
tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the World to come," and yet have 
fallen away to apostasy. Most true it is that God gives pardon ever to the truly 

(f) St. John viii. 6. (g) Isaiah liii. 12. 

Ui) Compare Ephes. vi. 11, 13; where it is rendered "the whole armour." 

(i) 1 Thess. v. 19. (k) Ephes. iv. 30. (I) Hebrews vi. 4 to 6. 



XI.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 501 

repenting Sinner. But wlw will give Repentance itself to him who has put it far 
from him, — when the Holy Spirit, the only Author and Giver of Repentance, is 
grieved, and provoked to become an Enemy ? What if every feeling on which con- 
trition can be fastened has ceased to exist, — and every, breath of devout affection 
has stopped, — and baptismal grace has been abused, and wasted, and lost, — and the 
Blood of the Covenant, wherewith the man was sanctified, hath become to him as an 
unholy thing, and a lasting despite is done to " the Spirit of Grace V'(m) 

The entire contents of the present verse will be found remarked upon, at great 
length, in the note on St. Matthew xii. 45, — to which the Reader is referred. 

27, 28 And it came to pass, as He spake these things, a- certain 
Woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto Him, Blessed 
is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked. 
But He said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God, 
and keep it. 

The reader is referred to the note on St. Luke viii. 21. — It is obvious to remark 
on these words that nothing derogatory to the unspeakable honour of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary was intended. The very thought were ridiculous. An Archangel 
from Heaven had proclaimed her blessedness. The Holt Spirit, (by her own lips,) 
had pronounced her blessed eternally, (n) That no "Woman since the Creation was 
ever so honoured, — nor, till the end of the World will be, — is too evident to require 
asserting. In the words of grave Bishop Pearson, — " We cannot bear too reverend 
a regard unto " the Mother of our Lord," so long as we give her not that worship 
which is due unto the Lord Himself." 

And yet, he must be blind indeed who sees not in such passages as the present, — 
St. Luke viii. 20, 21, — St. Matth. xii. 48 to 50, — the clear condemnation of all those 
who would unduly exalt our Lord's Mother. (o) There are parts of the Church 
where the Blessed Virgin is even worshipped ; and that, openly. But the blasphe- 
mous practice is of only modern date ; and could never have arisen where the Word 
of God was held in due honour. 

29 And when the people were gathered thick together, He began 
to say, 

In reply to the Pharisees, who had said, — " Master, we would see a sign from 
Thee/' See St. Matthew xii. 38, and the note there. 

30 This is an evil generation : they seek a sign ; and there shall no 
sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the Prophet. For as Jonas was 
a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this 
generation. 

Take notice, that one of the unrecorded facts in Old Testament History is here 
revealed to us, from the lips of Christ Himself. 

31, 32 The Queen of the South shall rise up in the Judgment with 
the men of this generation, and condemn them : for she came from the 
utmost parts of the Earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and, behold, 
a Greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in 
the Judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it : for they 
repented at the preaching of Jonas ; and, behold, a Greater than Jonas 
is here. 

The Reader will find this entire passage fully remarked upon in the notes on St. 
Matthew xii. 39, 40, 41, 42. It is very easy to point out one of the meanings of the 
words which follow : easy also, to invent some connection with what goes before. 
But how hard is it to declare with certainty what the Spirit intended! . . . It seems 
as if our Lord were here proclaiming the openness of His teaching ; and declaring 

(m) Hebrews x. 29. («) St, Luke i. 28 and 4.8. (o) St. Luke i. 43. 



502 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP, 

that, just as openly should His Church, (the " Candlestick,") bear witness concern- 
ing Him, to the end : for He says : — 

33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret 
place, neither under a bushel ; but on a candlestick, that they which 
come in may see the light. 

Almost the same words are found in the " Sermon on the Mount." See the note 
on St. Matthew v. 15. They also recur (in quite a different connection) in St. Mark 
iv. 21, — where see the note. In what follows, our Lord seems to declare that 
" whether men should be enlightened by His Doctrine, or not, would depend upon 
the state of their own minds; according as they should be clear from prejudices or 
darkened by evil passions." See below, on ver. 36 ; and consider St. John v. 44. 

34 The light of the body is the eye : therefore when thine eye is 
single, thy whole body is also full of light ; but when thine eye is evil, 
thy body also is full of darkness. 

These words also occurred in the " Sermon on the Mount," and will be found dis- 
cussed in the notes on St. Matthew vi. 22, 23. 

35, 36 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not 
darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part 
dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a 
candle doth give thee light. 

"What is here said of the body, is to be applied to the soul. The sense is : If, 
in consequence of the singleness of thy heart, thy whole mind be enlightened, there 
will be Light all around thee, to direct thee in all thy ways." 

37, 38 And as He spake, a certain Pharisee besought Him to dine 
with him : and He went in, and sat down to meat. And when the Pha- 
risee saw it, he marvelled that He had not first washed before dinner. 

The reason is given in St. Mark vii. 3 and 4. 

39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean 
the outside of the cup and the platter; 

— " but within, they are full of extortion and excess :"(jtf) even so ye are careful 
to cultivate a fair outside, — 

40 but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye 
fools, did not He that made that which is without make that which is 
within also ? 

This means, — You ascribe to Divine Tradition those outward cleansings which 
you extend even to cup and platter. But you do not consider that He who formed, 
the outside, fashioned the inward part also ; and must require purity in respect of 
both — Soul as well as Body? " Behold, Thou desirest Truth in the inward parts/' 
says the Psalmist. " Make me a clean heart, God." 

41 But rather gives alms of such things as ye have ; and, behold, all 
things are clean unto you. 

This should be translated, — "But rather bestow in alms the things which are 
inside" the cup and the platter : (corresponding with the Baptist's directions, in 
St. Luke iii. 11.) "Alms" are specified, because the Pharisees were " full of Rav- 
ening/ 7 — that is, of Extortion. On the doctrine here taught, consider the following 
places of Scripture : Isaiah lviii. 7. Daniel iv. 27. St. Luke xii. 33. And com- 
pare the two preceding verses with St. Matthew xxiii. 25, 26, — where see the notes. 

(p) St. Matthew xxiii. 25. 



XI.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 503 

Take notice, that Woe is nest three times denounced on the Pharisees, — verses 
42, 43 and 44 : and as often on the Lawyers, verses 46, 47 and 52. 

42 But woe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye tithe mint and rue and all 
manner of herbs, and pass over Judgment and the Love of God : these 
ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 

That is, — And yet not to leave the other undone. See the note on St. Matthew 
xxiii. 23. 

The Pharisees did give tithe to God, even of " all manner of herbs," — which the 
Law did not require : but as they gave it, it was not Alms. Consider St. Matthew 
vi. 1 to 4, and the notes there. 

43 Woe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye love the uppermost seats in the 
synagogues, and greetings in the markets. 

Our Lord reproached them for their pride and ambition in these respects, on 
another occasion. Compare St. Matthew xxiii. 6, which answers to St. Mark xii. 
38, 39 : St. Luke xx. 46. 

44 Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye are as 
graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not 
aware of them. 

This should be compared with St. Matthew xxiii. 27 : but the sense of the two 
places is different. There, the Pharisees are compared to "whited sepulchres," 
and are reproached for their inward impurity, combined with a fair exterior. Here, 
the skill with which they succeeded in hiding their internal corruption, — so that 
men suspected not the pollution with which they were in contact, (q) — is the subject 
of rebuke. See the note on the last half of St. Matthew viii. 28. 

45 Then answered one of the Lawyers, and said unto Him, Master, 
thus saying, Thou reproachest us also. 

Our countryman Bede remarks on this, — "In what a grievous state is that con- 
science, which, hearing the Word of God, thinks it a reproach against itself; and, 
in the account of the punishment of the wicked, perceives its own condemnation!" 
Take notice, that when our Lord couples the " Scribes" with the "Pharisees," one 
of the Lawyers speaks. The reason may be gathered from the note on St. Mark 
iii. 22, which see. The learned do not know whether there was any difference 
between a Lawyer and a Scribe ; but they suggest that the former may have ex- 
pounded the Law privately, in Schools : the latter, publicly, in the Synagogues. 

The three Woes denounced against the Lawyers follow, — as was pointed out in 
the note which immediately precedes verse 42. 

46 And He said, Woe unto you also, ye Lawyers ! for ye lade men 
with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the 
burdens with one of your fingers. 

To " lade men with burdens," in the language of Scripture, is, so to interpret 
the Law that its fulfillment shall prove intolerable. Thus, St. Peter describes the 
Circumcision of Christians, as "a yoke upon the neck of the Disciples :"(r) and, in the 
Decree of the Council of Jerusalem, it is said to have " seemed good to the Holt 
Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things." (s) 
These false Teachers, as our Lord elsewhere declares, "said, but did not:"(t) or, 
as it is here expressed, " touched not the burdens with one of their fingers." See 
on St. Matthew xxiii. 4. 

47 Woe unto you ! for ye build the sepulchres of the Prophets, and 
your Fathers killed them. 

(q) See Numbers xix. 16. (r) Acts xv. 10. (s) Acts xv. 28. 

(t) St. Matthew xxiii. 3. 



504 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Our Lord does not, of course, denounce woe against them for building the Sepul- 
chres of the Prophets ; "but for their hypocrisy : as appears from St. Matthew 
xxiii. 29. 

48 Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your Fathers ; 

Rather, — " Thereby ye bear witness to the deeds of your Fathers, and are con- 
senting thereto ;" 

for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. 

That is, — For, by building the Sepulchres of the Prophets, ye bear witness pub- 
licly to the guilt of those who slew them; while, by busying yourselves with the 
graves of the murdered men, ye are perceived by Him who seeth in secret, to in- 
herit the disposition of those, their murderers. The whole passage, however, is to 
be compared with St. Matthew xxiii. 29 to 33, where the language is more full ; — 
and see the notes there. Yet, who that reads all that ever was written in explana- 
tion of the words of Christ, feels not that there still remains something to be ex- 
plained? that it is indeed "the voice of God" to which he has been listening, "and 
not of a Man 1" . . . He proceeds : — 

49 Therefore also said the Wisdom of God, 

In St. Matthew xxiii. 34, instead of "The Wisdom of God," it is simply "I." 
Christ therefore is, — (as St. Paul says that He is,) — "the Wisdom of God."(w) 
This must be because in Him "are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Know- 
ledge." (x) Accordingly, by this name of Wisdom is the Eternal Son discoursed of 
throughout the Book of Proverbs. Consider particularly, Proverbs iii. 19 : viii. 22 
to 31, &c. 

50, 51 I will send them Prophets and Apostles, and some of them 
they shall slay and persecute : that the blood of all the Prophets, which 
was shed from the foundation of the World, may be required of this 
generation ; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which 
perished between the Altar and the Temple : verily I say unto you, It 
shall be required of this generation. 

The reader should compare this with St. Matthew xxiii. 34 to 36 ; where some 
remarks on these verses will be found. 

52 Woe unto you, Lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of 
Knowledge ; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering 
in ye hindered. 

This also recurs, though in a somewhat different form, in St. Matthew xxiii. 13, — 
where see the note. " The Key of Knowledge/' — because it was their business to 
unlock the hard places of Scripture : in token of which, it was usual to present 
them with a key, on appointing them to their office. Concerning the Lawyers, see 
the note on St. Mark iii. 22. 

53, 54 And as He said these things unto them, the Scribes and the 
Pharisees began to urge Him vehemently, and to provoke Him to speak 
of many things : laying wait for Him and seeking to catch something 
out of His mouth, that they might accuse Him. 

They harassed Him with questions, as their manner was ; of which we have so 
singular an example in St. Matthew xxii. 15, 23, 34, 46. And this was done in or- 
deAo provoke Him to "the multitude of words ;" in which, (says the Wise Man,) 
"there wanteth not sin."(y) They forgot with whom they had to do: even with 
Him who spake as "never man spake,"0O and of whom it had been said, — " Full 
of Grace are Thy Lips !"(«) 

(u) 1 Cor. i. 24. (x) Coloss. ii. 3. (y) Proverbs x. 19. 

(») St. John vii. 46. (a) Psalm xlv. 3. 



xii.] on st. Luke's gospel. 505 

THE PRAYER. 

Merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that 
Thou hast made, nor wouldest the death of a sinner, but rather that he 
should be converted and live ; have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infi- 
dels, and Heretics, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, 
and contempt of Thy Word ; and so fetch them home, Blessed Lord, 
to Thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true 
Israelites, and be made one fold under one Shepherd, Jesus Christ 
our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, 
one God, World without end. Amen. 



CHAPTER XII. 



1 Christ preacheth to His Disciples to avoid hypocrisy, and fearfulness in publish- 
ing His doctrine. 13 Warneth the people to beware of covetousness, by the parable 
of the rich man who set up greater barns. 22 We must not be over careful of earth- 
ly things, 31 but seek the Kingdom of God, 33 give alms, 36 be ready at a knock to 
open to our Lord whensoever He cometh. 41 Christ's ministers are to see to their 
charge, 49 and look for persecution. 54 The people must take this time of grace, 
58 because it is a fearful thing to die without reconciliation. 

1 In the. mean time, when there were gathered together an innumer- 
able multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, 
He began to say unto His Disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven 
of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 

Take notice of the immense concourse of persons thus hinted at, in whose pre- 
sence our Blessed Lord denounced the wickedness of the most powerful of the Jew- 
ish sects. The striking saying here recorded, (which will be found remarked upon 
m the notes on St. Mark viii. 15, and St. Matth. xvi. 6,) is discovered to have been 
employed by Him on more than one occasion. The reason of the warning, as it 
seems, follows : 

_ 2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed ; neither 
hid, that shall not be known. 

This striking saying, like the last, is found to have been of repeated occurrence.(a) 
It has been commented upon in the note on St. Matthew x. 26, — which is the first 
of eight verses closely resembling the second, and seven following verses, of the 
present chapter. The entire passage, although very like the present, occurs in 
quite a different connection in the earlier Gospel ; being part of the Charge which 
our Lord delivered to the Twelve. 

(a) -Namely, St. Matth. x. 26, St. Mark iv. 22 (which is St. Luke viii. 17,) and here. 



506 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

And here, let it "be remarked in passing, that the attentive student of the Gospels 
on making such a discovery, instead of thinking himself at liberty to proceed at 
once to what follows, will feel it incumbent upon him to pause rather, and to in- 
quire humbly and carefully into the nature of the strange circumstance before him. 
For a strange circumstance it certainly is, that of the 59 verses which compose the 
present chapter, no less than 35 should prove to have been delivered on quite dis- 
tinct occasions; and not in single verses either, but by seven, eight, and even ten 
Verses at a time. 

He must have a very unworthy notion of the dignity of the Gospel who can make 
light of a fact like this. There have been found persons, indeed, capable of sup- 
posing that the later Evangelists made an unskillful use of the materials provided 
for them by those who wrote first. Some have even thought that they saw traces 
of error in these Divine narratives. Far be from us such miserable delusions ! "0 
my soul, come not thou into their secret !" Rather, let us be well persuaded that 
over and above the advantage to be derived from every passage so repeated, con- 
sidered in and by itself, there is a further use provided by its repetition ; discover- 
able, however, only by him who will diligently seek for it by minute comparison, 
exceeding watchfulness, and patient thought. Consider whether these may not be 
some of the "hid treasures" of which the Spirit speaks in Prov. ii. 4, — and which, 
to be found, must be " sought" and " searched for. ;; (6) 

And it may be pointed out, while we are on this subject, first, that although a 
given expression may seem to be simply repeated on two distinct occasions, yet, on 
closer inspection, it will be often found that there are minute but important dif- 
ferences between the first and second wording of the place ; whereby it is, in fact, 
made new. Thus St. Luke xii. 2 to 9 might be thought to be quite the same as St. 
Matth. x. 26 to 33 ; and yet the two passages are full of small, but striking dif- 
ferences. St. Luke xii. 2 and St. Matth. x. 26 will be found noticed below. Com- 
pare further St. Luke xii. 3 with St. Matth. x. 27. Next, the great depth and full- 
ness of the Divine sayings is forcibly suggested, as well as the variety of their 
intention, when we make the discovery that words in substance the same, are found 
sometimes to recur in a wholly different connection. Thus, although the saying in 
St. Luke xii. 2 is the same which is found in St. Matth. x. 26, and again in St. Mark 
iv. 22, (c) — how diverse does its purpose seem in those places ! In St. Luke, it fol- 
lows a warning against hypocrisy : in St. Matthew, a warning against fear. In St. 
Mark, the openness of the Gospel-message seems to be chiefly declared. 

And then, lastly, when two passages appear to be in all respects similar, as St. 
Luke xii. 22 to 31, and St. Matth. vi. 25 to 33, it is surely, in itself, a circumstance 
full of edification that the Holy Spirit should have seen fit thus to inform us that 
our Saviour repeated the self-same teaching on two distinct occasions ; and almost 
in the self-same words. By some, this will be felt to be a rebuke of such curiosity 
as was indulged by those polite heathens who "spent their time in nothing else, 
but either to tell or to hear some new tiling. "(d) While to others, it will seem an 
indication of the peculiar weight and importance which belongs to certain of the 
sayings of Him, " in whom are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge."(<0 

3 Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard 
in the light ; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall 
be proclaimed upon the house-tops. 

As in St. Matthew's Gospel, so here, an exhortation not to fear Man but God, 
follows. For this, the presence of the Pharisees may be thought to supply a suf- 
ficient reason.(y) Take notice that the Blessed Speaker addresses the multitude 
about Him, as His " friends, "(g) — "My friends/ 7 

4, 5 And I say unto you My friends, Be not afraid of them that kill 
the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will 
forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after He hath 
killed hath power to cast into Hell ; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him. 

(&) See the notes on St. Matth. xiii. 44. (c) Or St. Luke viii. 17. 

(d) Acts xvii. 21. (e) Col. ii. 3. 

(/) Consider St. John ix. 22, 34 : xii. 42 : xix. 38. (g) Compare St. John xv. 14, 15. 



XII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 507 

" Three times we are commanded to fear, and only one reason is given, but suf- 
ficient for a thousand fears, — the power of Him who is able eternally to punish 
us."{7i) 

6, 7 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them 
is forgotten before God ? But even the very hairs of your heard are 
all numbered. Fear not therefore : ye are of more value than many 
sparrows. 

8, 9 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess Me before men, 
him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God : but 
he that denieth Me before men shall be denied before the angels of 
God. 

Words very like those contained in these seven verses, as already pointed out, are 
found in St. Matth. x. 27 to 33, — whither the reader is referred for several remarks 
concerning them. His attention is called, in the meantime, to the suggestions 
which have been offered above, in the long note which precedes verse 3. He will 
perceive that verses 2 and 3 are to be read in close connection with the warning at 
the end of verse 1. 

10 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it 
shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the 
Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. 

Words very like the present also, our Lord is found to have used on quite a dif- 
ferent occasion. The reader is referred to the Commentary on St. Mark iii. 28, 29, 
30, and on St. Matth. xii. 32. 

11, 12 And when they bring you unto the synagogues and unto 
magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall 
answer, or what ye shall say : for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in 
the same hour what ye ought to say. 

These words, like the preceding, recur in our Lord's Commission to the Twelve, 
— where some remarks will be found concerning them.(i) The same saying is also 
met with in St. Mark xiii, 11, — in quite a different connection. Lastly, it will be 
found almost to recur in chap. xxi. 14, 15 of the present Gospel, where see the note. 
Sayings of repeated occurrence, like these, are surely entitled to particular attention 
at our hands ! 

In this place, verses 11, 12 evidently continue the words of caution and encour- 
agement which are found in verse 4 to 7 : while verses 8 to 10, (which go together,) 
arise naturally out of what went before. 

An unseasonable interruption follows, which introduces a parable peculiar to St. 
Luke's Gospel. 

13 And one of the company said unto Him, Master, speak to my 
brother that he divide the inheritance with me. 

If the reader will refer to the three places referred to, in the preceding note, he 
will perceive that they are immediately followed by a prophecy concerning the 
treatment which one Brother was to experience at the hand of another. (A;) Now, 
since nothing which our Lord is related to have said on the present occasion can 
have suggested the interruption of " one of the Company," here recorded,—may it 
not be suspected that He went on now to deliver the same prophetic intimation as 
on other occasions, and that it was this which in some way suggested the request 
before us ? 

14 And He said unto him, Man, who made Me a judge or a divider 
over you ? 

(li) Bp. Pearson. (i) See the note on St. Matth. x. 19, 20. 

(k) St. Matth. x. 21: St. Mark xiii. 12 : St. Luke xxi. 16. 



508 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

It will be perceived that our Lord's words are moulded on those which are found 
in Exodus ii. 14: "and there Moses was, by anticipation, assuming his office as the 
lawgiver of a temporal kingdom ; which Christ disclaims, because His Kingdom 
was not of this world."(Z) O r > He may be understood to say, — "I will not be liable 
to such objections from men, as were then ungratefully made against Moses, — 
'Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?'"(m) 

"Between brothers/' says Ambrose, "no judge should intervene, but natural 
affection should be the umpire to divide the inheritance. And yet, Eternal Life, 
not riches, is the inheritance which men should wait for." Our Lord proceeds to 
point out the root from which this request had sprung ; and to warn His hearers 
against it. 

15 And He said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness : 
for a man's life consisteth. not in the abundance of the things which he 
possesseth. 

That is, — " A man's life does not depend upon his possessions, however abundant 
they may be." .... Here then, we have another of those many warnings against 
the sin of Judas, which are found in the Gospel. This will be found pointed out 
elsewhere ;(n) but it deserves to be repeated. 

16, 17, 18 And He spake a Parable unto them, saying, The ground 
of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully : and he thought within 
himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to be- 
stow my fruits ? And he said, This will I do : I will pull down my 
barns, and build greater ; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my 
goods. 

This was a miserable scheme, indeed ! He has "no room where to bestow his 
fruits." " The Author and Giver of all good things," (" sending rain on the just 
and on the unjust,")(o) has so blessed him, that he is even perplexed and encum- 
bered with the largeness of the Divine Bounty. "What shall I do?" he asks. 
Was it not time to think of giving to him that needeth ?(_p) Would not the empty 
stomachs of the poor have supplied him with " barns large enough?" — as one of 
the ancients strikingly asks. But the case of his poor neighbour enters not at all 
into his thoughts. He is engrossed with greedy schemes about himself:" — My 
barns — my fruits — my goods." 

19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up 
for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 

In Greek, it is, — "many goods for many years: rest, eat, drink, feast!" He 
calls his possessions his "goods" observe. Such were the "good things" which 
Abraham in the Parable reminds the rich man that he had "received in his life 
time."(^) Basil remarks of this man that " he was permitted to deliberate in every 
thing, and to manifest his purpose, in order that' he might receive a sentence such 
as his inclinations deserved." As he had "thought within himself, saying ;"{r) so 
the counsel of God towards him is represented by what " God said unto him." As 
it follows : — 

20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be 
required of thee : 

Every word here is terrible. What folly must be his, whom God Himself ad- 
dresses as—" Fool !".... Instead of " Thy soul shall be required of thee," in the 
original it is, " They shall require thy soul of thee." Either way, the sense is ob- 
viously the same; but there seems to be a mysterious hint thrown out bythe 
Speaker that His unseen messengers will be sent to the miserable man, to " require" 

(1) Williams. (™) Hammond : and so, Tertullian. 

(n) See the latter part of the note on St. Mark xiv. 25. {o) St. Matth. vi. 45. 

\p) Ephes. iv. 28. (?) St. Luke xvi. 25. (r) See above ver. 17. 



XII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 509 

the surrender of that life which he counted on enjoying for " many years." (s) More- 
over, it is in the stillness and darkness of the night that he will receive the unwel- 
come summons . . . . " Then," (asks the same Divine Speaker,) — 

then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided ? 

Not thine, surely : " nor can anything be called ours which we cannot take away 
with us."(0 

21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich to- 
ward God. 

Consider St. Matthew vi. 19 to 21, and the notes on the place, as a commentary 
on these words. See also, 1 Tim. vi. 17 to 19. The blessed Speaker turns His dis- 
course next to the Disciples. 

22, 23, 24 And He said unto His Disciples, Therefore I say unto 
you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat ; neither for the 
body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body 
is more than raiment. Consider the ravens ; for they neither sow nor 
reap ; which neither have storehouse nor barn ; and God feedeth them : 
how much more are ye better than the fowls ? 

25, 26 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature 
one cubit ? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why 
take ye thought for the rest ? 

27, 28 Consider the lilies how they grow : they toil not, they spin 
not ; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not 
arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is 
to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; how much 
more will He clothe you, ye of little faith ? 

29, 30, 31 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, 
neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of 
the world seek after : and your Father knoweth that ye have need of 
these things. But rather seek ye the Kingdom of God ; and all these 
things shall be added unto you. 

These ten verses are found, with slight verbal differences in our Lord's " Sermon 
on the Mount." (w) The circumstance has been already pointed out, and com- 
mented upon at some length, in the note on verse 2 of the present chapter. See 
particularly towards the end of the note. . 

As, in the Old Testament, men are sent to the ant for a lesson of wisdom,(a;) so 
in the New are they sent to the ravens for a lesson of reliance on GoD.(y) " Doubt- 
ful inind," in ver. 29, means "distracted," "over-anxious." 

Take notice that, in ver. 30, it is not said "God knoweth," — but "your Father 
knoweth." 

32 Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Father's good pleasure to 
give you the Kingdom. 

The Good Shepherd calls His flock " little," — partly, perhaps, because though 
"many be called, few are chosen." Partly, because "the poor in spirit," to whom 
belongs "the Kingdom of Heaven,"(z) are as "little ones" in His sight.(a) 

33, 34 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags 
which wax not old, a treasure in the Heavens that faileth not, where 

(s) Compare the sense of " they " in St. Matthew xiii. 48, 49, and St. Mark ix. 44, and St. 
Luke xvi. 9. Consider also that mysterious "he" in Deut. xxxiv. 6. 

(t) Ambrose. (u) St. Matth. vi. 25 to 33. (x) Prov. vi. 6. 

(y) Compare Job xxxviii. 41 : Ps. cxlvii. 9. (z) St. Matth. v. 2. 

(a) Consider St. Matth. x. 42, and the note there. See 1 Cor. i. 26. 



510 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your trea- 
sure is, there will your heart be also. 

The plain and frequent Exhortations to Alms-giving in the Gospel are much to 
be noted. This duty occupies a prominent position in the Sermon on the Mount.(6) 
" Go, and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
Heaven," was what our Lord required of the rich young Ruler.(c) — "Bag" here 
means "purse." 

The two preceding verses may he usefully compared with St. Matthew vi. 19, 20, 
and 21 ; where several remarks will be found which apply entirely to the verses 
before us. It is observable that in St. Matthew's Gospel, as well as in this place, 
our Lord goes on to speak of "Light." — The four verses which follow are the Gos- 
pel which is read at the Ordination of Deacons. In their actual form, they are 
peculiar to St. Luke's Gospel : but St. Matthew gives us instead the Parable of the 
wise and foolish Virgins. (d) 

35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 

The loins are "girded about" for activity, — and the lamp is kept "burning," by 
him who expects another's return. The mystical meaning of the passage seems 
therefore to be that men should be prompt and eager in working out their own 
Salvation, — always ready to do the work of the Lord ; and further that they should 
set a bright example, — the inner life being sustained by the influence of God's Holy 
Spirit. For consider what follows the exhortation, " Let your Light shine before 
men," — namely, "that they may see your good ivorks."( e ) 

" But if a man has both of these, whosoever he be, nothing remains for him but 
that he should place his whole expectation on the Coming of the Redeemer. There- 
fore it is added,"(jQ 

36 and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he 
will return from the wedding ; that when he cometh and knocketh, they 
may open unto him immediately. 

" Christ returns to all from the heavenly Wedding at the end of the World, 
when He has taken to Himself His Bride, the Church: to each individual He comes, 
when He stands suddenly before a man at the hour of Death."^) He " knocketh," 
by pain and sickness ; and those who are watching for their Lord are found to open 
the door. "Even so, come Lord JESus,"(7i) say they. And these are blessed; as 
it follows, — 

37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall 
find watching : verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and 
make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. 

He will " gird Himself," as one who seryeth. He will " make them sit down, " — 
for it will be the land of Everlasting Rest. 

It is written in another place, — "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any 
man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, 
and he with Me "(J) Thus, both in St. Luke's Gospel and in the Book of Revela- 
tion the joys of the Life to come are likened to a Feast, — where those blessed ones 
who "hunger and thirst after Righteousness "(Jc) "shall hunger no more neither 
thirst any more ;"(Z) but " be filled." 

38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third 
watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 

39, 40 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known 
what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have 
suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also : 
for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not. 

(6) St. Matth. vi. 1 to 4. (o) St. Matth. xix. 21. (d) St. Matth. xxv. 1 to 13. 

(e) St. Matth. v. 16. (/) Gregory. (g) Theophylact. 

(h) Rev. xxii. 20. (♦) Eev. iii. 20. 

(7c) St. Matth. v. 6. (0 Rev. vii. 16. 



XII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 511 

"For yourselves know perfectly," writes St. Paul to the Thessalonians, "that 
the Day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night."(ra) St. Peter in like manner 
sa y S) — "the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." This latter allu- 
sion to the present (or St. Matthew's parallel )(n) passage is of peculiar interest, 
since the saying recorded in ver. 41 shows that the man who made it was deeply 
impressed by the entire discourse to which we also are permitted here to listen. 

41 Then Peter said unto Him, Lord, speakest Thou this parable 
unto us, or even to all ? 

42, 43, 44, 45, 46 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful 
and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over His House- 
hold, to give them their portion of meat in due season ? Blessed is that 
servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a 
truth I say unto you, that He will make him ruler over all that He 
hath. But if that servant say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His 
coming ; and shall begin to beat the men-servants and maidens, and to 
eat and drink, and to be drunken ; the Lord of that servant will come 
in a clay when he looketh not for Him, and at an hour when he is not 
aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion 
with the unbelievers. 

There is some doubt among learned men, about the meaning of " cut him asun- 
der," here and in St. Matthew. (o) The margin suggests " cut him off," — that is, 
sever or sunder him from his office. Others remark that a double or deceitful man 
is fairly punished if he be " cut in twain." Perhaps the true meaning is, " will 
terribly scourge ;" — a sense which is supported by the words which follow, and 
which are an allusion to the law contained in Deut. xxv. 2. 

47, 48 And that servant, which knew his Lord's will, and prepared 
not himself, neither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many 
stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of 
stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much 
is given, of him shall be much required : and to whom men have com- 
mitted much, of him they will ask the more. 

On a comparison of what precedes, (ver. 39 to 46,) with the place in St. Mat- 
thew's Gospel, where, on a subsequent occasion, similar words are found to have 
been used, (chap. xxiv. 43 to 51,) the difficulty of the passage becomes apparent. 
It would be safer to pass by in silence language the true force of which we seem to 
understand so imperfectly. But the reader will expect a few words of comment. 
_ It seems then that St. Peter, who (with the rest of the Apostles) had been atten- 
tively drinking in every word of our Lord's discourse, on perceiving that the para- 
bolic language of verses 35 to 38 had ceased, inquired (in ver. 41) on behalf of his 
fellow-Apostles, whether the warning which those verses contain had been ad- 
dressed to themselves specially, or whether it was of general application ? To this 
question, however, our Lord returns no direct answer. He proceeds with what He 
was before saying^ and does not seem so much to ask in turn, as to exclaim, — How 
rare are the qualities required in that servant whom his lord sets as a steward over 
his household ! Blessed is the man who proves faithful to such a trust; and misera- 
ble he who is found to abuse it ! 

Thus, St. Peter's question, though not formally answered, was virtually replied 
to: for it is manifest that what St. Paul said of himself, (with reference perhaps to 
this very place,) might with at least equal truth have been asserted by Simon Peter 
and the rest of the Twelve, of themselves : " Let a man so account of us as of . . . 
stewards of the mysteries of GoD."( j p) A famous ancient Bishop remarks accord- 
ingly? that " although unwearied watchfulness is required of all men, yet does 

(m) 1 Thess. v. 2. (») St. Matth. xxiv. 43, 44. (o) St. Matth. xxiv. 51. 

(p) 1 Cor. iv. 1, — and see the next verse. See also Titus i. 7. Consider further whether there 
is not an allusion to St. Luke xii. 42 and 48 in 1 St. Peter iv. 10. 



512 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Christ here enjoin upon His Bishops specially the expectation of His Coming: for 
this is what is meant by the faithful and wise servant set over the Household, to 
whom is entrusted the care of providing for the people committed to him."(g) 
' But, (as our Lord proceeds to show,) all are stewards in their degree: some 
indeed have been entrusted with five talents, and some with two ; but all have re- 
ceived their one talent. It is remarkable that the Parable of " the Talents" follows, 
in St. Matthew's Gospel, — chap. xxv. That is, — -all men know something of their 
Divine Master's will, — though some know less, some more. And corresponding 
thereto will be the penalty incurred by the disobedient. See above, ver. 47 and 48. 

Such seems to be the general purport of what is here delivered. The entire dis- 
course is remarkable, as usual, for its practical bearing. Simon Peter seems to ask 
whether the singular blessedness of the servant whom his Lord shall find watching, 
applies to the chief Pastor alone, or to the flock at large ? He is reminded in reply 
that unto chief Pastors most is committed: but he is also warned that "unto whom- 
soever much is given, of him shall much be required : and to whom men have com- 
mitted much, of him they will ask the more."(r) This seems to be the force of ver. 
47, 48. 

In conclusion, the reader is earnestly implored not to accept the clumsy sugges- 
tion that St. Luke is here stringing together sayings of our Lord which were de- 
livered on different occasions, but which have no actual connection. Do not men, 
when they say such things, "therefore err because they know not the Scriptures, 
neither the Power of God V Doubtless on this occasion our Saviour said all that 
He is on this occasion recorded to have said ; and at the close of His Ministry, 
when sayings very like these recur, (s) doubtless He delivered sayings very like these 
over again. 

For take notice that when, sitting on the Mount of Olives, our Saviour repeated 
in the audience of St. Peter, the very words which are here found from ver. 39 to 
ver. 46, (with the exception of St. Peter's question in ver. 41, — " Lord, speakest Thou 
this parable unto us, or even to all?") the Blessed Speaker, as if with reference to 
the occasion we are now considering, adds the very answer which St. Peter had once 
wished for, which the Apostle no longer presumed to ask, — " And what I say unto 
you, I say unto all, Watch." (t) 

There seems to be a change of subject in what follows next. 

49 I am come to send fire on the earth ; and what will I, if it he 
already kindled ? 

Bather,—" And what will I ?" (that is, " What is My desire ?") " Would that it 
were already kindled !".... It seems to be here declared that the consequence of 
Christ's Coming into the world would be to kindle the fire of persecution, — " not 
Peace," (as He goes on to say,) " but Division." 

Is it not singular that St. Peter, the attentive hearer of this discourse, after 
alluding to Christ's speedy coming to Judgment, (u) and men's duty as Stewards,(x) 
— should nroceed in his Epistle to speak of " the fiery trial" which was to try the 
Church V'\y) 

50 But I have a Baptism to he haptized with : and how am I strait- 
ened till it he accomplished ! 

He speaks of that Baptism of Blood which was in reserve for Him, and to which 
He also alluded when addressing the sons of Zebedee.(z) He looks forward to that 
tremendous hour with eagerness, — yet does the anticipation fill His human soul with 
distress. Por the sense of " straitened," in this place, compare Phil. i. 23. 

51, 52, 53 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I 
tell you, Nay ; hut rather division : for from henceforth there shall he 

(q) Hilary. Consider the language of the Ordination Service, — "Ye are called ... to 
be . . . Stewards of the Lord ; to teach, and to preinonish, to feed and provide for the Lord's 
family," Ac. (r) St. Luke xii. 48. 

(s) See St. Matth. xxiv. 42 to 44: St. Mark xiii. 33 to 35 : St. Luke xxi. 34 to 36. 

(t) St. Mark xiii. 37. (u) Compare 1 St. Peter iv. 5 and 7 with ver. 35 to 40, above. 

(x) Compare 1 St. Peter iv. 10 with ver. 42 and 48, above. 

(?/) Compare 1 St. Pet. iv. 12 with ver. 49 to 53, above. See also 1 Pet. i. 7. 

(z) St. Matth. xx. 22, 23 : St. Mark x. 38, 39, where see the notes. 



XII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 513 

five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 
The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the 
father ; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the 
mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter- 
in-law against her mother-in-law. 

See above, on ver. 49 ; and compare this place with St. Matth. x. 33 to 36, — 
where the note should be consulted. The prophet Micah, who is there actually 
quoted, is here very clearly referred to. (a) It has been ingeniously pointed out(6) 
that only jive persons are mentioned in ver. 53, — since the "mother" and the 
" mother-in-law" are one and the same person. 

The Blessed Speaker is found next to turn His Discourse to the people. 

54, 55, 56 And He said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise 
out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower ; and so it 
is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat ; 
and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the 
sky and of the earth ; but how is it that ye do not discern this Time ? 

He reminds them of the skill and shrewdness with which they were enabled to 
foretell natural phenomena ;(c) and declares that it required no greater discernment 
to recognize His Advent, which the Prophets by so many signs had foretold. He 
said the same thing to the Pharisees and Sadducees, when they came desiring of 
Him " a sign from Heaven. v (d) But, (as He declared on another occasion,) "the 
children of this World are in their generation wiser than the children of Light." (e) 

He proceeds to show them that they might learn wisdom in so vital a matter even 
from the prudence with which they conducted themselves in the concerns of daily 
life : — 

57 Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? 

That is, "what is right to be done," — " the right thing to do." A saying follows 
which we have already met with at the end of the Sermon on the Mount ;(/) and 
which was there introduced in order to enforce the duty of speedy reconciliation 
with one's neighbour. Here, the injunction is clearly of a, different tendency; and 
the remark which was offered above, on verse 2, again presents itself. In the 
original, what follows is connected with what went before. 

58, 59 When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as 
thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from 
him ; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the 
officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. I tell thee, thou shalt not 
depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite. 

Our Saviour seems to say, — in a merely temporal manner, you are careful to 
act thus prudently. While the Day of Mercy yet lasts, should you not discover the 
like anxiety to avail yourselves of it ? through Me, to obtain deliverance from the 
wrath of God, before it be too late ? 

(a) Micah vii. 6. (6) By Ambrose. 

(c) Compare St. Matth. xvi. 2, 3 : xxiv. 32 : St. John iv. 34. 

(d) See St. Matth. xvi. 1 to 3, and the last part of the note on the latter verse. 

(e) St. Luke xvi. 8. (/) See St, Matth. v. 25, 26, and the note. 



33 



514 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER XIII 



1 Christ preachetli repentance upon the punishment of the Galilceans, and others. 
6 The fruitless Jig-tree may not stand. 11 He healeth the crooked woman. 18 
Shoiveth the powerful ivorking of the Word in the hearts of Sis chosen, by the 
parable of the grain of Mustard-seed, and of Leaven. 24 Exhorteth to enter in at 
the strait gate. 31 And reproveth Herod and Jerusalem. 

1 There were present at that season some that told Him of the 
Galiiseans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 

Where our Blessed Lord was, when these tidings were brought to Him, does not 
appear: neither is the event known to which allusion is here made. But it accords 
very well with what we elsewhere read of the merciless disposition of Pilate, that 
he should have butchered certain Galikeans, (whether followers of Judas of Gali- 
lee, (a) or not,) while they were in the very act of doing sacrifice at Jerusalem ; so 
that the hideous spectacle was presented of human blood mingling with that of 
" bulls and goats," and polluting the Holy Place. 

Our Saviour's reply to the persons who brought Him this report, discloses what 
was the secret thought of their hearts. They had put their own interpretation on 
the occurrence, and made up their minds that it was God's just punishment for 
Sin.(6) 

2, 3 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these 
Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilseans, because they suffered 
such things ? I tell you, Nay : but, except ye repent, ye shall all like- 
wise perish. 

Our Saviour does not say that the calamity which had overtaken these Galilceans 
was not a punishment for Sin. He "contests not about that; but rather seems to 
agree to them so far, and draws that warning out of it. He only corrects the mis- 
conceit it seems they were in, in thrusting it too far off from themselves, and throw- 
ing it too heavy upon them that sacrificed." (c) Doubtless, the connection between 
Sin and Suffering is of the closest kind ; but it is not in Man's power to trace that 
connection in every particular instance: nor can he scarcely ever pretend to do so, 
without presumption. Our Lord proceeds, — 

4 Or those^gighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew 
them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in 
Jerusalem ? 

Kather, " debtors above all men,"— for the word is not the same as in verse 2. 
The expression is a remarkable one, implying that men are debtors to fufill God's 
Law. The word seems to have been used with reference to the two concluding 
verses of the foregoing chapter.(cZ) 

(a) See Acts v. 37. — The massacre here recorded may also have been either the cause or the 
consequence of the quarrel recorded in St. Luke xxiii. 12. 

(b) Consider St. John ix. 1 to 3 : also Acts xxviii. 4. (c) Leighton. 
(d) See St. Luke xii. 58, 59. Consider also the following places,— St. Matth. vi. 12 : xviii. 

23, 21. St. Luke vii. 21. 



XIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 515 

5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise 
perish. 

The people whom our Saviour was addressing had described to Him a calamity 
where Man was the immediate agent. He reminds them of another fatal event of 
recent occurrence, which they would have called an accident — namely, the unex- 
pected falling of a tower in Jerusalem, (somewhere near the Pool of Siloam,(a) 
probably,) whereby eighteen lives were lost. " Shall there be evil in the city," asks 
the Prophet, "and the Lord hath not done it?"(6) Both events, alike, had pro- 
ceeded from God. He asks them therefore if they supposed that this also was a 
proof of greater wickedness in those eighteen " above ail men that dwelt in Jeru- 
salem?" " I tell you, Nay;" He repeats. And thereby He reproves as many of 
ourselves as are guilty of hasty judgments concerning our neighbours, and rashly 
presume to interpret the misfortunes which befall others. 

Leighton well says — "Be it a judgment: be the persons great sinners in a sinful 
course : yet they are not always the greatest of all because they suffer, and others 
escape. God is to be adored, who useth his own freedom in this — He does injustice 
to none, yet chooses them whom He will make examples of His justice, and whom 
He will let pass ; and gives not account of this to any. Some, less wicked, have 
been made examples to them who were much more wicked than they. . . . Why 
am not I made an example to others, as well as so many have been made examples 
to me? Now, let me fall down at His feet, and beg of Him that as He hath not made 
me an example of justice all this while, He may now make me an example of mercy 
and free grace to all that shall look on me." 

And in this beautiful spirit, doubtless, Holy Scripture should always be read, — 
namely, as having a direct 'personal teaching : thus shall we escape the censure 
which our Lord in this very place bestows on the disposition which prefers barren 
speculation about Divine things to the living practice of them.(c) And yet the 
historical and national bearing of our Saviour's words, in this and the 5th verse, 
is very striking. Except the Jews repented, He here prophesies to them that they 
should all perish, — (not, "likewise" in the common sense of the word, but,) — "in 
like manner." And so it signally came to pass ; for Josephus relates that, at the 
destruction of Jerusalem, multitudes of the inhabitants were crushed beneath its 
ruins ; while numbers were slain in the very act of sacrificing within the Temple. 

"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Repentance then, was the end 
of the preaching of the Great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls :(cZ) and on this text, 
doubtless, should we ever preach not only to others, but to ourselves. For, as pious 
Leighton reminds us, " the far more dismal perishing of unrepenting sinners, is 
that death which lies unseen on the other side of the death which we see and are so 
afraid to look on. Oh, saw we the other, this would appear nothing : that would 
be the only terrible thing. And how terrible soever, it is the unfailing attendant 
on impenitence. These, God hath linked together ; and [no creature can sever 
them, — continuance in sin, and perishing ; Repentance and Life. It is Faith in- 
deed that lays hold on our pardon, and life in Christ, and by that we are justified 
and saved ; yet, so as this is still true, that there is no Life without Repentance." 

The connection of the parable which follows with what goes before, is of the 
closest kind. "All" should perish like those Galileeans, and like these eighteen, 
except they repented. To what then were they indebted for their actual preserva- 
tion ? To nothing but the long-suffering patience of Almighty God. This is 
accordingly set forth in the parable of "the barren fig-tree;" which enforces the 
same doctrine of Repentance, upon the motive of God's Forbearance. 

6 He spake also this parable ; A certain man had a fig-tree planted 
in his vineyard ; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 

Elsewhere, "the Vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel ;"(e) but 
it is not so here. Among the nations of the earth, (the "Vineyard" here spoken 
of,) Almighty God, (the " certain man" in the parable,) had the Jewish people, for 
"His pleasant plant/'— or, as it is here said, His "fig-tree." The fruit of good 

(a) Eehem. iii. 15. St. John ix. 7, 11. Compare Is. viii. 6. (&) Amos iii. 6. 

(c) The reader is referred to the note on St. Luke xiii. 23. 

\d) Consider the following places •- St. Matth. iv. 17 : ix. 13. St. Mark i. 15. (e) Is. v. 7. 



516 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 



works, He had come seeking thereon, for many years, in vain. (a) He had found 
none. Whereupon, He requires of " the Dresser of His Vineyard," that this 
unprofitable tree be at once removed. As it follows : 

7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three 
years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none : cut it down ; 
why cumbereth it the ground ? 

Rather, "Why doth it even," — "Why doth it so much as cumber the ground?" 
But, in the original, something more than " cumber" is implied. Gregory the 
Great brings out the meaning very well when he remarks that wherever the un- 
fruitful man is placed, "he there denies to another the opportunity of working." 

What is even better worth our notice, — We have here set before us a picture of 
God's merciful manner of dealing with His creatures. For three years had the 
owner of this Vineyard come seeking fruit of a barren tree which grew within it. 
"The axe is laid to the root of the tree,"(6) in warning, before the fatal blow is 
suffered to fall. For, (as an ancient writer remarks,) God does not bring punish- 
ment silently or secretly; but, by His threatenings, first proclaims them to be at 
hand, — thus inviting the sinner to repentance.(c) " Let us not then strike sud- 
denly," (says another,) "but overcome by gentleness ; lest we cut down the fig-tree 
still able to bear fruit, which the care of a skillful dresser will perhaps restore."(c2) 

Next, the Intercession of the Eternal Son is set before us, — pleading with the 
Father in behalf of the sinful race. Not, however, (be it observed,) in order that 
they may be spared in their barrenness, does He plead : but that time may be 
allowed them wherein to become fruitful. 

8, 9 And he answering said unto him, Loed, let it alone this year 
also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it : and if it bear fruit, ivell : 
and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. 

And this is the end of the Parable. Every means and appliance was to be used; 
— the loosening of the soil in which the tree grew, — and a supply of that which is 
found to be most congenial to the life of plants, and has the effect of rendering 
them productive. God is found to have thus dealt with His people, — God thus 
deals now with us. He offers large measures of His Grace, — He multiplies oppor- 
tunities. What is all the remainder of the Gospel, from this place onward, but the 
History of One who had said in behalf of the Jewish nation, — " Lord, let it alone 
this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it?" The object of His preaching, 
His parables, and His miracles, was to break the stubborn soil ; — His precious 
blood-shedding was intended to bring forth a plenteous Harvest. 

This then, is at once a Prophecy and a Parable, — a Prophecy, which found typical 
fulfillment in the cursing of the barren fig-tree :(e) actual fulfillment in the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, and final overthrow of the Jewish nation. 

The simplest and most obvious interpretation of the Parable seems the best. 
Since for three years God came seeking fruit of His chosen people, and found none, 
— it is reasonable to take the "three years" of the parable literally : especially 
since the third year of our Lord's Ministry had also just come to a close. " The 
Dresser of His Vineyard," who pleads for prolonged patience and mercy, (saying 
"Let it alone this year also!") as already observed, is Christ Himself, — who was 
cut off in the midst of the fourth year of His Ministry. 

But the Parable has clearly a personal application, (/) as well as a national one. 
Year after year, to lead an unprofitable life; to resist God's visitations "in boy- 
hood, in manhood, in old age,"(#) — putting forth much leafy promise, but produc- 
ing no fruit, — what is this but to stand like a barren fig-tree in the Lord's Vine- 
yard? such an one does more than "cumber the ground." His presence does 
actual mischief. In the meantime, He who "ever liveth to make intercession," (h) 
is still the merciful Advocate, who pleads for one more year of grace ; and during 
that year spares no pains to make the man fruitful. The parallel here in the case 

(a) Consider Is. v. 1 to 4 : and the notes on St. Matth. vii. 16, &c. 

(b) St. Matth. iii. 10, — where see the note. 

(c) Pseudo-Basil. Consider Gen. vi. 3 : xviii. 24, &c. (d) Gregory of Nazianzum. 
(e) St. Matth. xxi. 18, 19, or St. Mark xi. 12 to 14, 20, 21. 

(/) Consider St. Matth. iii. 10. (g) Theophylact. (h) Heh. vii. 25. 



XIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 517 

of individuals is obvious. Pharaoh, Balaam, Saul, Herod, Judas, — no less than 
the Old World, Sodom, Nineveh, Jerusalem, — every individual, however obdurate, 
has his warnings, and his prolonged season of probation ; during which, the alter- 
native is still admitted as possible, — "If he bear fruit" . . for the door of repent- 
ance is left open to all. 

10 And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 
Consider the places referred to at foot.(s) 

11 And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 
eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up 
herself. 

She therefore aptly represented the condition of those who have become-so bowed 
down by sin or sorrow that they look not up to Heaven, but fix all their grovelling 
regards on Earth. St. Luke says that she "had a spirit of infirmity." What this 
means we should not have known, but for our Lord's express statement that she 
was one whom Satan had hound. 

12, 13 And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him, and said 
unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And He laid 
His hands upon her : and immediately she was made straight, and glo- 
rified God. 

This then seems to have been one of those miracles of healing which were 
wrought without solicitation. But the very presence of such a sufferer, in the 
Synagogue, was a prayer. It may even be suspected, from the words of the Ruler 
which follow, that this afflicted creature had "come" purposely "to be healed." 

Our Saviour seems to have proclaimed her release from captivity, first ; and then 
to have removed the physical consequences of the chain by which she had been so 
long held. It does not appear that He spoke, and laid His Divine hands upon her, 
at one and the same time. 

14 And the Ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, be- 
cause that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day ; and said unto the 
people, There are six days in which men ought to work : in them there- 
fore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. 

He addresses the people, — not CHRIST. Hypocrite as he was, the Ruler did 
not dare to look the Holy One in the face while he brought forward a complaint 
which, though spoken to them, was evidently levelled against Him. " He preferred 
that this woman should, like a beast, look upon the earth, rather than that Christ 
should be magnified."^) 

15, 16 The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, 
doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from 
the stall, and lead him away to watering ? and ought not this woman, 
being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eigh- 
teen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day ? 

Our Saviour, though hitherto carefully shunned by the other, begins by address- 
ing him. But after one withering word, He turns to the people, and makes them 
the umpires between Himself and the Ruler of the Synagogue. Every word of 
His Discourse is here emphatic. If any of you (He says,) are at liberty on the Sab- 
bath day to loose certain of the brute creation, as an ox or ass which yourselves 
had bound, and to lead these away to watering, an act requiring time and trouble, 
— ought not this woman, being not only a creature made in the image of God, but 
also one who enjoys that proudest of titles, " a daughter of AbraJiam," (u)— ought 
not she, who has been bound by the Enemy of Man, not for a few hours only, but 

(s) S. Luke iv. 16. St. Matth. iv. 23: xiii. 54. St. Mark i. 21. St. John vi. 59 : iii. 20, &c 
(t) Cyril. (u) St. Matth. hi. 9 : St. Luke xix. 9 : St. John viii. 33, 39: Acts xiii. 26. 



518 



A PLAIN COMMENTAKY 



[CHAP. 






for eighteen years, — ought not she to enjoy the benefit of release which had. been 
effected by a word from these Lips, and a touch of these Hands, in a moment of 
time? 

Observe how plainly it is here stated that this woman's infirmity was the ivork 
of Satan, — who kept her bound, as a prisoner. The same thing is implied of dis- 
eases generally, in many other places, — as in St. Matthew x. 1, Acts x. 38, 2 Cor. 
xii. 7, 1 St. John iii. 8 : and it may be worth pointing out that the words translated 
"recovery of sight to the blind," (in St. Luke iv. 18,) are, in the Hebrew, " open- 
ing the prison to them that are bound "(x) Take notice that our Saviour had "first 
hound the strong man;" and now was He "spoiling his house.'X?/) 

17 And when He had said these things, all His adversaries were 
ashamed : and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that 
were done by Him. 

From which it is found that the Kuler of the Synagogue had not been alone in 
his wickedness ; but, (like Judas Iscariot, when he complained of the waste of the 
precious ointment,) (z) had carried others along with him, in his hypocrisy. 

The foregoing miracle should be compared with that performed on the withered 
hand, in St. Matthew xii. 9 to 13, — as well as with that on the dropsy, in St. Luke 
xiv. 2 to 6. All three miracles were wrought on the Sabbath day ; but in this in- 
stance, and that which St. Matthew records, the cure was effected in the Synagogue 
itself. 

Our Lord proceeds to show " the powerful working of the "Word in the hearts of 
His chosen, by the Parable of the Grain of Mustard Seed, and of Leaven."(a) 

18, 19 Then said He, Unto what is the Kingdom of God like ? and 
whereunto shall I resemble it ? It is like a grain of mustard seed, 
which a man took, and cast into his garden ; and it grew, and waxed a 
great tree ; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. 

This parable recurs in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, — where it has 
been already so fully considered in the notes, that it shall suffice on the present oc- 
casion to refer the reader thither. (6) But it is worthy of remark that the grain of 
mustard seed which, according to St. Matthew, "a Man took and sowed in His 
field," the same Man here is said to have cast into "His Garden:" for who can fail 
to call to mind that of Christ Himself it is recorded that " in the place where He 
was crucified there was a Garden, and in the Garden a new Sepulchre :" and that 
" there laid they JESUS ?"(c) Was not this the true germ of that Kingdom which, 
from a very small beginning, has become so supremely great? "Except a corn of 
wheat fall into the ground and die," said He of Himself, " it abideth alone: but if 
it die, it bringeth forth much frmt."(d) There is nothing new in this remark. 
Gregory the Great made it almost 1300 years ago ; and Ambrose 200 years before 
him. 

20, 21 And again He said, Whereunto shall I liken the Kingdom of 
God ? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three mea- 
sures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 

A parable which is also a prophecy ! It is here foretold that, in the end, the 
Religion of Christ shall prevail over all obstacles ; imparting to all society its own 
ennobling nature, and conforming whatever it encounters, to itself. — And what is 
true of nations, is here true of individuals also. " The Gospel" says Hammond, 
"has such a secret invisible influence on the hearts of men, — to change them and 
affect them, and all the actions that flow from them, — that it is fitly resembled to 
Leaven; so mixed thoroughly with the whole, that although it appeareth not in any 
part visibly, yet every part hath a tincture from it." 

The discovery is surely a very interesting one, that these two Parables, here re- 

(x) Isaiah lxi. 2. {y) St. Matth. xii. 29. Consider Isaiah xlix. 24 to 26. 

(z) St. John xii. 3 to 6. Compared with St. Matth. xxvi. 8, &c. 

(a) See the heading of the Chapter. 

(b) See St. Matthew xiii. 31 to 32, and St. Mark iv. 30 to 32. 

(c) St. John xix. 41, 42. {d) St. John xii. 24. Consider 1 Cor. xv. 35 to 44. 






XIII.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 519 



corded together, were delivered by our Blessed Lord in the same order, and almost 
in the same words, more than a year before, to the multitudes assembled on the 
shore of the Sea of Galilee. For the knowledge of this fact, we are indebted to the 
first of the four Gospels. The present Parable has been already met with in St. 
Matthew xiii. 33, — whither the reader is referred for several remarks upon it. 

22, 23 And He went through, the cities and villages, teaching, and 
journeying towards Jerusalem. Then said one unto Him, Lord, are 
there few that be saved ? 

Who may this " one" have been ? Was it one of the Apostles ? And what led 
him to ask the question ? Did it grow naturally out of some unrecorded discourse 
which our Lord had been delivering? It is impossible to offer more than a conjec- 
ture in reply to these inquiries. But it is reasonable to suspect that it was one of 
the Twelve, — such an one as St. Peter; for observe, our Lord was on a journey; 
and the question having been put by one, the answer is made to several. 

On one occasion our Saviour had said, " Many are called, but few are chosen:"(e) 
and on another, — "Few there be that find" the strait gate and narrow way "that 
ieadeth unto Life."(/) But He says not so on the present occasion : — 

24 And He said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate : 

Consider on how many occasions our Saviour answered in this manner, ques- 
tions of the kind here recorded, — if that may be called answering, which does not 
give the information desired, and which is not addressed to the person who asked 
the question. Inquiries purely speculative, and which are simply the growth of 
carnal curiosity, are always discouraged : and the attention is guided instead to the 
practice of piety and virtue. (g) 

Our Lord here uses a stronger word than "strive." "Agonize," He says, (7*) — a 
term indicative of the greatness of the effort, (more literally, of the struggle,) re- 
quired. Blessed be God, however, that this very expression, denoting the earnest- 
ness required in those who would obtain an entrance into Life, shows also that 

Salvation is within the reach of all " The strait gate" recalls the solemn 

doctrine concerning the avenues of Life and Destruction, respectively, which are 
discoursed of in the Sermon on the Mount, (i) 

It is piously remarked by Leighton, — "What bustle is there made, by sea and 
land, for scraps of this earth ; and Heaven alone is so cheap in our eyes, as if it 
were worth no diligence, scarce even a serious thought ! Surely, either Heaven is 
but a fancy, or the world is mad." .... For this, then, men must toil, — 

for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. 

Take notice that their " seeking" will be like that of the foolish Virgins, — of the 
Rich ^ man in torments, — of Esau, when it was too late, "earnestly seeking" that 
blessing(&) which he had before, by his own deliberate act, forfeited. 

25, 26, 27 When once the Master of the House is risen up, and hath 
shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the 
door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us ; and He shall answer and say 
unto you, I know you not whence ye are : then shall ye begin to say, 
We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in 
our streets. But He shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye 
are ; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity. 

^This is a terrible prophecy, truly ; and its most alarming feature seems to be the 
hint conveyed of the self-delusion in which some men will be found to have lived — 
and died.(Z) Not only will they plead passionately for admission into that blissful 

(e) St. Matth. xxii. 14. (/) St. Matth. vii. 14. 

(g) See the latter part of the note on St. Matth. vii. 5. See also St. Luke x. 29, 36: xii. 42 : 
Acts i. 7, &c. (7i) St. Paul uses the same word,— Col. i. 29. 

(i) St. Matth. vii. 13, 14, — where see the notes. Consider St. John x. 9. 

(k) Hebrews xii. 17. Observe, it was " the blessing" which he " sought," — not " place of 
repentance." (I) See the latter part of the note on St. Matth. vii. 23. 



520 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

abode whither the Saints will have already entered, (wi) but they will remonstrate 
with " the Master of the House," and remind Him of all their past privileges, — 
forgetting that these have but increased the measure of their guilt ! 

" "We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence," they will say, — (" as the Israelites 
who partook of the sacrifices ; or, as they with whom Christ lived ; or, as they who 
are admitted to His Sacraments : for in all these cases is that fulfilled which was 
declared of the Seventy Elders, — namely, that ' they saw God, and did eat and 
drink ;'") (n) but they will be reminded that "he that eateth and drinketh unwor- 
thily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself." (o) . . . . " Thou hast taught in 
our streets," they will say: but they will be reminded that "not the hearers of the 
law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."^) As it is 
written, — "Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own 
selves." (q) .... No splendor of outward advantages, — neither the daily walk to 
God's House, nor Sacraments received, nor Sermons listened to, — will be of any 
avail in and by themselves. 

Take notice that, in contrast with the scene here described, — ("the door" hope- 
lessly closed, — "the Master of the House" deaf to entreaty,) — concerning our pre- 
sent Day of Grace it is more than once said, — "knock, and it shall be opened unto 
you." Nay more, — Christ saith of Himself, "behold I stand at the door and 
knock. If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him."(r) 
He now invites us freely to receive Himself, — who will then refuse to receive Us. 

On those solemn words of denial, — "J knoio ye not whence ye are," see the note 
on St. Matth. xxv. 12. The resemblance of the entire passage to two verses in 
"the Sermon on the Mount," (s) is very striking. Scarcely less remarkable are the 
points of difference. There, the warning seemed chiefly addressed to the teachers 
of religion, — here, to the taught. 

28, 29 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall 
see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the King- 
dom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from 
the East, and from the West, and from the North, and from the South, 
and shall sit down in the Kingdom of God. 

These remarkable expressions should be compared with the language which our 
Lord is found to have used after the healing of the Centurion's servant, in St. Mat- 
thew viii. 11, 12, — where the notes may be referred to."(/) The admission of the 
Gentiles to the Kingdom is hereby clearly foretold. Observe the mysterious hint 
here conveyed that it will be an aggravation of the misery of those whom God 
finally rejects, to behold others in the enjoyment of the bliss from which they will 
be themselves excluded. (u) And notice, by the way, the Love which declares, (in 
verse 28 and elsewhere,) the acceptance of many; but has no where set on record 
the final rejection of more than one.(x) 

30 And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are 
first which shall be last. 

This saying, which occurs three times in the Gospel, has been already made the 
subject of remark in a long note on St. Matthew xix. 30, — to which the reader is 
referred. 

31 The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto 
Him, Get Thee out, and depart hence : for Herod will kill Thee. 

Rather, "wishes," "desires to kill Thee." This must have happened somewhere 
in Galilee, or in the district east of the Jordan, called Persea, for Herod's dominion 
extended no further. That there were many of the sect of the Pharisees in that 
region, we know from chap. v. 17. 

It has been thought that the crafty king, ("that fox," as our Lord styles him in 

(to) Consider St. Matth. xxv. 10. (n) Williams, quoting Exod. xxiv. 11. 

(o) 1 Cor. xi. 29. (p) Rom. ii. 13. (q) St. James i. 22. (r) Rey. iii. 20. 

(s) St. Matth. vii. 22, 23. Consider also ver. 21. 

\t) See also the notes on St. Luke xiv. 15. («) Compare St. Luke xvi. 23. 

(x) St. Matth. xxvi. 21. 



XIII.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 521 



the next verse,) himself sent these messengers to our Saviour in order to induce 
Hiin to withdraw from a neighbourhood where His presence must perforce have 
"been a source of disquiet to the man who had murdered the Baptist, and who was 
now living in open adultery with his brother's wife. For this purpose, though him- 
self a Sadducee,(y) Herod is thought to have availed himself of the services of some 
of the opposite sect, in order to convey to our Lord a feigned tale of the danger 
that awaited Him, if He remained where He was. 

But others have supposed, with perhaps more of reason, that the whole was a 
mere device of the Pharisees to procure our Lord's prompt withdrawal towards Je- 
rusalem, — where snares were laid against His Life ;(z) and that when He said in 
reply, " Tell this fox,"(<x) he aimed his message, in reality, as much at the crafty 
speaker, as at the King. 

32 And He said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast 
out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I 
shall be perfected. 

There is some difficulty here ; but perhaps the obvious sense of the passage, as it 
stands in our translation, is the true one. Our Lord gives His pretended friends to 
understand that the duration of His Ministry is fixed, and settled, — and that the 
season of His Death, in like manner, is determined in God's deep counsels ; not to 
be hastened or delayed by any act on the part either of Herod or of themselves. 
The period of His Ministry is noticed, after the Hebrew method, — as for "to-day 
and to-morrow :"(b) on "the third day," He will "be perfected," — that is, will 
finish His course, (c) and fulfill His work, (d) and receive His complete reward. 
Three days are thus specified, — perhaps in order to intimate a definite predeter- 
mined period. " But our Lord's answer is doubtless for our instruction under simi- 
lar circumstances ; teaching us that times and seasons are with God. It is ours to 
do our duty, and leave the event with Him."(e) He proceeds, — 

33 Nevertheless I must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day 
following : for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. 

_ That is, " ' Nevertheless I must indeed depart home,' as ye counsel Me, while the 
time appointed for My Ministry — [' to-day and to-morrow, and the day-following' — ] 
continues, and go on My way to Jerusalem ; for that City is the place where the 
prophets of God must perish.' The word here translated ' walk,' is the same with 
that translated 'depart/ in verse 31."(jT) Away from Jerusalem, (our Saviour 
says,) is no danger. There is the seat of iniquity. All type and prophecy requires 
that I, the great Prophet, should suffer where all My goodly fellowship of Prophets 
have suffered before Me.(#) .... The pathetic lamentation which follows, grows 
naturally out of our Lord's recent mention of the City. 

34, 35 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and 
stonest them that are sent unto thee ; how often would I have gathered 
thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, 
and ye would not ! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate : and 
verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me, until the time come when 
ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lokd. 

The self-same words are heard from our Lord's lips on a quite different occasion, 
— namely, some months later, when He was crossing the threshold of the Temple, 
and leaving it for the last time. He repeats the name of the city twice, to denote 
earnestness and affection. (h) So much has been already offered concerning this 
affecting address, that it shall suffice to refer the reader to the notes on St. Matthew 
xxiii. 37 to 39. It has been thought indeed, by some of the very greatest writers, 

[ij] See the note on St. Mark viii. 19. (z) St. John vii. 25. (a) So in the original. 

(6) Compare Hos. vi. 2. Lonsdale and Hale supply the following valuable references to the 
margin of the Bible :— Gen. xxxi. 2. Exod. iv. 10. Deut. xix. 6. Josh. iii. 4. 1 Sam. xix. 
7. 1 Chron. xi. 2. (c) Compare Phil. iii. 12. Also Acts xx. 24 

(d) See St. John iv. 34: v. 36: xvii. 4. (e) Williams. 

(/) Bp. Lonsdale and Archd. Hale. (g) Consider St. Luke ix. 51. 

(h) So Chrysostom. Consider St. Luke x. 41, and the note there. 






522 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 



ancient as weft as modern, that our Lord so spoke on only one occasion; and that 
St. Luke here introduces the address out of its proper place. Surely, an improba- 
ble, not to say a monstrous, supposition ! 



THE PRAYER. 

God, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in 
heaven and earth ; We humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all 
hurtful things, and to give us those things which be profitable for us ; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



2 Christ healeth the dropsy on the Sabbath. 7 Teacheth humility. 12 To feast the 
poor. 15 Under the parable of the Great Supper, showetli hoio worldly minded 
men, who contemn the Word of God, shall be shut out of Heaven. 25 Those who 
will be His Disciples, to bear their cross must make their accounts aforehand, 
lest with shame they revolt from Him afterward, 34 and become altogether 
unprofitable, like salt that hath lost his savor. 



\ 



It will be perceived that in this part of the Gospel the hostility of the Pharisees 
comes prominently before us. Their crafty address was noticed at the close of 
chap, xiii.(a) Pharisees are found hanging about our Saviour's footsteps in the next 
chapter :(&) and they are found to be still among His hearers, when He delivers the 
parable of " the Unjust Steward/' in chap, xvi.(c) Here, a Pharisee of note, (he 
seems to have been "a Ruler,' ; ) invites the Holy One to a Feast, (d) — and many of 
the same hostile sect are present, (e) All this should be noticed, for a reason which 
will be found suggested below, in the note on ver. 7. We are reminded of those 
other occasions when our Lord was entertained by a Pharisee, (f) and when the 
motive on the part of the host was anything but a desire to show hospitality. 
What, therefore, but words of reproof are to be expected from the lips of our great 
Example ? 

1, 2 And it came to pass, as He went into the house of one of the 
chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day, that they watched 
Him. And, behold, there was a certain man before Him which had the 
dropsy. 



(o) See St. Luke xiii. 31. 

(d) See ver. 12, below. 

(/) See St. Luke vii. 36, 39: xi. 



(b) See St. Luke xv. 2. 
37, and all that follows. 



(c) See St. Luke xvi. 14. 
(e) See ver. 3, below. 



XIV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 523 

That is, " the Lawyers and Pharisees" — (mentioned in ver. 3) — " watched Him," 
as they are related to have done on a former occasion, (#) to see whether He would 
heal this person on the Sabbath day. Indeed, our Blessed Lord, on more than one 
occasion had made choice of the Sabbath for performing His works of Mercy :(A) 
and this was done in order to show the true meaning of the Divine Institution, and 
to teach men that certain works are a fulfillment, not a violation, of the Law. From 
works of Love, God never rests ; but " worketh hitherto," as our Saviour Himself 
declares. (i) The miracle which follows seems to have happened the instant He en- 
tered "the House of one of the chief Pharisees:" for we saw in ver. 1, that "it 
came to pass as He went into the House." It is reasonable to believe that the drop- 
sical man spoken of as standing "before" Christ, had so stationed himself in 
faith. (k) Bat the supposition is no less probable that it was the result of malicious 
contrivance on the part of our Lord's hypocritical entertainer, or some of his guests, 
that one so urgently in need of the Great Physician's help was present on this occa- 
sion at all. — Let it be remembered that Dropsy was one of the diseases accounted 
incurable. 

3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, say- 
ing, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day ? 

He answered to their wicked thoughts, — as on so many other occasions. (?) Once 
before, in the synagogue, when "there was a man" present "which had his hand 
withered," "they" had "asked Sim, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath 
days ? that they might accuse Him."(m) The same question they now hear 
addressed to themselves. 

4 And they held their peace. And He took him, and healed him, and 
let him go ; 

" Took hold of him," rather: that is to say, Christ laid His Almighty Hands upon 
the afflicted man, and so healed him, — "ietting him go," or rather "dismissing 
him," afterwards ; by which expression, it is implied that He took leave of the man 
with a solemn form of blessing. — Our attention is called from the object of Christ's 
mercy to the Pharisees whom He had just put to silence: 

5 and answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an 
ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sab- 
bath day ? 

Again He "answers them," although they have "held their peace." That is 
because their minds were full of fierce rebellious thoughts ; and thoughts are words 
in the ears of Him with whom we have to do.(n) 

It is impossible to forget that, in the former chapter, we met with an instance very 
closely resembling the present,— (the healing, namely, of " the crooked woman,")(o) 
— as well in respect of the general course of the narrative, as of the reasoning 
whereby our Lord defended His gracious act. On both occasions, a severe bodily 
ailment was remedied, and both cures were wrought upon a Sunday. Ox and ass 
on both occasions supplied the Divine Speaker with an argument ; and on both oc- 
casions His enemies were confounded and put to silence. The form of argument is 
moreover the same,— contrasting, the worth of the creatures ; the severity of their 
respective misfortunes ; and the amount of labour involved by the effort to relieve N 
them. But the most striking parallel is supplied by the cure of the withered hand 
in the synagogue, to which allusion has already been made ; for there our Lord 

(g) St. Luke vi. 8. See also the note on St. Mark. iii. 2. 

{h) Thus, in St. Mark i. 21 to 26, we have the casting out of an unclean spirit:— in St. Matth. 
xii. 9 to 13, compared with St. Luke vi. 6 to 11, the healing of the withered hand:— in St. Luke 
xiii. 10 to 17, the woman with a spirit of infirmity; and all these occurred in the synagogue 
itself. The gift of sight to the man born blind, (St. John ix. 14,) and the present miracle per- 
formed on one who had the dropsy, also took place on the Sabbath. 

(?) St. John v. 17. [k) Compare what was said on chap. xiii. 13. 

(0 For example, St, Luke vi. 8. (m) St. Matth. xii. 10. 

(h) The ancient Prayer at the beginning of our Communion Service runs very strikingly in 
the original:— "unto whom all hearts be open, all desires speak." 
(o) See the heading of chap. xiii. 



524 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

reasoned exactly as here, in the Pharisee's house, — " What man shall there he among 
you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he 
not lay hold on it, and lift it out ? How much then is a man better than a sheep I 
Wherefore it is lawful for a man to do well on the Sabbath day."Q?) 

6 And they could not answer Him again to these things. 

The remark may be worth the making that the recorded discourses of our Lord 
often meet with the issue here described : that is, they have the effect of putting 
His enemies to silence. This deserves attention ; because it must be allowed that 
the arguments of the Divine Speaker are often unexpected and extraordinary ; while 
they may be sometimes thought even to admit of refutation, or at least to afford to 
an adversary some loophole for escape. The inference to be gathered from the state- 
ment, (in this or any other place,) that the men whom he addressed "could not 
answer Him again to these things," — is, however, obvious. We perceive that His 
arguments were felt to be unanswerable, — or they would have been answered :{q) 
for He is represented as engaged in controversy with the most learned of the nation. 

It will be found therefore that the recorded discourses of our Saviour possess an 
extraordinary interest and value, beyond what might at first be suspected. — • 
Perhaps, had the blessed Speaker been addressing the men of our own day, He 
would have sometimes reasoned differently. It may, at least, be suspected that He 
would have silenced us with arguments the force of which we should have more 
readily felt and admitted. But He was reasoning with the learned Jewish Doctors. 
Much of the traditional meaning of Holy Scripture, they certainly retained ; and 
He was therefore able to meet them on common ground, — appeal to their own 
familiar teaching, — adopt their own method, — and slay them with their own weapons. 
Can we doubt moreover that those weapons, that method, and that teaching, as often 
as He condescended to employ them, were divine ? Thus, it may well be suspected 
that the Law contained in Exod. xxiii. 5, and Deut. xxii. 4, was here alluded to by 
our Lord ; and that the spiritual intention of that precept was present to the mind 
of all who heard. "Doth God take care of oxen?" (as the great Apostle exclaims;) 
" or saith He [not] it altogether for our own sakes ? For our sakes, no doubt, this 
is written." (r) 

Our Lord may now be supposed to have reached the scene of the entertainment. 
It follows : — 

7 And He put forth a Parable to those which were bidden, when He 
marked how they chose out the chief rooms ; 

In some sense, then, what follows is a parable. The words have a clear and ob- 
vious meaning, doubtless ; but there lies beneath them a deeper lesson ; and in order 
to draw attention to this, the Evangelist calls our Lord's discourse "a parable." 

It is evident, by the way, that the present entertainment was no ordinary meal, — 
for here were many guests assembled, — who had all been bidden, (that is, formally 
"invited,") — and they appear to have been persons of importance ; for we find that 
there was some rivalry among them for the chief places at table. Doubtless, if our 
Lord's remarks which follow appear to us unduly harsh or unseasonable, it is a 
proof that we are utterly mistaken in our conception of the circumstances and the 
scene. The Reader is referred to some remarks which were offered at the com- 
mencement of the present chapter ; where it was suggested that the hostility of all 
assembled, to the Divine Being who had been invited to partake of the festivity, 
affords a clue to the severity of His language. We seem to hear One who is Him- 
self sitting in the lowest room, — that is, who reclines on the couch "furthest removed 
from the place of honour, — 

8 saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, 

Mark, by the way, the nature of the "parable" which our Lord is delivering. 
The present is no wedding-entertainment. Why then this allusion to a wedding ? 
Doubtless to imply that He is covertly speaking of the " marriage" which " a cer- 

(p) St. Matt. xii. 11, 12,— where see the notes. The Commentary on St, Mark iii. 1 to 5 
may be also consulted with advantage. 

(2) See the note on St. Matthew xxii. 46. (r) 1 Cor. ix. 9, 10. 






XIV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 525 

tain King made for His Son, (s) — "the Marriage of the Lamb."(tf) At this wed- 
ding then, — 

9, 10 sit not down in the highest room : lest a more honourable man 
than thou be bidden of him : and he that bade thee and him come and 
and say to thee, Give this man place ; and thou begin with shame to 
take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in 
the lowest room ; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto 
thee, Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have worship in the 
presence of them that sit at meat with thee. 

Our Lord's words do more than recall, — they are even a quotation from the Book 
of Proverbs : " Put not forth thyself in the presence of the King, and stand not in 
the place of great men ; for better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither, 
than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the Prince whom thine eyes 
have seen.' ; («) " This shows that the proverbial teaching of the Old Testa- 
ment, in like manner with that of the New, contains parables of Evangelical Wis- 
dom, wherein more is intended than meets the outward ear." (a?) 

But what is the present Parable ? The Christian Church is the " wedding," and 
the guests are we. All are bidden who are Christians. How then do we behave? 
Do we covet high places for ourselves ? do we desire to take precedence of our fel- 
low-men, — those guests who sit down with us in God's visible Kingdom, here on 
earth, — presuming upon our wealth or influence, birth or station ? If so, we have 
here our warning. At the end of the World, the Bridegroom will come in to see 
the guests, (y) and then verily will it be found that "there are last which shall be 
first, and there are first which shall be last."(2) It will no longer be possible for 
the base man to lord it over his humbler brother, nor for the meek man, overlooked, 
to occupy the lowest seat. The standard of honour and merit will be entirely 
changed the instant the Bridegroom enters. "He that bade thee and him" alike, 
will feel Himself aggrieved if ambition and self-conceit have at all been the cause 
why the guests are so misplaced at His Table. He will come to the less honourable 
who occupies the higher seat, and bringing forward the virtuous brother of low 
degree, will say to the former, " give this man place." Shame will be the portion 
of him who shall then begin to occupy, as his abiding portion, (a) the lowest room: 
just as he will enjoy great honour, to whom, in the presence of admiring men and 
angels, those blessed words shall be spoken, "Friend, go up higher!" .... This 
will be the man who in his lifetime chose Christ for his pattern, and was content 
daily to tread in the footsteps of the Crucified. These are the meek ones of the 
earth. They are found in every class of society, in every calling, doubtless ; in the 
most exalted, as well as in the very humblest of all : yet surely if we were to go in 
search of such, we should seek them among the despised and afflicted, — among the 
very poor ! 

Consider how, both in the Old and New Testaments, it is intimated that Shame 
will befall the wicked in the Day of Judgment, (b) — shame, at detection and expo- 
sure before all. In the Book of Proverbs, a striking hint is given that it will be a 
terrible thing in that hour "to be put lower in the presence of the prince, whom 
their eyes have seen."(e) Here, the wonder and indignation of our fellow-men is 
the thing appealed to. And "the great Proverb of the Gospel "(cZ) follows :— 

11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased: and he that 
humbleth himself shall be exalted. 

Enough has been offered concerning these memorable words in other parts of the 
Commentary, to which it must suffice to refer the Reader, (e) 

^ 12 Then said He also to him that bade Him, When thou makest a 
dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy 

(s) St. Matth. xxii. 2. (t) Kev. xix. 9. («) Prov. xxv. 6, 7. 

(x) Williams. ( y ) St. Matth. xxii. 11. (z) St. Luke xiii. 30. 

(a) That is the meaning of " taking the lowest room," in ver. 9. 

(b) Dan.xii. 2. (c) Prov. xxv. 7: and see Job xlii. 5. (d) Williams, 
(e) See the note on the latter part of St. Luke xviii. 14: also on St Matthew xxiii. 12. 



526 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours ; lest they also bid thee again, and a 
recompence be made thee. 

That which is so often sought after, is therefore the very thing we are taught to 
shun and dread. Consider St. Luke vi. 32 to 35. It can scarcely be needful to 
point out that our Lord does not here prohibit hospitality to "rich neighbours;" 
but, (according to His well-known method on other occasions,) (f) He declares who 
are rather to be entertained. Hospitality towards "friends, brethren," and the 
like, is good; it is even one of the graces of the Gospel.(^) Yet does our Saviour 
show unto us "a more excellent way:" as it follows, — 

13, 14 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the 
lame, the blind : and thou shalt be blessed ; for they cannot recompense 
thee : for thou shalt be recompensed at the Resurrection of the just. 

The needy, and halt, and lame, and blind, have not the means to make thee any 
return ; but thou shalt be blessed, for a return shall be made thee at the Eesurrec- 
tion of the Just. " Come ye blessed of My Father," (will then be said by the Son 
of Man to as many as "have done it unto one of the least of these His Brethren,") 
"inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World: for I 
was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink."(7i) 

Wherefore, (as it is said in another place,) I appoint unto you a Kingdom 

that ye may eat and drink at My Table."(i) 

15 And when one of them that sat at meat with Him heard these 
things, he said unto Him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the 
Kingdom of God. 

On the speaker's lips, this saying was probably nothing more than a devout ex- 
clamation on hearing our Lord allude to the recompense which should attend the 
Resurrection of the Just. As if he had said, — Blessed will he be who shall share 
in that recompense of which Thou speakest so persuasively and well ! Or, (to 
borrow the language of the Spirit to St. John the Divine,) "Blessed are they 
which are called to the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb!"(/v) The words probably 
meant no more ; for they appear to have been suggested by what our Saviour had 
' said,(Z) — and we discover from His practice on other occasions that it was the 
manner of God's ancient people to speak of " the Resurrection of the Just," as a 
"sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of GOD."(m) 

But our Saviour takes the human words as they fall from the unconscious 
speaker, and straightway moulds them to a higher purpose by imparting to them 
a divine meaning. He denies not what the other had said, — namely, "Blessed is 
he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God !" Far from it ! But He proceeds 
to show by a parable that "the Kingdom" spoken of, hath its beginning here on 
Earth; and He foretells, darkly indeed, yet in wondrous detail, how different would 
be its reception from what the speaker supposed. Those "that were bidden," 
(namely God's chosen people, — the "heirs of the Kingdom,") would reject the 
gracious invitation to come, when all things were ready. Nay, the very Gentiles, 
(heirs by adoption,) so far from accounting it their supreme blessedness to "eat bread 
in the Kingdom of God," would invent all manner of pretests for staying away. 

This latter is at least one chief meaning of the Parable ; and it is the better 
worth our attention, inasmuch as the Church in her second Exhortation in the 
Communion Service, is found so to apply our Lord's teaching. The Parable fol- 
lows : — 

16, 17 Then said He unto him, A certain Man made a great supper, 
and bade many : and sent His servant at supper time to say to them 
that were bidden, Come ; for all things are now ready. 






(/) See the note on St. Luke x. 20, and the place there referred to. 

(g) See Rom. xii. 13. Heb. xvii. 2. 1 St. Pet. iv. 9. (h) St. Matth. xxv. 34, 35, 40. 

(i) St. Luke xxii. 29, 30. [h) Rev. xix. 9. Compare St. Matth. xxii. 2, 3. 

(0 St. Matth. viii. 1L. St. Luke xiii. 29. (m) Gal. iv. 4. 






XIV.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 527 



God is this " certain man," — God, who " when the fullness of the time was come, 
sent forth His Son."(») Christ Himself therefore, who took upon Him the form 
of a servant, or any one whom Christ sendeth, is the servant in the parable ; — His 
Church and Kingdom "is the Great Supper;" — the "things now ready," are His 
Word and Sacraments ; " the Vision of God, the society of Angels, the fellowship 
with the Saints." Heavenly joys are even spoken of in Holy Scripture under this 
image of a Feast, — a feast where plenty, instead of cloying, does but add keenness 
to the appetite ; and where fullness, instead of producing satiety, awakens only 
delight. How strong the call of appetite for earthly food ! how soon appeased ! 
when appeased, how small seems the joy ! But the reverse is true of the heavenly 
banquet. We hunger for it but little ; yet will the ages of Eternity not suffice to 
satisfy the soul's desire: and when experienced, how will the joys of Heaven sur- 
pass all that the heart has ever imagined of bliss !(o) Now, because this Heavenly 
Banquet begins here on earth, Christ's visible Kingdom is likened to a great sup- 
per. " Come ; for all things are now ready." .... Surely in this, the evening of 
the World, we hear that invitation daily ! What are opportunities of obedience, — 
occasions for the exercise of the graces of the Gospel, — invitations to prayer, — the 
return of sacred seasons, — the music of Sabbath-bells, — what is each of these but a 
summons to "Come, for all things are now ready?" — Mark next the conduct of 
those invited : 

18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. 

Hitherto, the parable of "the Great Supper" reminds us forcibly of the parable 
of " the marriage of the King's Son."( p) When all is ready, the Servants are sent 
out to call the guests, — but no guests are willing to come. In the case of the Mar- 
riage, however, the summons is refused and disregarded, — the fielcl(^) and the mer- 
chandise still furnishing the greater attraction. But civil excuses are offered by 
those who were invited to the Great Supper. 

19 The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and 
I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And 
another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them : 
I pray thee have me excused. 

Thus, " one goes to his farm, another to his merchandise."(r) The piece of 
ground and the five yoke of oxen (for ploughing)(s) have been bought subject to 
approval. Hence the first must be inspected, and trial must be made of the 
second. 

20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot 
come. 

" Yet this Feast is that invisible Kingdom of Grace into which men must press 
with violence !"(*!) Land, — oxen, — a wife: "all innocent; perhaps all needful: 
all certainly fatal. They loved them too much, or the Gospel too little. Their love 
for them was perhaps not excessive; it might have been but little: but, at all 
events, their love for the Gospel was less. Or their love for the Gospel might have 
been great, very great ; but their love of the world was greater. Still, it all came 
to one and the same end ; for God will not have a divided heart. It is the choice 
of the two which is presented at all times. To have married a wife was provided 
forin the Law as a sufficient plea not to go forth to war ;(u) but the Gospel is higher 
in its requirements. * He that loveth wife or children more than Me, is not worthy 
ofMe." ; (x) 

It may be observed that, in describing the reception which the Gospel would 
meet with, our Lord mentions the very things which He notices in speaking of the 
old World and of Sodom. " He omits aU mention of their great crimes, but chooses 

(») Gregory. (o) See St. Matth. xxii. 1, &c. 

(p) The word translated "a piece of ground" in St. Luke xiv. 18, is translated a "farm" in 
St. Matth. xxii. 5. 

(g) St. Matth. xxii. 5. (r) See 1 Kings xix. 19. 

(«) St. Matth. xi. 12, St. Luke xvi. 16. \t) Bent. xxiv. 5. 

(«) Williams quoting St. Matth. x. 37. (*) St. Luke xvii. 28. 






528 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

out, for their resemblance to the last day, points innocent in themselves, hut of an 
absorbing worldly nature. In the days of Lot, which are likened to the end of the 
world, ' they bought and sold,'(?/) — as here the excuse is ' I have bought oxen and 
I go to prove them/ In the former, ' they planted, they builded,' — as here the 
plea is ' I have bought a field, and must needs go and see it/ Again, in the days 
of Noah and of Lot, ' they married and gave in marriage, '(2) — and the Gospel in the 
parable is rejected, because, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come/ 
The same things, therefore, are true of the days of the Son of Man, as appears from 
Scripture ; whether we speak of Christ's final Coming, or of the Christian dispen- 
sation generally." (a) And can it be needful to point out that for the same causes 
which are daily seen to be in operation, the Gospel is practically rejected? or that 
"a wife" here stands for all earthly ties, because Marriage is the closest and most 
sacred : oxen to be proved, and land which must be visited, for all worldly goods 
and possessions whatsoever ? 

21 So that servant came, and showed his Lord these things. Then 
the Master of the house being angry, said to His servant, Go out 
quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the 
poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 

"When tlwu makest a feast," (our Lord had said in ver. 13) "call the poor, the 
maimed, the lame, the blind :" and these are precisely the classes of persons which 
the servant is ordered in the parable to "bring in," to be partakers of the Great 
Supper. But of the heavenly banquet here spoken of, it is of course "the poor in 
spirit,' who are desired ; and such as, because their hand offended them, cut it off, 
and so became maimed: because their foot offended them, cut it off, and so became 
lame : because their eye offended them, plucked it out, and so became blind. (6) 

22, 23 And the Servant said, Lord, it is done as Thou hast com- 
manded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the Servant, 
Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that 
My House may be filled. 

As usual, a prophecy of what was to be hereafter, is here set before us. The 
fulfillment was obvious. The Jews rejected the Gospel. The Publicans and harlots 
were straightway brought in from the streets and lanes of the Holy City ; and yet 
there was room. Whereupon the offer was freely made to the Gentiles. Consider 
Acts xiii. 46. 

24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden 
shall taste of My Supper. 

The Parable being brought to a close, our Blessed Lord, by a single word, gives 
His auditors to understand that He is Himself the Giver of the Supper, and that 
He is discoursing to them concerning the decrees of His own Providence : " For I 
say unto you." The words are no longer those of the lord of the Feast addressing 
a single messenger. They are the words of God Himself! 

Many of the Jewish nation did indeed, afterwards, embrace the Gospel : but it 
was no longer as Jews that they tasted of God's Mercy. They came in with the 
other nations of the earth. But surely these terrible words have a yet broader 
meaning, and are addressed to as many as shall come after, to the end of the world. 
Those who, when bidden, refuse the Feast, shall afterwards find themselves ex- 
cluded. See the last part of St. Luke xiii. 24, and the note there. 

Consider, finally, what an instructive specimen is here afforded us of our Blessed 
Lord's method, and His untiring zeal in the shepherding of souls. It is the Sab- 
bath-day, and the Service of the Synagogue over, (where doubtless He has been 
delivering a divine discourse, )(c) He proceeds to eat bread at a certain House. A 
person afflicted with dropsy stands before Him. He heals him. Sinful men are 
by ; and for their sakes, He defends His action, and by His comment upon it, brings 
the Gospel into harmony with the Law. He enters, — and takes occasion from what 

(y) St. Luke xvii. 28. (z) St. Luke xvii. 26, 27. (a) Williams. 

(b) Consider St. Mark ix. 43, (hand,)— 45, (foot,)— 47, (eye.) 
(e) Consider St. Luke iv. 15, 16, &c. 



XIV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 529 

He sees, to "teach Humility ;"(<^) conveying at the same time a parable of marvel- 
lous value and secret beauty. To the giver of the entertainment, He delivers pre- 
cious counsel concerning "feasting the poor."(e) A guest, in reply to what our 
Saviour had been saying, ventures an ordinary remark ; and our Saviour forth- 
with addresses to him the parable of " the Great Supper" .... It may all have 
been the work of half an hour ! 

25, 26 And there went great multitudes with Him : and He turned 
and said unto them, If any man come to Me, and hate not his Father, 
and Mother, and Wife, and Children, and Brethren, and Sisters, yea, 
and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 

Our Saviour had been prophetically declaring that worldly possessions or earthly 
ties would prove the things to prevent a man from freely embracing the Gospel. 
But the scene of His discourse is changed. Instead of the festive chamber, it is 
now the weary high-way; and among the "great crowds" which "journeyed with 
Him," there may or may not have been those who listened to the parable of the 
Great Supper which was delivered at the banquet. It does not follow, however, 
because the scene is changed, that the subject of our Lord's discourse is uncon- 
nected with what went before. On the contrary, the Evangelist seems to have been 
divinely guided to select from what our Lord proceeded to deliver, such sayings as 
bore directly on His preyious teaching. All things, therefore, (it is here declared,) 
must be relinquished for the Gospel : or, (as our Lord will be found to re-word the 
matter below, in verse 33,) — "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that 
he hath, he cannot be My disciple." Moreover, the temper requisite in one who 
would follow the Crucified, is further insisted upon in a saying which is itself almost 
a prophecy.(/) 

27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot 
be My disciple. 

Verses 26 and 27 will be found very nearly repeated in our Saviour's Charge, 
delivered to the Twelve. (#) The saying in the latter verse may be considered to 
recur three times in the Gospel, — being found besides in the discourse which He 
delivered after His Transfiguration ; as all the three Evangelists conspire in. 
recording. Qi) 

28, 29, 80 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sit.teth not- 
down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish 
it ? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to 
finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began 
to build, and was not able to finish. 

Take notice how He who created Man such as he is, here, for the second time, (i) 
appeals to Man's sense of Shame, — as above (in ver. 10,) He appealed to Man's 
sense of Pride. 

So difficult, then, and so formidable a. thing is the work of Salvation! — "The 
foundation" must indeed be laid in Faith in Christ, — for " other foundation can na 
man lay."(&) But, besides this, it is a work of labour and difficulty ; demanding, 
as our Lord specially notes, great sacrifices, — and to be accomplished only at a 
large cost of time, and skill, and labour, — even as the building of a tower. Then^ 
besides a great work to accomplish, we have also a powerful King to encounter. 
And take notice, that the hostile sovereign spoken of in the nest verse, is none- 
other than Christ Himself. It follows, — 

31, 32 Or what king, going to make war against another King, 
sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thou- 

(d) See the heading of the chapter. (e) See the heading.. 

(/) See the note on St. Matth. x. 38. (g) St, Matth. x. 37, 38, 

(Ji) St. Matth. xvi. 24, St. Mark viii. 34, St. Luke ix. 23>— on each of which places the notes 
may be consulted. 

(i) See above, ver. 9. (k) 1 Cor. iii. 11. 

34 



530 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 






sand to meet Him that cometh against hini with twenty thousand ? or 
else, while the Other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, 
and desireth conditions of peace. 

So that our Lord's counsel on this occasion closely resembles that other word of 
His, which has already twice come before us, — "Agree with thine Adversary 
quickly, while thou art in the way with Him."(Z) He comes against us with Might 
and with Majesty which none may presume to resist. "Behold," (saith Enoch,) 
"the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His Saints, (m) — yea, with "ten thousand 
times ten thousand." (n) "But who may abide the day of His coming? and who 
shall stand when He appeareth ?"(o) Wholly unable are we to meet Him in Judg- 
ment, when He shall appear with all His hosts. What remains, then, but to make 
our peace with Him while He "is yet a great way off," (being not yet seen coming 
in Judgment:) to send Him an ambassage of prayers and tears, and earnestly to 
desire of Him " conditions of Peace I" 

33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that 
he hath, he cannot be My Disciple. 

Thus does our Lord gather up into a single sentence the teaching of the seven 
verses which go before.(^) So slow and laborious is the work of Salvation, — so 
formidable is He with whom we have to do, — that unless there be a forsaking of all 
things, a man is not fit to be Christ's disciple. A remark already twice met with, 
follows : 

34, 35 Salt is good : but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith 
shall it be seasoned ? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the 
dunghill ; but men cast it out. 

These words have been explained already, (q) They mean here, — To be a Chris- 
tian is a good thing : but let the Christian character once lose that which gives it 
all its savor, and it becomes nothing worth. Men are hereby taught the conse- 
quence of falling away from Christ in the hour of trial, from not having well con- 
sidered beforehand what it would cost them to be His followers. There must be 
perseverance — to the end : and this is the doctrine of all Scripture, to an extent 
which few persons imagine. " He who after the knowledge of the Truth falls back," 
(our Lord says,) " is neither able to bring forth the fruit of good works himself, 
nor to instruct others. He must therefore be cast out."(r) And lest this applica- 
tion of His words might be overlooked, He added His well-known saying, — 

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 

(I) St. Matth. v. 25, and St. Luke xii. 58, — on which last place, see the note, 
(m) St. Jude ver. 14. (n) Dan. vii. 10. (o) Mai. iii. 2. 

( p) See above, the note on ver. 26. 
(q) See the notes on St. Matth. v. 13 : St. Mark ix. 50. (r) Bede. 






XV.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 531 



CHAPTER XV. 



1 The Parable of the Lost Sheep: 8 of the Piece of Silver: 11 of the Prodigal Son. 

1 Then drew near unto Him all the Publicans and Sinners for to 
hear Him. 

Concerning "Publicans and Sinners/' — of whom such frequent mention is made 
in the Gospel, — see the note on St. Mark ii. 15. The former were persons who, 
"both from their odious calling, and their sinful manner of life, were deemed infa- 
mous, by the rest of the nation. But, among their number, was found the Saint, 
and Apostle, and Evangelist.(a) They supplied, moreover, patterns of Faith, (6) 
of Prayer, (c) and of Zeal.(<i) At their table the Saviour of the world, homeless 
Himself, and despised of men, was many a time the welcome and the honoured 
Guest. . . . How unspeakably precious in the ears of all such must have been the 
gracious words which follow ! 

2 And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying, This man re- 
ceiveth sinners, and eateth with them. 

There is much of gracious meaning in this intimation that our Lord " received 
Sinners." Consider such places as St. Luke ix. 11 ; — where, (as in St. Luke viii. 
40 : xix. 6 ; St. John i. 11, 12 : iv. 45, &c.,) a kind and hearty welcome is evidently 
implied. 

"To eat" with Publicans was evidently deemed, a pollution. See St. Matthew 
ix. 11, and St. Luke xix. 7. This was because the Publicans belonged to a class 
which was reckoned among the heathen, — with whom to eat was to be polluted : see 
Acts xi. 3 ; Gal. ii. 12, &c. Compare St. Matthew xviii. 17, and the note St. Mark 
ii. 15. 

3 And He spake this parable unto them, saying, 

The parable of the Lost Sheep follows : in studying which we are to remember 
that our Saviour Christ is "the Good Shepherd/' — as He himself declared.(e) 
Here, then, we have explained to us the object and purpose with which He " re- 
ceived sinners, and ate with them." He was "going after that which was lost." . . . 
The same parable, somewhat more briefly given, is found in St. Matthew's Gospel, 
xviii. 12-14, — where it stands actually prefaced by the words, — " The Son of Man 
is come to save that which was lost." 

4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, 
doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that 
which is lost, until he find it ? 

Our Blessed Lord appeals to one of the instincts of the human heart. The 
ninety and nine, which are in safety, are left ; for the sake of the one which is lost. 
But the Heavenly Shepherd's care for "the people of His pasture and the sheep of 
His hand"(/) is such, that He rests not " until He find." 

Concerning " the wilderness," see the note on St. Luke i. 80. 

Who, that reads, exclaims not, — "/have gone astray like a sheep that is lost. 
seek Thy servant?" 

(a) St. Matthew x. 3. (6) St Matth. xxi. 32. (c) St. Luke xviii. 10-14. 

(d) St. Luke xix. 2-4. (e) St. John x. 11. (/) Ps. xcv. 7. 



532 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 














5 And when he hath found it, he lajeth it on his shoulders, rejoic- 
ing. 

He who " gathereth the lambs with His arm, and carrieth them in His "bosom," (g) 
"layeth" the lost sheep "on His shoulders," also: for "all we like sheep have 
gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath laid on 
Him the iniquity of us all." " Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our 
sorrows !"(7i) And beneath this heavy burden, "the Shepherd and Bishop of our 
souls" (i) is found to walk "rejoicing." 

Observe, therefore, that the purpose with which the Good Shepherd goes after 
His lost sheep, is not to drive it back to the fold ; much less to punish it. He will 
convey it back, on His shoulders. He will carry it all the way. 

6 And when he conieth home, he calleth together his friends and 
neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my 
sheep which was lost. 

We shall be reminded in the next verse, that Heaven is the Good Shepherd's 
" home :" and from verse 10 we learn that the " friends and neighbours" are none 
other than the Angels o/God. " Friends," — because they do the Father's will: (A;) 
"Neighbours," — because they stand in His presence, (/) behold His face, (m) and 
gather brightness from His glory. 

The Heavenly Shepherd having come after us that were lost, until He found us ; 
— after He had taken our Nature upon Him, and borne our sins, — straightway re- 
turned home. "I came forth from the Father," He said, " and am come into the 
World : again, I leave the World, and go to the Father. "(ii) 

7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sin- 
ner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which 
need no repentance. 

Take notice, that it is not said that those who have sinned and repented, are ob- 
jects of greater Love than the righteous. Not Love but Joy, is the emotion excited 
by the Penitent's return. Love is for those who have never loandered away from 
the Shepherd's side. 

The phrase, — "Just persons, which need no repentance," admits of an obvious ex- 
planation. "There is none that doeth good ; no, not one."(o) But, compared with 
the "lost;" compared with those who "were dead, and are alive again;" many 
are "just," — and "need no repentance." 

On "Joy shall be in Heaven" — see the note on verses 6 and 10. 

8 Either what woman 

The Saviour of the World reappears, but it is now under another form. Or 
this may represent Him, in the person of His Church, seeking for one, possessed 
before ; but since, accidentally, let slip. The Woman knows that she shall find the 
lost part of her treasure within her house. By the aid of " a burning and a shin- 
ing light,"(j9) she therefore commences an anxious search. 

having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a 
candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? 

Under this domestic image, then, — the humble figure of a Woman with a lighted 
candle, sweeping the house, in anxious search of a lost piece of money, — does the 
Saviour of the World here set forth to us His zeal for the souls of men. The lost 
piece of money was precious because it bore the image and likeness^) of the Great 
King. Compare the language of St. Luke xx. 24, and of 1 Cor. xv. 49. 

9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neigh- 



(g) Isaiah xl. 11. (h) Isaiah liii. 6, 4. 

Tk) St. Matthew vi. 10, compared with St. John xv. 14. 
hn) St. Matth. xviii. 10. (n) St. John xvi. 28. 

{p) St. John v. 35, compared with St. Matth. v. 14, 15. 



(0 1 St. Peter ii. 25. 

(1) St. Luke i. 19. 
(o) Ps. xiv. 1, 3. 

(2) Gen. i. 26. 



XV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 533 

bours together, saying, Rejoice with me ; for I have found the piece 
which I had lost. 

The powers of Heaven are once more made partakers of the Saviour's joy. See 
the next note. 

10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the An- 
gels of God over one sinner that repenteth. 

How wonderful a view is here opened to us of the sympathy of the Holy Angels 
with this part of God's Creation ! They love us with more than a brother's love. 
With what intense interest must they behold us ! with what assiduity and care 
must they minister and watch for us ;(r) that the tidings of " one Sinner that re- 
penteth," should fill the courts of Heaven with joy ! 

Most affecting of all, however, is the joy of Christ — the Good Shepherd. "Re- 
joice with Me," — He says. His friends and neighbours are but invited to be par- 
takers of His mysterious joy ! See the note on verse 7. Also, the note on verse 6. 

Can we doubt, by the way, that when "the Holy Church throughout all the 
World" keeps Christmas, or Easter, — celebrates Good-Friday, Ascension-Day, or 
Whitsuntide ; — there must be a corresponding strain of sympathy among the An- 
gels in Heaven, likewise : if the welfare of one can fill the skies with joy ? 

The Parable of the Prodigal Son follows. 

11 And he said, A certain Man had two Sons : 

About the "certain Man," in the parable, there can be no difference of opinion. 
The "two Sons" set forth, as well the Jew and the Gentile, as two opposite charac- 
ters;— the "sinner that repenteth," and the "just person that needeth no repent- 
ance." We shall do well to seek our likeness in the former character, — that, 
namely, of the poor prodigal ; where we shall assuredly be most likely to find it. 

12 and the younger of them said to Ms father, Father, give me the 
portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them Ms 
living. 

If this be understood nationally, — then, we have here a picture of the portion 
which the nations of the Gentile world chose for themselves when they wandered 
forth from the haunts of Shem. 

If individually, — then, behold here the impatience of one who cannot brook the 
restraints of his Heavenly Father's home ; but claims his portion and receives it : — 
health and strength, — youthful spirits and intellectual vigour, — the portion of good 
things, whatever it may happen to be, which falleth to him. In both cases the 
gifts of Nature are implied, as contrasted with the gifts of Grace. 

13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, 
and took his journey into a far country, 

Behold the Youth's impatience ! He sets out "not many days" after. He goes, 
in fact, whenever, and whithersoever he pleases ; for the will of man is left per- 
fectly free. 

And he travels "into a far country ;" for this is the fate of all those who forsake 
God. To be deprived of the light of His countenance, is to be in a very " far coun- 
try" indeed. 

" Not many days" — seems to mark the impatience of the natural man to break 
away from God. 

and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 

He " wasted his substance," for he made a prodigal and a reckless use of the 
gifts of Nature : in consequence whereof, (as St. Paul says of the Gentile world,) 
"he became vain in his imaginations, and his foolish heart was darkened." "Pro- 
fessing himself to be wise, he became as a fool."(s) 

(r) See the Collect for "St. Michael and all Angels." (s) Rom. i. 21, 22. 






534 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 






His high endowments all turned to his shame. His very moral sense was 
darkened. The candle of the Lord had gone out within him. 

14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that 
land ; and he began to be in want. 

Spiritual needs are set forth to us in Scripture under the image of hunger and 
thirst. (t) " Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in 
the land ; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of 
the Lord. ;; (m) 

Surely, there was a mighty Famine in all lands, (typically set forth in the history 
of Joseph, )(x) at the time of the Advent of our Saviour Christ ; and the younger 
Brother had been made to feel the want of which he had long before " begun" to 
be aware ! There was nothing to satisfy the souPs cravings in those systems with 
which men had beguiled themselves so long ; and Faith had departed from them. 

Then, besides its national bearing, this part of the Parable sets forth the spiritual 
misery of an individual who is seeking to live " without God in the World."(?/) A 
mighty Famine arises, and it reaches also unto him. He himself, (for so it is in the 
original,) begins to be in want. Too often however, the beginnings of distress fail 
to recall such an one to a sense of his true position and of his duty. When he only 
" begins" to suffer, his proud heart remains unsubdued. He probably acts in the 
manner described in the following verse. 

15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country : and 
lie sent him into his fields to feed swine. 

Under such a degrading image is the hard service which the younger Son had 
engaged in exhibited. The "Citizen of that country" is the Devil, — who is "a 
citizen" and therefore at home, where the Prodigal Son is but an outcast and 
stranger. Here then, we trace the downward course of one who has fled from the 
presence, and forsaken the service of God. He straightway enters into the service 
of the Devil. 

The "swine" represent those "filthy dreamers," (as St. Jude speaks,) (z) who 
belong to the Evil One ; and in pandering to whose lusts, he employs any miserable 
being whom he gets into his power. They are fitly called swine: those being the 
unclean creatures with which the devils love most to be, — as we learn from St. Matt, 
viii. 31. The animal, moreover, was among those which the nation were forbidden 
to eat, and which they held in peculiar abhorrence. 

St. Paul further helps us to the national application of this part of the Parable ; 
for, (describing the consequences to the Gentiles, "when they knew God," of "not 
glorifying Him as God,") he adds, — "Wherefore God also gave them up to unclean- 
ness." "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave 
them over to a reprobate mind." (a) 

In its individual application, — this part of the Parable reminds us of those who 
nourish foul desires and unclean thoughts in their soul: despising "Angels' 
food;" (5) and "serving divers lusts and pleasures,"(c) as the Apostle speaks. 

16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the 
swine did eat : and no man gave unto him. 

There is in the East a peculiar kind of bean-shaped fruit, here called " husks," 
which is given to swine, and which may be eaten by men also. But the degree of 
misery here described must be very great: to be reduced so low as- to crave a por- 
tion for one's-self of the food one is dispensing to the herd ; yet no one found to pity 
one's necessity, and supply a more wholesome diet ! ... The Prodigal Son seemed, 
before, reduced to the lowest depth of misery ; but here, a still lower depth discovers 
itself. His soul was fainting within him ; and yet to " fill his belly, 7 ' — to gratify his 
lower appetites, — is the utmost object of his desire! 

17 And when he came to himself, 



(t) St. John iv. 10 — 14; Isaiah xlix. 10 : Rev. vii. 16, 17; Psalm xxiii. 2, &c. &c. 
(u) Amos viii. 2. (x) Gen. xli. 57, &c. (y) Eph. ii. 12. 

(z) St. Jude, ver. 8. (a) Rom. i. 21, 24, and 28. (6) Ps. lxxviii. 25. 

(c) Titus iii. 3. 



XV.] 



on st. ltjke's gospel. 535 



For one who could so act, — forsake such a Father, and desert such a home, to 
incur nothing but misery, insult, and the pangs of hunger, — can only be spoken of 
as one not in his right mind. 

He " came to himself,' 7 and forthwith came liome. From which we may rightly 
infer that when he "took his journey into a far country" (ver. 13,) he altogether 
departed from himself. 

he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough 
and to spare, and I perish with hunger ! 

How pregnant here is every word with meaning ! The " hired servants;" — those 
labourers, namely, whom the Heavenly Father had hired for a penny a day, 
according to the Parable,(<f) and sent to work in His Vineyard. ..." Bread 
enough ;" — for under that image, God's Word(e) and Sacraments (/) are spoken of 
in the Gospel. All Christian privileges, it may be, are " briefly comprehended in 
that one saying, ;, (^) " the children's Bread." (Ji) .... " And to spare ;" — whence 
arises the duty of imparting and distributing to others. 

He who lacks the " Bread" here spoken of, does more than suffer want. He 
even "perishes with hunger." 

18 I will arise and go to my Father, 

He will " arise," — for he has been till now grovelling in the dust. He will 
il go," — for he is a very long way off. To his " Father," — for at present he dwells 
among swine. 

And that he shall be able to " say — Father !" is the ground of all his confidence ; 
the foundation all his hope. 

and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and 
before thee, 

This is the language of true Repentance. " I have sinned — against Heaven." 
Compare that of David, — " Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned."(i) Compare 
also 2 Sam. xii. 13 ; and two earlier instances, in Gen. xx. 6, and xxxix. 9. 

19 and am no more worthy to be called thy son : 

Such words do we make our own, as often as we draw near to the Divine presence, 
in the public services of the Church. Thereby, not only interpreting the Parable, 
but identifying ourselves with the most conspicuous character in it. 

make me as one of thy hired servants. 

The entrance into the courts of Glory is by the gate of Humility. 

A very ancient writer, (who was also an Archbishop,) commenting on these 
words, piously exclaims, — " Lord Jesu ! Preserve us from such husks as the 
swine did eat, and instead thereof, give unto us the true Bread; for Thou art 
Steward in Thy Father's House. As Labourers, vouchsafe to hire us also, although 
arriving late ; for Thou dost hire men, even at the eleventh hour, — and givest to all 
alike the same reward of Life eternal." 

20 And he arose, and came to his Father. 

In this, lies one of the most instructive lessons which the Parable conveys. The 
Father was yearning towards the Prodigal with tenderness unspeakable ; the robe 
and the ring, the shoes and the banquet, were all in store ; but the Prodigal must 
first arise and go. He was, as yet, "dead" in the Father's sight; ver. 24: "where- 
fore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall 
give thee light." (k) We must first " draw nigh to God," and then He will " draw 
nigh" to us.(Z) When the Son has risen, mark all that follows : — 

But when he was yet a great way off, his Father saw him, and had 
compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 



(d) St. Matt. xx. (e) St. Matt. iv. 4. (/) St. John vi. 35—58. 

(g) Rom. xiii. 9. (h) St. Matt. xv. 26. (i) Ps. li. 4. 

(k) Ephes. v. 14. (I) St. James iv. 8. 



536 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 







"What can be imagined more affecting? The returning wretch recognized, while 
"he was yet a great way off:" the prevailing feeling of " compassion," which his 
return excites : the impatience, which must " run" to meet him, half way : the love, 
which "falls upon his neck;" the tenderness, which "kisses him!" ... In the 
running, says an Ancient, there is Foreknowledge: in the embrace, Mercy. 

We do not read that the Son, — tied and bound with the chain, and burdened with 
the weight, of his many sins, — ran to meet the Father. It was the Father, on the 
contrary, who ran to meet him. We cannot " run/' (as the Psalmist in a certain 
place declares,) till God has "set our hearts at liberty :"{m) sore let and hindered, 
else, in running the race that is set before us. We feel after God, — the heavenly 
Father finds us : running to meet us, while we are " yet a great way off!" 

When Christ so falls upon the neck of the returning Penitent, He removes thence, 
from the weary and heavy-laden, the yoke of slavery, — and instead thereof, bestows 
there His own light Burden, and easy Yoke. For this, He invites all men to "come 
unto Him." (n) 

21 And the Son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against 
Heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy Son. 

The Father does not give him time to say the rest of what he intended to say ; 
see verses 18, 19. He would have almost spared him the pain of Confession alto- 
gether, — for he has already embraced; and, in act, has forgiven him. Observe how 
he proceeds to heap blessing upon blessing : — 

22 But the Father said to his Servants, Bring forth the best robe, 
and put it on him ; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on Ms feet ; 

" The best robe" was the robe of honour, and the special property of the eldest 
son: see Genesis xxvii. 15. The ring was a mark of dignity, — a badge of rank, as 
well as an ornament : as may be inferred from Genesis xxxviii. 18 : xli. 42 : and St. 
James ii. 2. Lastly, he wore " shoes on his feet," who was invited to " draw nigh," 
— not to a terrific presence, as in Exodus iii. 5, and Joshua v. 15 ; but to the tender 
embrace of a most loving Father. 

But we have to look for some far loftier meaning than this : for the merciful 
Creator, and the repenting Creature, are here spoken of. Whether we shall suc- 
ceed in finding what we perceive that we must search after, is another question. 

The Father replies not directly to the Son, (for our prayers are not answered by 
a voice from Heaven ;) but He addresses His answer "to His Servants;" — those 
heavenly, or those earthly ministers of His, "that do His pleasure," and "fulfill 
His commandment, and hearken unto the voice of His words. "(o) " The best robe," 
then, may denote Holy Baptism, for which Repentance is the fitting preparation ; — 
"for," in the Apostle's words, — "as many as have been baptized into Christ, have 
put on Christ."(£>) It is that recovered robe of innocence, which, when Adam lost, 
he " knew that he was naked."(^) Compare 2 Cor. v. 3 ; Rev. iii. 17, 18, 
and xvi. 15. 

But the meaning of the Ring and the Shoes, is less clear : and it is better to con- 
fess ignorance than to venture on merely fanciful and unfounded conjecture. Some 
have thought that the Ring is a badge of that union with Christ, which every 
member of Christ's Church, (which is the Spouse of Christ,) should carry. (Com- 
pare the language of 2 Cor. xi. 2 ; Eph. v. 32 ; Rev. xxi. 2, &c. See also, Hosea 
ii. 19, 20. ) And it is easy to connect the notion of Shoes, with that Christian walk 
or race,(r) which directs attention so constantly to the feet of the believer, — as seek- 
ing "the path of life:"(s) requiring "a light," and "a lantern :"(«!) being "shod 
with the preparation of the Gospel :"(u) and the, like. But of such things, we can 
only speak conjecturally. — The Father continues, 

23 and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it ; and let us eat, and 
be merry : 

(m) Ps. cxix. 32. (n) St. Matt. xi. 28—30. (o) Psalm ciii. 20. 

(V) Gal. iii. 27. (?) Gen. iii. 7. 

(r) Gen. v. 22; and places in the margin: 1 Cor. ix. 24: Heb. xii. 1, &c. 
(s) Psalm xvi. 11; compare xvii. 5, and xxvii. 11; Proverbs iv. 18, 26, &c. 
(0 Psalm cxix. 105. (w) Eph. vi. 15. 



xv.] on st. luke's gospel. 537 

This can be none other than the heavenly banquet of His Body, — whose Sacrifice 
is set forth throughout the whole of the Bible : — the pledge of the reconciliation of 
us Gentiles to an offended God. That banquet is now celebrated throughout the 
whole World, — feeds the whole House, — and fills the hearts of all with joy and 
gladness. 

24 for this my Son was dead, and is alive again ; he was lost, and is 
found. And they began to be merry. 

He who lives in sin, is dead in God's sight, even while he liveth. See Eph. ii. 
1 ; 1 Timothy v. 6 ; 1 St. John iii. 14 ; and compare with the phrase, — " he was 
lost and is found," St. Peter's words, — " Ye were as sheep gone astray, but are now 
returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls :" by which, the first and last 
of these Parables are connected together. See 1 St. Pet. ii. 25. 

25 Now his elder Son was in the field : and as he came and drew 
nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. 

Here begins the second part of the Parable, — by which the history is carried on 
beyond the point which was reached in the two former Parables. (x) The elder 
Brother now appears ; just in time to witness the merriment and rejoicing which, 
in each of the three Parables, obtains such prominent notice. 

As before, (see verses 7 and 10,) Angels are the harpers; and the Christian 
Church swells their Songs of Triumph with her own Hymns of Praise. 

26, 27, 28 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these 
things meant. And he said unto him, Thy Brother is come ; and thy 
Father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe 
and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in. 

Even as the Pharisees and Scribes, in ver. 2, " murmured, saying, This man re- 
ceiveth sinners, and eateth with them." As their Father, also, (although they knew 
Him not,) had come out, and was even now intreating them. It is the same to this 
day. The Jew is still standing without, and " will not come in." 

But to return from the national, to the individual interpretation of the Parable, 
— we have here represented to us the envious displeasure of the wicked, at every 
advance in holiness on the part of the just. For the world does not, by any means, 
rejoice at the sight of goodness in others : rather the reverse. 

Therefore came his Father out, and intreated him. 

It has been thought that this indicates what will take place hereafter, when "the 
fullness of the Gentiles" shall have come in; that so, "all Israel maybe saved."(y) 

29 And he answering said to his Father, Lo, these many years do I 
serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment : 

This boastful speech is an apt exhibition of the remonstrance of the Scribes and 
Pharisees, already alluded to. They were the elder Brother. In ver. 2, they had, 
in effect, been saying of themselves the very thing which is here attributed to the 
self-righteous man, in the Parable. Our Lord Himself, certainly, gave them a very 
different character. See St. Matthew xxiii. 13, and what follows, especially 
verse 33. 

and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with 
my friends : 

There is a double emphasis at the end of this verse : " Thou never gavest me," 
so much as " a kid." Which may perhaps mean, that no effectual deliverance had 
been wrought for the Jewish people ; — whereas the return of the Gentiles had been 
celebrated, as well as effected, by the sacrifice of the greatest Victim of all. 

The elder Brother will not see that he is invited to be a partaker of the same 
banquet. He contemplates a scene of merriment, apart " with his friends." And 

(a;) See the end of the note on St. Matth. xxii. 10. (y) Romans si. 25, 2Q. 




538 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

yet he is aware that " the fatted Calf," — the great Victim which had been so long 
promised, — has been killed ! .... He proceeds, 

30 but as soon as this thy Son was come, which hath devoured thy 
living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 

Observe how wickedly he, who in the former verse exaggerated his own obedi- 
ence, in the present verse magnifies the offence of his Brother ! Compare what is 
here said with what was stated in verse 13. 

Also, — "As soon as this thy Son"(!) he says, "was come"(!). And why not 
" my Brother/' — " was returned f" 

31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that 
I have is thine. 

The Father, who received back the younger Son without reproaches, forbears now 
to rebuke His elder Son ; far less does He charge him with untruth, — reminding 
him, as He might have done, of countless acts of unfaithfulness and disobedience. 
He proceeds calmly, — . 

32 It was meet that we should make merry, and he glad : for this 
thy Brother was dead, and is alive again ; and was lost, and is found. 

It was the one thought which filled the Father's heart. See ver. 24. 

Notice here the delicacy of the implied reproof. " This thy Son," had been the 
language of the elder Brother, in ver. 30. But the Father, entreating with him, 
says not, " For this my Son was dead and is alive again; but, — " This thy Brother:" 
reminding him, thereby, of the claim which the poor Prodigal had upon him. 

The frequent preference given to the younger Son over the elder, in Holy Scrip- 
ture, — had prepared men's minds for that great national dispensation, which, in 
the present Parable also, is traced prophetically : namely, the ultimate acceptance 
of the Gentiles. Even where no marked contrast is established, or preference 
avowed, — as when God said, "I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau,"(z) — the place of 
favour is again and again assigned to the younger Son. Seth, Shem, Peleg, Abra- 
ham : then Jacob, who has been already noticed : Joseph and Ephraim : Judah 
and Pharez :(a) Moses and David, — are all examples prefiguring what was to happen 
long after. Consider also the language of Judges vi. 15, and 1 Samuel ix. 21. 



Three Parables, so nearly of one tendency, delivered in succession, call for com- 
parison. Each sets forth the concern of Almighty God for every individual soul. 
We are reminded, in all three, that it is not His will that any should perish. And 
they correspond in noticing the Heavenly rejoicing which attends one sinner's re- 
covery. 

On the other hand, they exhibit some points of contrast. The first Parable de- 
scribes the case of one who has simply gone astray, and wandered from the Fold : 
the second, — that of one who has been lost through neglect : the last and longest, 
is the history of a wilfully disobedient man. And the methods adopted for the re- 
covery of each, are found to differ likewise. No pains are spared for the recovery 
of the first, — who is followed after, until he is found. For the recovery of the sec- 
ond, a patient heart and a vigilant eye are alone required. But the last is left to 
obey, or to disregard, the motions of the Holy Spirit, — urging him to return. In 
this last case, the first step towards reconciliation must be taken by the offender. 

And the recovery of one in a hundred, — of one in ten, — and of the other of two, — 
seems intended to repress all curious inquiries into a subject with which we have 
no practical concern : namely, the spiritual condition of our neighbours ; and God's 
dealings with them ; and whether few persons, or many, stand in need of the Reco- 
very here spoken of. Our Saviour's words on a recent occasion, when He sought 
to discourage unprofitable speculations of a similar class, are strictly applicable in 
this place : — " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 

The following remarks, by a good and thoughtful man, are too apposite and beau- 
tiful to be omitted here, — where God's Love is so strikingly shown in three success- 
es Mai. i. 2, 3; quoted Kom. ix. 13. («) Gen. xxxviii. 29. 



XVI.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 539 

ive Parables. " There is nothing more worthy of observation" (he says) " than 
the way in which the natural habits and affections of men are used in Scripture, to 
illustrate the dealings and dispositions of the Invisible God ; nor can anything be 
imagined more likely to bring the Truth and Love of God home to our hearts, than 
when we are thus made to feel an image of it in ourselves. It is to be observed, 
however, that the habits and affections of mankind, thus taken and made use of, 
are purely natural, — as God made and willed them ; and no ways connected with 
the degeneracy of the sinful state. We may then feel the justness of their use in 
this way, to make known ±o us the things of God. For God not only made man 
upright, but He made him in His own image : and if so, then in the Human Na- 
ture, (that is, our own,) we may see as in a glass the truth of God's. For an image 
is but the resemblance of something original, which only is the reality, the sub- 
stance, — of which the other is a shadow. "We may understand, moreover, that 
there is in the Creature a natural capacity and fitness, given it no doubt by its 
Creator from the first, for setting forth His own Love, and Goodness, and Glory. 
For otherwise, how could the Son of God have taken upon Himself the form, — and 
been made in the likeness, — of Man?" (6) 



CHAPTER XVI. 



1 The Parable of the Unjust Steward. 14 Christ reproveth the hypocrisy of the 
covetous Pharisees. 19 The rich glutton, and Lazarus the beggar. 

The Parables of our Saviour here succeed each other with marvellous rapidity. 
We met with three, in the former chapter. In the present, two more are recorded. 
The parable of "the Unjust Steward," which comes first, is certainly one of the 
most difficult of our Lord's parables ; partly, because after bringing forward, and 
stating in detail, a case of great dishonesty, the Divine Speaker not only withholds 
His censure, but even seems to dismiss it with words of commendation : partly also, 
because of the doctrinal application of the Parable, which is certainly far from ob- 
vious. _ Much of this difficulty will be found to disappear, on a careful study of the 
narrative : but there will remain much to make us thoughtful ; and to impress us 
with the strangeness, even in its minutest details, of a Revelation which comes from 
God. 

The three last Parables were addressed to the Pharisees and Scribes. Not so the 
Parable of " the Unjust Steward," — though the Pharisees are found still standing 
by. It was spoken to the Disciples : — 

1 And He said also unto His Disciples, There was a certain rich 
Man, which had a Steward; and the same was accused unto Him that he 
had wasted His goods. 

So far, all seems plain. The "Rich Man" is God; the "Steward" is one of 
ourselves : and this reveals to us one very important relation in which we all stand 
towards our Maker, namely, that of steivards, — stewards of the opportunities with 

(6) From a MS. Sermon by the Rev. W. J. Palmer. 



540 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

which His Providence hath entrusted us. Now, " it is required in stewards that a 
man be found faithful" (a) Elsewhere, we are taught to regard ourselves as Tra- 
ders: but in either case, our opportunities are His "goods;" the ownership rests 
with Him, not us; and terrible is the responsibility of those who "waste His 
goods." Verily there is one that ever accuseth us unto Him, — even Satan, who 
from that very circumstance is called the Accuser of the brethren.{b) 

2 And He called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this 
of thee ? give an account of thy stewardship ; for thou mayest be no 
longer Steward. 

And God calls us in many ways : — by afflictions, by illness, by the signs of decay 
in ourselves or others, by the sight of Death. Whatever speaks to us of departure, 
and of Judgment to come, is a call from God. Of course, the actual requirement to 
give up our stewardship, comes with the Day of our Departure, — when God will 
call us to our Great Account. But it is plain that Death itself is not what is referred 
to in the Parable, but rather a warning that Death is at hand ; else would the 
Steward have found it impossible to act as he acted : and it is clearly unfair to press 
the Parable, so as to make its details applicable to what may take place upon a 
death-bed. 

3, 4 Then the Steward said within himself, What shall I do ? for my 
Lord taketh away from me the stewardship : I cannot dig ; to beg I am 
ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the 
stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 

Hitherto, he who reads the Parable readily admits that under the names of "a 
certain Rich man/ 7 and "a Steward," he is hearing about God and Man. The 
transactions which follow, beginning with the last words in ver. 4, seem to show 
that this is a mistake : that we are, in fact, hearing of a purely human transaction, 
the conduct of a shrewd, but wholly unprincipled servant with respect to a confiding 
employer. And yet, our Lord's comment recalls our original conviction. Indeed 
it proves that it was correct. The difficulty consists, (as we at once discover,) in 
deciding on the extent to which the details of the Parable are capable of being ap- 
plied to ourselves. 

Now, the Steward's perplexity we can readily apply and explain. He has no 
strength of his own, — (" I cannot dig:") he is ashamed to seek help of his fellows, 
— ("to beg I am ashamed.") Neither from within nor from without does he find 
security. He resolves on a proceeding therefore, which, when he becomes house- 
less, may prove the means of providing him with a refuge. 

5, 6, 7 So he called every one of his Lord's debtors unto Mm, and 
said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my Lord ? And he said, 
An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and 
sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how 
much owest thou ? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And 
he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. 

The lord of the Steward had evidently great possessions, — oliveyards and harvest 
fields, — which were farmed by tenants, on condition of their paying him a fixed 
proportion of the produce. One of these tenants had yet a hundred measures of oil 
to send in ; another, still owed his lord as many measures of wheat. The Steward 
bids them both " sit down quickly," (for no time must be lost,) — gives them back 
their "bill," (the written acknowledgment of their respective debts,)— and bids them 
alter the amount to a far less sum. 

8 And the lord commended the unjust Steward, because he had done 
wisely : for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than 
the children of Light. 

" The lord," — namely, of the Steward. Not our Lord, observe. This is often 



(a) 1 Cor. iv. 2. (6) Rev. xii. 10. 






XVI.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 541 

overlooked, but is much to be noted. Our Lord does not commend the servant ; 
nay, He calls him " unjust" But the man's master, on hearing the history of what 
he had done, praised him for his shrewdness, — commended the prudence he had 
shown in providing for his own temporal interest. The Steward had, in fact, so 
availed himself of his position, — so improved his remaining opportunities, — that 
though displaced from his office and driven from his home, he found himself pro- 
vided at once with a place of refuge, and with friends. 

Next, let our Lord's comment on what precedes, be carefully noted. He has told 
us nothing about the Steward, — except that he was " unjust." Concerning the 
entire transaction, however, He has this remarkable observation, — that "the children 
of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of Light." 

Let it be observed, therefore, that these words supply the true clue to the Para- 
ble ; and that it is at our peril that we seek to draw our Saviour's words aside from 
their declared intention, in order to elicit from them teaching which they were never 
meant to convey. He is discoursing of the Use and Abuse of Riches, — or, (as He 
calls them in the next verse,) "the Mammon of Unrighteousness:" and He has 
shown how a man of shrewd foresight would act with respect to the unrighteous 
Mammon, in the prospect of dismissal from his stewardship. That he would act 
unrighteously, was to be expected. He was an unrighteous man, — one who had 
wasted his lord's goods. But the man's character is not the question. He acted 
providently, — and that was all. As in the Parable of " the Unjust Judge," so here, 
our attention is invited to a single circumstance. Since here, the Steward, — as 
there, the Judge, — is "unjust," the argument may be considered to stand in this 
case, somewhat as in the other: — " See how the unjust Steward acted, in order to 
secure for himself mere temporal comfort. And shall not the children of Light dis- 
play the same anxiety to provide for themselves an eternal home?"(c) Our Lord's 
declaration, in the verse before us, is in fact little else than this question, thrown 
into a different shape. The Prudence displayed by worldly persons, so far sur- 
passing that of many Christian men, — is the thing we are called upon to notice ; 
and a striking thing it certainly is. — Our Lord proceeds. 

9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of 
unrighteousness ; that when ye fail, they may receive you into ever- 
lasting habitations. 

On this, it may be observed first, that "when ye fail," means nothing else than 
"when ye die:" but it is an uncommon, as well as a very beautiful expression, im- 
plying a peaceful and happy end,(cZ) like that of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob :(e) 
—a mere " failing" in respect of bodily strength, and passing out of this visible 
world. "Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me," (saith our Saviour,) "shall never 
die "(f) But the next words' present graver difficulty, and more require explanation. 

" Mammon," though a word of foreign origin, was a familiar term, in the lan- 
guage of the ancient Jews, for "riches." On our Lord's lips, therefore, it denotes 
worldly wealth generally. (g) And because the goods of this world are so often 
obtained by unfair, unholy means, — so often expended in a selfish, unholy manner, 
— He here calls Riches "the Mammon of unrighteousness," or " the unrighteous 
Mammon."(/i) "They are so frequently and so generally misused," (says a good 
man,) " as from that to have acquired a name."(i) But it is of Money, nevertheless, 
unrighteous though it be, that our Lord here bids us " make to ourselves friends ;" 
and the mysterious reason is added, — " that when ye fail, they may receive you into 
everlasting habitations :" — concerning which striking mode of expression the reader 
is referred to the note on St. Luke xii. 20. This counsel, in fact, it is, which is so 
pregnant with difficulty ; for we are actually required to do something with respect 
to money which, in its result, shall so resemble the proceeding of "the unjust 
steward," "that, when we are put out of the stewardship, they may receive us, — 
not indeed into their houses, but, — into everlasting habitations."^) 

It is useless therefore to overlook this difficulty. It might be truly remarked, for 
example, that since our Lord's debtors are sinful men, and their debts, sins ; he who 

(c) Compare the language of St. Luke xviii. 6. (d) So Bp. Pearson, 

(e) See the ancient Greek version of Gen. xxv. 8 : xxxv. 29 : xlix. 33, — where we render the 
word "give up the ghost." 

(/) St. John xi. 26. (g) Compare St. Matth. vi. 24. 

(h) See below, ver. 11. (i) Rev. W. J. Palmer. (k) Compare ver. 4. 






542 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

turns the sinner from the error of his way, causes him who in reality owes an hun- 
dred to write fifty or fourscore, — and makes for himself friends who will become 
powerful intercessors for him with God.(Z) But then, how is this "a making friends 
with the mammon of unrighteousness?" Our business is clearly to ascertain what 
this means, and how this is to be done. 

The inference from our Lord's words, then, is unavoidable. It is possible so to 
exercise the stewardship of our opportunities, — so to conduct ourselves in the man- 
agement of our wealth, — that the great Work of our Salvation, (so far as it is to be 
wrought out with fear and trembling by ourselves, )(m) shall be forwarded thereby. 
Let each one consider this matter for himself, and apply to his own particular case 
the principles by our Lord here so emphatically laid down. By Faith, doubtless, 
are men saved; not by Works : yet is Faith, if it hath not Works, dead,(w) or rather 
it is not Faith. " What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath Faith, 
and have not Works? Can Faith save him?"(o) "Faith which worketh by 
Love(^?) is what God requires : and doubtless great signs of Love towards man may 
be displayed by the distribution we make of our worldly wealth. " Now, we have 
by some means become very jealous of such statements, and very unwilling to admit 
that any reward hereafter is promised to good works and alms-deeds ; but we cannot 
shut our eyes to the fact that such promises are made in Holy Scripture ; and it is 
not our business to set them aside, but to interpret them rightly ."(q) 

Can we then do exactly as the Steward did in the Parable ? Certainly not : and 
it is obvious that if, by any strictly similar proceeding, we could secure to ourselves 
the good-will of any order of beings in the great and terrible Day, it would be a 
crime to do so. It may be thought, in fact, that the analogy fails altogether in this 
respect; since it will be the holy Angels who will receive the just into everlasting 
habitations, (r) 

And yet, — (for the sayings of Christ may not be disposed of as if they were com- 
mon sayings, of which we are sure that we understand entirely the meaning,) — - 
what if it should prove that "friends" is the word to be supplied before — "receive 
you ?" and what if it were our Lord's actual intention in this place to set before 
the rich the affecting warning that they will be themselves hereafter welcomed to 
the bowers of Bliss by those very persons whom their bounty had in life sustained, 
— the poor of this world, rich in Faith, whom He expressly describes as the heirs 
of the Kingdom? "Make friends of the poor," (the meaning will therefore be,) 
"by ministering to their wants ; for to them belong those everlasting tabernacles 
into which thou wilt hereafter desire to be thyself admitted." It must be allowed 
that the Parable of Lazarus, which comes next, strongly supports this view. Or, 
"if we were to interpret these by other words of our Lord, we might say that since 
He graciously considers what is clone for His poor as done for Himself, (s) we are 
making Him our Friend when we devote our means to their relief; and that He 
will receive us into everlasting habitations." (f) 

Enough has perhaps now been offered concerning this very difficult Parable. 
What is most dark, we must be content to leave so. The suggestions already of- 
fered concerning what is doubtful, we forbear to press. It remains that we hold 
fast the great lesson which the Parable was meant to convey, — and clearly appre- 
hend its undoubted point. The steward was wondrous prudent in his conduct, dis- 
playing a great amount of worldly wisdom. How is it that Christian men display so 
little of that better wisdom which they have been taught in the School of Christ ? 
Again, it was in respect of the unrighteous Mammon that he showed his wisdom. 
How does it happen that we, the Stewards of a Lord dividing to every man sever- 
ally as He will,(w) — whence is it that we overlook the similar result with which that 
same unrighteous Mammon may also be dispensed by ourselves : namely, so, that 
when " flesh and heart faileth/'(a;) we may be received into an everlasting home?(y) 

The strangeness of the history adduced by our Blessed Lord, in order to estab- 
lish this lesson, was freely admitted at the outset. In taking leave of it, the pious 
suggestion of a living writer well deserves attention ; namely, that it may be one 

a) Williams. (»i) Phil. ii. 12. («) St. James ii. 17. 

(o) St. James ii. 14. (p) Gal. v. 6. 

(a) From a MS. Sermon by the Rev. C. Marriott. (r) See St. Matth. xiii. 48, 49. 

fs) St. Matth. xxv. 40. (*) From a MS. Sermon by the Rev. C. Marriott. 

\u) 1 Cor. xii. 11. (x) Psalm lxxiii. 26. 

( y ) Consider the following places,— St. Matthew vi. 19 to 21 : xix. 21. St. Luke xii. 21, 33. 
1 Tim. vi. 17 to 19, Ac. 



XVI.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 543 

object of the narrative, (which, like the next, has been supposed to be a true histo- 
ry,) " to show that all the occurrences of the world, however bad and unworthy in 
themselves, yet should minister to the spiritual edification and wisdom of God's 
children ; that whatever language they may speak to others, they contain within 
them another better language which they speak to these. . . . Here was an instance 
of great iniquity, crowned with success, and admired by the world for its wisdom ; 
and which might, therefore, have been supposed to serve as a stumbling-block to 
the good : yet, on the contrary, it comes forth with the greater force and beauty as 
bearing witness to the transient nature of things below, and of eternal habitations 
with God. There is a peculiar sweetness and power in such teaching. It seems to 
show the world as God's world : all things as working for good to His elect. It 
corrects the error of looking upon the things of the world in any way as apart 
from God ; as if, because iniquity abounded, it were not His world. Thus Love 
itself is instructed, and need not wax cold, nor be stifled, but burn the brighter ; 
while the very evils of the world are made to minister to the divine flame of Cha- 
rity, and the wisdom of the just." (z) 

Our Saviour proceeds " to lay down a rule upon which God's judgment will be 
justified in withholding the enjoyment of the greater good in Heaven from those 
who have not used aright the things entrusted to them on Earth :"(«) — 

10 He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much: 
and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 

"Which is as much as if He had said, — The use which men make of the goods 
of this present world, which are comparatively of small value, shows the use they 
would make of such as are far greater, were the same committed to them, and 
which belong to the children of God in Heaven. If they have used these aright, so 
would they use those ; and if they have abused these, they would abuse those like- 
wise. Faithfulness and Injustice are properly applied to the use and abuse of 
things not our own, but committed to us for the honour and purposes of the owner. 
For to apply them to our own uses and purposes, and not His, would be a breach 
of trust, and therefore unfaithful and unjust in a very high degree."(6) 

This, then, supplies the answer to any doubt which may arise concerning the 
dignity of the little concerns of daily life. The Saints of God will hereafter "judge 
Angels. "(c) Can then the petty concerns of an earthly stewardship be worthy of 
their attention ? " It is in these small matters that the fidelity is to be proved 
which shall be found meet to inherit eternal treasures ; in these shadows of good is 
to be shown worthiness for the Divine realities." (d) Hence it follows, — 

11 If therefore je have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, 
who will commit to your trust the true riches ? 

" Assuredly, no wise person will ; and therefore neither in this case will God 
commit to your power the riches of the world to come. 

" But," proceeds the pious man just now mentioned at the foot of the page, "the 
very nature of the possession of present and future good is different. The present 
is not our own : the future, by God's gift, will be. The present belongs to another: 
it is only committed in trust to those who enjoy it for a season. To God and 
Christ present things belong : to us, they are only committed in trust, being lent ; 
graciously lent, that by them we may work out an inestimable reward. If we have 
not been faithful in these, — if we have not done the works for the doing of which 
they were entrusted to our care, and concerning which we know that we shall have 
to render an account, — never must we expect to be put in possession of those better 
things, which at a future day, and if we have used these aright, we may hope to 
call our own." As it follows: 

12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, 
who shall give you that which is your own ? 

(z) Williams. (a) Kev. W. J. Palmer. 

(b) From a Sermon by the Rev. W. J. Palmer, — late Rector of Mixbury and Finmere : a 
man of truly primitive piety and exemplary goodness; who gave in the account of a most 
blessed stewardship, on the 28th September, 1853. 

(c) 1 Cor. vi. 3. (d) Williams. 






544 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

" Our own,'" — because " no account will be required concerning them ; and ill 
respect of them our will, will be as God's. The force of the argument is clear to 
the apprehension of those who bear in mind what is revealed of the conditions of 
that glorious state where God shall be 'all in all,'(e) and where we shall be as 
Kings and Priests before God and the Father of our Lord ?"(/) 

So far, a good and faithful man, but lately gone to his reward. Let us not fail 
to notice the singular light thrown by the preceding words of Scripture on the life 
to come, — concerning which so little has been revealed, that every fresh communi- 
cation on the subject from the lips of Christ Himself is unspeakably precious. 
The social character of .the future Life, — the bliss which will spring out of the pre- 
servation and the perfection of human ties, — St. Paul distinctly notices. (g) The 
promotion to a loftier trust and a more splendid stewardship is further declared by 
our Saviour in other places of the Gospel besides the present, (h) And we may 
not fail to observe that, on more than one occasion, a difference in the nature of the 
Tenure is proclaimed. No longer Service, but Rule,(i) — no longer another's goods, 
but our own, — will occupy as many as are greeted with the blessed salutation, — 
"Well done, good and faithful servant!" 

It only remains to notice the sayings with which our Saviour takes leave of the 
subject. 

13 No servant can serve two masters : for either lie will hate the 
one, and love the other ; or else he will hold to the one, and despise 
the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. 

"Mammon," in this place, denotes the pleasures of this life generally; because 
money is the means of procuring them. And the intention of these words seem to 
be, to convey to our Lord's hearers a solemn warning against any attempt to effect 
a compromise between the service of God and the service of the World : that is, to 
declare the impossibility of doing God's pleasure here, and our own pleasure after 
the flesh, at the same time. In the Sermon on the Mount we have met with this 
saying already ;(k) but take notice that, instead of "no man can serve two mas- 
ters," (as there,) it is here, " no servant," — in allusion to the Steward in the parable 
which goes before. 

14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things : 
and they derided Him. 

They perceived that the Parable of "the Unjust Steward" was directed against 
the sin of Judas.Q) The Pharisees were themselves largely infected by the same 
vice. Accordingly, they seek to turn into derision what the Holy One has spoken. 

15 And He said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves 
before men ; but God knoweth your hearts : for that which is highly 
esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. 

These last few words seem to contain an awful foretaste of the parable which is 
to follow ; — if that may be called a parable which has every appearance of being 
a true history. Our Lord's meaning is probably very well represented by the 
expression "highly esteemed;" but what He actually said, was — "that which is 
lofty." He was addressing a dominant sect among the Jews, notorious for nothing 
so much as for their ambition, self-righteousness, and vain-glorious pride ;(m) and 
who fenced themselves within the sanctions of the Law, — of which they may have 
meant to imply that our Saviour was an authorized Teacher. He therefore informs 
them that, 

16 The Law and the Prophets were until John : since that time, the 
Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. 

In other words, the entire fabric of the Law had already effected its purpose ; and 
the predictions of the Prophets, having now found fulfillment, both " the Law and the 

\e) 1 Cor. xv. 28. (/) Kev. i. 6. (g) 1 Thess. ii. 19, 20. 

Ch) Consider St. Luke xix. 17, 19. (i) See the note on St. Luke xix. 17. 
(Jc) St. Matth. vi. 24, where see the notes. (I) See the notes on St. Mark xiv. 25. 

(m) Consider St. Matth. xxiii. (the whole chapter) : St. Luke xi. 37 to 44 : xiv. 7. 



XVI.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 545 



Prophets" belonged in a manner to the past. " The preaching of John," as it 
was the birthday of the Gospel, (n) so was it also the day of departure for the Law 
and the Prophets. (o) " Thenceforward, the good tidings of God's Kingdom are 
proclaimed ; and every one forceth his way in ;" that is, the Kingdom is being 
taken by violence, like Canaan of old, from you its ancient possessors, — who " dwell 
careless, after the manner of the Zidonians."(p) 

Not that the Law had indeed failed by the bringing in of the Gospel. Its deeper 
meanings had but thereby been discovered, and its true intention seen. Hence, 
the words which follow : 

17 And it is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass, than one tittle of 
the Law to fail. 

Christ therefore was not about to destroy the Law. He came not to destroy but 
to fulfill, — and to convict them of their wickedness in making that Law of none 
effect by their lax interpretation of it. Adverting to their wicked teaching on the 
subject of divorce, He proceeds to give one instance of the inviolability of the Law : 
saying,— 

18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, com- 
mitteth adultery : and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from 
her husband committeth adultery. 

Full of instruction it surely is to find the sanctity of Marriage, and the indisso- 
luble nature of the Marriage bond, so often insisted upon by our Saviour ; and 
here, singled out of the whole Law, to be a sample of it. Consider St. Matthew v. 
31, 32 : also xix. 9, and the notes on both places. The Eeader is also requested to 
read what has been offered on St. Matthew xix. 10. He is further requested to 
take notice that the four verses we have just been considering are but costly sam- 
ples of our Lord's teaching on this occasion, — precious fragments of a long, and 
lost, Discourse. 

Hitherto, our Saviour " has been showing how by a certain right use, Riches 
may be made available even to our being received into everlasting Happiness when 
we die. In what follows, He inverts the picture : showing the loss of one who uses 
the good things with which his life may have been blessed, upon himself alone, — 
namely, in advancing his state and condition in the world, serving in various ways 
his own ease, pleasure, and gratification."^) The Parable of Lazarus is in fact a 
most astonishing Revelation. Whereas all the other parables of our Lord, refer 
either to the Life present or to the Life to come, this parable refers to that mysteri- 
ous Life which lies between the two. It follows the soul of man beyond the limits 
of the Grave, uncovers the unseen World, and tells us many things concerning that 
hereafter concerning which we cannot but feel such deep and awful interest. The 
constant belief of the Church that what follows is a true history, adds to the sense 
of wonder with which we read it. 

19, 20 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple 
and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: and there was a 
certain beggar named Lazarus, 

The name of the " certain rich man" is not mentioned ; but the beggar bore the 
name of our Saviour's friend,(r)— and that, for a mysterious reason which will be 
found suggested below, in the note on ver. 31. It is the only proper name which 
occur's in any of our Lord's parables. " Does He not seem to have been quoting," 
(asks Augustine,) "from that book where He found the name of the poor man 
written, but where the name of the rich man was blotted out ?"(s) 

What is said concerning these two persons must be carefully noticed. No sins 
are laid to the rich man's charge. It is only related of him that his outer and his 
inner garments were habitually of the most costly and luxurious kind ; and that he 
"fared sumptuously," — (literally, "feasted(^) splendidly") — "every day." From 

(n) Acts i. 22. (o) See the note on St. Matth. xvii. 8. 

( p) Judges xviii. 7, — quoted by Williams. (q) Rev. W. J. Palmer, 

(r) St. John xi. 5. (s) Consider Exod. xxxiii. 12 : also the note on St, Luke x. 28. 

(t) See the note on St. Luke xii. 19, — where the same word is found. 

35 






546 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

this last circumstance, he is styled in the heading of the Chapter(w) " the rich glut- 
ton;" and without pretending to defend such an interpretation of our Lord's words, 
we may yet remark that the man is a glutton whose fare is sumptuous every day (x) 
As the rich man is charged with no single crime, so neither does the beggar 
obtain a word of praise. It is simply said that, — so far from sharing the luxurious 
life of the rich man,— he was one, 

21 which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed 
with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table : moreover the 
dogs came and licked his sores. 

Words, few indeed ; yet conspiring to exhibit a case of truly abject misery. The 
picture of the dogs approaching to lick the beggar's sores, is surely more than 
affecting — on the lips of such a Speaker ! Take notice, however, that'it is not im- 
plied that the beggar was habitually laid at the rich man's gate. It is only said 
that on a certain occasion he "had been laid" there. On the other hand, it does 
seem to be implied that he wished, but wished in vain, to be fed with the crumbs 
which fell from the other's table ; and further, that his bodily ailments were as 
little regarded as his bodily needs. The poor sufferer, it may be, having been once 
laid near the rich man's threshold, remained there till he died ; having had the 
sense of his own misery heightened by the sight of the other's enjoyment, — whose 
selfish hardness of heart was also thus left without excuse. 

22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by 
the Angels into Abraham's bosom : 

Let us notice, one by one, the several points which are here revealed to us con- 
cerning the state of the soul after death : and first, the statement that the souls of 
the just are " carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom," — that is, into the 
place where Abraham is ; a region of Peace and Joy, where, (as it is said in ver. 
25) the souls of the just are "comforted." The beggar died; and oh, blessed 
change! He who knew no friend on earth, finds that "the sons of God"(?/) are 
appointed to minister to his bliss. Yesterday, dogs licked his sores : to-day, — "not 
one Angel carries him, but many ; for many are eager to bear:"(;s) "each rejoicing 
to touch such a burthen."(a) " Are they not all ministering Spirits, sent forth to 
minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation ?"(&) It follows, 

the rich man also died, and was buried ; 

Note the contrast. After a time, " the rich man also died, — and was buried" 
Nothing more is related. His end was marked by a splendid funeral, and that was 
all. (Weeping friends, of whom the rich man was unconscious, — instead of rejoic- 
ing Angels, whose embracing arms the beggar felt!) Whether Lazarus was buried 
or not we are not told ; neither do we care to inquire .... And all this is set 
down for the comfort of the poor, who have but humble funerals. The rich man, 
then, was buried; "but he carried nothing away: his glory did not descend after 
him."(c) Far from it : 

23 and in Hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth 
Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 

Further, and yet more wondrous disclosures, are here made. A state of torment, 
in the case of the wicked, is found to precede their final condemnation, — " a certain 
fearful looking for of judgment,"(cZ) as the Apostle speaks. - Their souls are 
gathered into the chambers of the departed, and they are "tormented." Is it not 
also implied that they behold the Saints afar off in bliss ? It would indeed seem so, 
from another place of Scripture as well as the present : (e) and, in such case, the 
remark would be as true as it is striking, that "as the poor man while he lived, had 
his sufferings heightened by beholding the other's abundance ; so does it now add 

(u) From the Vulgate. 

\x) Consider St. Matth. vi. 16, and the note there. See also the note on St. Luke xviii. 12. 

\y) Job i. 6. (z) Williams. (a) Ludolphus. (b) Heb. i. 14. 

(c) See Ps. xlix. 17. (d) Heb. x. 27. 

(e) See St. Luke xiii. 28. Compare Isaiah lxv. 13. 



XVI.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 547 



to the torment of the rich man to behold Lazarus in bliss."(/) But it may be 
unsafe to take our Lord's words concerning this matter quite literally. What is 
certain, the regions occupied by the wicked and the just are not only different, but 
they are so entirely distinct that there is no longer any possibility of passing from 
the one to the other. This is made plainer by the words which follow, in ver. 26. 

24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and 
send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool 
my tongue : for I am tormented in this flame. 

Truly that was " a great and exceeding bitter cry V'(g) The rich man is now the 
beggar ; and see how piteously he pleads ! Release, he knows to be impossible : 
some relief, he thinks he may obtain. Moreover, he can apprehend no channel of 
mercy so obvious as the hands of the very beggar whom in life he had slighted ! Con- 
sider this in connection with what was offered above in the note on ver. 9, — fourth 
paragraph from the end. 

Many of the Fathers observe that "he who had refused crumbs of bread, now 
asks for a drop of water:" but, (as a thoughtful writer observes,) "it is more than 
this. Lazarus desired to be filled with the crumbs : the rich man prayed for but 
one drop of water on the tip of his finger ; and that for his tongue only."(7i) And 
this is a safer remark than the other ; for it is not stated that the rich man refused 
crumbs to the beggar. 

The suffering wretch addresses himself to Abraham ; and calls him his "Father/' 
because, being a Jew, he was himself a son of Abraham :(i) but our Lord's warn- 
ing in this matter had been very emphatic, — " Think not to say within yourselves, 
"We have Abraham to our Father !"(&) .... Moreover the rich man knows that he 
is addressing one who was hospitable to strangers ;(l) and surely (he thinks) Abra- 
ham will not turn a deaf ear to such a small request from himself! But in this 
respect also, he has to be undeceived. 

Gregory the Great, in his Commentary on the Book of Job, has a striking remark 
on the rich man's complaint that Ms tongue was the seat of his suffering. "Almost 
always," he observes, " is unbridled speech the attendant of banqueting. Hence, 
the man who used to ' fare sumptuously every day/ in the end is declared to have 
coveted a drop of water to cool Ms tongue. The punishment is a hint as to what 
had been his sin." But the force of this remark would not be diminished if it 
should be thought that in respect to gluttony also the rich man had greatly offended. 
The narrative, however, is severely brief. Not one of the rich man's sins are re- 
corded. 

The mention of " eyes," "finger," "tongue," in this place, is, of course, figura- 
tive. So we speak of the eyes, the finger, the mouth of God. But it has been well 
remarked that " as, in this latter case, there may be some secret reference to the 
Incarnation, so there may be, in the former, to the Resurrection of the Body"(m) 
To proceed : 

25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime re- 
ceivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things : but now he 
is comforted, and thou art tormented. 

The discourse of Abraham reminds us of the discourse of Him whose day "Abra- 
ham saw, and was glad."(w) " Woe unto you that are rich," — " that are full," — 
"that laugh now;" — "for ye have received your consolation !"(o) Indeed, the 
two places should be compared ; for we are thereby guided to a right understand- 
ing of the case before us. 

■ It is sometimes pointed out concerning the present parable, not only that the 
rich man is not related to have been guilty of any heinous offence, but that he ap- 
pears to have gone to the place of torment less for sins of commission, than for sins 
of omission ; — that he had failed to do anything in order to serve and please God ; — 
and the like. 

But we must be very careful as to the inferences we draw from Holy Scripture. 

(f) Chrysostom. (g) Gen. xxvii. 34. (A) Williams. 

(i) Consider St. Luke xiii. 16. (k) St. Matth. iii. 9. 

(I) Heb. xiii. 2, alluding partly to Gen. xviii. 3. (m) Williams. 

(») St. John viii. 56. (o) St. Luke vi. 24, 25. 



548 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 






True indeed it is that nothing actually sinful is distinctly recorded concerning the 
Rich Man ; but then, (as already observed,) neither is there a syllable spoken con- 
cerning the Beggar, in the way of praise. We must reason backward concerning 
them therefore : and since the one was finally accepted, — the other, miserable, — 
their lives must have been such and such. The one certainly was not rewarded 
because he had been poor, any more than the other was punished because he was 
rich. Of Abraham, with whom the beggar had his eternal portion, it is even ex- 
pressly recorded that he was "very ric7i."(o) The reason, therefore, of their respec- 
tive fates is to be sought in some unrelated cause : and it is not difficult to see of 
what nature that cause must have been. Indeed, the rich man's sin is contained, 
and all but formally stated, in the reproof addressed to him by Abraham: " Son, 
remember that thou," (the word is emphatic,) "didst in thy lifetime have out" or 
"fully take, thy good things/' The things spoken of were not really good: true. 
But the rich man in this parable, (like the rich fool, in another,) (p) had made 
them his " good" things, all the same. He had lived for this world only : and had 
no treasure, no hope, no concern in the world to come. " Thou," (says Abraham,) 
".in thy lifetime," — for the rich man had cared for no life but that, 

But the Beggar had received "evil things" only, all his days: that is, he had 
suffered poverty, disease, hunger, abject misery, — all those things which the world 
accounts " evil." It is to be supposed further, that he had hungered and thirsted 
after heavenly consolation, even more than earthly: had been patient in suffering; 
and become perfected by the discipline of pain. His loathsome condition will have 
bred in him the most abject sense of his own vileness: whereby it came to pass 
that he found favour with Him who " raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and liffc- 
eth up the beggar from the dunghill." (q) How plainly, at all events, are we taught 
hereby that such an estate is a favourable condition to future Blessedness ; — but 
that the possessor of Riches, on the contrary, because he is in danger of trusting 
in his Riches, (r) incurs the further peril of forgetting his God ! It seems to be the 
object of our Lord's discourse to show the fatal tendency of a luxurious life to close 
the heart against want and misery; and to set forth, in solemn warning, the con- 
trast which may exist between the conditions of men in Time and in Eternity. . . . 
Such, then, seems to be the general tendency of the parable, — severe in its brevity, 
and wondrous sparing, (as the manner of Scripture is,) in its details. "It is a 
setting forth, in living representation, of the concluding maxim of the foregoing 
parable, — namely, 'Make to yourselves friends' of the poor, by the use of riches: 
for here the rich man is shown as having failed to make Lazarus his friend. 'The 
poor,' says Augustine, ' have no habitation here on earth into which they can re- 
ceive us ; but they have habitations which are Eternal.' "(s) — Abraham continues: 

26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf 
fixed : so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot ; neither 
can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 

The gulf is " great," — because it sunders the evil from the just, as the West is 
severed from the East: "fixed," — because God hath separated good from evil by 
an everlasting barrier which can never be disturbed. And this seems as express a 
statement as an honest mind can desire against the doctrine that after a season of 
purgatorial suffering the souls of the departed may be transferred from the place of 
torment to the place of rest. Life, it is implied, is the season for Repentance: — 
whence it follows, — 

27, 28 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou would- 
est send him to my father's house : for I have five brethren ; that he 
may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 

We are thus presented with another striking disclosure : namely, that in the 
state of departed souls, not only consciousness remains, but "the recollection of 
what was done on earth, and of the persons of those with whom the dead formerly 
conversed."^) " The rich man's knowledge and memory are preserved for his 
punishment ; for he knew Lazarus whom he had despised, and he remembered his 
brethren whom he had left."(w) 



(0) Gen. xiii. 2. (p) See St. Luke xii. 19. 

(q) 1 Sam. ii. 8, — which must be compared with St. Luke i. 52, 53. 

(r) St. Mark x. 23, 24. («) Williams. (<) Rev. W. J. Palmer. 



(») Gregory the Great. 



XVI.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 549 



Take notice, that whatever the sins of the rich man may have been, (and they 
were doubtless great,) a kindly disposition seems yet to have been his. Very little 
is revealed concerning him ; but the anxiety he displays to provide for the safety of 
his " five brethren" is an affecting indication of feelings not yet wholly blunted, — a 
heart by no means callous to the claims of family and kindred. 

It is even better worth our observation, however, that we behold here, as in so 
many other places of Scripture, the strivings of fruitless remorse. As the foolish 
go in search of oil when it is too late, — as the wicked begin to knock " when once 
the Master of the house hath shut to the door,"(x) — as Judas brings back the price 
of blood, and seeks to make a miserable restitution, after his Lord had been con- 
demned,^?/) — as Esau, with " a great and exceeding bitter cry," demands of his 
father the blessing which he has already forfeited, — so here does the rich man, 
when it is too late, begin to think of sending a preacher to those brethren with 
whom, in life, he had so often made a mock of Heaven and Hell, — of the unseen 
World, — of Religion itself! Unavailing sorrow becomes henceforth part of his 
torment ; and probably its most bitter ingredient. 

29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets ; 
let them hear them. 

"As if he said, Thy brethren are not so much thy care as His who created 
them, and appointed them teachers. v (z) " They have sufficient means of grace af- 
forded them : let them act up to their own light."(a) 

30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham : but if one went unto them 
from the dead, they will repent. 

It is ever thus with sinners : they fancy that had they but greater opportunities 
they must surely become saints. This man supposed that clearer evidences of reli- 
gion would have made of himself and all his brethren, true believers. In the 
meanwhile, his perseverance in the argument is no less affecting than it is striking. 
But Abraham is unmoved : 

31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, 
neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. 

He does not say that he will not grant the thing asked for ; but that it will be 
unavailing. Thus, a Lazarus was actually sent from the dead, at the end of four 
days, to the Jewish people ; but without effect. And it may be thought that it was 
in order to draw the attention of the nation towards this circumstance, that our 
Saviour assigned to the beggar beforehand the name of him whom He would here- 
after awake out of sleep. (6) 

"This part of the Parable," writes a good man, — "prophetic as it was of the 
continued unbelief of the Jews, who, refusing to hear the law and the testimony of 
theProphets^ and to believe the miracles which Jesus our Lord had done before 
their eyes, failed to be converted by that greatest miracle of all, His own Resurrec- 
tion from the Grave, — teaches us this lesson, — that it is of the very last moment 
immediately to set about performing the will of God in such things as it hath been 
once revealed : for, by the example of the Jews, we may understand that other- 
wise no reason can render intelligible a dispensation which we do not like ; no evi- 
dence can persuade us of truths which we are not willing to receive." (c) 

This, in truth, is the sum of the matter. There is not, — there never hath been, 
— any lack of evidence. A change of heart, not a more impressive teacher, is the 
one thing needed. Concerning all impenitent sinners of these latter clays, Abra- 
ham's words declare thus much : — If the Old and New Testaments, — the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ, — the means of Grace by God Himself provided, — Sacraments, and 
the services of the Sanctuary, and the teaching of the Prayer-Book, — Christ plead- 
ing with us, invisibly, by His Holt Spirit, — and the countless helps afforded to 
Christian men in a Christian country ; — if all these prove unavailing to produce re- 
pentance, and to awaken to a life of holiness, — nothing could achieve that blessed 
end ! Men will not repent, — men will not be persuaded, — no, not though one rose 
from the Dead ! 

(x) St. Luke xiii. 25. (y) St. Matth.'xxvii. 3 to 5. (z) Chrysostom. 

(a) Williams. \b) St. John xi. 11, &c. (c) Rev. W. J. Palmer. 



550 A PLAIN COMMENTARY L CHAP * 



CHAPTER XVII 



1 Christ teacheth to avoid occasions of offence. 3 One to forgive another. 6 The 
power of Faith. 7 How we are hound to God, and not He to us. 11 He healeth 
ten lepers. 22 Of the Kingdom of Gob, and the Coming of the Son of Man. 

It is obvious to suppose that some interval elapsed between the delivery of the 
Parable of Lazarus, with which the former chapter ended, and the discourse which 
follows. The first word (" then") has no relation, in this place, to Time. 

1, 2, 3 Then said He unto the Disciples, It is impossible but that of- 
fences will come : but woe unto him, through whom they come I It were 
better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast 
into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take 
heed to yourselves. 

Whether our Lord is here speaking particularly of children in age,(a) or of men 
with childlike hearts, (6) does not appear. 

We have already met with these sayings, in St. Matthew's Gospel ;(c) but the 
clauses are there found in a contrary order. Moreover, they were then delivered in 
quite a different connection. 

But it will be asked, — What connection have our Saviour's words in this place, 
with the words which follow ? And it must be freely admitted that they do not 
appear, at first sight, to have any connection at all. The same thing may be said 
of verses 3 and 4, and of verse 6, — in all of which places, sayings of our Lord are 
recorded which are found more or less exactly given in different parts of St. Mat- 
thew's Gospel. (d) We are not, however, on that account at liberty to assume that 
these sayings are scraps of those other discourses, selected at random by St. Luke, 
and here set down by him, in utter disregard of Time and Place. And yet, this is 
so frequently assumed by writers of good repute, and the suspicion seems so likely 
to cross the mind of an ordinary reader, that a few remarks shall here be offered on 
the subject. They will not be out of place, and certainly they are not uncalled for. 

It may be regarded as quite certain, then, that the recorded Discourses of our 
Blessed Saviour, are only partially set down in the Gospels. Perfect indeed, those 
discourses are, as they stand recorded : (that is, there is nothing in them to change, 
or add, or take away : there has not been one word set down which it concerns us 
not to possess ; nor has there been one word withheld which it would concern us to 
recover :) yet have those Discourses been not entirely given. This is obvious. The 
World itself would not contain the record of our Lord's actions ;(e) and is it to be 
supposed that Four short Gospels contain more than a sample of His oral Teaching? 
That those Divine Discourses have been seldom, if ever, given entire, is surely obvi- 
ous. This then will explain why it is often so difficult to trace the connection 
between one sentence and another ; and to detect the nature of every transition. A 
link often seems, — doubtless often is, — wanting : so that what must once have been 
beautifully connected in all its parts, is often presented to us in a state which, for 
want of a better word, we must term fragmentary. 

But we are not at liberty to assume that there never was any connection, because 
there does not appear to be any connection now. The beads are unstrung. True. 

(a) As in St. Matth. xviii. 2, 6. (b) As in St. Matth. x. 40, 42. 

(c) St. Matth. xviii. 6, 7; where see the notes. 

(d) With St. Luke xvii. 3, 4, compare St. Matth. xviii. 15, 21. With St. Luke xvii. 6, com- 
pare St. Matth. xvii. 20 : xxi. 21, (St. Mark xi. 23.) (e) St. John xxi. 25. 



XVII.] 



on st. luke's gospel. 551 



But it does not follow that nothing ever held them together. And if, (as not seldom, 
happens,) the fragmentary sayings in question are found to recur in a different part 
of another Gospel, it is surely a mark of singular impatience, or uncommon weak- 
ness, that the suspicion should be so readily admitted that those sayings were ut- 
tered only once ; and that the Evangelists had been putting together, at random, 
sayings which were uttered at a different time, and on a widely different occasion. 
The jewels may exactly resemble each other, and yet the threads on which they 
were once strung may surely be wholly distinct. How much worthier, (as well as 
more obvious,) is the belief that those words were more than once delivered ; and 
that, out of a long discourse, for some good reason, they alone have been preserved 
on this, the second time of their delivery ! In such cases, it will often be useless to 
seek to recover the lost links of thought or expression. They are perhaps hopelessly 
gone. And the sayings must be studied, (like those in the Book of Proverbs,) each 
by itself. 

It has, indeed, many times been the reward of Piety and Learning to supply the 
wished for clue ; and great is the gratification which results from the discovery that 
the members of a discourse which at first seemed unconnected, do, on the contrary, 
marvellously cohere. Yet, frequent variety of opinion reminds us that there is 
seldom any real certainty in such criticism. It is the effort of a human artist to 
supply what the Divine Artificer has purposely left incomplete. Hence the diffi- 
culty, and indeed the danger, of attempting to supply absent words, and to recover 
the missing link of thought. 

The remarks thus made, once for all, shall not be repeated : but they will be called 
to mind with advantage by those who love to ponder over the sayings of their Lord; 
and who desire to entertain worthy notions of the Book wherein those sayings stand 
recorded. — In a case like the present, it seems to be the safer plan gratefully to 
recognize the fragments of one of His many long, and lost Discourses : and carefully 
to gather them up, that nothing, through neglect of ours, be lost. Surely, the fact 
that the same sayings have already been met with elsewhere, should only serve the 
more to awaken our attention, — suggesting as it does their uncommon weight, dig- 
nity, and importance. 

Our Lord proceeds to speak of forgiveness of injuries. What follows should begin 
with the word " Moreover/ 7 — 

4 If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him ; and if he repent, 
forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and 
seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent ; thou shalt 
forgive him. 

Sayings very closely resembling these, (as already explained,) yet clearly not the 
same, are found in St. Matthew's Gospel. (/) It is interesting to discover that in 
St. Matthew also, they are preceded by a discourse concerning the " little ones." 

Can it require stating that " seven" in this place is indefinite, (#) and stands for 
an unlimited number ? There are to be no bounds to our forgiveness. " Not until 
seven times, but until seventy times seven."(7*) 

5 And the Apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our Faith. 

How beautiful a prayer ! and in itself, how strong a proof of Faith in the blessed 
speakers ! They knew therefore that their hearts and minds were in their Master's 
Hands : and He could mould and fashion them according to His own sovereign will. 
As Williams truly says, — " For Faith they ask ; and by asking, show their Faith. 
Thus Prayer ever increases Faith, and Faith ever inclines to Prayer." The reader 
is referred to the latter part of the note on St. Luke xviii. 8. 

6 And the Lord said, If ye had Faith as a grain of mustard seed, 
ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, 
and be thou planted in the sea ; and it should obey you. 

Though this precise saying occurs nowhere but here, its resemblance to the words 
which our Lord delivered on two other occasions, — namely, after His Transfigura- 

(/) St. Matth. xviii. 15, 21. (g) Compare Prov. xxiv. 16. (h) St. Matth. xviii. 22. 



552 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

tion,(i) and during the last Week of His Ministry, (&) — is too striking to escape 
notice. The points of difference however, are both numerous and considerable. On 
the first occasion, our Lord was speaking of the Faith required to work miracles ; 
and He mentioned mustard-seed, and the removing of a mountain, but nothing was 
said of the sea. — On the present occasion. He has been speaking of the Forgiveness 
of Injuries ; and He mentions mustard-seed, and the sea, but nothing is said of the 
mountain. A tree, (one of the Jig species,) to be plucked up by the root, is dis- 
coursed of instead. — On the third and last occasion, we shall find Him speaking both 
of Forgiveness of Injuries(Z) and the working of miracles ; and though no mention 
is made of mustard-seed, both the moving of a mountain, and the drying up of a fig- 
tree " from the roots,"(wi) obtain notice. So much likeness with so much variety 
deserves attention. 

It has been already freely admittecl(n) that the six preceding verses appear at first 
sight to have no manner of connection either with what goes before, or what comes 
after them ; and in the long note at the beginning of the present Chapter, the possi- 
ble reason of this was suggested, as well as the risk encountered by him who en- 
deavors to furnish the missing links of thought. It is only right, however, before 
dismissing the passage, to point out that a bond of connection, — neither improbable 
nor far-fetched, — between the several parts maybe easily supplied. Thus, the case 
of the rich man (in the parable of Lazarus) is one of the most striking "offences" 
(that is, stumbling-blocks,) with which we are acquainted. The prosperity of the 
wicked " offended" the prophet Jeremiah ;(o) and the Psalmist declared concerning 
himself that the sight of it had so " offended" him, that his " steps had well-nigh 
slipped."(p) — The transition from " offending" little ones, to the duty of " forgive- 
ness of injuries," in verses 2, 3, finds a striking precedent in St. Matth. xviii. 2 to 
14, and 15 to 35. It may be that " offences" of a certain class cause men to stand 
in need of forgiveness at the hands of their fellow-men. The Disciples however, 
deeply conscious that so large a measure of Forgiveness as their Divine Master re- 
quired could proceed only from a large measure of Faith, (q) apply to Him who is 
the Fountain of all Goodness, for this great gift : and their request gives rise to the 
remarkable saying which we have just been considering. 

"What follows, takes the same form as certain Parables, — that of "the lost sheep" 
for example : (r) and it is therefore sometimes called a Parable. But, by the same 
rule, ought not St. Luke xi. 11 : xiii. 15 : xiv. 5 and 28, to be called Parables ? — 
Our Lord asks : 

7, 8 But which of you, having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle, 
■will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit 
down to meat ? and will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith 
I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and 
drunken ; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink ? 

Now, wjiat does this mean ? and above all, how is it connected with what imme- 
diately goes before ? The meaning and the connection may possibly be of this 
nature. 

The Apostles had asked for a large measure of Faith. They knew doubtless of 
the moral wonders which Faith can work : their request in fact shows that they 
knew it. They knew also that they were asking for a gift which would enable 
them to perform miracles. Of this their Divine Master had assured them on a for- 
mer occasion ;{s) and He reminds them of it now. But was this request of theirs, 
— (the request that a double portion, as it were, of their Master's Spirit might rest 
upon them,)(tf) — a reasonable request at this time ? Such gifts " had not yet been 
given because Christ had not yet been glorified." (it) "It was expedient for the 
Disciples that He should go away : for if He went not away, the Comforter would 
not come unto them ; but if He departed, He would send Him unto them. "(a;) 
" Greater works than those which they had seen Him do, would then be done by 

(i) St. Matth. xvii. 20. (k) St. Matth. xxi. 21. (I) St. Mark xi. 25, 26. 

(m) St. Mark xi. 20. («) See the beginning of the note on verse 3. 

(o) Jer. xii. 1. (p) Ps. lxxiii. 2, 3. 

q) The connection is established by St. Mark xi. 22, 25, 26. 
r) St. Luke xv. 4. Compare xv. 8: xi. 5: xvii. 7. 
) St. Matth. xvii. 19, 20. (t) 2 Kings ii. 9. (u) St. John vii. 39. 

) St. John xvi. 7. 



xvn.] on st. luke's gospel. 553 

themselves : but not now, — because He had not yet gone to the Father."(?/) Their 
request was therefore ill-timed ; and not more reasonable, (our Lord seems to say,) 
than that a servant should be directed to sit down and refresh himself before his 
Master. It is implied therefore that the Apostles must wait, — (perhaps until the 
Day of Pentecost,) — and in the meanwhile be content to minister unto their Lord, 
Short indeed, as yet, had been their labour at the plough, (z) — slight indeed had 
been their shepherding, (a)— and they were not to claim at once the rewards of pro- 
longed service ; nor anticipate the hour when their Lord would " gird Himself, and 
make them sit down to meat, and come forth, and serve them." (5) In the mean- 
time, He proceeds to remind them that they had no claims upon Himself whatever ; 
and shows, (in the words of the heading of the Chapter,) "how we are bound to 
God, and not He to us." When a master has been duly waited upon by his ser- 
vant, (our Lord asks,) — 

9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were 
commanded him ? I trow not. 

Rather, — Doth he feel obliged to that servant ? (for iliank him he doth doubtless.) 

10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which 
are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants : we have done 
that which was our duty to do. 

Thus ends this mysterious and difficult Parable ; which we have read so often, 
that its strangeness no longer strikes us. The general purport of the first half was 
explained above, in the note on ver. 8. In this latter portion, (namely verses 9 and 
10,) it is no longer the duty of patiently serving our Divine Master until the ap- 
pointed time of refreshment, — which is enjoined; but the duty of forming a lowly 
estimate of the relation in which we stand towards God. And this was necessary; 
because impatience of reward can only spring from a mistaken view of the relation 
in which we stand towards Him who deigns to employ us, and from an over-estima- 
tion of our service. 

"We are therefore " unprofitable servants," at best ; but if this is to be said by 
those who have " done all" what should be the language of those who have offended 
by thought, word, and deed, against God's Divine Majesty ; and that grievously ? 
what should be our language ? . . . . The Church embodies the text in her XlVth 
Article against the Romish Doctrine of "voluntary works besides, over and above, 
God's Commandments." 

11, 12 And it came to pass, as He went to Jerusalem, that He passed 
through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered into a 
certain village, there met Him ten men that were lepers, which stood 
afar off: 

Because their touch would have brought pollution. As companions in misfortune, 
they consort together ;(c) yet do they hold themselves aloof from all. " They were 
obliged to keep without the city ;"(d) in type of those unclean ones who shall be 
shut out from the City of God, by Him who bears the keys of the House of 
David."(e) J 

The reader is referred to the notes on the cure of the Leper in the viiith chapter 
of St. Matthew's Gospel.(/) " There has been already occasion to speak of the nature 
and meaning of Leprosy in the Law of Moses ;{g) that it was the outward symbol 
of Sin in its deepest malignity, — of Sin therefore as involving entire separation 
from God. Not of spiritual sickness only, but spiritual Death ; since absolute 
separation from the one fountain of Life must be no life."(7i) 

(y) St. John xiv. 12. 

(z) St. Luke ix. 62. Consider 1 Kings xix. 19, 1 Cor. ix. 10 : and see the note on St. Luke 
iii. 17. 

(o) There is nothing said about "feeding cattle" in the original. The word (and it is pre- 
sumed the allegorical meaning) is the same as in St. John xxi. 16 : Acts xx. 28 : 1 St. Pet. v. 2. 

(b) St. Luke xii. 37. (c) Compare 2 Kings vii. 3. (d) Lev. xiii. 46. 

(e) Rev. iii. 7. Compare Is. xxii. 22. (/) St. Matth. viii. 2. 

(g) See the second note of St. Luke v. 13. Also the notes on St. Matth. viii. 2, and St. 
Mark i. 41. ^) Trench. 



554 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

13, 14 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have 
mercy on us. And when He saw them, He said unto them, Go show 
yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, 
they were cleansed. 

On the sanction of the Law of Moses implied by the command " Go show your- 
selves unto the priests," — see the last note on St. Matthew viii. 4. 

Take notice therefore that it was not by the Priests, but by Christ Himself that 
these men were released from that malady which is the great type of Sin. Neither 
were they commanded to " show themselves" to the Priests with any view to their 
cleansing. The office of the Priest was (and is) merely to pronounce with authority 
on the sufferer's state : for who can forgive sins save God only ? Enough has been 
already offered on this subject in the second note on St. Matthew viii. 4. 

"Most instructive is it," (observes Mr. Trench,) "to observe the differences in 
our Lord's dealing with the different sufferers and mourners who are brought in 
contact with Him ; how the Physician who is all wisdom and tenderness varies His 
treatment according to the varying needs of His patients :(i) how He seems to 
resist a strong Faith, that He may make it stronger yet ;{k) how he meets a weak 
Faith, lest it should prove altogether too weak in the trial :(l) how one, He forgives 
first and heals after ;(m) and another, whose heart could only be softened by receiv- 
ing an earthly benefit, He first heals and then pardons. (n) There is here, too, no 
doubt a reason why these ten are dismissed as yet uncleansed, and bidden to go 
show themselves to the priests ; while that other, whose healing was before re- 
corded, is first cleansed, and not till afterwards bidden to present himself in the 
Temple. Doubtless there was here a heavier trial of Faith :" for, while yet in their 
uncleanness, they were bidden to do that which implied they were clean, — "to take 
a journey which would have been ridiculous, unless Christ's implied promise 
proved true. They could not have thought that they were sent to the priests in 
order to be cured : for they must have well known that this was no part of the 
Priest's office, — but only to declare cured." 

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, 
and with a loud voice glorified God, 

As he had been loud in Prayer, (o) so is he now loud in Praise. But the Prayer 
had been uttered in impurity, and therefore at a distance : the Praise, because it 
was spoken after his cleansing, was poured forth by the Leper at our Saviour's 
feet. How far the party had got on their way, when the blessing overtook them, 
does not appear : but they were probably out of sight of their Benefactor : and 
once removed from His presence, they were unmindful of His benefits also. Only 
one returned ; but this man pressed up to the very feet of the Holy One, whom He 
had discovered to be " mighty to save."(^>) As it follows, — 

16, 17 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks : and 
he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten 
cleansed ? but where are the nine ? 

Rather, — " Were not the ten cleansed ?" . . . How striking an expression of sur- 
prise on the lips of our Saviour ! He adds, — 

18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this 
stranger. 

For the Samaritans were looked upon as strangers and " aliens from the Com- 
monwealth of Israel." (g) Thus was it typically shown that "the Gentiles were 
not excluded from the Kingdom of God ; nay, rather might find a place in it before 
others who by birth were children of the Kingdom ; — that the ingratitude of these 

(i) See notes on St. Luke viii. 39 : St. Matth. xi. 5 : St. Mark v. 19. 
(k) As in St. Matth. xv. 24 to 27, — where see notes. 
7) As in St. Mark v. 36, — where see notes. 

m) As in St. Mark ii. 5,— where see notes. (n) As in the present instance. 

o) See above, ver. 13. (p) Is. lxiii. 1. 

(2) Eph. ii. 12. See the note on St. Matth. x. 6. 



XVII.'] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 555 

might exclude them, while the Faith of those might give them an abundant entrance 
into all its blessings."^) 

" The nine others were already healed and hastening to the Priest, — that they 
might be restored to the society of men, and their life in the world : but the first 
thoughts of the Samaritan are turned to his Deliverer. He had forgotten all, in 
the sense of God's mercy, and of his own un worthiness." (s) Like Naaman, the 
Syrian, when recovered from the same terrible disorder, he had come back to his 
Benefactor, saying, — " I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant \"(t) 

19 And He said unto hini, Arise, go thy way : thy Faith hath made 
thee whole. 

From which words it is obvious to suspect that some higher good had befallen 
this man than his nine companions in suffering. All had been made clean ; but 
nine ungrateful ones were hastening back to the World. Only one was found eager 
to remain with his Saviour. It seems to have been the design of that blessed 
assurance, " Thy Faith hath saved thee," to imply that the Samaritan had expe- 
rienced an inward as well as outward cleansing : that, in his case, the soul as well 
as the body had been the object of saving Love. 

How strikingly was the history of Israel itself displayed in the conduct of those 
nine men ! " When He slew them they sought Him, and they returned and in- 
quired after God . . . Nevertheless . . . their heart was not right with Him . . . 
Yea, they turned back, and . . . remembered not His Hand, nor the day when He 
delivered them from the enemy. "(u) And is it not the way with every one of our- 
selves? Under the pressure of calamity, — under disease, and in the near prospect 
of Death, — all are prone to lift up their voices from afar, and cry aloud to God for 
mercy : but when His heavy Hand has been removed, what man can say that he 
has remembered to be duly thankful for the release ? " We open our mouths wide," 
(says Sanderson), "till He opens His Hand; but after, as if the filling of our 
mouths were the stopping of our throats, so are we speechless and heartless." 

Not only a joyful, (a: ) but a thankful spirit also, is of great price in God's sight. 
Hence that pious outbreak of the Psalmist, — " Bless the Lord, my soul ; and all 
that is within me, bless His Holy Name. Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget 
not all His benefits." [y) What follows might have been fitly spoken by the Sama- 
ritan himself. 

Our Lord was at this time on the way to Jerusalem : (z) and it is reasonable to 
think that either from the eager anticipations of His Followers, or from something 
which He may Himself have said, a suspicion had arisen that the Kingdom of 
Messiah was at hand.(a) This may have suggested the inquiry which follows. 

20 And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the King- 
dom of God should come, He answered them and said, The Kingdom 
of God cometh not with observation : 

The Pharisees knew not what they asked. If the Apostles themselves put forth 
a similar question in ignorance,(5) how much more the enemies of our Saviour ! 
These men in fact were inquiring after the visible Advent of that Messiah whom 
they had not eyes to discern, nor the hearts to desire, when they saw Him.(c) How 
then was it possible to satisfy their question ? The answer which our Saviour re- 
turned was one which contained as large a measure of the truth as they were able 
to bear. "In another place indeed we are told that both Comings of the Kingdom, 
the first and the last, are with observation ; and may be known by the signs of the 
times :(d) but it is here meant that it was not with such signs as the Pharisees 
intended, — of which the bodily eye and ear could be witnesses ; but with such 
indications as Faith alone could perceive."(e) Our Lord's reply suggested to them 
that the Kingdom after which they inquired had begun already ; that it was secret 
in its nature, and silent in its progress ; that it was not only above and around 
them, but within them likewise. As it follows, 

(r) Trench. (s) Williams. (t) 2 Kings v. 15. (it) Ps. Ixxviii. 34 to 42. 

(x) See the note on St. Matth. xi. 30. (y) Ps. ciii. 1, 2. 

(z) See above, ver. 11. (a) Consider and compare St. Luke xix. 11. 

(b) See the note on St. Matth. xxiv. 3. (c) Isaiah liii. 2. 

(d) See St. Mark xiii 29, and the notes there. (e) Williams. 





556 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

21 Neither shall they say, Lo here ! or, lo there ! for, behold, the 
Kingdom of God is within you. 

That is, — " Not a Kingdom seen, material, and temporal ; but invisible, spiritual, 
and eternal : an unseen Kingdom, whose door is opened by Faith, which has its 
seat in the soul itself."(jQ " The kingdom of God," says the Apostle " is Kighte- 
ousness, and Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost."(<7) 

But having returned this general answer to the Pharisees, our Saviour proceeds 
to give to His Disciples a more particular account of the great mystery after which 
the others had inquired. His discourse, which partakes of the prophetic character 
of that delivered as He sat on the Mount of Olives, begins with the near Future ; 
and straightway stretches on to the end of the World, — embracing the terrors of the 
second Advent, in its span. 

22 And He said unto the Disciples, The days will come, when ye 
shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not 
see it. 

He speaks of the season, now close at hand, when He should be taken from them • 
and prophesies, (how truly, what heart does not feel?) that they would then wish 
for one of those days back, of which as yet they so little knew the value. He pro- 
ceeds to warn them of what would prove to them a source of especial danger : 

23, 24 And they shall say to you, See here ; or, see there : go not 
after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out 
of the one part under Heaven, shineth unto the other part under Hea- 
ven ; so shall also the Son of Man be in His day. 

These words have been already discussed, and at length, in the Commentary on 
St. Matthew's Gospel, — to which it must suffice to refer the reader.(^) It shall 
only be repeated that as "false Christs" arose both before and after(4 the Fall of 
Jerusalem, so it is evident from Prophecy that Pretenders will attend the second 
Advent of Messiah. Of loth sets of Deceivers therefore, our Lord here speaks; 
although it is plain that His words point chiefly to what will happen in the end of 
the World, — that tremendous Day when the glorious Advent of Messiah will be no 
matter of private opinion, and vague rumour, but a thing patent as the lightning 
which fills the air with brightness, and makes itself seen in an instant from one 
extremity of Heaven to the other. 

25 But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this 
generation. 

Thus does He ever check the ardour and impatience of His Disciples, by some 
allusion to His Passion, — some assurance that of Himself, no less than of the 
humblest of His followers, it holds true that He must endure the Cross, before He 
wears the Crown. Very brief however is the allusion to His own coming humilia- 
tion ; — after which, He at once resumes His Prophecy concerning the end of all 
things, — as a comparison of what follows, with St. Matthew xxiv. 36 to 39, is 
enough to prove. The direct connection in which our Saviour thus presents to 
our view His own lowest depth of Humiliation and loftiest height of Glory, — depart- 
ing as a despised criminal, and returning as a triumphant Judge, — is surely very 
striking ! 

26, 27 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the 
days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married 
wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into 
the Ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 

The sudden destruction of mankind by the waters of the Flood is cited by our 

(/) Williams, (g) Rom. xiv. 17. 

(h) See the notes on St. Matth. xxiv. 23 to 27. 

(i) As St. John expressly informs us. See 1 St. John ii. 18, &c, and iv. 3, — where the allu- 
sion is clearly to the present place, or to St. Matthew xxiv. 5, 24. 



XVII.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 557 



Lord in another place as a great type of the sudden destruction which will come 
upon the World in the Last Day. (7c) In this place, besides the vengeance which 
was taken on mankind by the Element of Water, " in the days of Noe," — the over- 
throw of Sodom, " in the days of Lot," by Fire, is adduced (in respect of its sudden 
and unexpected nature) as typical of the great and terrible Day. — It will be remem- 
bered that St. Peter in like manner connects these two tremendous Judgments, in 
his Second Epistle.(Z) 

28, 29, 30 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot ; they did eat, 
they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded ; but the 
same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from 
heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the Day 
when the Son of Man is revealed. 

"What is here said of the end of the World is fulfilled and multiplied in little 
images in the life of each : in every case these are, by Divine appointment, preced- 
ing judgments which warn of the suddenness and surprise with which Eternity 
overtakes each man. And for the same reason that from each, the clay of his Death 
is hidden, in order that he may be always living in expectation of it,— so is it also 
with the End of the World, that by every generation it may be expected. 'Behold/ 
says Chrysostom, ' we know the signs of old age, but we know not the the Day of 
Death ; so we know not the End of the World, though we know the signs of its 
approaching/ "(m) 

31 In that Day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff 
in the house, let him not come down to take it away; and he that is in 
the field, let him likewise not return back. 

This striking warning also forms part of the Prophecy which our Saviour de- 
livered on the Mount of Olives ; but, (what is remarkable,) in that place it as un- 
mistakably forms part of the predictions relative to the Destruction of Jerusalem, 
as in this place it must be considered to relate to the Destruction of the World : for, 
to suppose that the Divine Speaker discourses of the Day of Judgment from ver. 
26 to ver. 30, and again from ver. 34 to the end of the chapter, — and yet, that He 
interposes some remarks (in ver. 31 to ver. 33) relative only to the Fall of Jerusalem, 
— is absurd. In the Commentary on the two first Gospels, perfect order and method 
were shown to exist in the Prophecy on the Mount ;(n) and we are loath to believe, 
or rather we cannot for a moment admit the suspicion, that there exists any want 
of order and method here. — What, then, is to be thought of the words before us ? 

We are compelled to inquire in what sense the warning which was to be literally 
understood by those Christians who were alive at the Destruction of Jerusalem, 
will be capable of being acted upon by the Church of Christ in the great and 
terrible Day: and our first impulse is to point it out as manifest that since, in the 
Day of Judgment, there can be no "turning back," — only in a figurative sense can 
the present precept be intended for the Church's guidance then. 

But he who revolves the matter maturely, will perhaps be led at last to adopt a 
more diffident mode of expression. We know absolutely nothing concerning the 
nature of the End, and the manner of our Blessed Lord's second Coming,— except 
what He has been pleased to reveal. Should we not therefore reverse the process of 
remark ; and rather occupy ourselves in silence with the strangeness of the Revela- 
tion here made to us ? — the assurance, namely, that a trial resembling that of Lot 
and his family, in the Day of Sodom ; a trial resembling that of the early Christians, 
in the Day of Jerusalem ; will befall the Church of Christ in the latter Days : 
when delay will be Danger, and return — Death? — Something more will be found 
on this subject in the notes on verse 33. 

But in the meantime, does not one great object with which the words are here 
introduced seem to be, to suggest to us that the Fall of Jerusalem, no less than the 
overthrow of Sodom, was typical of the Destruction of the World? "Then, let 
them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains," said our Lord concerning the 
first event. " Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything 

(k) St. Matthew xxiv. 37 to 39. (I) 2 St. Peter ii. 5 to 7. 

(m) Williams. (n) See the notes on St. Matthew xxiv. 3, 35, &c. 



558 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

out of his house : neither let him which is in the field return hack to take his 
clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in 
those days !"(°) What our Saviour here says is clearly connected with the end of 
Sodom, and carries on what He had been saying in ver. 29. " The same expression 
of warning, therefore, comes down to us with the force of an additional type, 
wherein the figure has been twice already fulfilled, — both in Sodom and in Jeru- 
salem/^^?) That our Lord, in ver. 31, is carrying on the allusion contained in 
verses 28, 29, is proved by the very striking words which follow, — 

32 Eemember Lot's wife. 

Referring to Genesis xix. 17 to 26. — " This allusion to Lot's wife is remarkable, 
as showing how every incident in the Old Testament is replete with ' instruction 
in Righteousness :'(q) for it deduces a type from what appears to be nothing more 
than one of the miraculous incidents of history ; and leaves it as a proverbial 
warning unto the end of the World." (r) Compare St. Luke ix. 62: also Philip- 
pians iii. 13, 14. 

33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it ; and whosoever 
shall lose his life shall preserve it. 

This is one of those sayings, so full of deep Evangelical meaning, the exact bear- 
ing of which on the matter in hand it is often (as in this place) very difficult to de- 
termine. This difficulty arises probably from our entire ignorance of what will take 
place at the Last Day. It may be that during that terrible overthrow, — that 
destruction of the Earth and the works that be therein, — the heavenly-minded will 
be able to give signal proof of their heavenly-mindedness ; and the worldly, of their 
hankering after the things of this World. Regardless of the warning of " Lot's 
■wife," the men who refused to be seasoned with the salt of lier sad history will 
" return back" at the last, — and be involved in the tremendous fate of which her's 
was but the type or shadow. Then will he who thought to save his life, lose it ; 
while he whose obedience caused him to pursue the path of apparent danger, will 
in the end be saved. All this, however, is a subject which nothing but the event 
will make intelligible. We do well to meditate on unfulfilled Prophecy. It is our 
bounden duty so to do. (s) But we have no right to understand it. 

Our Saviour proceeds to foretell " some extraordinary interpositions of a dis- 
criminating Providence, which will preserve the righteous in situations of the 
greatest danger from certain public calamities which in the last ages of the World 
will fall upon wicked nations." (if) His first example, (the two men asleep on one 
couch,) is peculiar to the present Gospel; and seems to be added to the other two, 
in order to increase the doubt and uncertainty in which "that Day and Hour" is 
involved. Will Christ come during the hours of Light ? Nay, but it will be in the 
season "when men sleep"(?0 that He will come. Will it be in the Night, then ? 
Nay, but the hind will be in the field, and maid-servant at the mill. 

34, 35, 36 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one 
bed ; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two xoomen 
shall be grinding together ; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 
Two men shall be in the field ; the one shall be taken and the other left. 

Compare St. Matthew xxiv. 40 and 41. It seems -to be implied that the greatest 
discrimination will be used in distinguishing between the righteous and the wicked, 
at the Last Day. And it is worth observing, that both the examples here given, 
are selected from very humble life. One, of two labouring men in the field, — one, 
of two female slaves grinding at the mill, — are mentioned as samples of those who 
shall be heirs of future Glory.(x) They will be " taken" at the last Day, (" caught 
up, ;; as it is elsewhere said,)(y) "to meet the Lord in the air." The wicked will 
be " left," to incur their tremendous sentence. 

37 And they answered and said unto Him, Where, Lord ? And He 

to) St. Matth. xxiv. 16 to 19. (p) Williams. (q) 2 Tim. iii. 16. (r) Williams. 

(s) See Rev. i. 3 : xxii. 7. (0 Bishop Horsley. 

(u) St. Matth. xiii. 25. Compare St. Matth. xxv. 6. 

(«) Consider 1 Cor. i. 26 to 29. (y) 1 Thess. iv. 17. 



XVIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 559 

said unto them, Wheresoever the Body is, thither will the eagles be 
gathered together. 

That is, — No doubt will exist as to wliere all this shall be. As the eagles about 
the slain, (z) so will the saints of God(«) be seen in that Day gathered about " the 
Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the World."(6) Wheresoever " in the 
clouds" (c) the Human Body of the Incarnate Son is, thither will His thousand 
thousands be gathered together ! See more on the note in St. Matthew xxiv. 28 ; 
and take notice that what there is called "the Carcass," is here called " the Body." 
The reason is perhaps that in that place, (as already suggested,) the Divine lan- 
guage is so shaped as to have indirect reference to the slaughter which attended the 
Destruction of Jerusalem ; whereas here, the reference is to the Day of Judgment 
only. 

In terms purposely dark, rather than vague, did our Saviour return this reply 
to the curious inquiry of His Disciples. They cannot have understood all that He 
intended: perhaps they understood Him not at all. Yet was it doubtless more 
edifying to them thus to have their doubts resolved, than to be favoured with any 
more explicit statement. The interpretation of our Saviour's saying afforded above, 
we hold to be the true one : yet would we by no means deny that such wondrous 
words as His may embrace within their scope a yet wider meaning, and convey a 
message of comfort, as well as a note of warning, to all. " It is probable that the 
eagle and the carcass was a proverbial image among the people of the East, ex- 
pressing things inseparably connected by natural affinities and sympathies." So 
that it may be a true, although only a partial paraphrase of our Lord's words, to 
understand Him to say, — " Wheresoever sinners shall dwell, there shall My 
vengeance overtake them; and there will I interpose to protect My faithful 
servants."^) 



CHAPTER XVIII, 



3 Oftlie importunate Widow. 9 Of the Pharisee and the Publican. 15 Children 
brought to Christ. 18 A Ruler that would follow Christ^ but is hindered by his 
riches. 28 The reward of them that leave all for His sake. 31 He foreshoweth 
His death, 35 and restoreth a blind man to his sight. 

The Parable of "The Importunate Widow," (e) which follows, "is addressed to 
the Disciples ; and stands in closest relation with what has gone immediately before, 
with the description of the sufferings and distress of the last times, when even the 
Disciples ' shall desire to see one of the Days of the Son of Man, and shall not see 
it.' '"(/) " Watch and pray" is the injunction which our Saviour delivers in con- 
nection with every prophecy of the suddenness of His second Coming: and the same 

(z) "Her eyes behold afar off: ... and where the slain are, there is she." Job xxxix. 
29, 30. 

(a) "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with 
wings as eagles : they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 
si. 31. Compare Ps. ciii. 5. 

(b) Rev. xiii. 8. (c) 1 Thess. iv. 17. (8) Bp. Horsley. 

(e) Sometimes less happily called "The Unjust Judge;" but see the heading of the Chapter. 
(/) Trench. 



560 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

lesson is here taught by a Parable,-— the last words of which contain express men- 
tion of the great events alluded to. — It follows, 

1 And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought 
always to pray, and not to faint : 

Eather, — " that they ought always to pray." The precept is addressed to the 
Disciples. 

Such a statement as is found here, and in verse 9, seems to demand our gratitude ; 
for, in both places, the Author of the Gospel becomes His own Interpreter, and 
directs us to the scope and intention of the parable which follows, by Himself openly 
declaring it. Deprived of such assistance, the Parable of "the Labourers in the 
Vineyard" (c) may convince us of our real helplessness in the Interpretation of God's 
Word. 

" Men ought always to pray." The duty is urged, in the same language, in other 
parts of the New Testament :{d) from which it will appear that the Christian Life 
should be one continuous Prayer, — one long reaching out of the heart to God. For 
" the soul which is accustomed to direct itself to God upon every occasion, — which, 
whatever chord be struck, is ever turned towards Him, — that soul prays sometimes 
when it does not know that it is praying."(e) The knee cannot indeed be bent for 
ever ; but the desire and longing of the soul should never cease. 

Our Lord adds "and not to faint;" knowing how prone is the heart of man 
to weary, despond, and grow slack, if it does not at once obtain the thing it prayed 
for. This precept will also be found urged in countless places of Scripture. See 
below, the second note on verse 5. 

2 saying, There was in a city a Judge, which feared not God, neither 
regarded Man: 

A fearful character is drawn in two words. Here was one who was neither 
restrained from crime by the fear of God's anger ; nor deterred by regard for the 
good opinion of mankind. He was recklessly wicked. And this man was a Judge! 

3 and there was a widow in that city ; and she came unto him, say- 
ing, Avenge me of mine adversary. 

"A widow," — the very type of weakness, poverty, and affliction throughout God's 
Word !(/') Surely, hers was a hopeless case, having to do with such an one as the 
former verse describes. However, she did what she could: St. Luke says "she kept 
continually coming to him," with the petition that he would "do her justice" against 
her Adversary. 

4 And he would not for a while: but afterwards he said within 
himself, 

That is, "he thought within himself:" but "said" is better, for it sets forth the 
close connection between evil thoughts and evil words. The voice of the heart is a 
loud cry in the ears of God. He said at last, 

5 Though I fear not God, nor regard Man ; yet because this Widow 
troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she 
weary me. 

He used a much stronger word than "weary me." He was a bold bad man, — 
unscrupulous in language as in conduct ; and his impatience here finds vent in a 
metaphor which transforms the poor, helpless, persevering widow into a spiteful 
pugilist. 

God, (as will be presently more fully shown,) is not like the Unjust Judge; but 
the course He pursues towards His elect " which cry day and night unto Him," is 
so far like that of the man described in the Parable, that "He hears long with 

(c) St. Matth. xx. 1 to 16. (d) See Ephes. vi. 18, and 1 Thess. v. 17. _ (e) Donne. 

(/) See the note on St. Luke vii. 12 : and consider such places as Exod. xxii. 22. Deut. x. 
18 : xxiv. 17. Job xxix. 13. 1 Kings xvii. 9 to 12. St. Mark xii. 42. 1 Tim. v. 5, &c. See 
also the note (and reference) on St. Matth. xxiii. 14. 



XVIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 561 

them "(g) This truth He set forth by a Miracle, when He caused the blind to follow 
Him into a house,(70 — and when He heeded not at first the cry of the blind at Jeri- 
cho,^') — and when He suffered the waves well nigh to engulf the ship, in which 
He sailed the Lake. (A;) Above all, He set forth this way of His Providence in His 
dealings with the woman of Canaan, (I) — whom He not only neglected for a while, 
but even repulsed. Nor may we doubt that what our Lord enforced twice by a 
Parable, so often by a Miracle, and on countless occasions by precept, it especially 
concerns every Christian man to carry in his constant remembrance. The Reader 
is referred to the notes on St. Luke xi. 8, — St. Matthew vii. 7, 8, and xv. 24, 27, 28. 

6, 7 And the Lokd said, Hear what the unjust Judge saith. And 
shall not God 

" The unjust Judge ;" — not touched with pity, but weary of molestation ; not 
mindful of the widoio's wrongs, but careful for his own ease and quiet ; not desirous 
of drawing her to himself, but of being rid of her importunity ! 

"Hear what the unjust Judge saith:" and shall not the " Lord, the Righteous 
Judge "(m) 

avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He 
bear long with them ? 

Our Lord often reasons in this manner. " Which of you, though he be out a 
man," &c. (n) " If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a Father/' &c.(o) 

God is not therefore like the unjust Judge in this Parable ; neither is He like the 
churlish neighbour of whom we read in the Parable of " the Friend at midnight."^) 
The argument is, — If the unfriendly and the unrighteous can thus be moved by 
persevering prayer and entreaty, how much more " the Holy One and the Just ;"(<?) 
who " tires only when we are silent," — as one of the Fathers beautifully remarks, (r) 

But it is time to advert to the intention of the Parable ; which doubtless sets 
forth to us the Church in these the days of her Widowhood, — "when the Bride- 
groom is taken from her."(s) She cries to God "the .Righteous Judge," " Avenge 
me of mine Adversary," — that is, the Devil, (/) and all those powers of the World 
which she finds continually arrayed against her. " God, how long shall the 
Adversary do this dishonour V\u) 

For, in the words of a thoughtful Writer, — " The World is always, whether con- 
sciously or unconsciously, whether by unwholesome patronage, or by hostile vio- 
lence, oppressing the Church ; and Satan is evermore seeking to hinder the life of 
God in every one of her members. Prayer is the cry " out of the deep" which the 
elect utter, the calling in of a mightier to aid, when they feel the danger to be earnest 
lest the enemy should prevail against them. "(a;) 

And like other parables, the present has also its personal and private application. 
What is true of the Body is true of each of the members. " Every soul" (says a 
great Father,) " conscious of its loneliness, conscious that it has no help save in 
God only, is a widow."(y) What do we else day by day, than repeat the Widow's 
prayer, when we exclaim, "Deliver us from Evil," or rather "from the Evil One?"(z) 
We may not doubt that as many as are conscious of a conflict with the powers of 
Darkness and the World, find here their lesson ; are taught what must be their own 
special course. 

But to return to the precious assurance of the text : — If the unjust Judge could 
act thus towards the despised widow, who made a feeble wail at his gate, during the 
short period when causes might come before him, — shall not the Righteous Judge 
attend to the desire of His own elect, (His "jewels,")(a) whose great and exceeding- 
bitter cry resounds in His ears all day and all night? — " Though He bear long with 
them," may perhaps mean, " Though He be patient with respect to them;'" that is, 
although He displays, even towards those who oppress them, that long-suffering 

(g) See below, verse 7. (h) St. Matth. ix. 27, 28. (i) St. Matth. xx. 30 to 34. 

(&) See St. Mark iv. 38, and the note there. (I) St. Matth. xv. 22 to 26. 

(m) 2 Tim. iv. 8. (n) St. Matth. vii. 9, — where see the note. See also verses 10, 11. 

(o) St. Luke xi. 11 to 13. ( p) St. Luke xi. 5 to 8, where see the notes. 

(q) Acts iii. 14. (r) Chrysostom. 

(s) St. Matth. ix. 15, and St. Mark ii. 20,— where see note. (t) 1 St. Peter v. 8. 

(«) Ps. lxxiv. 11. (x) Trench. {y) Augustine. 

(z) See St. Matth., vi. 13, St. Luke xi. 4, — and the notes there. (a) Mai. iii. 17. 

36 



562 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Patience whereby He seeks to lead men to Repentance. (6) For, (as St. Peter ex- 
plains,) " The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slack- 
ness : but is long-suffering," or, "patient toward us ; not willing that any should 
perish, but that all should come to Repentance."(c) . . . . " How long, Lord, 
holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the 
Earth ?"(df) — is the cry of the souls of God's martyred Saints beneath the altar. 
And we hear God's answer in the words which follow : 

8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when 
the Son of Man cometh, shall He find Faith on the Earth ? 

This entire passage will be found to derive singular illustration from that part of 
St. Peter's second Epistle, where he speaks of Christ's second Advent, — delayed in- 
deed, yet certain: delayed, moreover, only because of that very long-suffering 
patience of God which has been already noticed.(e) ... "I tell you," (the Righte- 
ous Judge Himself here declares,) "He will avenge them speedily." And these, 
which are the concluding words of the Parable, are the concluding words of the 
Volume of Revelation also, — " Surely I come quickly !"(/) "For He cometh," 
(says the Psalmist,) "for He cometh to judge the Earth." (g) 

"Nevertheless," — (it is mournfully added,) — " when the Son of Man cometh, shall 
He find Faith on the Earth?" Or rather, "t7ie faith:" that is, " the faith which 
cries and prays to God continually." For we know that, in the last days, "false 
Christs and false prophets shall arise," — showing signs, and working miracles 
enough to " deceive, if it were possible, the very elect."(7j) The faithful will then 
be reduced to a very little band; for, "because Iniquity shall abound, the Love of 
the many will wax cold ;".(*) and doubtless their Faith also. Nay, even their Faith, 
(as our Lord Himself here assures us,) will have well-nigh died away. 

One of the Fathers remarks that our Lord spoke these words "to show that when 
Faith fails, Prayer dies. In order to pray, then, we must have Faith; and that our 
Faith fail not, we must pray. Faith pours forth Prayer ; and the pouring forth of 
the heart in Pra} T er, gives steadfastness to Faith."(^) See the note on St. Luke 
xvii. 5. 

9 And He spake this Parable unto certain which trusted in them- 
selves that they were righteous, and despised others : 

It was the object of the foregoing Parable, then, to set forth the duty of praying 
earnestly. The Parable which follows teaches the duty of praying humbly. Or, 
the one may be regarded as setting forth the duty of Prayer : the other, as teaching 
in what spirit that duty is to be performed. 

10 Two men went up into the Temple to pray ; 

"We shall be told in the next words who and what these " two men" were. "They 
are as yet called by that name only, in which all of every degree stand equal before 
their common Lord." They "went Up" — for the Temple stood on Mount Sion ;(Z) 
and to pray, — for the Temple was a " House of Prayer." " They entered severally 
the Court of the Israelites out of the hours of stated worship, in order to perform 
this excellent duty."(m) They went up really to pray. The difference between 
them was great indeed ; yet should it be noticed how much they had in common. 
And these men were, 

the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. 

Concerning the Publicans, that is, the Jews who collected the taxes for the Roman 
conquerors of Judaea, something has been said already. (n) " The persuasion was 
most popular and general that for the free-born children of Abraham, it was un- 
lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, or any heathen government ; and the Jews who 
could so far forget their sacred character as to be the collectors of such tribute, or 

(6) Rom. ii. 4. (c) 2 St. Peter iii. 9. (d) Eev. vi. 10. 

(e) See 2 St. Peter iii. 9 and 15. ' (/) Rev. xxii. 20. (g) Ps. xcvi. 13. 

(h) St Matth. xxiv. 24. (i) St. Matth. xxiv. 12. (k) Augustine. 

(?) Ps. xxiv. 3. — Accordingly, in verse 14, below, it is said that the Publican "went down to 
his house." 

(m) Dr. W. H. Mill. (n) See the note on St. Mark ii. 15. 



XVIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 563 

to inform against their countrymen who paid it not, hence came to be regarded 
with horror as sinful men, — apostates from the character and profession of true 
Israelites. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were men whose exactness in the 
observance of the Law was proverbial among the people ; indicated by their very 
name, which denoted their separation from all others . . . Hence, therefore, to say 
of these two men that the one was a Publican, the other a Pharisee, is to say that 
one passed among the people necessarily for a sinner, — the other, necessarily for a 
saint. How they were viewed in this respect by the Almighty, who sees the 
heart,"(o) the rest of the Parable sufficiently shows. 

11, 12 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 

They both stood to pray. Standing was anciently a more usual attitude of prayer 
than now.(j?) 

God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, 
unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. I fast twice in the week, I 
give tithes of all that I possess. 

Although a single fast-day in the year, was all that was required by the Divine 
Law, (q) God's ancient people, (like some branches of the Christian Church,) ob- 
served two weekly fasts ; not one only, as our Church directs. These were kept on 
Monday and Thursday : and these, the Pharisee faithfully kept. By his profession 
of giving a tithe of all he possessed, or rather, " of all his gains," he means, — "Not 
only the portion which the Law exacts for Religion, and its ministers ; but from 
everything, however minute, which at any time becomes my property, — from mint 
and anise and cummin, — I scrupulously measure off and lay aside a tenth part for 
the same purpose." (r) 

And here, the character of the Pharisee's thanksgiving and profession must be 
noticed; for it cannot be called a Prayer. "If you look into his words," (says 
Augustine,) "you will find that he asked nothing of God. He goes up indeed to 
pray ; but instead of praying, he praises himself." In thanking God for having 
kept him from the commission of heinous sin, he was, however, undoubtedly right. 
His practice of fasting was sanctioned both by the example, and the precept of our 
Lord ;(s) and his strictness in this behalf was a commendable thing. All will 
allow that his dedication of a part of his substance to pious uses, was religious and 
praiseworthy : while it is but fair to suppose that he imputes to God's grace no less 
what he had actually done of good, than what he had avoided of evil ; and therefore 
that he " thanks" Him for all. There was no " self-righteousness" here. 

But all that can be said in his favour, has now been said. His utter absence of 
Humility comes out forcibly in the form which his profession takes, — " God, I thank 
Thee that I am not as other men:" for, "by what right does he introduce the con- 
sideration of other men, as objects of comparison with himself, when he is approach- 
ing the presence of God?"(£) Consider too, above all, the uncharitableness of that 
clause, — " or even as this Publican." " To despise the whole race of man was not 
enough for him : he must yet attack the Publican."^) Surely, the very sight of 
one who pursued an infamous calling, coming into the Temple for the mere purpose 
of approaching God, and engaged in the manner which the next verse describes, 
should have inspired a good man with cheerful hopes concerning him ! "When 
thou returnest thanks to God," (says an excellent preacher,) " let Him be all in all 
to thee. Turn not thy thoughts to men, nor condemn thy neighbour."(x) A pious 
Writer has said, — "If we desire that God should not enter into judgment with us, 
two great rules are given us in Holy Scripture, for each of which this Parable fur- 
nishes an example. 'Judge not, that ye be not judged :'(?/) and, 'If we would 
judge ourselves, we should not be judged' (z) of the Lord." 

(o) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(p) Hannah stood (1 Sam. i. 26,) while she poured forth her passionate prayer, — 1 Sam. i. 9 
to 13. See also St. Matth. vi. 5, and St. Mark xi. 25. — Kneeling, however, has ever been the 
approved attitude of addressing God. Notice how 2 Chron. vi. 13 supplies what 1 Kings viii. 
22 omits. See also Dan. vi. 10, &c. &c. 

(q) Levit, xvi. 29 : xxiii. 27 : Numb. xxix. 7, — alluded to in Acts xxvii. 9. 

(?) Dr. W. H. Mill. (s) St. Matth. vi. 16 to 18. (t) Dr. W. H. MilL 

(u) Chrysostom. (x) Chrysostom. (y) St. Matth. vii. 1. 

(z) 1 Cor. xi. 31. The quotation is from a Sermon by the Rev. C. Marriott.. 



564c A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

13 And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as 
Ms eyes unto Heaven, 

He stood afar off, because he thought himself unworthy to join the rest of God's 
worshippers : yet was he " not afar off from God ; for the Lord is ' nigh unto them 
that are of a contrite heart.' "(a) He would not " so much as lift up his eyes unto 
Heaven," being self-abased before the Majesty of Him whom he was approaching. 
He felt as Ezra felt, of old, — " my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my 
face to Thee, my God." (6) 

but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 

He smote his breast again and again, as a sign of the grief of his Spirit. (c) "He 
not only felt himself unworthy to draw near to God, but had a strong sense of his 
deserving punishment ; and a desire to condemn and chastise Sin in himself, which 
he expressed by beating on his breast. We must take the action for what it natu- 
rally means, because our Lord bears witness to hhn."(c?) 

The language which he used is moreover highly remarkable; for it is found not 
only to express his desire of mercy, and of reconciliation with God, but to contain 
the notion of a propitiatory offering as being needed also. "Besides, he meant 
more in calling himself a sinner than we do, who have learned to call ourselves 
sinners. It is rather what we should mean by ' a wicked man,' or ' a guilty man ;' 
and is what a man would not say of himself unless he were under a very deep con- 
viction of his own faults. "(e) 

His words of Confession and Prayer were of course "inaudible to the Pharisee, 
as they were meant to be ; yet the Publican's attitude and gesture, might have been 
marked by him. They must have been seen, as the Publican is so present to the 
mind of the Pharisee in his prayer: yet, instead of inspiring the kind interest 
which a just man should ever take in a sincere penitent, these marks of humiliation 
seem to him only evidences of the guilt of his fellow-worshipper Far dif- 
ferent from this vain estimate is the decision of Him to whom he thus presumed to 
address himself. The man whose prayer was so remarkable for all the features 
which the other's wanted, — the man who realized the Divine presence, and spread 
his full wretchedness before Him without a word or thought of extenuation, — who 
never compares himself with others more guilty, or pleads their evil example in 
arrest of judgment, but asks of mere mercy what it is for Divine Mercy alone to 
bestow,"— 

14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than 
the other : 

The one, found acceptance with God. The other, stands on record, as a warning 
to mankind for ever. For it is not by any means implied that the Pharisee was 
justified a little, and the Publican much. Nothing of the kind. The one was ac- 
cepted ; (that is, his prayer had been heard, and God had had mercy on him ) the 
other was rejected. 

And let us be well persuaded that " the spiritual pride which was the character- 
istic of the Pharisee, may lurk under the humblest theory of Religion ; supposing 
even, (which is not always the case,) that the view, presumed to be humble, is such 
in reality. The Religion, whatever be its theory, of which the main effect is to 
establish in the mind a persuasion that there is something in ourselves which be- 
longs not to others of Christ's Brotherhood and Family, — which makes the ruling 
feeling of any to be to thank God that he is not as other men, — is in great danger 
of producing also the worst points of Pharisaism.'^/) 

He "went down to his house," because he was returning from Mount Sion.(<7) 
The remark is obvious. Of how different a character is the following observation 
which a pious and thoughtful Writer has made on the text! "The words of our 
Lord," he says, " clearly point to the truth, that our several actions pass under His 
judgment. For He says that 'this man went down to his house justified rather than 

(o) Trench from Augustine, quoting Ps. xxxiv. 18. (b) Ezra ix. 6. 

(c) Consider St. Luke xxiii. 48. (d) Rev. C. Marriott, 

(e) Rev. C. Marriott, referring to St. Luke v. 8. (/) Dr. W. H. Mill. 
(g) See above, on verse 10. 



XVIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 565 

the other ;' clearly meaning that the very act of worship he had been performing 
at the Temple was approved, as well as that his person was accepted. And we 
should do well to bear this in mind in every action, that judgment is passed on it; 
and that we go from it justified in it or not, in respect of what we have done." (h) 

It were, of course, a mere abuse of this parable to infer that external observances, 
— as Fasting and Almsgiving, — are worthless forms, because in the Pharisee's case 
they happen to be united with a self-righteous spirit : or, that the essence of Keli- 
gion consists in an occasional abject cry to God for mercy, however careless the life 
may be of external helps. This were indeed to trifle with Divine Truth. The 
uncharitable Pharisee was wanting in Humility ; the Publican stands forth the 
very model of that great virtue. Hence, alone, the sentence passed upon either by 
our Saviour. 

for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that 
humbleth himself shall be exalted. 

Rather, "he that abaseth himself shall be exalted." 

The present Parable therefore is not only prefaced, like the last, by a sentence 
declaring its general scope and purpose, but it also concludes with a proverbial 
saying, — which, in the way of inference, as it were, gathers up its heavenly teach- 
ing. The same thing was also observed in the case of the parable of " the Labourers 
in the Vineyard."(0 

The words alluded to may be regarded almost as the very motto and moral of the 
Gospel itself. They are found in many shapes ; but they still embody one and the 
same great truth, or rather solemn warning ; — whether they occur in the Blessed 
Virgin's Hymn of Praise, where mention is made of the proud and the humble ;(7v) 
or in the Sermon on the Mount, where the fate of the rich and the poor, the hungry 
and the full, is contrasted ;(l) or whether they be spoken of first and last ;(>«) or, 
(as here,) of those who humble, and those who exalt themselves. (n) 

Wondrous anticipations of this, as of so many other great Gospel truths, exist in 
the Old Testament.(o) The words of Proverbs iii. 34, in particular, are found to 
have supplied St. Peter(jp) and St. James(g) with all they required, when they 
wished to remind the Church that "God resisteth the proud, but giveth giace unto 
the humble." 

Our Lord's last saying forms a beautiful transition to the incident which follows. 

15, 16, 17 And they brought unto Him also Infants, that He would 
touch them : but when His Disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But 
Jesus called them unto Him, and said, Suffer little Children to come 
unto Me, and forbid them not : for of such is the Kingdom of God. 
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of 
God as a little Child, shall in no wise enter therein. 

Concerning this precious incident, which is related both by St. Matthew and St. 
Mark, the Reader is referred to the notes on the earlier Gospels. (r) 

18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 And a certain Ruler asked Him, saying, Good 
Master, what shall I do to inherit Eternal Life? And Jesus said unto 
him, Why callest thou Me good ? none is good, save one, that is, God. 
Thou knowest the commandments : Do not commit adultery, Do not 
kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and 
thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. 
Now when Jesus heard these things, He said unto him, Yet lackest 
thou one thing : sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, 

(h) Rev. C. Marriott. (?) See St. Matth. xx. 16. (k) St, Luke i. 52, 53. 

(0 St. Luke vi. 20, 21, and 24, 25. (to) St. Matth. xix. 30 : where see the note. 

(n) See also St. Matth. xxiii. 12, and St. Luke xiv. 11 : where the saying will be found to 
recur. 

(o) It is obvious to refer to 1 Sam. ii. 4 to 9. (p) 1 St, Peter, v. 5. 

(q) St. James iv. 6. (r) See on St. Matth. xix. 13 to 15 : and St. Mark x. 13 to 16. 



566 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven : and come, follow Me. And 
when he heard this, he was very sorrowful : for he was very rich. 

24, 25, 26 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, He 
said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of 
God ! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than 
for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. And they that 
heard it said, Who then can be saved ? 

These verses have been commented on elsewhere.(s) 

27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are pos- 
sible with God. 

That which unassisted man finds impossible, (namely, this making of himself 
"poor in spirit,") God's grace can accomplish : for the Kingdom of Grace knows of 
greater marvels than the Kingdom of Nature. " The impossible thing, which yet 
is possible with God, is not the saving of the Rich man, but the making of the Rich 
man poor." 

28 Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed Thee. 

"What shall we have therefore?" he added: to which our Lord returned a won- 
drous answer. See St. Matthew xix. 27, 28, and the notes there. 

29, 30 And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no 
man that hath left House, or Parents, or Brethren, or Wife, or Chil- 
dren, for the Kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold 
more in this present time, and in the World to come Life Everlasting. 

Not only ye, but every one, to the end of the "World, who shall forsake the thing 
which he ioves best, when called upon to do so "for My sake and the GospePs(i) 
shall " in this present time" be recompensed an hundredfold; and in the world to 
come shall be everlastingly rewarded. 

This portion of St. Luke's Gospel is also found in the two earlier Gospels. The 
Reader is therefore again referred thither, (u) 

31 Then He took unto Him the Twelve, and said unto them, Be- 
hold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the 
Prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. 

Take notice how He guides them to that sure word of Prophecy which He had 
prepared concerning Himself. In the writings of Moses and of the Prophets, and 
in the Psalms, all that was to befall the Son of Man might be found written of 
Him.(x) 

32, 33 For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be 
mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall 
scourge Him and put Him to death : and the third day He shall rise 
again. 

34 And they understood none of these things : and this saying was 
hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. 

But they understood it afterwards, and called to mind everything which their 
Lord had so spoken; as we are often reminded in the later pages of the Gospel. (y) 
These verses have been already made the subject of Comment; to which it shall 
suffice, in this place, to refer the reader, [z) 

(s) In the notes on St. Matth. xix. 16 to 26, and St. Mark x. 17 to 26. 

(t) St. Mark x. 29, where see the note. 

(?<) See on St. Matthew xix. 25 to 30 ,• and St. Mark x. 27 to 31. 

(*) Consider St. Luke xxiv. 25, 26. (y) St. Luke xxiv. 8. St. John ii. 22, &c. 

(s) See on St. Matthew xx. 17 to 19, and St. Mark x. 32 to 34. 



XVIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 567 

35, 36, 37, 38, 39 And it came to pass, that as He was come nigh 
unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging : and 
hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told 
him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, 
Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before 
rebuked him, that he should hold his peace : but he cried so much the 
more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 

This rebuke then is found to have proceeded from them " that went before." 
Doubtless there was much of majesty in the common events of our Lord's daily 
life, notwithstanding the depth of Humiliation to which He submitted Himself. 
Here was a crowded thoroughfare, — the close of a weary day's journey, — an impa- 
tient multitude. Yet are there found persons to walk in advance, as if to herald 
His august coming ; and when a beggar begins to cry out, " Thou Son of David, 
have mercy on me," — " many" are heard rebuking him, and charging him to hold 
his peace while the "Prince of Peace" passes by. It has been piously suggested 
that Christ "was teaching as He went, and they would not have Him interrupt- 
ed."^) 

Viewed as conveying a lesson to ourselves, we are reminded of what may some- 
times befall those who are most earnest in the matter of their Salvation. Their 
conduct procures for them the rebuke not only of the enemies of Christ, but even 
of those who walk with Him, and profess zeal for His Honour. — Observe, however, 
what follows : 

40 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought' unto Him : 

Whereupon, "they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; 
He calleth tbee."(6) 

This, too, observes an ancient Father, " repeats itself often in the spiritual his- 
tory of men's lives. If a man will only despise these obstacles from a World which 
calls itself Christian ; if, despite of them all, he will go on until Christ is plainly 
with him ; then, they who began by blaming, will finish by applauding : they who 
said first, He is mad, will end with saying, He is a saint." (c) 

41, 42 and when he was come near, He asked him, saying, What 
wilt thou that I shall do unto thee ? And he said, Lord, that I may 
receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight : thy 
Faith hath saved thee. 

Thus, the Chapter ends as it begun, — by showing the fruits of importunity in 
Prayer ! 

And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying 
God : and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God. 

The miracle performed by our Lord on the two Blind men of Jericho, will be also 
found fully related by St. Matthew and St. Mark. The reader is therefore referred 
to the notes in the earlier Gospels. id) But it is well worth observing how these 
blessed Writers, when describing one and the same transaction, although, to a care- 
less observer, they may seem to have employed nearly the same terms, will yet be 
found, by countless minute touches, to have achieved immense variety ; and by con- 
sequence to have supplied a large amount of unsuspected information, as well as of 
most precious teaching. Without dwelling further on this remark, it shall suffice 
to point out that St. Luke, in this place, is the only Evangelist who preserves the 
beautiful circumstance of the gratitude manifested by this object of our Saviour's 
mercy. St. Matthew informed us that he " followed" Christ ;(e) and St. Mark ex- 
plains that he " followed Jesus in the way "(f) But St. Luke declares that he fol- 
lowed Him, with praises on his tongue ; and not only so, but that his example was 
followed by the people, who, "all, when they saw it, gave praise unto GOD." 

(a) Trench. (6) St. Mark x. 49. (c) Augustine, quoted by Trench. 

id) See on St. Matth. xx. 29 to 34 : and St. Mark x. 46 to 52. 

(e) St. Matth. xx. 34. (/) St. Mark x. 52. 



568 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



1 Of Zacchceus a publican. 11 The ten pieces of Money. 28 Christ rideth into 
Jerusalem with triumph: 41 weepeth over it: 45 driveth the Buyers and Sellers out 
of the Temple: 47 teaching daily in it. The Riders icoidd have destroyed Rim, 
but for fear of the people. 

1 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 

The narratives of the two earlier Evangelists transport us at once from Jericho, 
the scene of the miracle performed on the two Blind men, to Jerusalem ; or rather, 
to the Mount of Olives, which stands on the Eastern side of the City.(a) St. Luke 
interposes an incident, full of the deepest interest and beauty, and subjoins a Para- 
ble : taking up the narrative of the other Evangelists, at verse 29. What follows, 
is the history of what took place as our Lord "was passing through Jericho." 

2 And, behold, there ivas a man named Zacchseus, 'which "was the 
chief among the Publicans, and he was rich. 

Enough has been said elsewhere, concerning the class of men to which Zacchseus 
belonged. (6) The farmers of the Revenue were probably all wealthy men: well 
may "the chief among the Publicans," (or rather, "a chief Publican,") have been 
"rich!" 

After the interview in which we beheld our Lord so recently engaged with a 
young Ruler having great possessions, and the Discourse concerning Riches which 
followed, (c) it becomes a matter of special interest to notice what took place on the 
present occasion, when the Saviour is brought into direct contact with another rich 
man. Nor should it escape us that here was one, not only rich, but who had ac- 
quired riches in a disreputable, even in a dishonest way. It will be observed that 
Christ does not bid him go and sell all that he has and give to the poor. He sim- 
ply commends him for his virtuous resolution to give up half. Cornelius, in like 
manner, was assured that his alms had gone up "for a memorial before God;"(<2) 
without any hint that God required larger sacrifices at his hand. Then further, 
instead of an intimation that the needle's eye would prove too narrow for His pre- 
sent Entertainer, we shall find our Lord graciously declaring that this day had Sal- 
vation come to the House of Zacchseus. Bede accordingly remarks, " See here the 
camel disincumbered of his hunch," and of his burthen ! 

3 And he sought to see Jesus who He was ; and could not for the 
press, because he was little of stature. 

Zacchaeus, like Herod Antipas, desired to see Christ :(e) but in how different a 
spirit did they entertain this desire ! Mere carnal curiosity was the motive in the 
case of the King : in the case of the despised publican, it was the result of sincere 
piety ; the act of one who desired " to see what sort of person Jesus was," in order 
that he might the better love(f) the Being of whom he had heard so much, and 
whose Disciple he was already so well prepared to become. 

Hastening therefore along the road whereby our Lord was travelling, and getting 

(a) St. Matth. xx. 34: xxi. 1, and St. Mark x. 52: xi. 1. 

(6) See the note on St. Mark ii. 15, and the second note on St. Luke xviii. 10. 

(c) See St. Luke xviii. 18 to 30. (d) Acts x. 4. 

(e) See St. Luke ix. 9. (/) See 1 St. John iv. 20. 



XIX.] 



on st. luke's gospel. 569 



in advance of the crowd, (from among(^) which he had found it impossible, on ac- 
count of his smallness of stature, to behold the person of Christ,) he availed him- 
self of one of the fruit trees which grew by the wayside to obtain a view of the Holy 
One who must needs presently approach the spot. As it follows, 

4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see 
Him : for He was to pass that way. 

Much has been written on the subject of the tree into which Zacchgeus climbed. 
Its name is here literally translated "Sycamore," — a word which denotes "Fig- 
mulberry." Accordingly, some have thought it was a Fig, some, a Mulberry-tree. 
A great botanist thus settles the question : — Out of two hundred known species of 
the Fig, only two are eatable, that in common use, (Ficus Carica,) and the inferior 
kind here noticed, (Ficus Sycomorus,) which, as its name denotes, has leaves re- 
sembling those of the mulberry. "'I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's 
son;' says the Prophet Amos, (ft) 'but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of Syca- 
more fruit:' from which, and from other passages of Scripture, it may be inferred 
that this tree was of very great importance among the Jews."(t) 

Screened by the foliage of such a tree, Zacchgeus may well have expected that he 
should remain unseen. But he had to do with the same All-seeing Eye which had 
spied Nathanael beneath the fig-tree, "before that Philip called" him.(A-) Of this, 
he was soon made conscious ; for it follows, 

5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up, and saw him, 
and said unto him, Zaechseus, 

(For "the Lord knoweth them that are His :"(Z) "He calleth them all by their 
names.") (m) 

make haste, and come down ; for to clay I must abide at thy house. 

Zacehseus desired no more than to see Christ ; but He who does for us more 
than we can either ask or think, was prepared to grant him a much greater favour, 
and one for which he was little prepared. " Our Saviour comes uninvited to his 
house ; for though He had not heard the word of invitation, He had already seen 
the will to ask Him."(n) Nothing but humility, like that of the Centurion, (o) had 
kept Zaccheeus silent. 

6 And he made haste, and came down, and received Him joyfully. 

Such verses as this, are for the reader to pause at, and for his imagination to 
picture. The astonishment of the man, detected through his leafy screen, when the 
Mighty Stranger halted on " coming to the place," — looked up, — spied him out, — 
kindly called him by his name, — and even expressed impatience that he should 
come down ; with the gracious announcement that He "must needs pass this day 
in his house:" then, the haste and joy with which the other obeyed the welcome 
summons, — the wonder of the populace, who, a moment ago, had witnessed the 
vain efforts of the man as he stood among them, to obtain even a glimpse of our 
Lord's person,— and the final withdrawing of the Blessed One and His Disciples to 
the house of the delighted host : — all this is matter for the heart rather than for the 
'pen. If the Gospel were indeed sweet to our taste, — "sweeter than honey and the 
honey-comb,"— we should read it more slowly; and be made sensible that the 
purely narrative portions, in their literal sense, yield abundant delight, as well as 
instruction. 

,7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That He was 
gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. 

They called him a " sinner" only because he was " a publican." The reader is 
requested to refer to the second note on St. Luke xviii. 10, for some remarks on 

(g) Insteadof "for the press," it should he "from among the crowd." 

(h) Amos vii. 14: where see the margin. 

(0 Sir W. Hooker's " Guide to Kew Gardens." — See the note on St. Luke xvii. 6. 

(k) St. John i. 48. (?) 2 Tim. ii. 19. 

(m) Ps. cxlvii. 4: compare St. John x. 3. Consider also Gen. xvi. 8. 

(n) Ambrose. (o) See St, Matth. yiii, 8. 



570 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

this subject. There is no reason whatever for doubting that Zacchseus was a 
Jew. 

An entertainment must have followed; after which we are perhaps to fancy much 
of lofty teaching. What need to say who will have been the most attentive listener? 
At last, we read, — 

8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord ; Behold, Lord, the 
half of my goods I give to the poor ; and if I have taken any thing 
from any man by false accusation, I restore Mm fourfold. 

He seems to have come forward in presence of the assembled guests, and stand- 
ing before his Lord and ours, to have made this declaration of what henceforth he 
was resolved to do, in testimony of the sincerity of his belief and repentance ; as 
well as of his hearty acceptance of the sublime precepts to which he had been list- 
ening. He may have heard our Saviour declare that the Estate of Poverty is holy 
and precious in God's sight ; that Riches are an encumbrance to him who would 
enter by the " strait gate ;" and that " it is more blessed to give than to re- 
ceive." (p) Then, as St. John Baptist was asked by the Pharisees for a rule, bade 
them "exact no more than that which was appointed th.em,"(q) it is obvious to sup- 
pose that our Saviour will have discoursed to this man of Truthfulness and Mercy. 
" Behold, Lord," he therefore replies, "half of every thing I have, I this day give 
up to the poor ; and if I retain the other half of my property, it is chiefly in order 
that I may have wherewith to fulfill the further resolution which I have made, to 
give back fourfold to every one whom I have ever wronged by false accusation." . . . 
On this, Williams remarks kindly, — " The expression seems to indicate that his 
gains had been comparatively innocent, in an occupation proverbial for extortion : 
else, how could he restore fourfold out of the remainder ?" 

Concerning the proposed measure of restitution, it is to be observed that Zac- 
chasus imposed upon himself the severest measure enjoined by the Law concerning 
any one convicted of theft; (as it is written, " he shall restore four sheep for a 
sheep :) (r) but this was exacted only of him who had made away with the property 
he had stolen. " If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive," whether " ox, 
or ass, or sheep," he was only to "restore double" (s) Whereas, with respect to 
him who confessed his crime, it is but said, "he shall recompense his trespass with 
the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth 'part thereof and give it unto him 
against whom he hath trespassed."^) Zacchseus therefore judged himself, and 
that severely: a pattern surely to us all! "for if we would judge ourselves, we 
should not be judged."(w) 

9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, 
forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 

It seems likely that St. Luke means that our Saviour spake thus "concerning" 
"with reference to" Zacchseus: not actually to him. He may have turned and ad- 
dressed the company. His words imply, that the Gospel message had come to the 
wealthy publican's doors; and that he had closed at once with the offer of Mercy. 
Salvation had therefore come to him, on that day; for that he also, by that day's 
conduct, had recovered his birthright, heretofore forfeited, and shown himself a 
true descendant of "faithful Abraham." 

Christ " well says, ' He also ;' to declare that not only those who have lived 
justly, but those who are raised up from a life of injustice, belong to the sons of 
promise."(a;) " He says not that he ' was/ but that he now ' is/ For before, when 
he was chief among the publicans, and bore no likeness to righteous Abraham, he 
was not his son."(y) Hence, thefitness of the words which follow : 

10 For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was 
lost. 

That is, "the lost sheep of the house of lsrael."0) Take notice then, that 
Christ the Good Shepherd was " seeking" this one lost sheep, as He prepared to 

(p) Acts xx. 35. (q) St. Luke iii. 12, 13. 

(r) Exod. xxii. 1. Consider 2 Samuel xii. 6. (s) Exod. xxii. 4. 

(t) Numbers v. 7. (w) 1 Cor. xi. 31. (x) Bede. 

\y) Theophylact. (») St. Matth. x. 6. 



XIX.] ON ST, LUKE'S GOSPEL. 571 

depart from Jericho The saying is found to recur, -with the exception of one 

affecting word, in St. Matthew xviii. 11. But observe, that a parable immediately 
follows, (in St. Matthew,) which more than supplies the omission of that word, (a) 

How great a consolation to many a burdened conscience, may this entire portion 
of Scripture well prove ! Dishonest gains do not exclude a man hopelessly from 
the Kingdom. The door of Repentance yet remains open, — while there is life. 
But then, the offer of Mercy may not be trifled with. Zacchseus acted promptly. 
It is worth observing that he acted openly also. 

11 And as they heard these things, He added and spake a parable, 
because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the 
Kingdom of God should immediately appear. 

That is, " the Kingdom of Israel ;" for compare Acts i. 6. That the Kingdom of 
Messiah could not be far away, the Jews knew from prophecy; but they had 
formed a wrong notion of its nature. 

Is it perhaps implied that our Saviour's announcement of the purpose of His 
coming, (in verse 10,) and the allusion to Abraham which is found in verse 9, had 
already awakened proud hopes in the breasts of his hearers ? as if He had declared 
that it was His intention now to " gather together in one the children of God that 
were scattered abroad," (6) " and to perform the oath which He sware to their father 
Abraham ?"(c) 

The parable of " the Pounds," which follows, and which St. Luke alone relates, 
resembles in many respects the parable of " the Talents," which is peculiar to St. 
Matthew's Gospel.(cZ) Yet are the two parables strikingly contrasted. Both, how- 
ever, are prophecies ; and the present parable opens with the express mention of 
" a Kingdom" yet future. , 

12 He said therefore, A certain Nobleman went into a far country 
to receive for Himself a Kingdom, and to return. 

He "went into afar country," (I) in order to obtain for Himself the right and 
title to that Kingdom which, on His return, He should "receive:" for consider the 
language of verse 15. — This is that "far country,"(e) from which the "good news" 
is " as cold waters to a thirsty soul." 

13 And He called His ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, 
and said unto them, Occupy till I come. 

It matters nothing what is the particular sum here spoken of.) (f) The thing to 
be observed is, that calling "ten of His servants," this Nobleman entrusted each 
of them with the same amount, — bidding them "employ," or "trade with" it, till 
His return. The knowledge of the way of Salvation, ("one Faith, one Bap- 
tism,") (g) seems to be the " pound" given to all alike. And here, one of the points 
of contrast between the Parable of "the Talents," and of "the Pounds," presents 
itself. See St. Matthew xxv. 15, and the note there. 

Take notice, that there are Ten Servants, as there were Ten Virgms.(A) This 
was a favourite number with God's people. It seems not unlikely, however, that 
the number of servants specified, so nearly corresponding with the number of the 
Apostolic body, was meant to quicken the Twelve to strenuous exertion after their 
Master'sdeparture. Can we be mistaken in seeing a warning addressed to the 
Traitor, in every hint which fell from the lips of Christ, of one who had proved 
faithless, and who alone acted in a manner unworthy of his lofty calling ? See the 
note on St. Mark xiv. 25. 

14 But His citizens hated Him, and sent a message after Him, say- 
ing, We will not have this man to reign over us. 

We shall hear more of them, and of what befell them, in verse 27. — Was it perhaps 
especially the victims of persecution, — St. Stephens, St. James, and the rest, — 

(a) See St. Matthew xviii. 12. (h) St. John xi. 52. (c) St. Luke i. 72, 73. 

(d) St. Matthew xxv. 14 to 30. (e) Proverbs xxv. 25. 

(/) It is called a mina, which is rather more than 3?. See the margin of a reference Bible. 
(g) Ephes. iv. 5. (ft) St. Matthew xxv. 1. 



572 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

whose blood cried to Heaven, and whose souls carried into the unseen world this 
message from those " of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came,"(z) and who 
were, therefore, " His citizens ?" When the Jews exclaimed, " We have no King 
but Caesar;" and "Write not, The King of the Jews, "(A;) they did nothing else in 
effect but say, "We will not have this Man to rule over us," even before His de- 
parture. 

But the Parable may not be thus limited in its application. The disobedient in 
all ages find here their picture ; and, in verse 27, they read their final doom. As 
many as refuse subjection to the yoke of Christ, send the same message after Him: 
and this will continue to the end. See Psalm ii. 2, 3. 

15 And it came to pass, that when He was returned, having received 
the Kingdom, then He commanded these servants to be called unto 
Him, to whom He had given the money, that He might know how much 
every man had gained by trading. 

And thus we are transported at once to the end of the World, and to the great 
Day of Accounts. Then will " the Kingdom" have " come ;" for Christ will have 
"received" of the Father "the heathen for His inheritance, and the uttermost 
parts of the earth for His possession."(Z) Then will be "given Him Dominion, 
and Glory, and a Kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, shall serve 
Him : His Dominion is an Everlasting Dominion, which shall not pass away, and 
His Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."(ra) 

16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, Thy pound hath gained ten 
pounds. 

Spoken as becomes a Servant of Christ! " Thy poufid hath gained;" as con- 
scious that it was GOD who had "given the increase. "(?i) So, after saying "I 
laboured more abundantly than they all," St. Paul suddenly checks himself, and 
adds, — "Yet not I, but the Grace of GOD wliicli ivas with me."(p) 

17 And He said unto him, Well, thou good servant : because thou 
hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. 

How mighty a reward is here hinted at ! The man who before had to toil, as a 
servant, with a single piece of money, now reigns, like a King, over ten cities. (_p) 
Verily, now was "judgment given to the Saints of the Most High; and the time 
came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom l"(q) 

And we may notice that the riches and magnificent resources of Christ's King- 
dom are here not obscurely hinted at, although in figurative language : a spur, 
surely, to increased exertion while yet our Lord " delays His coming 1" 

18 And the second came, saying, Lord, Thy pound hath gained five 
pounds. 

Observe, he uses the same pious language as the former " good servant." They 
seem to have been of one mind, and to have said day by day as they toiled, — " Not 
unto us, Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give the praise /"(r) 

19 And He said likewise to Him, Be thou also over five cities. 

The reward, we find, was proportioned to the work. — Only one other servant is 
told of. The remaining seven may have gained some more, some less. But these 
three represent classes, — the very faithful, the very faithless, and those who have 
simply done well. The reader is requested to read the note on St. Matthew xxv. 17. 

The third servant next comes forward, " with that self-confidence ever found in 
the rejected :"(s) 

20, 21 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is Thy pound, 

(t) Romans ix. 5. [h) St. John xix. 15 and 21. (0 Psalm ii. 8. 

(m) Dan. vii. 14. (») 1 Cor. iii. 6. (o) 1 Cor. xv. 10. 

\p) See notes on St, Luke xvi. 12, and xx. 38. (?) Dan. vii. 22. 

(r) Ps. cxv. 1. (s) See the note on St. Matth. xxv. 44, 



xix.] on st. luke's gospel. 573 

which I have kept laid up in a napkin : for I feared Thee, because Thou 
art an austere man : Thou takest up that Thou layedst not down, and 
reapest that Thou didst not sow. 

22, 23, 24 And He saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I 
judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere 
man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow : 
wherefore then gavest not thou My money into the bank, that at My 
coming I might have required Mine own with usury ? And He said 
unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him 
that hath ten pounds. 

The resemblance of these five verses to as many in the parable of " the Talents" 
in St. Matthew's Gospel, (xxv. 24- to 28,) is very striking. The reader is referred 
to the notes on St. Matthew xxv. 24 and 27. — A Talent is too large a sum, (being 
nearly 200Z.) to be " laid up in a napkin ;" it must needs be buried in the Earth. 
Hence the variety of circumstance between the two Parables. 

25 (And they said unto Him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) 

The meaning of these words, it is hard to discover. Do the Angels, then, (for it 
is they who " stand by/' and execute the Lord's commands,) testify surprise at the 
directions given them? They seem to say, — Nay, but he hath already ten of these, 
and hath been set over as many cities. He therefore hath no need of more. . . But 
it is hard to see why such a saying was introduced into the Parable. Indeed there 
are several points in the Parables of "the Pounds" and "the Talents" which have 
never yet been satisfactorily explained. 

26, 27 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath, shall be 
given ; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken 
away from him.(f) But those Mine enemies, which would not that I 
should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before Me. 

This recalls what went before, in verse 14; and reminds us that the present Para- 
ble is a complex one. It will be observed that nothing is said of any punishment 
which awaited the unprofitable servant, as in the other Parable. (u) His punish- 
ment here seems only to have been the forfeiture of that which he had. Attention 
is directed instead to the doom of those rebellious citizens, who sent the message of 
defiance recorded in verse 14. 

28, 29 And when He had thus spoken, He went before, ascending up 
to Jerusalem. 

30 And it came to pass, when He was come nigh to Bethphage and 
Bethany, at the Mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of His 
Disciples, saying, Go ye into the village over against you ; in the which 
at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat : 
loose him, and bring him hither. 

St. Mark and St. Luke are careful to notice that on this ass' colt, "never man 
sat." The mystical meaning of this statement will be found fully noticed in the 
note on St. Mark xi. 2. 

31 And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him ? thus shall ye 
say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him. 

32, 33, 34, 35, 36 And they that were sent went their way, and 
found even as He had said unto them. And as they were loosing the 
colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye that colt ? And 
they said, The Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to 

(0 See the note on St, Matth. xxv. 29. (u) See St. Matth. xxv. 30. 



574 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Jesus : and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus 
thereon. And as He went, they spread their clothes in the way. 

37, 38, 39, 40 And when He was come nigh, even now at the descent 
of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the Disciples began to 
rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that 
they had seen, saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the Name of 
the Lord : Peace in Heaven, and Glory in the highest. And some of 
the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto Him, Master, rebuke 
Thy Disciples. And He answered and said unto them, I tell you that 
if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. 

What a soul-stirring declaration ! proceeding, as it does, from the very Author of 
Creation. How are we reminded of the mysterious pangs which soon after shook 
the Earth; when the Sun underwent an eclipse, and the whole framework of 
Nature became convulsed with portentous anguish ! " Surely, if the Lord of 
Angels, amid His Humiliation, was not to receive even this acknowledgment from 
the poor, the very lifeless stones must re-echo back the Voice of Prophecy which had 
sounded from the beginning of the World \" 

41 And when He was come near, He beheld the City, 

Which lay beautifully spread before Him, covering the whole of the rising ground 
on the other side of the valley. The Temple crowned the sacred height ; and the 
everlasting hills stood round about, — an emblem of His own undying Love. (a;) How 
mysterious is the sorrow which we are permitted next to witness ! " He beheld the 
City/'— 

42 and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least 
in this thy day, the things ivhich belong unto thy peace ! but now they 
are hid from thine eyes. 

That is, " that thou hadst known 1" " This thy Day," — that is, the day fore- 
told in Prophecy, as that on which thy King should visit thee.(y) 

43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast 
a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every 
side, 

There is more on this subject in St. Luke xxi. 20. 

44 and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within 
thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another ; because 
thou knowest not the time of thy visitation. 

The allusion in our Blessed Lord's words to the language in which the prophet 
Isaiah denounced "Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the City where David dwelt,"(z) seems 
unmistakable. But what is principally brought to mind, is our Saviour's own pas- 
sionate lamentation over the Holy City, recorded in a former chapter ; (a) and which, 
like the present place, intimates that the Day of Grace and Probation had at last 
closed upon Jerusalem for ever. Many a time would He have gathered her children 
together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, — and she "would 
not I" Judicial blindness had therefore overtaken the City. The things which be- 
longed unto her peace were now hid from her eyes. 

Take notice that the Saviour weeps, even while foretelling the utter destruction 
of Jerusalem : somewhat as Joseph, (His type,) wept, even while he bound Simeon 
before the eyes of his brethren. (b) He does not however withdraw His threatened 
judgments, tremendous though they be, on that account. Very terrible is His 
wrath, although it be "the wrath of the LAMB."(c) And who so blind as not to 

x) Ps. cxxv. 2. (y) See St. Matth. xxi. 4, 5. {z) Isaiah xxix. 1 to 8. 

a) St. Luke xiii. 34, and St. Matth. xxiii. 37 to 39. (6) Gen. xlii. 24. 

(c) Rey, vi. 16. 



XX.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 575 

see the private and personal teaching of the text ? To the spiritual Jerusalem, as 
well as to the very least of "her children within her," doubtless God declares His 
Almighty Power most chiefly in showing Mercy and Pity: but does He therefore 
cease to be a G6*d of Justice also ? And have not they the time of their Visitation ? 

45, 46 And He went into the Temple, and began to cast out them 
that sold therein, and them that bought ; saying unto them, It is writ- 
ten, My house is the House of Prayer : but ye have made it a den of 
thieves. 

Several remarks will be found on this incident and these sayings in the notes on 
St. Matth. xxi. 12, 13 ; and especially on St. Mark xi. 16, 17. 

47, 48 And He taught daily in the Temple. But the Chief Priests 
and the Scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy Him, and 
could not find what they might do : for all the people were very atten- 
tive to hear Him. 

The expression in the original is striking. It denotes that the people "hung 
upon" the words of Christ. See the last note on St. Matthew vii. 



CHAPTER XX 



1 Christ avoucheth His authority by a question of John's Baptism. 9 The Parable 
of the Vineyard. 19 Of giving tribute to Caesar. 27 He convinceth the Saddu- 
cees that denied the Resurrection. 41 How Christ is the Son of David. 45 He 
warneth His Disciples to beware of the Scribes. 

1, 2 And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as He taught 
the people in the Temple, and preached the Gospel, the chief Priests 
and the Scribes came upon Him with the elders, and spake unto Him, 
saying, Tell us, by what authority doest Thou these things ? or who is 
he that gave Thee this authority? 

, The expression used in verse 1, denotes that these assailants of the Holy One 
came suddenly into His presence with their imperious demand. Our Lord's reply 
has already been the subject of sufficient comment in the notes on the two earlier 
Gospels, — as will be presently indicated. 

3, 4 And He answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one 
thing ; and answer Me : The Baptism of John, was it from Heaven, or 
of men ? 

5, 6, 7 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, 
From Heaven ; He will say, Why then believed ye him not ? but and 



576 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

if we say, Of men ; all the people will stone us : for they be persuaded 
that John was a Prophet. And they answered, that they could not 
tell whence it was. 

8 And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority 
I do these things. 

Concerning all this, the reader is referred to what has been already offered in the 
Commentary on St. Matthew and St. Mark.(a) — The parable of "the Vineyard let 
out to Husbandmen" follows, which is found in all the three Gospels. 

9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Then began He to speak to the people this 
parable : a certain man planted a Vineyard, and let it forth to husband- 
men, and went into a far Country for a long time. And at the season 
He sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give Him of the 
fruit of the Vineyard : but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him 
away empty. And again He sent another servant: and they beat him 
also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. And 
again He sent a third : and they wounded him also, and cast him out. 
Then said the Lord of the Vineyard, What shall I do ? I will send My 
beloved Son : it may be they will reverence Him when they see Him. 
But when the husbandmen saw Him, they reasoned among themselves, 
saying, This is the Heir : come, let us kill Him, that the inheritance 
may be our's. So they cast Him out of the Vineyard, and killed 
Him. 

16 What therefore shall the Lord of the Vineyard do unto them ? 
He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the Vine- 
yard to others. 

And when they heard it, they said, God forbid. 

Concerning this remarkable Parable, which is none other than a Prophecy, so 
much has been already said, that it must suffice to refer the reader to the notes on 
St. Matthew, — xxi. 33 to 41 ; and on St. Mark xii. 1 to 9. " God, the great House- 
holder, was pleased to mark off, as it were, one part of the Earth to be more parti- 
cularly His own : He ' planted a Vineyard/ when ' He chose Jacob unto Himself 
and Israel for His own possession/ (b) This Vineyard was kept separate from the 
rest of the world. The rite of Circumcision, the whole of the Ceremonial Law, was 
the ' hedge ' round about it, which shut out the Gentiles. It had its ' wine-press ' 
in the altar of burnt offerings, and its ' tower ' in the Temple. But what fruit did 
the Vineyard produce to Him that planted it?"( c ) The rest of the Parable is 
Prophecy. 

The only circumstantial difference to which the reader's attention shall be 
directed is, that here the Parable is represented as spoken "to the people/ ; (d5) 
rather than, (as in the former instance,) to their teachers. 

17 And He beheld them, 

That is, He looked them steadily in the face ; as His Divine manner seems to 
have been when He was about to deliver any saying of unusual solemnity, — 

and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the 
builders rejected, the same is become the Head of the corner? Who- 
soever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken ; but on whomsoever 
it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. 

The reader is referred to the notes on St. Matthew xxi. 44, and on St. Mark 
xii. 11. 

a) See the notes on St. Matth. xxi. 27, and St. Mark xi. 28, 30, 31, and 33. 

b) Ps. cxxxv. 4. (c) Dr. Jacobson's Sermons. (d) See above verses 9 and 16. 



xx.] on st. luke's gospel. 577 

19 And the chief Priests and the Scribes the same hour sought to 
lay hands on Him ; and they feared the people : for they perceived 
that He had spoken this Parable against them. 

20 And they watched Him, and sent forth spies, which should feign 
themselves just men, that they might take hold of His words, that so 
they might deliver Him unto the power and authority of the Governor. 

21, 22 And they asked Him, saying, Master, we know that Thou 
sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest Thou the person of any, 
but teachest the way of God truly : is it lawful for us to give tribute 
unto Caesar, or no ? 

They felt sure that He would return a negative answer to their question : for 
they had, with perfect truth, set forth the fearless character of our Lord's teaching; 
and they knew that He was influenced solely by regard for God's Honour, without 
any admixture of worldly considerations. They cared not, however, which way His 
answer might incline. For if He allowed the payment of Tribute to their Roman 
Masters, they foresaw that His reputation with the people would be at an end ; if, 
on the contrary, He forbad the practice, they would have a valid charge to bring 
against Him before Pilate, the Roman Governor of the Province. — Concerning the 
character of these assailants of Christ, whom both St. Matthew and St. Mark de- 
scribe as "Pharisees and Herodians," the reader is referred to the note on St. 
Matthew xxii. 17. 

23 But He perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why 
tempt ye Me ? 

" Ye hypocrites !" adds St. Matthew ;(e) and such, they truly were ; seeking, as 
"a ground of accusation against Him, that which of all things they most desired 
themselves, namely, the exemption of their nation from Tribute/' Here, again, 
were men who sought to " procure His condemnation by the Romans as a rebel 
against Cgesar ; whereas, if He had possessed that character, and sustained it with 
vigour, they would themselves have flocked eagerly to His standard. He found 
means, however, so to answer their inquiry as at the same time to display their 
hypocrisy and to elicit the Truth, in sight of that very multitude'^/ ) whose indig- 
nation they sought to draw down upon Him : saying, 

24 Show Me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it ? 
They answered and said, Cesar's. 

They brought him a piece of money, called denarius, — a Roman coin, of silver, 
(worth about Id. or 8d.) — which bore upon it the name and portrait of Tiberius 
Csesar. 

" The coin which they affected to scruple about paying into the Roman Treasury, 
itself bore the Emperor's effigy and legend, — the mark of his sovereignty, and their 
subjection. This money they hesitated not to circulate among themselves in all 
matters of traffic and exchange ; . and they well knew the import of its image and 
superscription. The absurdity of scrupling to withhold from a sovereignty thus 
acknowledged, the necessary homage of obeying its import ; as well as the consis- 
tency of such a payment with the higher claims of the one supreme and unchange- 
able Lord of all," (g) — our Saviour proceeds to make manifest in the famous words 
which follow. 

25 And He said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things 
which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's. 

" This sentence, which confounded and baffled those blind guides of the people, 
extends further in its application than to the mere question in reply to which it 
was given. Since Tribute here represents the whole of that allegiance of which it 
is an essential part and symbol, we may view our Lord's sentence as embracing 
these two propositions : — First, that there are certain duties which we owe to Caesar, 

(e) St. Matth. xxii. 18. (/) Dr. W. H. Mill. (g) Abridged from Dr. W. H. Mill. 

37 



578 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

the sovereign power of the State, as such ; Secondly, that these duties, rightly com- 
prehended, cannot interfere with those to which they should ever be united, the 
duties which we owe directly and immediately to God."(7i) 

26 And they could not take hold of His words before the people : 
and they marvelled at His answer, and held their peace. 

27, 28 Then came to Him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that 
there is any Resurrection ; and they asked Him, saying, Master, Moses 
wrote unto us, If any man's brother die, having a wife, and he die 
without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up 
seed unto his brother. 

They allude to the Law found in Deuteronomy xxv. 5 ; which prescribed that the 
next of kin should marry the widow of a deceased kinsman, under the circumstan- 
ces spoken of. " And it shall be," (so ran the law,) " that the firstborn which she 
beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be 
not put out of Israel." It was a remarkable enactment, truly ; the mystical inten- 
tion of which was to shadow forth the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead. 
This has been more fully shown in the note on St. Mark xii. 19. 

29, 30, 31, 32, 33 There were therefore seven brethren : and the 
first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her 
to wife, and he died childless. And the third took her ; and in like 
manner the seven also : and they left no children, and died. Last of 
all, the woman died also. Therefore in the Resurrection whose wife of 
them is she ? for seven had her to wife. 

34, 35, 36 And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of 
this World marry, and are given in marriage : but they which shall be 
accounted worthy to obtain that World, and the Resurrection from the 
dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage : neither can they die 
any more : 

Rather, "for neither can they die any more:" by which words our Saviour 
assigns the object of Holy Matrimony, — which chiefly is the procreation of chil- 
dren ; in order to supply the losses which Death occasions. And of this, the Church 
is faithful to remind us, in the Marriage service. 

for they are equal unto the Angels ; and are the children of God, 
being the children of the Resurrection. 

" Christ is ' the first-born from the dead ;'(i) and we, ' the children of the Resur- 
rection. 7 The Spirit of Christ abiding in us maketh us the members of Christ ; 
and by the same Spirit, we have a full right and title to rise with our Head." (A;) 

37, 38 Now, that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the 
bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of 
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not a God of the dead, but 
of the living : for all live unto Him. 

" Our Lord's answer seems to imply that the Patriarchs had not, and needed not, 
any express declaration of this doctrine ; for that an affectionate piety, and a due 
apprehension of God's power, had in these words the fullest assurance that it was 
capable of receiving." (Z) 

" At the bush," denotes that section of Scripture which contains the history of 
the burning-bush. Moses, because he wrote that history, is here said, to have 
" called the Lord, the God of Abraham," &c. : but God was, of course, the Speaker. 
Our Saviour is, in fact, explaining now the words which He spoke then. 

The reader is referred to the notes on St. Mark's Gospel, — xii. 18 to 27, for an 

(70 Dr. W. H. Mill. (i) Col. i. 18. 

(&) Bp. Pearson. (I) Williams. 



XX.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 579 



exposition of the preceding most precious portion of the Gospel. It shall suffice, 
in addition, to call attention to the fact that many more hints are supplied in Holy 
Scripture of the Future Life than is commonly supposed. How often are we re- 
minded of its joyous character ;(m) — of its social aspect, (ra) (if the expression "be 
allowable ;) — of the perfection to which every earth relation, (as that which subsists 
between a Pastor and his flock,) (o) will then attain ! In the former chapter, the 
enlarged sphere of stewardship then to be revealed, was not obscurely indicated.(_p) 
In this place, the ennobled and exalted nature of the Body, is as plainly declared. 

39 Then certain of the Scribes answering, said, Master, Thou hast 
"well said. 

By comparing the present Gospel, with those of St. Matthew and St. Mark, it 
will be found that the saying of the Scribes here recorded has reference to a por- 
tion of narrative which St. Luke omits, — namely, our Lord's reply to a Scribe who 
had asked Him which is the first, or great commandment ?(g) All the three Evan- 
gelists concur in the statement that, " from that day forth," the Holy One was never 
more molested with questions by His adversaries. As it follows, — 

40 And after that, they durst not ask Him any question at all. 

We next behold our Lord, — who has already put to silence the chief Priests, 
Scribes, and Elders, (r) the Pharisees and the Herodians, the Sadducees, and last 
of ail the Scribes, or expounders of the Law, — Himself addressing a question to the 
most conspicuous of His enemies. They have hitherto assailed Him. It is now 
His turn to be the assailant. 

And surely, we have grown too familiar with the contents of the Gospel, if we 
can approach the words which He employed on an occasion like this, without the 
deepest reverence and attention. Before Him lay the whole volume of Inspiration. 
He knew its manifold resources, for His Divine Spirit had inspired it in every part; 
and out of all that various store, He was about to select somewhat which might at 
once silence His opponents, and edify the bystanders. 

We find that, " when the Pharisees had heard that He had put the Sadducees to 
silence, they were gathered together ;"(s) and, while they were yet "gathered to- 
gether, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ ? whose Son is He V 7 
(This quotation from St. Matthew's Gospel is made here, in order to render the 
more concise narrative of St. Luke which follows, fully intelligible.) " They say 
unto Him, The Son of David."0?) 

There is nothing unexpected in the reply ; which, in fact, expressed the general 
belief of all the nation. (u) At the same time, the words were used in a merely hu- 
man sense. Our Saviour does not blame the Pharisees therefore because they con- 
fess Him to be the Son of David ; but because they did not believe Him to be the 
Son of God. Now, it seems to have been His design, in this brief dialogue, to " lift 
up their hearts ;" and to suggest to as many as had " ears to hear," that far more 
is implied in Scripture concerning the nature of Messiah than they supposed. It 
has been truly pointed out that one "great source of the unbelief which filled these 
Pharisees, was a low sense of the Messiah ; and pride in a literal but very superfi- 
cial knowledge of the Scriptures. "(a;) Still addressing the Pharisees, therefore, our 
Saviour turns Himself to the populace, (who may be supposed to have watched 
the progress of His recent dialogue with wonder, and marked its close with admi- 
ration,) — 

41, 42, 43 And He said unto them, How say they that Christ is 
David's Son? and David himself saith in the Book of Psalms, The 
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make 
Thine enemies Thy footstool. 

(God the Father is addressing God the Son.) 

(to) St. Matt. xxv. 21, — where see the note. (n) St. Matt. viii. 11, — where see the note, 
(o) 1 Thess. ii. 19. (p) St. Luke xix. 17, 19 : also the notes on St. Luke xvi. 12. 

(q) See St. Matthew xxii. 36. So. Mark xii. 28 and 32. (r) St. Luke xx. 1. 

(*) St. Matth. xxii. 34. (*) St. Matth. xxii. 41, 42. 

(u) St. Matth. ix. 27: xii. 23 : xv. 22: xx. 30, 31: xxi. 9, 15, Ac. (x) Williams. 



580 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

44 David therefore calleth Him Lord, how is He then his Son ? 

Our Lord here quotes the first words of the ex. Psalm, which prophesies of 
" The Kingdom, the Priesthood, the Conquest, and the Passion of Christ ;"(y) 
and declares both that David was the author of that Psalm, and that the Psalmist 
was inspired by the Holy Ghost while he wrote it.(«) The present text is, in fact, 
three times quoted, (a) (besides the present place,) and once referred to, in the 
course of the New Testament,(6) as descriptive of our Lord's subsequent exalta- 
tion.^) — Does there not seem to be a peculiar adaptation of the text quoted, to the 
circumstances under which it was now uttered? Surrounded by enemies whom 
He had even now subdued with " the sword of His mouth.,"(d) does not the Divine 
Speaker seem to imply that what had been that day witnessed was but the prelude 
to Victories and a Dominion yet future ; when He who was now enthroned only in 
the hearts of a few Disciples, (for St. Mark declares that the people " heard Him 
gladly,")( e ) should occupy the Eight Hand of the Majesty on High? 

But the suggestion which has been already offered, (in a note on St. Mark xii. 
27,) here recurs ; namely, that there is reason to suspect that we ourselves "know 
not the Scriptures," nor indeed that we thoroughly understand our Lord's inter- 
pretation of them. For it is easy to see what answer a captious carnal reasoner of 
the modern school would have returned to our Lord's inquiry. David, (it might 
be said,) does indeed speak of his illustrious Descendant, as his "Lord ;" but is not 
that only because Christ was to be so much greater a King than David ? Christ 
is still David's Son, because He is David's Descendant. 

And indeed it must be admitted that our Lord's question "does not, by the 
passage referred to, solve any difficulty ; but rather throws out a difficulty which 
might arrest the attention of a Scribe desirous to know the Truth, such as would 
lead him to see there was something far higher and more mysterious about the 

Messiah than he supposed Our Lord's words were a clue, by which Faith 

might apprehend the secret nature of the Kingdom. To Reason, they proved 
nothing: but to Faith, they opened lofty views of the Divine Economy in the Gos- 
pel ; as far surpassing anything which Reason could have inferred, or imagination 
could conceive, as Heaven is above Earth."(y) 

" And I think," adds the excellent Writer hitherto quoted, " it may be stated 
generally, that they who expect clear and express warrant in the words of Scrip- 
ture as concerning the Doctrine of the Trinity, and the like, will find nothing of 
this kind promised in our Lord's Teaching ; but, on the contrary, hints and allu- 
sions thrown out, which He, by and by, in His Church, or in the ways of a parti- 
cular Providence, will solve to those who will obey Him ; and to those alone." 

45, 46, 47 Then in the audience of all the people He said unto His 
Disciples, Beware of the Scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, 
and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the syna- 
gogues, and the chief rooms at feasts ; which devour widows' houses, 
and for a show make long prayers : the same shall receive greater 
damnation. 

These sayings form but a part of the long Discourse which our Lord proceeded 
to deliver at this time, — the weighty denunciations which occupy an entire chapter 
in St. Matthew's Gospel, and which will be found fully commented upon elsewhere. 
See particularly St. Matth. xxiii. 5, 6, and 14. 

Thus ends this remarkable portion of the sacred narrative ; remarkable, as pre- 
senting a succession of assaults made by carnally-minded men against the Saviour 
of the World, and which were all attended with the same result. Not only " in 
the same net which they hid privily, is their foot taken," (g) but some fresh aspect 
of Divine Truth is vindicated at every step. A thoughtful writer has said, — " One 
circumstance arises accidentally out of another ; and new inquiries take place with 
various spirit and temper. But whatever the nature of the question may be, it is 

(y) See the heading of the Psalm. 

(z) See St. Mark xii. 36 : also St. Matth. xxii. 43; and consider Acts i. 16 : ii. 30. 

(a) Acts ii. 34, 35. Heb. i. 13: x. 12, 13. (6) 1 Cor. xv. 25. 

(c) See the last note on St. Matthew xxii. (d) Rev. i. 16 : ii. 16 : xix. 15, 21. 

(e) St. Mark xii. 37. (/) Williams. (g) Psalm ix. 15. 



XXI.] 



on st. luke's gospel. 581 



the occasion at the same time of answering what is in the heart of the Speaker, of 
instructing the promiscuous crowd, and of putting forth to all ages the highest 
truths of God. And perhaps what here takes place in the Temple is a type of God's 
Providence generally in His Church, to be shown forth in its History : — that by 
disputes and discussions and questionings among those that engage in them under 
various feelings and motives, (and these sometimes not the most pure,) others of a 
temper more meek and teachable, are instructed ; and the Church of all ages is 
furnished with great and saving Doctrines." (z) 



CHAPTER XXI. 



1 Christ commendeth the poor Widow. 5 He foretelleth the destruction of the Tem- 
ple, and of the city of Jerusalem. 25 The signs also which shall be before the last 
Day. 34 He exhorteth them to be watchful. 

The truly affecting incident with which the present chapter commences, is found 
only in the Gospels of St. Mark(a) and St. Luke. The place where the History of 
"■the poor" (or, as she may fairly be termed, "the munificent") " widow," occurs, 
is highly remarkable ; for take notice that it stands midway between the weighty 
discourses of the former chapter, and the tremendous prophecies contained in the 
present : so that it occupies the little halting place between our Lord's leave-taking 
of His enemies, and His anticipation of the vengeance which was to be wrought 
upon them, — first, by His avenging armies ; next, by His legions of Angels. It im- 
mediately follows His refutation of chief Priests, Scribes, and Elders, (6) — of Phari- 
sees and Herodians, Sadducees and Lawyers ;(c) together with His eight withering 
denunciations of Woe against those " Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," whose 
enmity He had borne with so long ;(d) and it immediately precedes His prophecies 
concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem and the End of the World. But before 
entering upon that far-sighted prophecy, the whole tenor of which shows that the 
Blessed Speaker's eye was already filled with images of magnificence and grandeur 
unspeakable, — the destinies of the whole Human Race, and the consummation of 
all things,— being now about to leave the Temple, St. Mark says that He took His 
seat " over against the Treasury ;" (that is, opposite to the great money-chest of the 
Temple, which stood " on the right side as one cometh into the House of the 
Lord," — the work of Jehoiada the priest, in the reign of King Jehoash :)(e) 

1 And He looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the 
treasury. 

Are we perhaps to understand from this expression, (which also occurs in many 
other places of the Gospel,) that our Saviour had been sitting till now with down- 
cast eyes ? Be this as it may, — Looking up, He " beheld how the people cast money 
into the Treasury ; and many that were rich, cast in much :"(/) 

(z) Williams. (a) St. Mark xii. 41 to 44. (b) St. Luke xx. 1. 

(c) St. Matth. xxii. 16, 23, 25. (d) St. Matth. xxiii. 

(e) 2 Kings xii. 9. (/) St. Mark xii. 41. 



582 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

2 And He saw also a certain poor Widow casting in thither two 
mites. 

So then, amid all the weariness of His Human Body, and the anguish of His 
Human Soul, — amid griefs unrevealed and bitterness of Spirit inscrutable, — the 
Lord of Heaven and Earth was at leisure to sit down and watch the ways of one 
of the humblest of His creatures ! He saw before Him the Destruction of the Tem- 
ple, and the fall of Jerusalem ; the wreck of Nature, Q and the crash of Worlds, and 
the setting up of the great White Throne, and the gathering together of all the 
Tribes of the Earth: all this, He saw. But " He saw also a certain poor Widow ;" 
and it was His Divine pleasure to scrutinize her act, and weigh it in a balance, and 
to pronounce upon it, calmly and at length, as if Life and Death hung upon the 
the issue. " He called unto Him His Disciples,"(<7) — 

3, 4 And He said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor Widow 
hath cast in more than they all ; for all these have of their abundance 
cast in unto the offerings of God : but she of her penury hath cast in 
all the living that she had. 

The language of our Lord is even stronger. They had given of what they had 
over and above : she, of her short supply. 

So carefully then are the little things noted by God ! So true also is it that He 
seeth not as Man seeth ! What is remarkable, the days of the Temple were num- 
bered. The offerings, even of " the rich men," were therefore no longer of any 
avail. But the sum cast in by this very poor Widow, could not, under any circumstan- 
ces, from its exceeding smallness, have been of any real use. It was but a farthing! 
And yet we find it attracted the notice of the Lord of all Creation, and drew from 
Him words of loftiest praise. Learn from this, to mistrust the reasoning, (however 
plausible it may sound,) of those who would discourage offerings intended for God's 
Honour. Learn also, (and from His own lips,) the manner in which He who weighs 
acts of munificence in a heavenly balance, forms His estimate of their importance 
and value. . . . For a few words more on this subject, see the last note on St. 
Mark xii. 

The present Evangelist is not careful, like St. Mark,(7i) and still more St. Mat- 
thew, (i) to point out that the conversation which follows took place when the Blessed 
Company had left the Temple : when our Saviour indeed had " departed" from it, 
— never to enter its courts again. The Disciples appear to have directed their 
Lord's attention to the huge stones of which the Temple was buirt,(7c) and to the 
royal offerings which it contained, — such as are alluded to in Judith xvi. 19, and 2 
Maccabees v. 16 : ix. 16. 

5, 6 And as some spake of the Temple, how it was adorned with 
goodly stones and gifts, He said, As for these things which ye behold, 
the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon 
another, that shall not be thrown down. 

" This prophecy of the total overthrow of buildings, which at the time when the 
prophecy was uttered seemed to defy assault, was fulfilled to the very letter in forty 
years from that very time. Titus, who conducted the siege, had given orders that 
the Temple should be preserved ; but one of the soldiers, moved, (as the Jewish His- 
torian Josephus relates,) by a divine impulse, set it on fire, and -every effort to ex- 
tinguish the flames was ineffectual." The Header is referred to the notes on St. 
Matthew xxiv. 2, and St. Mark xiii. 2. 

7 And they asked Him, saying, Master, but when shall these things 
be ? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass ? 

Four of their number are found to have approached our Lord with this question, 
as He sat on the Mount of Olives :(l) and to them, apart from the rest of the Twelve, 
our Lord delivered the stupendous predictions which ensue. St. Andrew on this 

(#) St. Mark xii. 43. (h) St. Mark xiii. 1. (i) St. Matth. xxiv. 1. 

(k) See the note in St. Mark xiii. 1. (I) St. Mark xiii. 3. 



XXI.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 583 

great occasion is admitted to share the privilege of those other three most favoured 
of our Lord's Disciples, — St. Peter, St. James, and St. John. Well may the whole 
company of the Disciples have been disquieted by the sentence of desolation which 
they had just heard their Lord pronounce upon the beautiful structure which lay 
full in view before them, — covered with plates of gold, and of a dazzling whiteness. 
" It had been so sanctified by the Almighty in ancient days, and their Religion was 
so bound up with that spot, that they looked upon it with an awful reverence beyond 
what we can understand."^) They are found to have asked Him two questions. 
(1st.) When these great buildings should be overthrown ; and what sign there should 
be when these things should come to pass? (2ndly.) — What sign there should be 
of Christ's Coming, and of the end of the World? St. Luke only records the 
former of these inquiries, — as will be found fully explained in the note on St. Mat- 
thew xxiv. 3. 

8, 9 And He said, Take heed that ye be not deceived : for many 
shall come in My Name, saying, I am CHRIST ; and the time 
draweth near : go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear 
of wars and commotions, be not terrified : for these things must first 
come to pass : but the end is not by and by. 

That is, — "But not immediately [cometh] the end : for nation shall rise against 
nation," &c, as in the two earlier Gospels ; where see the notes. (n) 

10, 11 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and 
kingdom against kingdom: and great earthquakes shall be in divers 
places, and famines, and pestilences : and fearful sights and great signs 
shall there be from Heaven. 

" These are the beginnings of birth-pangs," — as it is elsewhere added.(o) And 
all these things actually happened before the Destruction of the City and Temple of 
Jerusalem. Civil dissensions, and hostile movements abounded ; the famine fore- 
told by Agabus, "which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cgesar,"(_p) made 
itself severely felt in Judea ;(g) while in Jerusalem, many actually perished for want 
of food. Pestilence is known ever to follow at the heels of Famine. During the 
extremities of the siege, these two scourges prevailed to an extent which was alto- 
gether appalling. Many earthquakes are recorded to have taken place, throughout 
the East; while the portents and prodigies which are described by an eye-witness, 
(who knew nothing of the Gospel, nor would have believed it had he known it,) 
were regarded by the people themselves as unmistakable signs of something tremen- 
dous which was to follow. A flaming meteor, like a fiery sword, hung over the 
city by a space of a year : one night, a radiance like the light of noon, shone about 
the Temple and altar, for half an hour's space : a heifer, as it was being led to 
sacrifice, brought forth a lamb in the Temple : the eastern gate, which was of brass, 
and so heavy that twenty men could scarcely shut it, although secured by deep bolts, 
swung open at midnight of its own accord. Josephus mentions one more prodigy, 
which he admits would be thought a fable, but for the evidence on which it rests. 
Chariots and troops of armed soldiers were seen at sunset, careering in the clouds, 
and besieging cities in the air. The Roman Historian Tacitus records the same 
thing. 

12, 13 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and 
persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, 
being brought before Kings and Rulers for My Name's sake. And it 
shall turn to you for a testimony. 

That is, "It will afford you an opportunity of bearing witness to your Reli- 
gion."^) 

14, 15 Settle it therefore in you hearts, not to meditate before what 

(m) Williams. (») On St. Matth. xxiv. 5, and St. Mark xiii. 6. 

(o) St. Mark xiii. 8. Compare St. Mattk. xxiv. 8. (p) Acts xi. 28. 

(q) Consider Rom. xv. 25, &c. (r) Burton. See St. Mark xiii. 9, and note. 



584 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

ye shall answer : for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your 
adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. 

And so it carae to pass ; for, as it is said in the case of St. Stephen, " They were 
not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which He spake."(s) These four 
verses should be compared with four others which are found in a much earlier part 
of St. Matthew's Gospel ; namely, in our Lord's charge to His Twelve Apostles. (t) 
More briefly, the substance of the prophecy, the injunction, and the promise here 
delivered, may be also seen in St. Luke; — but in quite a different connection. (u) 
Take notice that on all the three occasions where this solemn subject recurs, it is 
expressly promised that the Holy Ghost shall speak by the mouth of the Apostles. (x) 

16, 17, 18 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, 
and kinsfolk, and friends ; and some of you shall they cause to be put 
to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My Name's sake. But 
there shall not an hair of your head perish. 

The substance of these verses also will be found in our Lord's Charge to the 
Twelve ;{y) including the precious assurance that the very hairs of the head are 
all numbered in His sight.(z) " The truth contained in these words is the founda- 
tion of all Christian courage ; which consists in an entire dependence on God, as 
taking the most watchful and particular care over the very minutest circumstance 
that can appertain to us. And yet it is very remarkable, and most important to ob- 
serve, that this the strongest description of a particular and protecting Providence, 
implies no relief from temporal evils, while at the same time it promises the most 
assured safety." (a) We are nowhere encouraged to expect, or hope, that Christian 
men shall pass their days without danger and distress. The pledge is but given 
that they shall be safe under the shadow of the Almighty wings, — that no realliarm 
shall befall those who put their trust in God. 

Having thus assured the Disciples of their safety, our Saviour adds : 

19 In your patience possess ye your souls. 

These words, however, do not at all give the meaning of our Lord's saying ; 
which should rather be translated, — " Save your lives by your patience." The in- 
junction, in fact, corresponds to the promise which is found in the two earlier Gos- 
pels, — " He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." (b) And thus 
the grace of Patience, which is so often singled out for Divine commendation, (c) is 
held up to the Church's notice as of prime importance to secure her safety in the 
coming strife. 

The passage answering to this in St. Mark's Gospel is found to be transcribed, 
word for word, from our Lord's Charge to the Twelve, in St. Matthew, (d) — The 
Blessed Speaker continues : 

20, 21 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, 
then know that the destruction thereof is nigh. Then let them which 
are in Judaea flee to the mountains ; and let them which are in the midst 
of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter there- 
into. 

By "the midst of it," and "thereinto," the Evangelist means Jerusalem, — which 
he mentioned in verse 20. These, then, are the directions which our Saviour gave 
to the faithful for their guidance when " the end,"(e) should come. The remoter 
signs of coming danger He specified from verse 8 to verse 11. " But before all 

(s) Acts vi. 10. Consider Exod. xiv. 14. 

(t) St. Matth. x. 17, 18, 19, 20; where see the notes. See also below, the note on verses 18 
and 19. (u) St. Luke xii. 11, 12. 

{x) See St. Matth. x. 20 : St. Luke xii. 12 : and St. Mark xiii. 11, which answers to the 
present place. 

(y) See St. Matth. x. 21, 22, 30. (z) St. Matth. x. 30: St. Luke xii. 7. (a) Williams. 

(6) St. Matth. xxiv. 13, (compare x. 22 :) and St. Mark xiii. 13. 

(c) See the note on St. Matth. iv. 7. 

(d) See St. Mark xiii. 12, 13 :— compare with St. Matthew x. 21, 22. 

(e) St. Matthew xxiv. 14. 



XXI.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 585 



these" things, (He said,) His followers must be prepared for the hardships and per- 
secutions, which He enumerates from verse 12 to verse 19. Nest follow (in verse 
20,) the signs of danger, no longer remote, but at the very doors ; and from which, 
safety must be procured by flight. And the reason follows : 

22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are 
written may be fulfilled. 

Very instructive it is, and full of delight, to turn from this prophecy to the pages 
of the Jewish Historian Josephus ; who little thought that, in writing the History 
of the siege of Jerusalem, he was recording the fulfillment of our Saviour's predic- 
tions, and a wondrous illustration of His words. 

It is found that thirty-seven years after this discourse was delivered, Cestius Gal- 
lio, the president of Syria, with a large army, marched against Jerusalem at the time 
of the Feast of Tabernacles, and encamped within a mile of the city. At the end of 
four days, he advanced to the very walls ; and for five days assailed them from 
every quarter. Next day the attack was formally begun ; the walls were under- 
mined, and the enemy were about to set fire to the gate of the Temple, when, con- 
trary to all expectation, and without any apparent reason, the Commander, (" most 
unaccountably," says Josephus, A.D. 66,) "retired from the City!" A fierce sally 
of the inhabitants, and a successful onslaught, was the consequence. The Romans 
fled and the Jewish army returned in triumph ; whereupon it is recorded that a 
large number of the inhabitants " swam away from the city, as from a ship about 
to sink." This took place in the beginning of October. 

Unaccountable indeed, in the eyes of the impatient soldiery, as well as of the 
terrified inhabitants of Jerusalem, must the withdrawal of the enemy at such a mo- 
ment have appeared : but the Christians who were immured within its walls, mind- 
ful of their Saviour's words, must have known very well how to account for the 
opportunity of a departure thus unexpectedly afforded them. They had the sure 
promise of the Eternal God, that " not a hair of their heads should perish."(/) 
They had received directions to flee from the city when they should see it " com- 
passed with armies." Hath He then said, and shall He not do it ? Hath He coun- 
selled flight, and shall He not also provide a way to escape ? Doubtless, if it was 
not " a blast" and " a rumour," (as in the days of Sennacherib,) (</) it was that the 
heart of the Roman " melted, neither was there spirit in him any more," and the 
terror of the Jews fell upon him : (7i) but, for whatever reason, the enemy with- 
drew; and the Christians suddenly found themselves at liberty to follow their 
Lord's direction, and to escape. 

Those, however, within the city, who missed the sign alluded to, cannot have 
mistaken the indications of danger three years later, when Titus came in person 
against Jerusalem and formally besieged it. After wasting some time before the 
walls, the Roman resolved to encircle the city with a fortification, five miles in ex- 
tent ; and the work was conducted with such spirit, that in three days it was com- 
pleted. This may well have been the special sign of danger, to which our Lord 
alluded ; for the inhabitants from the walls must then have beheld their City liter- 
ally " compassed with armies,"(i) — ("compassed round, and kept in on every side," 
as it is elsewhere said :) (k) and it is worth remarking that to cut off from them 
further opportunities of egress and escape was one of the special objects which the 
enemy had in view. At the critical moment when this work was first being under- 
taken, it is obvious to suppose that as many as were resolved to save their lives by 
flight, availed themselves of the opportunity to retire from the devoted City. — Our 
Saviour continues : 

23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give 
suck, in those days ! for there shall be great distress in the land, and 
wrath upon this people. 

The sufferings which, in the time of the siege, should befall the wife and the 
mother in her hour of greatest need, are twice alluded to by our Lord. " Behold, 
the days are coming," (He prophesied as He was being led to Crucifixion,) "in the 



/) See above, verse 18. (g) See 2 Kings xix. 7. (h) See Josh. ii. 9 : v. 1. 

i) See above, verse 20. (k) St. Luke xix. 43. 



586 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP* 

which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and 
the paps which never gave suck."(Z) — See the note on St. Mark xiii. 17. 

24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led 
away captive into all nations : 

And so indeed it came to pass : for the entire number of the slain in the war 
was reckoned at upwards of a million ; while ninety-seven thousand are said to 
have been carried away captive. " Spread as it were on the surface of the Ocean, 
but not blended with its waters ; scattered through the mass of mankind, but still 
preserved distinct/ ; (m) — they remain a living witness of the Sacred Narrative we 
are here considering. God hath set a mark upon the members of that nation, by 
which they are at once known ; and there is no land where their name is not a by- 
word and a reproach ; no land where they are not identified with transactions in 
money, — through the lust of which, Judas fell. " The children of Israel," (as it 
was foretold concerning them,) " abide without a King, and without a Prince, and 
without a sacrifice ;"(n) sifted and dispersed "among all nations, like as corn is 
sifted in a sieve."(o) 

Take notice, that as forty years elapsed between the institution of the Passover 
and the entering of the Promised land, so between the sacrifice of the true Paschal 
Lamb and the loss of that Land, did forty years elapse also. The men of Nineveh 
had forty days of warning, and they repented at the preaching of Jonah : but the 
unbelieving Jews, though they had forty years of warning, (and behold, a greater 
than Jonas was there,) yet repented not. — Our Lord proceeds : 

and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times 
of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 

So trodden under foot is she at this day ; but her restoration is promised, and 
glorious things are spoken of it, and of her.(_p) "If the casting away of them," 
exclaims the Apostle, " be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of 
them be, but life from the dead?"(<z) In the meanwhile, a fixed period of time, 
known only in the deep counsels of God, (" the times of the Gentiles," as it is here 
called,) must elapse: concerning which remarkable expression, consider such places 
as the following : — St. John ii. 4 : vii. 6, 8 : xiii. 1 : xvii. 1. Acts i. 7 : xvii. 26. 
Gal. iv. 4. Eph. i. 9. 1 Tim. ii. 6: vi. 15. Rev. ix. 15. 

The clew of Heaven, which at first was on the fleece alone, (the little flock of 
Israel,) while it was " dry upon all the earth," hath been transferred, in turn, to the 
nations of the Earth. God hath said, in Gideon's words, " let it now be dry only 
upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew :"(r) and it is so. "Blind- 
ness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in ;"(s) 
but when " the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled," the dew of Heaven shall refresh 
all the Earth, " and there shall be one fold, and One Shepherd." (t) 

But our attention is invited to "the signs" which shall precede the coming of the 
great Day. 

25, 26, 27 And there shall be signs in the Sun, and in the Moon, 
and in the Stars ; and upon the Earth distress of nations, with perplex- 
ity ; the sea and the waves roaring ; men's hearts failing them for fear, 
and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth : for 
the powers of Heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the 
Son of Man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory. 

St. Luke is more full and particular in the two former verses, than either of the 
other Evangelists. Concerning what precedes, see the notes on St. Matthew xxiv. 
29, 30 : and observe how parallel are not only the two great events which form the 
subject of our Lord's prophecy, (u) but also the signs which were to precede the 

(I) St. Luke xxiii. 29. (m) Churton. (») Hosea iii. 4. 

(o) Amos ix. 9. (p) Isaiah lx. 15 to 20. (q) Rom. xi. 15. 

(r) Judges vi. 37 to 40. (a) Romans xi. 25. 

h) St. John x. 16. The thought in the text is borrowed from Churton. 

(w) See the latter part of the note on St. Matthew xxiv. 26. 



XXI.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 587 

other. The remoter tokens, in both cases, are declared to "be false Christs and false 
prophets :{x) the nearer tokens, — fearful sights, and signs in Heaven. (y) 

28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and 
lift up your heads ; for your Redemption draweth nigh. 

Consider this place, and St. Matthew xxiv. 8, (where see the note,) in connection 
with the following : " "We know that the whole Creation groaneth and travaileth in 
pain together until now. And not only they, but .... even we ourselves groan 
within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit the Redemption of our body. ,; (s) 

29, 30, 31, 32, 33 And He spake to them a parable : Behold the 
fig tree, and all the trees ; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know 
of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, 
when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the Kingdom of 
God is nigh at hand. Yerily I say unto you, this generation shall not 
pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and Earth shall pass away : 
but My Words shall not pass away. 

With these verses, which are found very closely repeated in all the three Gos- 
pels,^) — (but notice that St. Luke adds, " and all the trees") — St. Luke takes leave 
of our Lord's reply to the twofold question with which the chapter commences ;(b) 
adding only certain words of general caution. There was the less need why this 
Evangelist should say anything about the "day and hour" of Christ's final Coin- 
ing,^) since he had not recorded the Disciples' inquiry concerning that event. See 
the notes on St. Matth. xxiv. 33 and 35, and especially on St. Mark xiii. 29, for 
some remarks on these verses. 

34, 35 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be 
overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, 
and so that Day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it 
come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 

Rather, "that sit on the face:" implying a state of carelessness and ease, un- 
conscious of its misery and unsuspicious of its danger. (d) 

^ The Reader is referred to some remarks in the latter part of the note on St. Mark 
xiii. 29. He will observe that what, in St. Matthew's Gospel, takes the form of a 
warning, derived from the conduct of the men before the Flood, — (" eating and 
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,")(e) — is here delivered as an exhorta- 
tion. "Lest," (says our Lord,) "your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and 
drunkenness, and cares of this life." 

36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted 
worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand 
before the Son of Man. 

" For "who may abide the Day of His coming? or who shall stand when He 
appeareth ?"(/) "Wherefore," (says the Apostle,) "take unto you the whole 
armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day ; and having done 
all, to stand :"(g) that is, to appear as those who are acquitted by their Judge. 

" The one great point to which our Lord is attracting notice throughout the 
whole of these warnings, is in some sense true of all generations of Christians, as 
well as it will be of the last : that their final day overtakes them unawares, not 

(x) Compare St. Matth. xxiv. 5 with ver. 24 of the same Chapter. 
(y) Compare ver. 11, with verse 25 and 26 of the present Chapter. 
(«) Rom. viii. 22, 23 : see also verses 18 to 21. 

(a) St. Matth. xxiv. 32 to 35 : St. Mark xiii. 28 to 31. 

(b) See the note on St. Matth. xxiv. 3. See also, above, — the note on verse 1. 

(c) See St. Matth. xxiv. 36, and St. Mark xiii. 32. 

(d) Consider Is. ix. 2, as quoted in St. Matth. iv. 16. (e) St. Matt. xxiv. 38. 
(/) Mai. iii. 2. Compare Nahum i. 6. Also Ezra ix. 15. Ps. i. 5, cxxx. 3. 

(g) Eph. vi. 13. 



588 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

from want of warnings, of which they have had great abundance ; but from want 
of attention, — their minds being occupied by worldly pursuits."^) 

Having thus finished his narrative of our Lord's great Prophecy, the Evangelist 
adds : 

37, 38 And in the day time He was teaching in the Temple ; and 
at night He went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount 
of Olives. 

And all the people came early in the morning to Him in the Temple, 
for to hear Him. 

Such is the Evangelist's brief record, and summary, of the manner in which 
these solemn days were spent! At night, our Lord's habit was to repair to the 
village of Bethany, — (the village of Lazarus and his sisters,) — which was about 
two miles from Jerusalem : but first, He seems to have frequented the Garden of 
Gethsemane, situate at the foot of the Mount of Olives ; where, lighted by the 
Paschal moon, He spent the earlier hours of the night in the company of His 
Disciples, (i) 



CHAPTER XXII 



1 The Jews conspire against Christ. 3 Satan prepareth Judas to betray Him. 7 
The Apostles prepare the Passover. 19 Christ instituteth His Holy Supper, 21 
covertly foretelleth of the Traitor, 24 dehorteth the rest of His Apostles from ambi- 
tion, 31 assureth Peter his faith should not fail: 34 and yet he should deny Him 
thrice. 39 He prayeth in the mount, and sweateth blood, 47 is betrayed with a 
kiss: 50 He healeth Malchus' ear. 54 He is thrice denied of Peter, 63 shamefully 
abused, 66 and confesseth Himself to be the Son of God. 

1, 2 Now the Feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called 
the Passover. And the chief Priests and Scribes sought how they 
might kill Him ; for they feared the people. 

It was now the "Wednesday in Passover week. It therefore wanted "two days" 
of the Feast, as we learn from the earlier Gospels, — where some remarks have been 
offered on the preceding verses, to which it must suffice to refer the reader. (a) Our 
Lord had withdrawn from Jerusalem to Bethany on the evening of this day, and a 
brief period of rest is thus interposed between the terrible events which are imme- 
diately to follow. In the meantime, His enemies are intent on nothing less than 
His death ; and are seeking for some means of effecting their wicked purpose " by 
craft,"(&) — not daring to apprehend Him openly, and on the Feast Lay. All this, 



(h) Williams. (i) See the note on St. Matth. xxi. 17. 

(a) See the notes on St. Matth. xxvi. 1 to 5. Also St. Mark xiv. 1, 2, with the note prefixed 
to those verses. (&) St. Matth. xxvi. 4: St. Mark xiv. 1. 



XXII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 589 

which St. Matthew and St. Mark explain at length, St. Luke omits ; contenting 
himself with assigning the reason of their conduct, — namely, "for they feared the 
people." It is clear from verse 6, below, that this is the meaning of the present 
Evangelist's briefer record. 

3 Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the 
number of the Twelve. 

The word " then," in this place, does not relate to time. In fact, the period when 
" Satan entered into Judas/' is not specified by St. Luke, at all ; but it is carefully 
marked by the two Evangelists who wrote before him, (especially by St. Matthew, )(c) 
as the period of the Supper at Bethany, on the evening of the Sabbath previous. (d) 
Take notice however that St. Luke supplies what the others omit, — namely, the 
remarkable statement that it was "Satan" who "entered into" the Traitor, before 
the commission of his crime. 

And this circumstance suggests the remark, that among the points of difference 
between the Bible and every other Book, not least striking is the fact that here, and 
here only, is the veil removed from Creation, and the true cause of an event as- 
signed. Does a dumb creature refuse to proceed on its journey? It was because 
it " saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his 
hand."(e) Is Elisha secure amid the hosts of Syria? The Lord opened the eyes 
of his servant, "and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and 
chariots of fire round about." (f) Does Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah prophesy 
falsely ? A lying Spirit had gone forth from the Lord, and spoke by his lips. (g) 
Does David offend God by numbering the people ? It was at Satan's suggestion 
that he offended. (h) And does Disease in consequence ravage Jerusalem ? It was 
the work of the Angel of the Lord.(i') So again, — Has a woman been bowed 
together for eighteen years ? lo, Satan hath bound her throughout all that long 
period.(/v) Is the surface of a pool ruffled, and a healing virtue straightway com- 
municated to its waters ? It was once more the work of an Angel, " which went 
down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water."(Z) The agent on 
the present occasion was none other than Satan himself, — the chief of the fallen 
Angels, and the great Enemy of the Second Adam. Judas was possessed by him. 

4, 5, 6 And he went his way, and communed with the chief Priests 
and Captains, how he might betray Him unto them. And they were 
glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and 
sought opportunity to betray Him unto them in the absence of the 
multitude. 

Such then was the accursed work of Judas on the Wednesday of Holy Week, — 
and Wednesday has evermore preserved the impress of his crime, and partaken in 
the solemn observance of Fridav. For some remarks on this subject, see the notes 
on St. Matth. xxvi. 15, 16, and'St. Mark xiv. 11. 

7, 8 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover 
must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare 
us the Passover, that we may eat. 

The beginning of the 14th day of the month Nisan, is spoken of. This may- 
have been either the evening of Wednesday or the morning of Thursday ; but it 
was most probably the former. St. Luke alone it is who mentions the names of 
the favoured pair of Disciples who were sent from Bethany to Jerusalem on this 
great errand, — the same, it may well be thought, whom our Saviour had sent on a 
former occasion to bring Him the ass and the ass-colt on which He made His 
triumphant entry into His Capital.(ra) 

(c) St. Matth. xxvi. 14. (d) See the note on St. Matth. xxvi. 5. 

(e) Numb. xxii. 23. (/) 2 Kings vi. 17. (g) 1 Kings xxii. 21, 22. 

(h) 1 Chron. xxi. 1. Compare 2 Sam. xxiv. 1. (*) 1 Chron. xxi. 15, 16. 

(k) St. Luke xiii. 16. (I) St. John v. 4. 

(to) See St. Matth. xxi. 1 to 3, &c. St. Mark xi. 1 to 6, &c. (where see the notes,) St. Luke 
xix. 29 to 34. 



590 A PLAIN COMMENTAEY [CHAP. 

9 And they said unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we prepare ? 

10, 11, 12 And He said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered 
into the City, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water ; 
follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto 
the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the 
guest-chamber, where I shall eat the passover with My Disciples ? And 
Ee shall show you a large upper room furnished : there make ready. 

All this has a most mysterious air ; and the suspicion is unavoidable that there 
must be more in the narrative than meets the eye. Why did our Lord give the 
Disciples a sign whereby they should know the House in which it was His divine 
pleasure to eat His last Passover ; instead of telling them the name of the owner of 
the House ? and further, — What meaning may be supposed to attach to the peculiar 
sign He gave them, of one bearing water? Our reply to both of these questions 
may well be brief, since conjecture on such a subject is all that can be offered. 

It seems not unlikely, then, that one great purpose of the Divine directions which 
St. Peter and St. John now received, was to impress the minds of those Disciples, 
(and through them, the minds of all the rest,) with the dignity and solemnity of the 
errand on which they were now sent : to awaken the attention of all, to this Paschal 
Supper, as unlike those former three of which they had been partakers with their 
Lord, — not only in its actual progress, but also in the very circumstances of its 
preparation. Next, to convince them at once of His own Divine Foreknowledge, 
and Almighty Power : Foreknowledge, — since He was able to describe what should 
befall them; and Power, — since He was about to show them how mysteriously, 
(according to His ancient Name,)(n) He could "provide." The hearts of men are 
in His Hands, and the Human Will becomes obedient at His bidding ; while the 
" large upper room" proves furnished and prepared, when His mysterious necessity 
makes itself felt. 

As for the particular sign, — it shall suffice to remind the reader of the many oc- 
casions when singular mercies are described in Scripture as having befallen men 
in connection with that element which our Saviour consecrated to the mystical 
washing away of Sin. Thus an Angel found Hagar at the well Lahai-roi,(o) (the 
first instance of Angelic ministration on record ;) — and near the same well, liebekah 
met Isaac.(p) For the second time, at a well of water, the Angel found Hagar ;{q) 
and Eliezer met Rebekah ;(r) and Jacob met Rachel ;(s) and Moses met Zippo- 
rah.(0 By a well, also, our Lord revealed Himself to the Woman of Samaria, (u) — 
Whether we are right in connecting these many incidents with the event recorded 
in the text, can only be matter of conjecture : but it is hard to resist the suspicion 
that there exists some secret affinity between them ; and it shall suffice to have 
thrown out the hint, in this place. — The reader may further be reminded how, 
almost 1900 years before, one bearing a pitcher of water proved a sign to the ser- 
vant of Isaac ;(x) at a time also, when that eminent type of Christ was about to 
take to himself his Bride, — as in truth our Saviour Christ was now. — On the pre- 
ceding verses the reader is requested further to refer to the commentary on St. 
Matthew xxvi. 17 and 19. 

13 And they went, and found as He had said unto them : and they 
made ready the Passover. 

14 And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the Twelve 
Apostles with Him. 

When the hour of evening had arrived, the Son of Man, attended by the Twelve, 
proceeded from Bethany to the place of entertainment so mysteriously provided for 
their reception. What first occurred is related by St. Luke alone, in the four verses 
which follow : — 

(»") Gen. xxii. 14, — see the margin. (o) Gen. xvi. 7, 14. 

(p) Gen. xxiv. 62, 63. (q) Gen. xxi. 19. 

(r) Gen. xxiv. 11 to 20. (s) Gen. xxix. 2 to 10. (t) Exod. ii. 15 to 17. 

(u) St. John iv. 6. [x) Gen. xxiv. 14, 15, and 43 to 45. 



XXII.] 



on st. luke's gospel. 591 



15 And He said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this 
Passover with you before I suffer : 

" Very vehement desire is on no other occasion attributed to our Lord, either by 
Himself or others. So great was this occasion, when, before He left His Disciples, 
He had to give to them the New Covenant of His Body and Blood."(y) 

16 for I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be 
fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. 

The Passover was " fulfilled in the Kingdom of God" when He, the true Paschal 
Lamb, was offered on the bitter Cross. (z) "The Kingdom of God/' — which in one 
sense had come already, (a) and which, in the highest sense of all, is yet to come,(&) 
— that Kingdom would then in a special manner have arrived ; for the Veil of the 
Temple having been rent in twain, the shadows of the Law would have departed, 
and the substance would have been at length revealed. Christ " came not to de- 
destroy, but to fulfill, — as He Himself declared ;(c) and the fulfillment of the Pass- 
over, which was to take place on the morrow, was the prime end of His Coming. 

" Until/' in this place, has the same meaning as in St. Matthew i. 25, and else- 
where, (d) Our Saviour's words obviously imply that He will never partake of the 
Paschal Supper any more. 

17, 18 And He took the cup, ,and gave thanks, and said, Take this, 
and divide it among yourselves : for I say unto you, I will not drink 
of the fruit of the Vine, until the Kingdom of God shall come. 

Rather, — "And He took a cup:" for this cup of wine mingled with water was 
one which was drunk by the ancient Jews before the celebration of the Paschal 
Supper. It has been called "the Cup of the Old Testament;" and is evidently a 
thing apart from that "cup after Supper" which our Saviour converted into the 
Sacrament of His most precious Blood. See what has been already offered on this 
subject, and on the method observed at the Paschal Supper generally, in the note 
on St. Mark xiv. 21. 

Two things are here to be noticed : first, that from the language of our Blessed 
Lord in verses 17, 18, it would appear that He denied Himself the refreshment of 
the Cup on the occasion of this, His last Supper. And next, it will be perceived 
that our Saviour, (in verse 18,) varies the phrase which He used above, in ver. 16. 
The reason is obvious. The Wine which was drunk at the Paschal Supper, sym- 
bolized no spiritual Blessing: there could be no "fulfillment" therefore, here, as 
in the case of the Paschal Lamb. The words — "I will drink no more of the fruit 
of the Vine till the Kingdom of God shall come," — may be compared, and their 
meaning safely gathered, from our Lord's declaration with respect to " the Cup of 
Blessing;" namely, that He "would drink no more of the fruit of the Vine, until 
the day when He should drink it new with His Disciples in the Kingdom of 
God :"(<?) concerning which words, the reader is referred to an earlier part of the 
present Commentary. (/) 

And now, the Paschal Supper was actually proceeding, as St. Matthew and St. 
Mark are careful to inform us.(^). 

19 And He took Bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave 
unto them, saying, This is My Body which is given for you : this do in 
remembrance of Me. 

Which loving command, "to continue a perpetual memory of that His precious 
Death until His coming again," — the Church pleads evermore at the celebration of 
the Lord's Supper. 

(y) Williams. (z) See the note on St. John i. 29. Also on St. Matth. v. 17. 

(a) See the note on St. Matth. xvi. 28, and especially the note on St. Luke ix. 27 : also, on 
St. Luke xvii. 20, 21. Consider St. Matth. xi. 12, St. Luke xi. 20, &c. 

(b) See St. Matthew vi. 10, St. Luke xiii. 28, Ac. (<0 St. Matth. v. 17. 

(d) Besides the note on St. Matthew i. 25, see on St. Matthew xviii. 34 ; and the last para- 
graph of the Commentary on St. Matthew. 

(e) St. Matth. xxvi. 29 : St. Mark xiv. 25. (/) See the note on St. Matth. xxvi. 29. 
(g) St. Matth. xxvi. 26 : St. Mark xiv. 22. 



592 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

St. Luke, in his account of the Institution of this great Sacrament, is thought to 
have followed closely in the footsteps of St. Paul, — who declares that he received 
his account of the first Lord's Supper from the Lord Himself. " For I have re- 
ceived of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the 
same night in which He was betrayed, took bread : and when He had given thanks, 
He brake it, and said, Take, eat : this is My Body, which is broken for you : this 
do in remembrance of Me." (7*) Here was "not a typical or prefigurative rite, 
therefore, but commemorative, as St. Paul himself explains it : ' for as often as ye 
eat this Bread, and drink this Cup, ye do show the Lord's Death till He come.' "(i) 
— But the reader must be requested to examine what has been already offered on 
this great subject in the Commentary on the two earlier Gospels. (k) 

What interval of time may have elapsed between the appointment of the Bread 
in the Holy Eucharist, and the consecration of the Wine to the same great mystery, 
does not appear. But that the Paschal Supper was now ended, is clear from the 
form of words in which both St. Paul and his companion in travel, St. Luke, de- 
scribe that part of the Institution. As it follows : 

20 Likewise also the Cup after Supper, saying, This Cup is the 
New Testament in My Blood, which is shed for you. 

" ' Likewise/ — for if these two were not connected together by the time of their 
appointment, yet there was something, either in the marked and emphatic manner 
of our Lord, or some other circumstance, that distinguished these two actions be- 
yond all the other transactions of that memorable eveniug ; drawing them out, and 
putting them forth together, as the two cardinal ordinances of which the Old Dis- 
pensation spoke in type and figure/'^) Once more, however, it must suffice to refer 
to what has been already offered on this subject. (m) 

" The New Testament" (or " Covenant") " in My blood," — is said with reference 
to the words used by Moses concerning the Elder Covenant : " This is the Blood of 
the Testament which God hath enjoined unto you,"(«) — as St. Paul quotes the lan- 
guage of Exodus xxiv. 8. " For where a Testament is, there must also of necessity 

be the death of the testator Whereupon neither the first testament was 

dedicated without blood and without shedding of blood is no remission." 

. . . . Now, " if the blood of bulls and of goats .... sanctifieth to the purifying 
of the flesh ; how much more shall the Blood of Christ, who through the Eternal 
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works 
to serve the living God !"(o) — See more, in the first note on St. Matthew xxvi. 28. 

Thus then hath "Wisdom builded her House," and "mingled her Wine," and 
"furnished her Table." " Come," saith she, "Eat of My Bread, and drink of the 
Wine which I have mingled."(j>) — Thus was the great Sacrament of Christ's Body 
and Blood instituted: and who can fail to be struck with the brevity of the record? 
How many words do we waste on trifles ; and on this, the grandest of all occasions, 
how few and simple are the words spoken ! — words which have nevertheless filled 
the Church with divisions, and occasioned endless strife and debate, although con- 
veying the most precious legacy of Love. Yet has not this, in great measure, pro- 
ceeded from carnal curiosity ; which seeks to reason and dispute, where God has 
rather willed that men should believe and adore ? The reader is referred on this 
subject to the famous language of Hooker quoted in the Commentary on the latter 
part of St. Matthew xxvi. 28. 

The Divine Author of this blessed mystery is straightway found to renew the 
awful declaration which He had made while the Paschal Supper was yet pro- 
ceeding.^) 

21, 22 But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me 
on the table. And truly the Son of Man goeth, as it was determined : 
but woe unto that man by whom He is betrayed ! 

On this terrible announcement, see the note on St. Matthew xxvi. 24. Some 

(h) 1 Cor. xi. 23, 24. (0 Williams, quoting 1 Cor. xi. 26. 

(k) See all the notes on St. Matth. xxvi. 26, and on St. Mark xiv. 22. (I) Williams. 

(m) See all the notes on St. Matth. xxvi. 27, 28, and on St. Mark xiv. 23, 24. 

(«) Heb. ix. 20. (o) Heb. ix. 16, 18, 22, 13, 14. 

(p) Prov. ix. 1 to 5. (q) St. Matth. xxvi. 21 to 25, and St. Mark xiv. 18 to 21. 



XXII.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 593 



remarks will be found elsewhere offered on the extraordinary circumstance that 
although our Saviour, at an earlier stage of the Last Supper, not only announced 
the presence of the Traitor with Him at the Table, but even gave a sign whereby 
it might be known which was he ; nor only so, but in reply to a question addressed 
to Him by Judas, further proceeded to reveal the Traitor to himself ;(r) it should 
be found that by no one of those present, except Judas himself, was this last inti- 
mation understood, (s) Our Saviour therefore repeats, but in a more solemn man- 
ner, His former warning : whereupon, strange to say, it is added concerning the 
Twelve Apostles, — 

23 And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it 
was that should do this thing. 

The remarks which have been already offered on a similar passage of St. Mat- 
thew's Gospel are so applicable here, that the reader is requested to refer to the 
Commentary on the earlier Evangelist.^) — Strange as to us it may appear, eleven 
of the Apostles, in their guileless love, and simplicity of character, find it impossi- 
ble to realize the notion of such villany as our Lord foretold, and as one of their 
number was actually contemplating. — To know what happened next, we should 
probably read St. John xiii. 22 to 30, — from which it will be perceived that at this 
juncture, Judas Iscariot, (" Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did 
eat of Mij Bread !")(u) left the table and went forth on his accursed errand. — It 
follows : 

24 And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be 
accounted the greatest. 

A sufficient proof by the way, that no superiority over the other Apostles had 
been yet bestowed upon Simon. Consider what has been said on this subject in the 
note on St. Matthew xvi. 19. It is not very evident what should have led to con- 
tention on such a subject at such a time ; and perhaps this is one of those places 
where the connecting link has been withheld by the Evangelist. The train of 
thought may be other than can be gathered from the perusal of a single Gospel. 

25 And He said unto them, The Kings of the Gentiles exercise lord- 
ship over them ; and they that exercise authority upon them are called 
Benefactors. 

As if He had said, — "You are right in supposing that you are on the point of 
being established in My Spiritual Kingdom over the World, in order to do good to 
Mankind : but think not that from the benefits you shall confer on the World, you 
are to bring any honour or credit upon yourselves ; for My Kingdom is of a far 
different character." (a;) — "The Kings of the Gentiles," (says our Saviour,) "lord 
it over them ; and their oppressors are called 'Benefactors:'" alluding at once to 
the well-known course followed, and to the well-known title assumed, by many of 
the heathen Sovereigns of Antiquity ; who, while laying claim to an appellation 
which implied that they enjoyed the love of a grateful people, were observed to be 
guilty of a tyrannical exercise of an absolute power. 

26 But ye shall not be so : but he that is greatest among you, let 
him be as the younger ; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. 

" The Nobles, and Princes, and Judges of Christ's Kingdom, were to be formed 
on the type and model of Him, who being in the form of God took on Him the form 
of a servant.'Xy) 

27 For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that 
serveth ? is not he that sitteth at meat ? but I am among you as he that 
serveth. 

(r) St. Matth. xxvi. 25. 

(s) See the note on St. John xiii. 29. See also, on St. Matth. xxvi. 22. 
(*) See the note on St. Matth. xxvi. 22. («) Ps. xli. 9. 

(x) Williams. (y) Dr. W. H. Mill,— quoting Phil. ii. 6, 7. 

38 



594 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Words, of which we should not have suspected the full force and significancy, but 
for the express record which St. John's Gospel supplies of our Saviour's gracious 
condescension in washing the Disciples' feet on this occasion.^) 

It will he remembered that sayings very much resembling these, have been met 
with already. It was with such measured language of reproof that our Saviour 
addressed the Ten, when He beheld them "moved with indignation" against James 
and John, at the request of those two brethren that they might be permitted to 
occupy the two places of highest honour in His Kingdom. (a) "But on this occa- 
sion, He takes pains not only to repeat the words, but by that expressive action to 
engrave, — as it were by the finger of the Holt Ghost, — that lesson on their heart : 
for those expressions in St. Matthew and St. Mark, as well as these now in St. Luke, 
seem like comments on that which had just before taken place."(6) 

28, 29, 30 Ye are they which have continued with Me in My tempta- 
tions. And I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as My Father hath ap- 
pointed unto Me ; that ye may eat and drink at My Table in My King- 
dom, and sit on thrones, judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel. 

"In this sentence," (says Dr. Mill,) " our Lord describes the highest honours of 
that Kingdom which, in the verses preceding, He had distinguished from all others 
founded by man."(c) "There is hardly any passage in the Scriptures," (observes 
an excellent living writer) (d) "in which the high and glorious estate of the Church, 
the personal feebleness and insufficiency of those who are called its pillars, and the 
true secret of its strength and glory, are more strikingly exhibited," than in the 
seven preceding verses. 

" Ye which have followed Me," (said our Lord to Simon Peter, on a previous oc- 
casion,) — " in the Regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of His 
Glory, ye also shall sit upon Twelve Thrones, judging the Twelve Tribes of 
Israel."(e) The two places closely resemble each other ; but the points of difference 
are very significant and striking. Thus, the nearer approach of Christ's Kingdom 
may have suggested the distinct allusion to it by name, in this place ; while it seems 
impossible not to connect the promise that the Disciples should " eat and drink at 
the Lord's Table, in His Kingdom," with the recent institution of the Blessed 
Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood.(/) It will be observed, further, that there 
is no mention here of Twelve Thrones, — as in the other place referred to. 

31, 32 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath de- 
sired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat : but I have prayed for 
thee, that thy faith fail not : 

Satan had earnestly desired to get them into his power: ("you," not "thee:") he 
was "seeking to devour" them all : (that phrase, observe, is St. Peter's own:) but 
especially did the Enemy of Souls desire to have St. Peter. Hence, our Lord adds, 
— " But I have prayed for thee." And who may describe the power of that prayer ? 
It was not, however, a prayer that Simon might not fall; (for fall he did, and that 
grievously ;) but that his faith might not eventually fail him. 

How striking a revelation, by the way, of what had been taking place in that 
darkest place of the Realm of Darkness, (the heart of Satan,) for the last three 
years ! He had longed beyond all things to deal with the Twelve violently and mer- 
cilessly, — exposing them to sharp and sudden trials, (even as when he had to do 
with the patriarch Job ;) (g) — so, in short, to deal with them, as the husbandman 

(g) St. John xiii. 1 to 15. 

(a) St. Matth. xx. 25 to 28, and St. Mark x. 42 to 45, — where see the notes. 

(&) Williams. 

(c) Contrast this, with the four Empires which had gone before it: Dan. ii. 31 to 35, and 38 
to 40 : also 44, 45. 

(d) Dr. Moberly. (e) St. Matth. xix. 28, — where see the notes. 
(/) Compare and consider St. Luke xiii. 26. 

(g) See Job i. 15, 16, 17, 18, — while one messenger "was yet speaking" the bearer of fresh 
evil tidings coming in. 



XXII.] 



on st. luke's gospel. 595 



deals with a sieve of mingled wheat and chaff! For Satan is at once a Serpent and 
a Lion ; a Serpent in craft, — a Lion in assault. (h) 

And let not the beauty of the present saying be overlooked : still less let it be sus- 
pected that since the object of " sifting" is the purification of the good, the image 
which our Saviour has here employed is inappropriate. Satan does indeed sift in 
order to destroy, — in order that nothing may be preserved which can possibly be 
scattered and caused to perish. On the other hand, he does no more harm than 
God is graciously pleased to permit: nor (what is especially to be noted,) when he 
rages most fiercely, can he do more than sift the Disciples. The chaff is indeed 
reserved for the burning ; and that which is chaff, Satan causes straightway to 
appear: but the wheat will the Heavenly Husbandman gather into His garner,(i) 
— purified by affliction, and rendered more precious by the fiery trial through which 
it has been made to pass. These words are therefore found to convey a message of 
comfort and assurance to all. — Our Saviour adds : 

and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 

The phrase "when thou art converted," is apt to convey a very wrong impression 
to an English reader ; and yet it cannot perhaps be mended. The popular sense of 
the term " Conversion," be it however observed, is as much excluded here, as in 
chap. xvii. 4, — where the same word recurs ; though it is there translated " turn/' 
instead of " be converted." Our Lord is in fact here giving St. Peter an indirect 
hint of that desertion and denial, which, in ver. 34, He foretells more distinctly. 

" Strengthen thy brethren." What is this but the command, — " Feed My 
Sheep ?"(&) Now, this was to be when St. Peter was "converted:" which seems 
to mean after his fall, and subsequent recovery, — when it is to be supposed that he 
became an altered man.(Z) And such, in truth, his Epistles prove him to have be- 
come : for, contrast the impetuous protestations of ver. 33, and again of St. Mark 
xiv. 29, 31, with those words of counsel which he afterwards delivered to the Church, 
— "give an answer . . . with Meekness and Fear;" and — " Be clothed with Hu- 
mility."^) — Notice, lastly, that the Divine purpose with which strength is im- 
parted, is the confirmation of the weak brother : according to that of the Psalmist, 
— "0 give me the comfort of Thy help again, and establish me with Thy free 
Spirit ; then shall I teach Thy ways unto the wicked." (n) 

The resemblance of part of the verse under consideration, and that which follows, 
to the Greek version of 2 Samuel xv. 20, 21, is extraordinary. 

33, 34 And he said unto Him, Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, 
both into prison, and to death. And He said, I tell thee, Peter, the 
cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that 
thou knowest Me. 

Thus does the Holy One for the first time predict that Simon will deny Him.(o) 
It is remarkable that on this occasion, (and on no other,) our Saviour should be re- 
lated to have addressed Simon by his name of Strength, — Peter.(p) 

35 And He said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and 
scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing ? And they said, Nothing. 

He alludes to the mysterious charge which He had given to the Twelve, (q) and 
again repeated to the Seventy :(r) as if He had said, — When I bade you provide 
yourselves with no human aids, did ye not find My words come true that neither 
would ye require any ? 

36 Then said He unto them, Eut now, he that hath a purse, let him 

(h) This was a favourite remark of Augustine. It occurs five times in the course of his 
writings. Hence the language of our Litany, — "From Sin, from the crafts and assaults of the 
Devil," &g. 

(i) St Matth. iii. 12, where see the notes. (k) St. John xxi. 15, 16, 17. 

(I) See the note on St. Matth. xxvi. 75. (m) 1 St. Peter iii. 15 : v. 5. 

(n) Ps. li. 12, 13. Compare also the language of 2 Cor. i. 3, 4. 

(o) For the second prophecy, see St. Matth. xxvi. 33, 34, — and the note there. 

(p) See St. Matth. xvi. 18. (q) St. Matth. x. 9, 10. (r) St. Luke x. 4. 



596 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

take it, and likewise his scrip : and he that hath no sword, let him sell 
his garment, and buy one. 

Rather, — " and he that not [a purse,] let him sell his garment, and [therewith] 
buy a sword." "Words which it is obvious to us are purely symbolical, and will 
admit of none but an allegorical interpretation. They do but imply that a season 
of exceeding trial was at hand ; when the lives of the Apostles would be endan- 
gered, and when every other personal concern would be swallowed up by the need 
of providing for the preservation of life. 

The Blessed Speaker proceeds to give the reason why every means, at once of 
support and defence, would henceforth be needed by His Disciples. The time was 
at hand when He, whose presence had so long been their protection, would be with- 
drawn from them ; nor only so, but by the Death He should die, He would leave 
them a legacy of shame and reproach. As it follows : 

37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be -accom- 
plished in Me. And He was reckoned among the transgressors : for 
the things concerning Me have an end. 

Our Saviour quotes certain well-known words of Prophecy, (s) as still requiring 
fulfillment ; (for that is the meaning of the expression "have an end;") and take 
notice that St. Mark points out how, on the morrow, "the Scripture loas fulfilled, 
which saith, ' And He was numbered with the transgressors/ "(f) 

The citation of such a prophecy at such a time may, to some readers, seem 
strange : and it may be well that readers of every class should be reminded how fre- 
quent are the appeals to ancient prophecy, — (whether in the way of direct quota- 
tion, or indirect allusion,) — throughout this, the concluding scene of our Lord's 
earthly Ministry. (u) The reason of those references is obvious. Like a wise 
Master-Builder, the Author of our most holy Faith was careful, before He departed 
out of the World, to neglect no part of that foundation on which the Spiritual fabric 
of His Church was presently to rise. For take notice that the fulfillment of Pro- 
phecy in our Lord's person, — not the reality of His Miracles, — was the evidence on 
which the Apostles rested their proof that Christianity was a Revelation sent from 
God. " The invariable purport of all their arguments, the end which they kept 
before them, in whatever they said or wrote, was to prove that the subject of all the 
various prophecies with which the Old Testament Scriptures were filled, was the 
Gospel which they preached ; and, so far as appears, this only it was which the 
Jews denied."^*) 

Our Lord had been warning His Disciples therefore of the need they would ex- 
perience of every means of defence : 

38 And they said, Lord, behold here are two swords. And He said 
unto them, It is enough. 

Observe how literally these holy men understood our Saviour's words. (y) Two 
of their number, (St. Peter was certainly one \(z) and what if St. John were the 
other?) show that they have provided themselves each with a weapon: but of what 
avail would " two swords" have been, had a contest ensued ? Clearly of none. "It 

(s) Isaiah liii. 12. (t) St. Mark xv. 28. 

(«) The reader will do well to verify the following references: — St. Matth. xxvi. 28. (alluding 
to Ex. xxiv. 8 :) — 31, (quoting Zech. xiii. 7:) — 38, (alluding to Ps. xlii. 5 : — 54, (alluding to such 
places as Is. liii. 7, &c :) — 56, (referring generally to all that now took place :) — 64, (alluding to 
Dan. vii. 13 :) — xxvii. 9, (quoting Zech. xii. 12:) — 34, (alluding to Ps. lxix. 21 :) — 43, (quoting 
Ps. xxii. 8:) — 46, (quoting Ps. xxii. 1:) — St. Mark xv. 28, (quoting Is. liii. 12 :) St. Luke xxii. 
37, (quoting the same prophecy :) — 69, (alluding to Dan. vii. 13 :) xxiii. 30, (quoting Hos. x. 8 :) — 
34, 35, (alluding to Ps. xxii. 7 :) — 46, (quoting Ps. xxxi. 6 :) St. John xiii. 18, 19, (quoting Ps. 
xli. 9:) xix. 24, (quoting Ps. xxii. 18:) — 28, (alluding to Ps. lxix. 21:) — 36, (quoting Exod. xii. 
46, or Numb. ix. 12, and Ps. xxxiv. 20 :) — 37, (quoting Zech. xii. 10 :) and there may be a few 
more places. 

(x) Dean Lyall. — " To Him give all the Prophets witness," said St. Peter, when " he preached 
Christ to Cornelius and his company." Acts x. 43. See St. Luke xxiv. 25, 26; and the note 
there. 

(y) Consider the evidences of this disposition on the part of the Apostles supplied by St. 
Matth. xvi. 5 to 12. St. John xi. 13 : xxi. 23, &c. 

(z) For see St. John xviii. 10. 



XXII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 597 

is enough," however, says our Lord! thereby plainly showing how different a mean- 
ing from what they supposed, His divine words were intended to convey. By that 
exclamation He simply puts the subject aside for the moment ; leaving to the events 
of that terrible night, to discover His real meaning.(a) 

The Paschal Supper having been concluded with the customary Hymn, (6) there 
followed that long and affecting discourse which " the disciple whom Jesus loved" 
has alone recorded ;(c) and the blessed company, eleven Apostles and their Lord, 
(for Judas, after receiving the Holy Eucharist, had left the Table, )(d) moving slowly 
through the moon-lit streets of Jerusalem, at last left the city by the gate which led 
to the Mount of Olives. 

39 And He came out, and went, as He was wont, to the Mount of 
Olives ; and His Disciples also followed Him. 

After descending a slight declivity, they crossed the brook Kidron, and again 
ascending, made their way towards the retired spot which was to be the scene of 
our Saviour's mysterious Agony : but as they went, He is found to have prophesied 
St. Peter's denial, and the cowardice of all.(e) 

" Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane:(y) where was 
a Garden, into the which He entered, and His Disciples." (g) Thus was a Garden 
made the scene of our Saviour's Passion, as it was the place where He made His 
Grave \{h) and thus, the curse which was entailed on our race in a Garden, by the 
first Adam, was there also, by the second Adam, undone. 

40 And when He was at the place, He said unto them, Pray that ye 
enter not into temptation. 

These words do not seem to have been addressed to all the Eleven : but only to 
those three Disciples, — ("Peter and James and John,") — whom our Saviour se- 
lected out of the entire number to be the witnesses, or rather to be the companions, 
of His greatest Agony. To the rest He said on first entering the Garden, "Sit ye 
here, while I go and pray yonder :"(i) but to these, He appears to have spoken the 
words of the text, after withdrawing with them to a more retired part of the Garden. 
There, — " sore amazed and very heavy," — He is found to have added, " My soul is 
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me."(&) — 
Concerning such passages, we know not how to speak. The reader is, however, re- 
ferred to the notes on the earlier Gospels. (I) 

41, 42 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and 
kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove 
this cup from Me : nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done. 

The two earlier Gospels here discover to us our Blessed Redeemer as " fallen on 
His face" "to the ground,"(m) while He poured forth these mysterious words of 
resignation to the Father's Will. — " I seek not Mine own Will," (said He on another 
occasion,) " but the Will of the Father which hath sent Me."(rc) 

And here, it is obvious to remark how completely the text establishes the exist- 
ence of a Human, as distinct from a Divine Will, in the one Person of our Saviour 
Christ, — " Very God, and Very Man." Not that it is here implied that His own 
"Will" was at variance with the Will of the Eternal Father: but the very instincts 
of Humanity cause us to shrink from Agony ; and here was Agony the sharpest that 
had ever been endured by any of the sons of Adam. See the note on St. Matthew 
xxvi. 42. 

''The expression 'Not My Will, but Thine, be done/ uttered with respect to that 
which would then only become sinful if followed in preference to the Divine Will, 

(a) Consider below, ver. 49 to 51. St. Matth. xxvi, 51 to 53. St. Joan xviii. 10, 11; and, 
not least of all, 36. 

(b) See St. Matth. xxvi. 30, and the note there. (c) St. John xv. xvi. xvii. 

(d) See the conclusion of the note on ver. 23, above. 

(e) See St. Matth. xxvi 31 to 35. (/) St. Matth. xxvi. 36. (g) St John xviii. 1. 
(h) St. John xix. 41. (i) St. Matth. xxvi. 36. 

[k) St. Matth. xxvi. 38 : St. Mark xiv. 33. 

[I) See the notes on St. Matth. xxvi. 37 and 38. Also on St. Mark xiv. 34. 

(m) St. Matth. xxvi. 39 : St. Mark xiv. 35. (») St. John v. 30. 



598 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

may inform us where mere Temptation ends, and where Sin (which in our Lord 
had not the remotest place) begins. And may we not conceive also that the more 
acute apprehension of things which the perfect contexture of His Humanity brought 
with it, — the keener sense of pain and distress, as well as of other's ingratitude and 
treachery, which His sinless soul entertained, — might give a sharper edge to this 
description of trial in Him ; and far more than counterbalance, in respect of hard- 
ness of endurance, that which less holy and duller spirits have to encounter from 
what in Him had no place, — the remnants of native corruption, and ill desires im- 
perfectly mortified V (o) — These valuable remarks prepare us for the memorable 
statement which follows, and which exhibits to us the Lord of Angels sustained in 
His hour of mysterious extremity by one of His own creatures. 

43 And there appeared an Angel unto Him from Heaven, strength- 
ening Him. 

" In such infinite condescension did He deign as Man to suffer agony, and in that 
suffering to receive support from one of His own creatures, who was made and who 
lived by the breath of His mouth. "(p) 

Consider the comment of the Spirit on this mysterious transaction. After men- 
tioning our Redeemer's " strong crying," — and noticing a circumstance nowhere 
else recorded, namely the precious " tears" of Christ, — St. Paul, (who derived his 
Gospel by immediate revelation from GoB,)(q) declares, — He "was heard, — in that 
He feared." (r) .... It seems to be implied that He was " heard" by this sending 
of the Angel; whose appearance, (says Theophylact,) is recorded for our sakes, to 
teach us the efficacy of Prayer.(s) But the precise occasion of " Fear," in the case 
of our Blessed Lord, seems too awful a matter for the speculations of such as we 
are. It may suffice to remind the reader of a place in the Psalms where this article 
of the Passion finds express prophetic notice : — " My heart is sore pained within 
Me ; and the terrors of Death are fallen upon Me. Fearfulness and trembling are 
come upon Me, and horror hath overwhelmed Me. And I said, Oh that I had 
wings like a dove ! for then would I fly away and be at rest."(£) 

A living writer remarks, — " When our Lord was tempted in the Wilderness, it 
was not till after His Temptation was ended, that " Angels came and ministered 
unto Him." (if) Here, an Angel comes from Heaven to strengthen Him during 
His trial : from which we may infer that this was a far more severe struggle than 
the former. The same inference may be drawn from the accounts of the Evange- 
lists, and from our Lord's own language and demeanor, on this latter occasion."(x) 
This was, in fact, that " season," darkly hinted at in St. Luke iv. 13, (where see 
the note,) until which, Satan had departed from the Holy One ; and for which, he 
had doubtless gathered up all his strength, in order to make one tremendous assault. 
" The Prince of this World cometh,"(y) — our Lord had said a few hours before. 
He had now, doubtless, come.(z) It follows : 

44 And being in an Agony He prayed more earnestly : and His 
Sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 

Every word here is full of dignity, awe, and wonder. By that "Agony and 
Bloody Sweat," the Church evermore prays to her Good Lord for deliverance. Was 
it not, in a manner, the undoing of a part of the ancient curse, that the second 
Adam should have thus watered the earth, (which was cursed for the transgression 
of the first Adam,) with the Sweat, not only of His sinless Brow, but of all His 
Divine Person ? Surely Christ bore that curse now in its fullness ; not in a figure, 
but literally: even as when on the morrow, He submitted to wear a crown of 
thorns. Consider the first note on St. Matthew xxvii. 29. 

The heavy burthen of our Saviour's Suffering on this tremendous Night is 
noticed by all the four Evangelists, and confessed by Himself.(a) " Yea, that His 

(o) Dr. W. H. Mill. (p) Williams. (q) Gal. i. 12. (r) Heb. v. 7. 

(s) Thus it fared with Hagar, (Gen. xxi. 17,) with Daniel, (Dan. ix. 20 to 23,) and with Cor- 
nelius, (Acts x. 3, 4.) (0 Ps. Iv. 4, 5, 6. («) St. Matth. iv. 11. 
(x) Bishop Lonsdale and Arehd. Hale. (y) St. John xiv. 30. 
(z) See ver. 53, below, and the note thereon, 
(a) St. Matth. xxvi. 37, 38 : St. Mark xiv. 33, 34 : St. John xii. 27. 



XXII.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 599 



strange and never else heard of Sweat, — drops of blood plenteously issuing from 
Him all over His Body, no man then touching Him, none being near Him ; — that 
Blood came certainly from some great Sorrow, wherewith His soul was pierced." 
So, Bishop Andrewes, who dwells on the circumstance with pious wonder ; remark- 
ing that " when no manner of violence was offered Him in Body, — no man touching 
Him, or being near Him, — in a cold Night, (for they were fain to have a fire within 
doors,) — lying abroad in the air, — and upon the cold Earth, — to be all of a Sweat! 
and that Sweat to be Blood ! and not a thin faint Sweat, but of great drops ; and 
those, so many, so plenteous, as they went through His apparel and all ; and 
through all, streamed to the ground, and that in great abundance ! Bead, inquire, 
and consider if ever there were sweat like this Sweat of His? Never the like 
Sweat certainly, and therefore never like Sorrow .... That hour, what His feel- 
ings were, it is dangerous to define. We know them not ; we may be too bold to 
determine of them. To very good purpose it is that the ancient Fathers of the 
Greek Church, in their Liturgy, after they have recounted all the particular pains 
as they are set down in His Passion, — and by all, and by every one of them, called 
for Mercy, — do, after all, shut up all with this : ' By Thine unknown Sorroivs and 
Sufferings, [felt by Thee, but not distinctly known by us,] Have mercy upon us and 
save us!' "{b) 

45, 46 And when He rose up from Prayer, and was come to His 
Disciples, He found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto them, Why 
sleep ye ? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. 

Allestree has some striking remarks on this. " Truly" (he says) "of two visions 
which our Saviour gave to His most intimate Apostles, Peter, James and John, — 
the one of Glory on Mount Tabor, the other of sufferings in Gethsemane : showing 
in the one, Heaven and Himself transfigured, a glimpse of beatific vision ; and in 
the other Hell transfigured, and a sad scene of all its agonies, — He thought this a 
more concerning sight : for when they fell asleep at both, at His Transfiguration, 
' Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep ;'(c) yet does He not 
rouse them up to behold His glory. "When they did awake indeed, they saw a 
glimpse of it, but straight ' there came a cloud, and overshadowed them. '(d) But 
at His Passion, He bids them 'watch with Him:'(e) and when He findeth them 
asleep, He says 'What, could ye not watch with Me one hour ?"(/) and bids them 
'watch' again, (g) and comes again a third time and upbraids their drowsiness. (h) 
So much more necessary was it to behold His Agonies, than to see His felicities ! 
Glory does not discover or invite to Heaven, so much as sufferings drive to it ; and 
we are more concerned to take a view of that Garden of Gethsemane, than that of 
Paradise ; and the going down from the Mount of Olives does more advantage us 
in climbing the Eternal Hills, than all Mount Tabor's height." 

The narratives of St. Matthew and St. Mark, which are somewhat fuller in this 
place, should here be consulted. (i) Little or nothing will be found in the way of 
Commentary, however, on the verses in question. In truth, the entire History of 
our Saviour's Passion is a subject for Meditation and Prayer: not for criticism and 
dry discussion. Solemn and affecting, past all words, we pass by the most striking 
passages, not knowing how to speak of them as we should . . . . " Rise," (said 
our Redeemer, at last, to His slumbering Disciples,) "let us be going; behold, he 
is at hand that doth betray Me."(/c) 

47 And while He yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was 
called Judas, one of the Twelve, went before them, and drew near unto 
Jesus to kiss Him. 

For this was the concerted " sign" or " token" by which the traitor had promised 
to indicate the Divine Person of his Lord to his partners in crime. (I) St. Luke 
alone of the Evangelists remarks that Judas walked in advance of the rabble and 
soldiery who came to apprehend our Blessed Lord. It will be remembered that 
St. Peter in another place notices the same circumstance, when he proposes that a 

(6) Andrewes. (c) St. Luke ix. 32. (d) Ver. 34. (e) St, Matth. xxvi. 38. 

(/) Ver. 40. (g) Ver. 41. (h) Ver. 45. 

(*) See St. Matth. xxvi. 41 to 46 : St. Mark xiv. 38 to 42. 

(&) St. Matth. xxvi. 46 : St. Mark xiv. 42. (I) St. Matth. xxvi. 48 : St. Mark xiv. 44. 



600 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

witness of the Resurrection should be ordained in the place of Judas,—" which 
was guide to them that took Jesus." (to) 

48 But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man 
with a kiss ? 

"Yea," (as it is elsewhere written,) "Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, 
which did eat of My bread, hath lifted up his heel against Me."(n) Concerning 
this act of treachery, the reader may refer to the notes on the first Gospel.(o) 

49, 50, 51 When they which were about Him saw what would follow, 
they said unto Him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword ? And one 
of them smote the servant of the high Priest, and cut off his right ear. 
And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. 

" Shall we smite with the sword?" — the Apostles had inquired. " Suffer ye thus 
far," — was the Divine reply : whereby our Saviour evidently forbade His followers 
to use the sword in His defence. But in the meantime, " Simon Peter having a 
sword drew it," — and performed the act of violence here recorded. " The servant's 
name was Malchus."(p) See St. Matth. xxvi. 51 to 53, and the notes there ; for 
the first Evangelist has recorded at greatest length our Lord's discourse on this 
occasion. But St. Luke, (the Physician \)(q) alone it is who describes the miracle 
which follows: — 

And He touched His ear and healed him. 

This, by the way, is the only case recorded of the miraculous healing of a wound 
inflicted by external violence. Whereby our Lord set forth in example that 
heavenly precept of His, — "Love your enemies," "do good to them that hate 
you."(r) Consider the graciousness of such an act, — performed in favour of such 
an one, — and in such an hour ! — " One might indeed be curious to know what effect 
so wonderful a cure and miracle might have had at such a time. Possibly, in the 
heat of the moment, the man neither noticed the wound nor the miraculous cure: 
but still, it may have had the effect, in the end, of reclaiming him, and withdrawing 
him from that service." 

It has also been pointed out that "in all other miracles, Faith seems to have been 
the essential requisite in all who required and received the benefit. But this ap- 
pears to have been performed in favour of an enemy, in whom therefore we should 
not look for such faith ; and as a pure act of our Lord's charity and forgiveness. 
One cannot but suspect, however, that there might have been secretly some good 
in him, known to our Lord, which rendered him meet for this mercy being vouch- 
safed to him."(s) 

52 Then Jesus said unto the chief Priests, and captains of the 
Temple, and the elders, which were come to Him, 

Take notice, by the way, what a motley company had come forth from the City 
on this accursed errand : a great multitude bearing lanterns and torches, swords 
and staves, (£) — a band of soldiers with their captain, and officers of the Jews,(w) — 
and among them, the chief Priests, and captains of the Temple, with the Elders! — 
To them, said the Holy One : 

53 Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves ? 
When I was daily with you in the Temple, ye stretched forth no hands 
against Me : but this is your Hour, and the power of Darkness. 

As if He said, — " Why do ye treat Me as if I were a robber, thus coming out 
armed to seize Me by night? What have I done to deserve or require this? Daily 
have I been teaching in the Temple, and that openly. Why did ye not take Me 
then V The reason why, our Lord proceeds, in very remarkable language, to as- 
sign, — or rather, He leaves His enemies to infer. They had not taken Him till now, 

(m) Acts i. 16. (n) Ps. xli. 9. (o) See note on St. Matth. xxvi. 47 to 50. 

(jo) St. John xviii. 10. (q) Col. iv. 14. (r) St. Matth. v. 44. (s) Williams. 

(0 St. John xviii. 3. St. Matth. xxvi. 47. («) St. John xviii. 12. 



XXII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 601 

"because not till now had He surrendered Himself into their hands : but this was 
" their Hour ;" and, (it is mysteriously added,) " the Power of Darkness." For a 
short period of time, — predetermined in the eternal counsels of God, — were they 
permitted to display their malice; and "the Power of Darkness" was suffered to 
have the ascendancy, — to bruise the heel of Him who was about to bruise his 
head.(x) Consider what has been already offered on this subject, above, in the note 
on ver. 43. All this illustrates, and helps to explain, the marked manner in which 
St. John declares concerning the Traitor that "it was Night" when he went out(?/) 
from the Paschal Supper and from the presence of his Lord. 

Take notice that Christian men are declared by the Spirit yet to wrestle "against 
Principalities, against Poivers, against the Enters of the Darkness of this World, 
against spiritual wickedness in high places :"(z) but, (as it is elsewhere said,) God 
" hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness, and hath translated us into the 
Kingdom of His dear Son."(<z) It follows in the earlier Gospels, that at this junc- 
ture, " all the Disciples forsook Him and fled. ;; (6) 

54, 55 Then took they Him, and led Sim, and brought Him into 
the High Priest's house. 

And Peter followed afar off. And when they had kindled a fire in 
the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down 
among them. 

This is related more particularly in St. John's Gospel, to which the reader is 
referred. (c) From the house of Annas, (whither our Blessed Lord was first con- 
ducted,) (d) He was led to the palace of Caiaphas, the High-priest, — followed at a 
distance by St. Peter and St. John. Owing to the coldness of the weather, (for the 
nights in Palestine at the Passover season are intensely cold,) a charcoal-fire had 
been kindled in the outer part of the Hall, where the servants and officers of the 
High-priest stood ; and St. Peter, after standing for a while with them,(e) sat down 
to warm himself at the fire.(jQ 

It will be perceived that St. Matthew and St. Mark in this place record the pro- 
ceeding^ of the Sanhedrin, (who find " two false witnesses ;") together with the 
High-Priest's behaviour towards the Holy One, — who is charged with Blasphemy, 
and declared to be "guilty of Death."(<?) The terrible course which events were 
thus taking at the upper end of the Hall prepares us for the sad but instructive 
spectacle to which St, Luke next invites our attention. Having described St. Peter 
as seated among the servants, at the fire, he adds : 

56 But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earn- 
estly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with Him. 

See the note on St. Mark xiv. 67. It has been pointed out, as worthy of notice, 
" that the women introduced on this occasion are the only women mentioned as 
taking part with the enemies of our Lord : and even they are not concerned in 
bringing about His condemnation, nor any further than to detect St. Peter. It is 
remarkable that no woman is mentioned throughout, as speaking against our Lord 
in His life, or having a share in His death. On the contrary, — He is anointed by 
a woman for His burial, women are the last at His grave, the first at His Resur- 
rection : to a woman He first appeared : women ministered to His wants from 
Galilee : women bewailed and lamented Him : a heathen woman interceded for His 
Life with her husband, the Governor ; and above all, of a woman He was born."(A) 

57, 58, 59 And he denied Him, saying, Woman, I know Him not. 
And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of 
them. And Peter said, Man, I am not. And about the space of an 
hour after, another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow 
also was with Him : for he is a Galilsean. 

(x) Gen. iii. 15. (y) St. John xiii. 30. (2) Eph. vi. 12. 

(a) Coloss. i. 13. Compare Acts xxvi. 18. (5) St, Matth. xxvi. 56 : St. Mark xiv. 50. 

(c) St. John xviii. 12 to 18, — where see the notes. See also the note on St. Mark xiv. 54. 

(d) St. John xviii. 13. (e) St. John xviii. 18. (/) St. Mark xiv. 54. 
(g) St. Matth. xxvi. 59 to 66 : St. Mark xiv. 55 to 64. (A) Williams. 



602 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

See the notes on St. Mark xiv. G8, 69, 70. 

60, 61 And Peter said Man, I know not what thou sayest. And 
immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. 

And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remem- 
bered the word of the Lord, how He had said unto him, Before the 
cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. 

"What was expressed in that look of our Blessed Saviour, thought of man can- 
not conceive, and words cannot utter. That it spoke of all that had passed in our 
Lord's long intimacy with St. Peter, and especially of the conversation of that 
night, and that it derived a peculiar force and meaning from the indignities which 
our Lord was suffering, — that it implied something of this, we may well' suppose, 
but what more we cannot tell. The conciseness and sublimity with which it is 
mentioned, resembles the account in Genesis of His Word being spoken, at which 
the World was created. Christ looked, — and Light filled the soul of Peter. The 
thought of his Lord's Divinity, which he had believed, but had forgotten, now 
rushed afresh on his mind. In the darkness and silence of the night, his eyes were 
opened to all that had passed :" 

62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly. 

The reader is requested to read the remarks which have been already offered on 
St. Peter's fall, in the Commentary on the two earlier Gospels, (i) St. Luke pro- 
ceeds with the history of our Saviour's Passion. 

63, 64, 65 And the men that held Jesus mocked Him, and smote 
Him. And when they had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the 
face, and asked Him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote Thee ? 
And many other things blasphemously spake they against Him. 

Concerning this portion of the Divine Narrative, the reader is referred to the 
notes on St. Matthew xxvi. 67, and on St. Mark xiv. 65. Now was Christ that 
"poor helpless Man," of whom we read in the Book of Psalms ; "persecuted/' and 
"vexed at the heart;" "helpless and poor," and His "heart wounded within" 
Him: (A;) "despised and rejected of men; a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with 
Grief." "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His 
mouth."(Z) 

How certain does it become, by the way, from a careful study of the Gospels, 
that the Divinity of our Blessed Lord's person cannot have been so apparent a 
matter as, in our devotion towards our Redeemer and our God, we are sometimes 
apt to imagine ! There must have been a very thick mantle spread over His God- 
head. The Glory of His Deity must have been curtained close, — so very close that 
scarcely a ray, if even so much as a ray, could ever break through and meet the eyes 
of men. Everything in the Gospels tends to show this. He spoke in the accent of 
despised Galilee. He was called the "carpenter ;" and deemed the son of a very poor 
man. No one is ever said to have been struck by His aspect. His voice did not by 
any means always persuade. His speech was cavilled at. Men asked Him to depart 
out of their coasts. At the close of His Ministry, soldiers could strike Him with their 
fists and smite Him with their open palms, — blindfold Him, — force a thorny crown 
into His pure temples, — scourge Him, — spit upon Him, — torture His parched lips 
with gall, — crucify Him, — thrust a spear into His lifeless side ! None of these 
things could have happened, had He seen fit to reveal Himself to His enemies. 
Once only He appeared to three of His Disciples in the nearest approach to His 
proper Glory which their mortal eyes could bear to look upon ; and next day, when 
He descended " the Holy Mount," the multitude came running to Him ! See St. 
Mark,— ix. 15. 

It depends upon the heart of man therefore, now as then, whether Christ shall 
be discerned or not : discerned in the common round of daily duty, — in the lowly 
task, — in the unadorned path-way of common life. If we perceive Him not, it is 
not because he is not there, but because we have not the eyes to see Him. 



8 



See the notes on St. Matth. xxvi. 75, and St. Mark xiv. 72. (k) Ps. cix. 15, 21. 

Is. lii. 3, 7. 



XXII.] 



ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 603 



66, 67 And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the 
chief Priests and the Scribes came together, and led Him into their 
Council, saying, Art Thou the Christ ? tell us. And He said unto 
them, If I tell you, ye will not believe : 

For our Lord had already told the High-Priest that He was "the Christ." (m) 

68 and if I also ask you, ye will not answer Me, nor let Me go. 

For, when our Saviour asked questions of His enemies, they either would not, 
(being afraid,) (n) — or they could not, (being convinced and refuted,) (o) — return 
Him any answer. Take notice that He now repeats the splendid prediction which 
is also found on His lips on the occasion alluded to above, in the note on ver. 67. (p) 

69, 70 Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the Right Hand of the 
Power of God. 

Then said they all, Art Thou then the Son of God ? 

A most remarkable question, truly : showing how entirely His learned auditory 
recognized our Lord's reference to Daniel vii. 13, and how well they understood 
that prophecy. He had only said, " the Son of Man." 

71 And He said unto them, Ye say that I am. 
And they said, What need we any further witness ? for we ourselves 
have heard of His own mouth. 

This entire portion of narrative, (namely, from ver. 66 to ver. 71,) will be dis- 
covered to be peculiar to the present Gospel. It describes what took place when 
our Lord was brought before the high Court of Sanhedrin, — "their Council/' as it 
is called in ver. 66. It was now early morning, (the interval between three and 
six ;) and the Court seems to have sat for a very brief space of time. The words 
of our Saviour Himself, when interrogated, rendered the calling of witnesses a 
superfluous form: and every instant was now precious. His Judges therefore 
availed themselves of His declaration that He was indeed "the Son of God," to 
bring the solemn mockery of their judicial proceedings to a close. And now, they 
are prepared to conduct Him before Pilate, and require the execution of their sinful 
sentence, {q) 

(m) See St. Matth. xxvi. 63, 64 : St. Mark xiv. 61, 62. (n) As in St. Luke sx. 1 to 7. 

(o) As in St. Matth. xxii. 41 to 46, and St. Luke xx. 23 to 26. 

(p) See St. Matth. xxvi. 64, — and the note there. 

(q) Compare St. Luke xxiii. 1, with St. Matth. xxvii. 1, 2, and St. Mark xv. 1. 



604 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER XXIII 



1 Jesus is accused before Pilate, and sent to Herod. 8 Herod mocketli Him. 12 
Herod and Pilate are made friends. 13 Barabbas is desired of the people, and is 
loosed by Pilate, and Jesus is given to be crucified. 27 He telleth the loomen that 
lament Him, the destruction of Jerusalem. 34 Pray eth for His enemies. 39 Two 
evildoers are crucified with Him. 46 His Death. 50 His Burial. 

1 And the whole multitude of them arose, and led Him unto Pilate. 

To understand the meaning of this, the concluding note on the xxii. Chapter 
should be borne in mind. From this place, a new aspect of our Lord's Humilia- 
tion is presented to our notice, — namely, His sufferings at the hands of the Roman 
Governor. Here begins, therefore, that train of events which ended in the memor- 
able truth, — He " suffered under Pontius Pilate." 

Having hurried the Holy One through the mock formality of a Trial before their 
own Court, and so far gratified the pride of their nation, these impious men are im- 
patient to transfer the execution of their sentence to the Roman Governor ; as the 
shortest, as well as the safest, method of contriving the Death of their Prisoner. 
Hence, the transaction which follows. It is likely that on witnessing this result of 
the proceedings of the Sanhedrin, Judas set the seal upon his iniquity, — in the 
manner St. Matthew describes.(a) 

Our Lord was now brought before Pilate. To have taxed Him, in such a pre- 
sence, with pretending to be the Son of God, would have been clearly ridiculous. 
They must charge Him with the violation of some Roman Law ; and accordingly, as 
we learn from the present Gospel, the formal charge brought against Him, was 
that of claiming to be a King. As it follows : 

2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, "We found this fellow per- 
verting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that 
He Himself is Chkist a King. 

He is accused of making Himself a King by the very people who would them- 
selves by force have once made Him one.(6) Consider how Joseph, (an eminent 
type of Christ,) submitted to punishment for the very crime which he abhorred to 
commit, (c) And yet, in a far different sense from what His enemies intended, 
Christ was a King ; so that, by successfully urging the present charge, they bear 
unwilling witness to a solemn truth : and finally (albeit in mockery) procure the 
true title of the Saviour to be affixed to His very Cross.(d) "The fierceness of 
man," (it is written in a certain place,) " shall turn to Thy praise." (e) 

Take notice also that He is accused to Pilate of the very crime from the imputa- 
tion of which He had in the fullest manner cleared Himself, on a recent occasion ; 
namely, of " forbidding to give tribute to Caesar ;"(/) and this too by the very 
nation who would have rejoiced in nothing so much as in having Him for their 
leader in such a cause. Consider St. Luke xx. 23, and the note thereon. 

3 And Pilate asked Him, saying, Art Thou the King of the Jews ? 
And He answered him and said, Thou sayest it. 

(a) See St. Matthew xxvii. 3 to 10, — where the reader is requested to see the notes. 

(5) St. John vi. 15. (c) Gen. xxxix. (d) See below, the note on ver. 38. 

(e) Psalm lxxvi. 10. (/) See St. Luke xx. 20 to 26. 



xxiii.] on st. luke's gospel. 605 

A memorable question, truly ; recorded by all the Four Evangelists in the self- 
same words :(g) and yet a more memorable reply. It is that " Confession" noticed 
by St. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy, as the "good Confession" which Christ 
Jesus "witnessed before Pontius Pilate." (A) For a fuller account of His dialogue 
with the Roman Governor, St. John's Gospel must be consulted. (i) St. Luke re- 
cords nothing but the result of that interview, in the words which follow, and which 
are only found besides related by St. John. 

4, 5 Then said Pilate to the Chief Priests and to the people, I find 
no fault in this Man. And they were the more fierce, saying, He 
stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry beginning from 
Galilee to this place. 

To all of which, our Saviour is found to have " answered nothing." " As a 
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth."(&) Pilate there- 
upon asked Him if He heard not the accusation of His enemies ; "but Jesus yet 
answered nothing ;"(Z) "returned him," as St. Matthew says, "not even a single 
word of answer ; so that the Governor wondered greatly." (m) There was doubtless 
something in our Lord's manner, so different from what is usual in a criminal, 
that the Judge felt something of awe and wonder before Him.(n) In the mean- 
while, 

6, 7 When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a 
Galilean. And as soon as he knew that He belonged unto Herod's 
jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem 
at that time. 

" Also," — because Jerusalem was not the usual residence either of Pilate or of 
Herod. The Roman Governor usually lived at Csesarea. 

Pilate is the very type of a weak, irresolute statesman. Sufficiently able and 
inclined to recognize the right, to shrink from the commission of open and flagrant 
wrong; yet too fearful of consequences, to dare to be strictly just ; he rejoiced in 
the opportunity of transferring to another the burthen of a responsibility which he 
dared not incur in person. It must have also seemed to him a master-stroke of 
policy, in this manner to conciliate Herod's friendship by the self-same act which 
secured his own safety. And here, a new scene in our Lord's Humiliation is un- 
folded to our gaze. He is transferred from Pilate's judgment-seat, to that of the 
Idumsean Herod : whereby, the remote descendant of Jacob is confronted with the 
remote descendant of Esau ; and experiences the same cruel treatment from him 
which had been experienced by all His ancestors at the hands of the same family.(o) 
Herod, who slew the Forerunner, must have a hand in the death of Messiah 
likewise. 

Herod's is indeed a wonderful history. His name comes before us at the begin- 
ning of the Gospel, as the disciple of the Baptist ; next, as his destroyer : then, 
disturbed by a guilty conscience, it will be remembered that he supposed the mur- 
dered Saint to be the author of the miracles which were wrought by our Lord. 
" And Herod said, John have I beheaded ; but who is this, of whom I hear such 
things ? And he desired to see Him."(p) Last of all, we behold the Tetrarch face 
to face with the Saviour of the World : and with how fearful a result ! — On this 
entire subject, the reader is referred to a long note on St. Luke ix. 9. 

8 And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad : for he was 
desirous to see Him of a long season, because he had heard many 
things of Him ; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him. 

(g) St. Matth. xxvii. 11: St. Mark xv. 2: St. Luke xxiii. 3: St, John xviii. 33. 

(h) 1 Tim. vi. 13. See also the note on St. Matth. xxvii. 11. 

(i) See St. John xviii. 33 to 37. (k) Is. liii. 7. (I) St. Mark xv. 4, 5. 

(m) St. Matth. xxvii. 14. («) Williams. 

(o) Consider the following places: Gen. xxv. 22: xxvii. 41. Ex. xvii. 8, (Compare Gen. 
xxxvi. 12.) Numb. xx. 14 to 21. 1 Sam. xxi. 7 : xxii. 18 : xxx. 1, 2, Ac. Obad. x. 14. Ps. 
cxxxvii. 7. 1 Esdr. iv. 45. Lam. iv. 22. 2 Chron. xxviii. 17 : xx. 1, Ac. St. Matth. ii. 16 : 
xiv. 3 to 10, Ac. (p) St. Luke ix. 9. 



606 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Well may Herod have "heard many things " of our Saviour, — being Tetrarch of 
the Province where our Lord had worked so many miracles ; having moreover a 
Steward, whose wife was a most devoted disciple of Christ. (q) From those about 
him, he must have become acquainted with many a divine, many a wondrous his- 
tory ; and he seems to have fallen into that fearful, but as it may be not uncommon 
state, where Religion becomes a mere sentiment of the heart, or matter of intellec- 
tual curiosity ; but forms no essential part of the inward life, and produces no effect 
on the daily practice. He retained his vices, yet took an interest in heavenly 
things. He listened to John, yet lived in open adultery. Just one year had elapsed 
since the period when Herod Antipas had "desired to see" Christ ; and now that 
he saw Him, the result might have been anticipated. He was altogether surprised 
and disappointed. There was no Beauty in the Saviour that he should desire 
Him : (r) no wonders were displayed in proof of His Dominion over the powers of 
Nature: no reply vouchsafed to any of the curious questions with which the 
Tetrarch plied Him. As it follows, 

9, 10, 11 Then lie questioned with Him in many words ; but He 
answered him nothing. And the Chief Priests and Scribes stood and 
vehemently accused Him. And Herod with his men of war set Him 
at Nought, and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and 
sent Him again to Pilate. 

Herod caused our Saviour to be clad, not "in a gorgeous," but "in a white 
robe," — such a dress as persons wore who were candidates for any high office. 
Here was One accused of aspiring to nothing short of the crown royal : yet He made 
His appearance unsupported by a single friend, — poor and silent, — "a worm and 
no man; a very scorn of men, and the out-cast of the people." (s) Claims to kingly 
honours, if set up by such an one, seemed to Herod a subject for ridicule, rather 
than for punishment : and to mark his sense of this, he pursued the course described 
in the text, — mocking Him, by arraying Him in a white robe. 

12 And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together : 
for before they were at enmity between themselves. 

It has ever been thus. Men who before were at enmity will combine, and be- 
come friends, when Christ Himself, or the Church of Christ, is to be persecuted.^) 
The occasion of the quarrel of these two is not recorded, and therefore not certainly 
known. (u) Far more important was it to notice this, the occasion of their recon- 
ciliation ; whereby were fulfilled those words of ancient prophecy — "Why do the 
heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing ? The Kings of the Earth set 
themselves, and the Rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against 
His Anointed" — that is " His Christ." Consider the quotation of Psalm ii. 1, 2 in 
Act iv. 25, 26 ; and the comment supplied by the united voice of the Apostles, in 
verses 27 and 28, on those words of David. 

It now became necessary for Pilate to act ; and he is found to have summoned 
together not only the members of the Sanhedrin, but "the people" also, (among 
whom the Holy One certainly had many followers, many humble yet devoted 
friends,) (x) in order that he might have the better chance of effecting his purpose ; 
which was, to procure our Lord's release. But no blessing ever attends crooked 
endeavours to do good. It follows : 

13, 14, 15 And Pilate, when he had called together the Chief 
Priests, and the Rulers, and the people, said unto them, Ye have 
brought this Man unto me, as one that perverteth the people : and, 
behold, I, having examined Him before you, have found no fault in 
this Man touching those things whereof ye accuse Him : no, nor yet 

(q) St. Luke viii. 3, and xxiv. 10. (r) Is. liii. 2. (s) Ps. xxii. 6. 

\t) See the note on St. Matth. xvi. 1. («) See St. Luke xiii. 1. 

(x) Consider St. John ii. 23: vii. 31: viii. 30. 31: xi. 45, 48: xii. 11. Also St. Matth. xxi. 
46. ' St. Luke xix. 48 ■ xxi. 38, &c. &c. 



XXIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 607 

Herod : for I sent you to him : and, lo, nothing worthy of death is 
done unto Him. 

Rather, — "nothing deserving of death has been done by Him." Pilate is argu- 
ing that, in Herod's judgment, our Lord can have done nothing which deserves the 
punishment of death, — for He has been acquitted by the Tetrarch. 

Take notice by the way, in passing, how many, and what various persons bear 
testimony to the innocence of the Holy One. Pilate,(?/) and Herod,(>;) and Pilate's 
wife ;(a) Judas himself,(5) the Thief on the Cross, (c) and the Centurion. (<f) — Pilate 
adds: 

16, 17 I will therefore chastise Him, and release Him. (For of 
necessity he must release one unto them at the Feast.) 

To set a prisoner free, at the Feast of the Passover, seems to have been a privi- 
lege which the Romans granted in pursuance of a Jewish custom ; and, as far as 
Pilate was concerned, it must have been of modern date : but it had evidently be- 
come absolute. St. Mark records that, " the multitude crying aloud began to de- 
sire him to do as he had ever done unto them ."(e) Now the eager desire of the 
Roman Governor was, that Jesus of Nazareth might be He whom the people would 
desire ; but the friends of the Holy One were silent, or their voices were overpow- 
ered by the rabble whom their Rulers had persuaded to procure His death. 

18, 19 And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this Man, 
and release unto us Barabbas : (who, for a certain sedition made in the 
city, and for murder, was cast into prison.) 

Thus " denying the Holy One and the Just, and desiring a murderer to be grant- 
ed unto them,"(/) — as St. Peter afterwards boldly declared. 

Now, the Roman Governor knew well that it was for envy that the Chief Priests 
had delivered Him. Rugged, therefore, and little inclined to mercy as he is known 
to have been by nature,(#) he appears to have been so wrought upon by the calm 
majesty of his Prisoner, that he made repeated efforts to procure His release. As 
it follows : 

20, 21, 22, 23 Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again 
to them. But they cried, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him. And 
he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath He done ? I 
have found no cause of death in Him : I will therefore chastise Him, 
and let Him go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring 
that He might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the Chief 
Priests prevailed. 

24 And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. 

" Three times did he challenge the whole nation of the Jews, ' Why, what evil 
hath He done V Three times did he make that clear profession, ' I have found no 
cause of death in Him.' His own wife, admonished in a dream^' sent unto him, 
saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just Man:'(A) and when Pilate heard 
that He made Himself the Son of God, 'he was the more afraid/ "(t) Notwith- 
standing all this, he condemned and crucified the Lord of Glory. (A;) It was in 
order to pacify the people, and retain possession of his office undisturbed and un- 
molested, that the Roman Governor thus acted. But his policy proved" unavailing. 
At the end of a few years he was summoned to Rome, to meet certain charges which 
were brought against him; and an old Greek Chronologer, (quoted by Eusebius,) 
relates that he destroyed himself in desperation. — It follows : 

25 And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was 

(y) St. Matth. xxvii. 24. (a) See above verse 11. (a) St. Matth. xxvii. 19. 

(6) St. Matth. xxvii. 4. (c) See below verse 41. (d) See below, verse 47. 

(e) St. Mark xv. 8. (/) Acts iii. 14. 

(g) See St. Luke xiii. 1, and the note there. (h) St. Matth. xxvii. 19. 

(i) Bp. Pearson, quoting St. John xix. 7, 8. (&) 1 Cor. ii. 8. 



608 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

cast into prison, whom they had desired ; but he delivered Jesus to 
their will. 

Then was He scourged, and stripped lby the soldiers, and arrayed in the mock 
ensigns of Royalty, — a crown of thorns, a purple robe, and a reed in His right hand 
instead of a sceptre : while those wretched miscreants smote Him on the head, and 
"bowed the knee before Him in derision ; and even spat in the face(Z) of Him who is 
"the brightness of" the Father's "Glory, and the express image of His per- 
son !"(m) .... All this, St. Luke omits. He likewise passes over in silence the 
memorable interview between our Saviour and Pilate, and the many efforts which 
were made by the irresolute Roman to procure His acquittal, — " when," as St. 
Peter expresses it, "he was determined to let Him go ;"(n) yet could not prevail 
with the multitude to consent to His release. On all this subject, the Gospel of St. 
John must be referred to, and the remarks should be read which are there offered. 
It has been already pointed out,(o) and the remark deserves repetition, that the 
monstrous violence of the soldiery on this terrible occasion, as well as the length of 
wickedness to which their rulers proceeded, can be referred to nothing short of the 
Prince of Evil himself, who with all his forces conducted this assault against the 
Son of Man. St. Paul not obscurely hints at the various ranks of those Powers of 
Darkness :(p) and declares that it was in ignorance of the marvellous scheme which 
God had devised for Man's Redemption, that they procured the Death of the Re- 
deemer: "for had they known it," remarks the great Apostle, "they would not 
have crucified the Lord of Glory." (q) Of a truth they would not ; for what was the 
Cross but the marvellous instrument of His own victory, and their undoing ? With 
this, the choice weapon of the Enemy, was the Enemy himself slain. As it is 
written, — " David stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out 
of the sheath thereof; and slew Mm, and cut off his head therewith." (r) — But to re- 
turn. 

Some hours had now elapsed. It was in fact almost nine o'clock in the morn- 
ing ; the formal abandonment of our Saviour into the hands of His blood-thirsty 
enemies having taken place at six.(s) On reaching the City-gate, up to which time 
He had Himself borne the Cross on which He was condemned to suffer, — 

26 And as they led Him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a 
Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the Cross, 
that he might bear it after Jesus. 

Concerning this incident, the reader is requested to read what has been offered 
on St. Matthew xxvii. 32 and St. Mark xv. 21. — Pleasant it is to believe that this 
highly favoured person will have become a Disciple from this hour, even if he were 
not so already ; for he was one who, not in figure, but in actual truth, had fulfilled 
that injunction of his Saviour, — " Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny 
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me "(f) 

27, 28 And there followed Him a great company of people, and of 
women, which also bewailed and lamented Him. But Jesus turning 
unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for 
yourselves, and for your children. 

"Your children," — for in their time, (namely, forty years after the Crucifixion,) 
would the Siege of Jerusalem and the Fall of the City take place :{u) and "Woe 
unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days," (a?) — the 
same Divine Speaker had already declared of that occasion. He adds a saying to 
the same effect, now : 

29, 30 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall 

(l) St. Matth. xxvii. 28 to 30 : St. Mark xv. 15 to 19. (m) Heb. i. 3. 

(w) Acts iii. 13. (o) See the note on St. Matthew xxvii. 35. 

(p) Compare Eph. iii. 9 to 11, with vi. 12. (q) 1 Cor. ii. 8. 

(r) 1 Sam. xvii. 51. (s) St. John xix. 14. 

(0 St. Matth. xvi. 24 : St. Mark viii. 34 : St. Luke ix. 23. 

(w) See the heading of the present chapter. 

(x) St. Luke xxi. 23, — where see the note. 



XXIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 609 

say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the 
paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the 
mountains, Fall on us ; and to the hills, Cover us. 

Compare with this, the language of Isaiah ii. 10, 19, 21 ; and for a yet stricter 
parallel, see Rev. vi. 16. But so exact is the resemblance of the present place, in 
point of expression, to Hosea x. 8, that it may be regarded almost as a quotation 
from that ancient prophet. 

31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in 
the dry ? 

If such sufferings can befall the Innocent Man, — what shall be the fate of the 
ungodly Nation? If the "tree planted by the water, that bringeth forth his fruit 
in his season," is thus shamefully cut down, — what shall become of "trees whose 
fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead ?"(?/) 

32 And there were also two other, malefactors, led with Him to be 
put to death. 

These men are called " thieves" in the two earlier Gospels. (2) One of them after- 
wards obtains such conspicuous notice, that a few words concerning the class to 
which they belonged, will not be out of place here. They were probably offenders 
of a kind which had sprung up in Palestine in consequence of the convulsed and 
lawless state of the country ;(a) among whom must have been found every grade of 
guilt, — from that of the bold insurgent and outlaw, who, with misguided patriotism 
seeks to revenge his country's wrongs by violent means of his own devising ; down 
to that of the common thief, whose trade is plunder, and who scruples not to add to 
his other crimes the guilt of blood. It seems reasonable to conjecture from St. 
Mark xv. 7, that the two malefactors mentioned in the text were seditious men of 
the kind first spoken of. 

33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, 
there they crucified Him, 

It had been written full a thousand years before, — " They pierced My hands and 
My feet. I may tell all My bones. They stand staring and looking upon Me." (6) 

"The mystery here unfolded," remarks a good man, "far transcends ordinary 
thought. With hearts undisciplined, we shall never comprehend it ; neither with 
the best preparation can we do more than imbibe to our soul's health some portion 
of that which passeth knowledge, and which angels but imperfectly apprehend."(c) 

Scarcely endurable, when the thoughts are engaged on a subject of such awful 
interest, are remarks of a purely critical character. It may, however, be thought 
worthy of passing notice, that "Calvary" (Calvaria) is merely the Latin word for 
" a skull ;" retained (but only in this Gospel) from the Vulgate version of the 
Scriptures. The other three Evangelists mention that the spot to which these sin- 
ful men had now conducted our Saviour, was called in the Hebrew, "Golgotha." 
" There they crucified Him," — 

34 and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the 
left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not 
what they do. 

This was the first of our Lord's seven sayings on the Cross. Thus did He "make 
intercession for the transgressors/' — as His ancient prophet had foretold ; (d) and 
confirm, in His hour of bitter agony, one of His loftiest precepts, (e) by His own 
most holy example. And surely, a truer notion may be obtained of the stupendous 
nature of the transaction we are here considering, from this short Prayer of the 
Saviour for His murderers, than could be conveyed by many words of painful ex- 

(y) Ps- i- 3. St. Jucle verse 12. And compare Ezek. xx. 47 with xxi. 3, 4. 

(a) St. Matth. xxvii. 38 : St. Mark xv. 27. 

(a) Consider St. Mark xv. 7. Acts v. 36, 37: xxi. 38. (6) Ps. xxii. 18, 17. 

(c) Dr. W. H. Mill. (d ) See Isaiah liii. 12. (e) See St. Matthew v. 44. 

39 



^na^M 



610 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

planation from ourselves. The occasion is one of those where (in the pious lan- 
guage of Hooker,) "our safest eloquence is our silence." 

But in proportion to our sense of the terrible sin of the actors in this black trans- 
action, should surely be our hatred of sin in ourselves. No less alarming than in- 
structive is the warning of the great Apostle against sin in Christian men, — con- 
veying, as he does, an intimation that all that shocks and confounds us in the his- 
tory of our Saviour's Crucifixion is, after some mysterious fashion, thus repeated 
and renewed, — "seeing/ 7 (he says,) "they crucify to themselves the Son of God 
afresh, and put Him to an open shame."(jr) 

And they parted His raiment, and cast lots. 

This will be found more particularly related by the other three Evangelists, (g) 
See especially the notes on St. John xix. 23 and 24. 

35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them 
derided Him, saying, He saved others ; let Him save Himself, if He 
be Christ, the chosen of God. 

For, strange as it may appear, yet is it " next to certain, that the Death of the 
Messiah, at the hands of His own, or any other people, was never apprehended by 
the Jews as one of the events by which His Advent. would be declared. This part 
of His future history is foreshown indeed as clearly as words can express, in the 
xxii. Psalm, in the ix. of Daniel, and in the liii. of Isaiah ; and though other 
parts of these same chapters are by the Jews themselves referred to the Mes- 
siah," (the liii. of Isaiah, more expressly and more frequently than any other 
single prophecy of the Old Testament;) " yet does this event appear, from the very 
beginning, to have been entirely concealed from their Church/ - ' Had it not been 
anciently foretold concerning this remarkable people, that they should " grope at 
noon-day, as the blind gropeth in darkness ?" that " the spirit of deep sleep" should 
be " poured out upon them," and "their eyes be closed?" that they were "to hear 
indeed, but understand not; and see indeed, but perceive not!" Nay, to this day, 
are they not "blinded;" and "when Moses is read," is not "the veil upon their 
hearts?" (h) 

Refer besides to the notes on St. Matthew xxvii. 40, 42, and 43 ; and on St. Mark 
xv. 31, 32. 

36 And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to Him, and offering 
Him vinegar,' 

"They gave Him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall," St. Matthew says.^") 
Whereby those marvellous words of ancient prophecy were fulfilled, — " They gave 
Me also gall for My meat ; and in My thirst, they gave Me vinegar to drink."(/c) 
This they did, mocking Him: 

37 and saying, If Thou be the King of the Jews, save Thyself. 

In explanation of which circumstance, — ("If Thou be,") — the Evangelist adds: 

38 And a superscription also was written over Him in letters of 
Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE 
JEWS. 

An inscription was set over the head of our crucified Saviour, in conformity 
with the Roman practice; which was, on such occasions, to specify in writing the 
crime for which the offender suffered. In calling our Lord " the King of the 
Jews," it may, however, well be suspected that Pilate intended indirectly to spite 
the people who had forced him to violate the dictates of his own conscience. Ac- 
cordingly, it will be remembered that they wanted him to alter the terms of the 
charge, — to which request of theirs, it was divinely overruled that the Roman Go- 
vernor did not accede. (0 And thus was our Lord's real character and office pro- 
claimed to all men. He was a King.(m) 

(/) Hebrews vi. 6. (g) St. Matth. xxvii. 35, and St. Mark xv. 24. 

(h) Dean Lyall, — quoting Deut. xxviii. 29. Is. xxix. 10 : vi. 9. 2 Cor. iii. 14, 15. 
(i) St. Matth. xxvii. 34. (k) Psalm lxix. 21. (I) See St John xix. 21, 22. 

(m) See notes on St. Matthew xxvi. 65, and xxvii. 3S. 



XXIII.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 611 

The writing was in Greek, — because Greek was then the language of the world: in 
Latin, — because Judaea was already a Roman Province : in Hebrew, — because the 
Mighty Sufferer belonged by birth to the commonwealth of Israel. Grotius finely 
connects the diverse languages which surmounted the Cross of Christ, with the 
custom of the Roman Emperors, to carry before them the names of the " people, 
nations, and languages," who were subject to their sway. 

Our attention is next directed to the conduct of the two malefactors ; who, as we 
have already seen, were crucified with the Holy One. St. Luke alone, of the four 
Evangelists^ relates the striking circumstance, " that the two men thus placed, the 
one on the right hand, the other on the left of our Lord, in His last agony, bore in 
a manner the image of those who should stand at His right and at His left in Judg- 
ment, — the elect of God, and the reprobate. Wonderful indeed may it appear, — if 
any thing after Christ crucified can seem wonderful, — that one of the former class 
should be found there, where every thing told of extreme guilt and extreme punish- 
ment: but even thus did He who came to save the lost. — and who, while we were 
yet sinners, in due time died for the ungodly, — even thus did He choose to mani- 
fest, even in the scene of His death, its atoning virtue to the worst of sinners re- 
penting." (ri) 

39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, 
saying, If Thou be the Christ, save Thyself and us. 

The sinful man read the inscription upon the Cross, and heard the furious railing 
of the disappointed rabble, as they called upon our Saviour to save Himself, — if, 
indeed, He had any claim to the proud title written above Him.(o) "Can we won- 
der that he should have beheld only the contrast of his own extreme misery with 
the asserted power which could save, but did not, — which saved not even its pro- 
fessed possessor; and that, in the bitterness of anguish at the contrast, he should 
cast in the teeth of his fellow-sufferer the taunt of the chief priests and people, — 
"If Thou be the Christ, save Thyself, — and us?" Can we wonder that the per- 
ception which could alone suppress these bad thoughts, was wanting to the miser- 
able man in that hour of agony, — the perception of the majesty which sat on the 
bleeding brow of the Christ beside him, self-resigned, and praying for His mur- 
derers ? 

" For there is nothing in suffering, in itself considered, which has power to bring 
these or any other gracious feelings to minds before strangers to them : rather does 
it harden the heart of the carnal man, by centering his thoughts on his own woe, to 
the exclusion both of God and his fellows. Awful in this respect are all the pangs 
which sever soul and body. Not without reason, therefore, has the Church taught 
all her faithful children to say, — ' Suffer us not, in our last hour, for any pains of 
Death, to fall from Thee!' If thus it is with those whose hearts have been disci- 
plined and sanctified in the School of Christ, — how in that dismal struggle must 
it fare with such as have put off their repentance and piety to the last?"(p) — So 
asks a good man, whose observations are directed against the danger of those who 
defer the work of repentance to the end of life, in the vain hope that it may fare 
with them as it fared with the repentant malefactor. He is bent on showing that 
that man's blessed example is balanced by this other example of final impenitence. 

40 But the other answering rebuked him, 

It is impossible to say with certainty whether both of those who were crucified 
with our Saviour were, at first, blasphemers or not: but it seems the safest plan to 
take the statements of the two earlier Evangelists, according to their literal force 
and meaning. And if both "the thieves which were crucified with Him," at first 
reviled Him,(g) then we have the marvellous picture of one repenting at the very 
latest hour, and accepted. 

Be this as it may, we shall derive a sufficiently striking lesson from the wonder- 
ful history before us, if we hold fast by the revealed details of the case. Here was 
one who may, or may not, have been an old and hardened offender; one who may, 
or may not, have added the guilt of murder to robbery. What is certain, he was 
" a felon justly convicted, justly executed: one, whom public justice had adjudged 

(n) Dr. W. H. Mill. (o) See above, verse 37. (j>) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(q) St. Matth. xxvii. 44: St. Mark xv. 33.' 



612 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

to the most disgraceful as well as cruel of punishments ; and to whom public mer- 
cy, — which had just saved Barabbas from a murderer's death, — had not been ex- 
tended. To such a person, therefore, was that signal mercy shown, which the brief 
narrative of St. Luke enables us to trace. The repentance of the malefactor is 
evinced in his confession, when he rebuked his hardened comrade (who had joined 
the soldiers' mockery against the Royal Messiahship of Jesus,") (r) 

41 saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same con- 
demnation ? And we indeed justly ; for we receive the due -reward of 
our deeds: 

To repentance thus hearty, at the very moment also when he was writhing be- 
neath the bitter consequences of his crime, "he adds a Faith no less admirable; 
when, pointing to the Man beside him, then under that load of wrath which obscured 
His sacred person from all common sight, he adds to his self-condemnation and to 
his rebuke, the sentence/' — 

but this Man hath done nothing amiss. 

42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest 
into Thy Kingdom. 

Rather, — " when Thou comest in Thy kingdom :" a striking prayer indeed, and 
worthy even of one who had companied with the Apostles " all the time that the 
Lord Jesus went in and out among" them.(.s) What is it but a confession that 
Christ, having taken to Himself His Kingdom, would return(^) in the Glory of that 
Kingdom, {u) in the latter day, to be the Judge of quick and dead ? This despised 
criminal could hardly have spoken more aptly had he been one of those who heard 
our Lord foretell His future coming in Glory.(x) 

43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt 
thou be with Me in Paradise. 

Not, when I come in My Kingdom, will I remember thee : but, This day shalt 
thou be with Me. This is the third of our Lord's seven last sayings. 

" In Paradise:" — how memorable a word to be found on the lips of the Second 
Adam, and at such a time ! What else does it imply but that, having undone the 
curse, — having overcome Death by dying, — He was about to reinstate Mankind in 
the lost privilege of their race ; to reconduct them back to that happiness from 
which, by the disobedience of their first Parents, they had been expelled? — So 
remarks the great Athanasius, and Ambrose, with many others. 

Thus did our Saviour convey to this man the blessed assurance of " a passage 
with Him through His Baptism of Blood to His rest and to His final Glory. 
' To-day — in Paradise :' not in the Highest Heaven, to which our Lord Himself 
ascended not till afterwards ; whither also, as St. Peter afterwards preached to the 
Jews, David himself had not yet ascended ;(?/) and whither to ascend at this time 
was surely no privilege of this penitent thief; — but in that intermediate state of 
faithful souls, the blessed division of that unseen region, to which on that day our 
Lord descended, (according to the prediction of the Psalmist,^) and the confession 
in our Creed,) was the penitent Thief to be that day with Christ. With the souls 
in that safe custody, as St. Peter writes,(a) — to whom Christ then declared their 
Redemption accomplished, and their more perfect felicity surely approaching, — was 
this penitent to await the full consummation of his bliss, both in body and soul.(&) 

"And the conclusion from it can be none other than this, — that there is no sin 
so great but that the blood of Christ can expiate it ; no sinner to whom the glad 
tidings of that Redemption have been borne, who may not by repentance and faith 
plead its benefit." (c) Thus will the example of the dying thief ever afford unuttera- 
ble consolation to the real penitent. 

Let none however presume on this single recorded instance of the Divine Mercy 

[r) Dr. W. H. Mill. (») Acts i. 21. (*) See St. Luke xix. 12. 

(u) Compare St. Matth. xvi. 28. \x) See St. Matth. xvi. 27, 28 : xxv. 31. 

(?/) Acts ii. 34. («) Ps. xvi. 10. (a) 1 St. Pet. iii. 19. 

(b) So in effect, writes ono who had been a disciple of the Apostles, — quoted by Irenasus. 

(c) Dr. W. H. Mill. 



xxiii.] on st. luke's gospel. 613 

extended to a dying Malefactor ; for, of a truth, very rarely in its essential features 
can such a case be repeated, — in its accidental features, never. For aught that 
appears to the contrary, here was a conscience only at last awakened ; yet embra- 
cing the offer of Mercy with a free Confession, a hearty Repentance, and the prompt 
exercise of a most mighty Faith. When even Peter had denied his Lord, and all 
but St. John had forsaken him and fled, this suffering man comes forward, an almost 
solitary witness to the Divinity of Christ : recognizing Him when "His visage was 
marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men ;"{d) and con- 
fessing " a Kingdom which had the ignominious Cross as its foundation, when that 
mystery, — to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness, — was even 
to the faithful Disciples yet unknown." .... What possible encouragement such 
a history can be supposed to afford to those who delay their Repentance, reserving 
it for a dying bed, — it is hard to discover. Scarcely is it too much to say that the 
cases have no manner of resemblance. He who would be a partaker in the promise 
vouchsafed to the accepted malefactor, must rather imitate him in the prompt devo- 
tion of his remaining opportunities, whatever they may be, to the active service of 
God. " For while in Him we have a solitary instance of one accepted through 
Faith without external works, (for which he had not the opportunity,) yet, by no 
means do we see in him a faith destitute of works, in the larger and fuller meaning 
of the word. For Confession and Humiliation are works; the charitable admonition 
of sinners is a work ; and Faith itself, the direction of the mind to unseen realities 
against the bent of carnal feeling, is a work of no small difficulty." (e) — But enough 
has now been offered on this great subject. 

44, 45 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness 
over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the Sun was darkened, and 
the Veil of the Temple was rent in the midst. 

Concerning these three hours of miraculous darkness, — at the close of which, 
(namely, at three in the afternoon,) our Saviour expired on the Cross, — see what 
has been already offered in the note on St. Matth. xxvii. 45. About the rending of 
the Veil, see also the notes on the earlier Gospels ;(/) in St. Matthew, the other 
prodigies which occurred on this occasion will be found recorded. (g) 

46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, 
into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit : and having said thus, He gave 
up the Ghost. 

"With a loud voice," — (a miraculous circumstance insisted upon by all three Evan- 
gelists, )(h) — did our Redeemer resign His sinless Soul into the Hands of the Eternal 
Father: applying to Himself the language of the xxxi. Psalm ;({) (which is the 
last of His seven sayings on the Cross ;) and thereby "teaching us in whose hands 
the souls of the departed are."(/c) — St. Peter alludes to these dying words of his 
Lord, in his first Epistle :(l) and take notice, how the first Martyr, St. Stephen, 
sought to die like Christ in respect of his two latest sayings. (m) — "The souls of 
the righteous," (it is said in a certain place,) "are in the hand of God, and there 
shall no torment touch them.'\n) 

47 Now when the Centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, 
saying, Certainly this was a righteous Man. 

The reader is requested to read the note on St. Mark xv. 39 : also that on St. Mat- 
thew xxvii. 54. 

,48, 49 And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding 
the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned. And 
all His acquaintance, and the women that followed Him from Galilee, 
stood afar off, beholding these things. 

(d) Is. Hi. 14. (e) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(/) St. Matth. xxvii. 51, and St. Mark xv. 38. (g) St. Matth. xxvii. 51, 52, 53. 

(h) St. Matth. xxvii. 46, 50 : St. Mark xv. 34, 37. See the note on St. Mark xv. 39. 

(i) Ver. 5. (&) Bp. Pearson. (I) 1 St. Pet. iv. 19. 

(m) See Acts vii. 59, 60. (n) Wisdom of Solomon iii. 1. 



614 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Compare St. Matth. xxvii. 55, 56, and St. Mark xv. 40, 41 ; and see the notes on 
the former place. See also St. Luke viii. 1 to 3. 

The keen eye of Prophecy had noticed that mournful group long before. David, 
speaking in the person of his great Descendant, complains, — " My lovers and my 
friends stand aloof from my sore ; and my kinsmen stand afar off. ;; (o) It is worth 
observing how much is said in the Psalms of the desertion of the Disciples, (with 
the single exception of St. John,) throughout this dreary scene ; for it would seem 
to have constituted a special ingredient in our Lord's Cup of Sorrow. Thus, in the 
xxxi. Psalm,—" I was a reproach among all Mine enemies, but especially among 
My neighbours, and a fear to Mine acquaintance. They that did see Me without, 
fled from Me.' ; (_p) " Thou hast put away Mine acquaintance far from Me ; Thou 
hast made Me an abomination unto them .... Lover and friend hast Thou put 
far from Me, and Mine acquaintance into darkness."^) 

50, 51 And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor ; 
and he was a good man, and a just : (the same had not consented to 
the counsel and deed of them ;) he was of Ariroathaga, a city of the 
Jews : who also himself waited for the Kingdom of God. 

In such terms is the disciple who, with Nicodemus, enjoyed the sublime privilege 
of providing for the Burial of his Lord, introduced to our notice. He proves to 
have been a member of the high Court of Sanhedrin ; but, like that other member 
of the same Court already named, he had had no share in the sinful proceedings of 
the morning. (r) To "wait for the Kingdom of God," as already explained, (s) de- 
notes the hope of every faithful Israelite for the Advent of Messiah. 

52, 53 This man went unto Pilate, and begged the Body of Jesus. 
And he took It down, and wrapped It in linen, and laid It in a sepul- 
chre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. 

Some remarks on these incidents will be found in the notes on St. Matthew xxvii. 
58, 59, and St. Mark xv. 42 to 46. 

54 And that day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. 

The last Jewish Sabbath which the World was ever to behold ! See the note 
which precedes St. Matth. xxvii. 57: also the note on St. Mark xv. 42. 

55 And the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed 
after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how His Body was laid. 

" There was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, (that is, " Mary the Mother 
of Joses,")(tf) "sitting over against the Sepulchre," — as St. Matthew relates. (it) 

56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments ; and rested 
the Sabbath Day according to the commandment. 

Contrast the blessed calm in which these sad matrons passed their Sabbath, with 
the unholy excitement of the Chief Priests and Pharisees throughout the same 
solemn season. (x) These pious women, eager as they were to perform the last offices 
of love to their Lord, yet would not transgress the commandment. Having prepared 
the needful spices ancl unguents, they resolved to wait till the first Day of the week 
should dawn, before they presumed to approach the Holy Sepulchre. How blessed 
was the result ! and how unblessed would have been the impatient yielding to their 
own inclination ! Had they presented themselves sooner at the Grave, they would 
have been grieved by the presence, perhaps molested by the rudeness, of the Roman 
soldiers : while their purpose could not possibly have been effected. By waiting 
till the Sabbath was past, — they found the guard dispersed, and their Lord already 
risen ! They embraced those limbs alive, which they had come to weep over, and 
to anoint in Death ! 

(o) Ps. xxxviii. 11. (p) Ps. xxxi. 11. (q) Ps. lxxxviii. 8, 18. 

(r) See above, the note on ver. 1. 

(s) See the notes on St. Mark xv. 43, and on St. Lnke ii. 25. 

t) St. Mark xv. 47,— where see the note. 

u) St. Matth. xxvii. 61, — where see the note ; and the verses enumerated in ver. 56. 
(x) St. Matth. xxvii. 62 to 66. 



XXIV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 615 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



1 Christ's Resurrection is declared by two Angels to the women tliat came to the 
Sepulchre. 9 These report it to others. 13 Christ Himself appeareth to the two 
Disciples that went to Emmaus. 36 Afterwards He appeareth to the Apostles, 
and reproveth their unbelief 47 Giveth them a Charge. 4£T Promiseth the Holt 
Ghost. 51 And so ascendeth into Heaven. 

The concluding chapter of each of the three first Gospels comprehends the his- 
tory of the great Forty Days;(a) and stands in marked contrast with the chapters 
which immediately precede. With all the fearful events of our Blessed Lord's 
Passion fresh in our memory, the story of the first Easter is like the cool fragrance 
of morning after a night of suffering and Death. It is in fact the Birthday of the 
New Creation. But the History is continuous ; and to understand the first verse 
of the present chapter, the two last verses of that which goes before must be borne 
in mind. " When the Sabbath was past," says St. Mark, " Mary Magdalene, and 
Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had brought sweet spices, that they might 
come and anoint Him." (6) It was therefore the first Lord's Day, and about day- 
break. As it follows : 

1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, 
they came unto the Sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had pre- 
pared, and certain others with them. 

These holy women, whose names the Evangelist will be found to specify more 
particularly in verse 10, desired to bestow upon the lifeless Body of their Lord the 
full honours of Burial ; and they supposed that the rite of Anointing yet remained 
undischarged. The hasty ceremonial performed by the loving hands of Joseph and 
Nicodemus,(c) they must have deemed incomplete in this respect. How striking, 
however, becomes the recollection, at this stage of the sacred History, — (striking 
even to ourselves, but how much more striking must it have been to them!) — that 
a full week before, the sister of Lazarus was declared by Christ Himself to have 
bestowed upon His yet living Body the Anointing which was commonly reserved 
for the bodies of the dead 1(d) And fitting it surely was, that the Lord of Life 
should experience so singular an anointing, — that those blessed limbs, which were 
destined never to "see Corruption," should exhibit in this respect a kind of pro- 
phetic intimation of the triumph which was to follow. 

"Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the Sepulchre ?"(e) — the 
women had " said among themselves" as they came along. But they looked, 

And they found the stone rolled away from the Sepulchre. 

How this had come to pass, St. Matthew explains.(/) 

3 And they entered in, and found not the Body of the Lord Jesus. 

The course of the sacred narrative conducts us at once from the interment of our 
Saviour^ on the evening of Friday, to His Kesurrection from Death, very early in 
the morning of Sunday. Concerning the whole interval, as far as the Great Cap- 
tain of our Salvation is concerned, nothing whatever is revealed to us in the Gospel: 

(a) Acts i. 3. (6) St. Mark xvi. 1. (c) See St. John xix. 39, 40. 

[d) See St. Matth. xxvi. 12. St. Mark xiv. 8. St, John xii. 7. ' 

(e) St. Mark xvi. 3. (/) St, Matth. xxviii. 2. 



616 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

but the momentous Truth that, during those three days, "He descended into Hell," 
hath been the constant belief of the Church, (the " Witness and Keeper of Holy 
~Wrlt,")(g) from the beginning. Not indeed that the words themselves are found 
in the earliest copies of the Creed; but when Apollinaris, (who was Bishop of 
Laodicea in Syria, in A.D. 362,) taught that Christ had no human soul, but that 
the Word was to Him in place of a soul, the Church put forward this well-known 
doctrine, and added it to her Creed, as an eternal protest against his dangerous 
heresy. 

One of the purposes of our Lord's " descent into Hell," is declared in a well- 
known passage of St. Peter's first Epistle. He went to " preach to the souls in safe 
keeping," (h) — according to the mysterious language of the Apostle ; and the place 
of their abode was " Paradise." (0 Doubtless, He proclaimed to them their Re- 
demption accomplished, and rehearsed in their wondering ears His recent victory 
over Sin and Death. A few more words on this great subject will be found in the 
note prefixed to St. Mark xvi. 

But the Sabbath was now passed ; and the Human Soul of our Lord having re- 
turned to its fleshly Tabernacle, "perfect God and perfect Man," He raised Him- 
self from Death ;('&) with calm majesty, divested Himself of His fragrant garments ; 
and sometime before the Sun had risen, — before even the Angel had descended to 
hurl away the stone from the door of His Sepulchre, — after some wonderful and 
unrecorded fashion, He had come forth. Hence it was, that the women, on enter- 
ing the chamber of Death, " found not the Body of the Lord Jesus." 

4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, 
behold, two men stood by them in shining garments : 

More than " shining." It is implied that their garments were "flashing" with 
light. 

5 and as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the Earth, 
they said unto them, 

That is, the Angels said, — " Fear not ye. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was 
crucified :" 

Why seek ye the Living among the dead ? 

For they were seeking Him who proclaims concerning Himself in the Book of 
Revelation, — "I am He that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive for ever- 
more, Amen."(Z) 

6, 7 He is not here, but is risen : remember how He spake unto 
you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be de- 
livered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third 
day rise again. 

8 And they remembered His words, 

They remembered the memorable words recorded by St. Matthew, (m) and St. 
Mark,(?i) and alluded to by St. Luke,(o) — as addressed to them by their Lord 
" while they abode in Galilee," rather more than half a year before. The reader is 
requested to refer back to the notes on St. Matthew xvii. 23, and St. Mark ix. 31, 
for some remarks on this subject. — The Angels added a memorable injunction on 
this occasion. They charged the women to announce to the Disciples that appear- 
ance on a mountain in Galilee, which our Saviour was about to vouchsafe to His 
followers, in conformity with the promise He had made to the Apostles in His life- 
time.^) That promise, He is found to have renewed, now that He was risen :(q) 
and indeed the appearance alluded to must have been one of prime importance ; for, 
as already shown,(V) it is almost the only event subsequent to the Resurrection, re- 
fa) Article xx. Vk) 1 St. Peter iii. (i) St. Luke xxiii. 34, where see the note. 
(k) St. John ii. 19, 21 : x. 18. (I) Rev. i. 18. (m) St. Matth. xvii. 22, 23. 
(n) St. Mark ix. 31. (o) St. Luke ix. 44. 
(p) St. Matth. xxvi. 32. (?) St. Matth. xxviii. 10. 
(r) In the note on St. Matth. xxviii. 16, to which the reader is requested to refer. 



XXIV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 617 

lated by St. Matthew ; and may be even said to fill the concluding chapter of his 
Gospel. St. Luke, perhaps because he will omit all notice of the appearance in 
question, is silent also as to ^je Angelic announcement of it. The women, (he 
says,) remembered the words of Christ, 

9 and they returned from the Sepulchre, 

Returned, — themselves ''anointed with the oil of gladness above their fellows."(s) 
"And as they went to tell His Disciples, behold Jesus met them, saying, All hail. 
And they came and held Him by the feet, and worshipped Him. Then said Jesus 
unto them, be not afraid: go tell My brethren that they go into Galilee, and there 
shall they see Me."(f) Thus charged, the company of women repaired to the City, 

and told all these things unto the Eleven, and to all the rest. 

10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of 
James, and other women that were with them, which told these things 
unto the Apostles. 

These, then, are the women alluded to in ver. 1, — to which St. Mark adds 
Salome. (?<) It is striking indeed to find the name of Joanna, (the wife of Herod's 
Steward,) recurring at such a time. The circumstance recalls the last place where 
we met with her name ; and suggests that "Susanna" may have been another of 
that company of holy women, whose names, by consent, the Evangelists pass over 
here in silence. Consider St. Luke viii. 2, and xxiii. 55, in connection with the 
present place; and see the note on xxiii. 8. 

11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed 
them not. 

It will perhaps occur to some, that they considered not the miracle of the raising 
of Lazarus, for their heart was hardened. (#) They had also clearly forgotten the 
express predictions of Christ Himself on this great subject: not once or twice 
made, but again and again. " From that time forth," — (from that time, namely, of 
St. Peter's Confession,) — "began Jesus to show unto His Disciples, how that He 
must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the Elders, and Chief Priests, 
and Scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day."Q/) One week after, 
He had charged them to tell of the Transfiguration " to no man, until the Son of 
Man be risen again from the dead."(s) Then followed, in Galilee, that special pre- 
diction of His Betrayal, violent Death, and Resurrection, (a) to which we have heard 
the Angels refer, above, in verses 6 and 7. " Behold, we go up to Jerusalem ;" 
(our Saviour had said to the Twelve, when He was going up to the Capital for the 
last time,) " and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of 
Man shall be accomplished."^) For He " shall be delivered unto the Chief Priests, 
and unto the Scribes; and they shall condemn Him to Death, and shall deliver Him 
to the Gentiles: and they shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him, and shall spit 
upon Him, and shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise again." (c) After such 
minuteness of description, (for it is more like a narrative of the past than a pro- 
phecy of the future,) it is strange indeed to find such utter unwillingness to believe 
in the fulfillment of what the lips of Christ had spoken: but so it was, that "they 
understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither under- 
stood they the things which were spoken."(cZ) Accordingly, we shall find that 
when the two Disciples returned from their walk to Emmaus, and related to the 
Apostles what had befallen them on the way, — " neither believed they them."(e) Well 
might our risen Lord upbraid the Eleven " with unbelief and hardness of heart, 
because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen."(/)— Take 
notice of what follows. 

(/) Ps - xlv. 7. (t) St. Matth. xxviii. 10. (u) St. Mark xvi. 1. 

(x) Alluding to the language of St. Mark vi. 52. (y) St. Matth. xvi. 21. 

(z) St. Matth. xvii. 9. («) St. Matth. xvii. 22, 23. 

(b) St. Luke xviii. 31. ( c ) St, Mark x. 33, 34. 

(a) St. Luke xviii. 34. And observe that the same was said before; namely, St. Luke ix. 
45, which is the parallel place with St. Matth. xvii. 22, 23, above quoted, 
(ej St. Mark xvi. 13. 
(/) St. Mark xvi. 14, — where the reader is requested to read the note. 



618 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the Sepulchre ; and stooping 
down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, 
wondering in himself 

Rather, — "departed home, wondering." 

at that which was come to pass. 

St. John had ran with St. Peter and outstripped him,- — both in respect of speed 
and of Faith. The reader will do well to compare the present verse with the 
parallel place in St. John's Gospel. (f) Both Apostles, on reaching the Sepulchre, 
stooped and looked into it: both, in the end, entered, and beheld the spot where 
their Lord had lain, — observing the tokens of One who, having "laid Him down 
and slept, had awakened ; for the Lord sustained Him."(#) It had been no hurried 
waking, either. His grave-clothes were found deposited by themselves : "and the 
napkin that was about His Head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped 
together in a place by itself/' (h) In one of the beholders, this sight is found to 
have produced Belief :(*) in the other, only Wonder. 

13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called 
Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three-score furlongs. 

The name of one of these Disciples is found to have been Cleopas ; and St. Luke 
himself is presumed to have been the other. The conjecture, (for it is no more than 
a conjecture,) is a reasonable one. It is found to be the manner of the Evangelists 
thus to relate something concerning themselves ;( k) and the minuteness of detail 
with which St. Luke describes the present interview, favours the supposition that 
he was a witness of the transactions he describes. 

14, 15, 16 And they talked together of all these things which had 
happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together 
and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and w r ent with them. But 
their eyes were holden that they should not know Him. 

St. Mark, with reference to this appearance of our risen Lord, says that " He 
appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the 
country."(£) As already remarked in another place, (m) a wonderful change seems 
to have passed over the appearance of our Lord, at His Resurrection. He was the 
same, yet another; whence neither Mary in the garden, (n) — nor Cleopas and his 
companion, on the road to Emmaus, — nor the seven Disciples at the Lake, at once 
recognized Him. The language of the Evangelist in the last-named case is very 
remarkable. (o) St. Luke's manner of expressing the change alluded to is singular, 
and suggestive. 

17, 18 And He said unto them, What manner of communications are 
these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad ? And the 
one of them, whose name was Cleopas, 

(Quite a distinct person, by the way, from the " Cleophas" mentioned in St. John 
xix. 25, and which ought to be written " Clopas.") — Cleopas, 

answering said unto Him, Art Thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, 
and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these 
days? 

Rather, — " Thou art the only sojourner in Jeruselem who knoweth not," &c. 

19 And He said unto them, What things ? 

(/) See St. John xx. 2 to 10. (g) Ps. iii. 5. 

(h) St. John xx. 7. (i) St. John xx. 8. 

(k) Consider St. Matth. ix. 9, 10, Ac, and the note there. St. Mark xiv. 52, and the note 
there. St. John in many places. 

(I) St. Mark xvi. 12. (m) See the note on St. Mark xvi. 12. 

(n) St. John xx. 15. (o) See St. John xxi. 4, 12, &g. 



XXIV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 619 

As, before, He asked them the subject of their conversation, not as needing to be 
informed, but in order to draw them into discourse which He might turn to their 
instruction, — so now, He is found to make inquiry concerning Himself. See the 
notes on St. Mark v. 9, 30 : ix'. 21. 

20, 21 And they said unto Him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, 
which was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the 
people : and how the Chief Priests, and our Rulers delivered Him to 
be condemned to death, and have crucified Him. But we trusted that 
it had been He which should have redeemed Israel : and beside all 
this, to day is the third day since these things were done. 

These few words declare what had been the belief, — or rather, the "hope" and 
" expectation," — of the Disciples of Christ, concerning Him. This was the hope 
which had sustained them to the last:(j?) and the utter destruction of this hope it 
was which had paralyzed their minds, and reduced them to the strange state of 
perplexity and even despair, in which, at the dawning of the first Easter, we find 
them every one. Even on the Day of the Ascension, we hear them timidly in- 
quiring, — "Lord, wilt Thou at this time, restore again the kingdom to Israel ?"(<?) 
Cleopas proceeds : 

22, 23, 24 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us 
astonished, which were early at the Sepulchre ; and when they found 
not His body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of 
Angels, which said that He was alive. And certain of them which 
were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women 
had said : but Him they saw not. 

In such terms do they describe the visit of the women, and of the Apostles St. 
Peter and St. John, to the Sepulchre. 

25, 26 Then He said unto them, fools, and slow of heart to believe 
all that the Prophets have spoken : ought not Christ to have suffered 
these things, and to enter into His Glory ? 

First, " Suffering," — then, " Glory." " In like manner, the two passages of all 
the Old Testament which speak most fully of the Humiliation of Christ, (the xxii. 
Psalm and the liii. of Isaiah,) both end with the announcement of His Glory. 
' Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the 
spoil with the strong.' ' The Kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the Governor 
among the people.' "(r) Take notice, further, that St. Peter declared himself to be 
" a witness of the Sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the Glory that shall 
be revealed." (s) 

It has been pointed out on St. Luke xxiii. 35, (to which the reader is requested to 
refer,) that however marvellous it may seem to ourselves, the Jewish people seem 
never to have realized the great truth here laid down by our Saviour : namely, — 
that it had been predicted by their ancient prophets that He should be put to death, 
and that through the gate of suffering He should enter into Glory. The Psalms, — 
the Books of Isaiah and of Daniel, — are full of this ; and the Jewish Doctors freely 
recognized the Messiah in all those writings ; yet, such was their blindness, they 
overlooked the great doctrine of what should befall Him at His first Advent. 

"Slow of heart," proved the very Disciples themselves to believe "all that the 
Prophets had spoken" concerning Christ.- Even they were slow, to recognize, in 
the one Person of their Lord, the fulfillment of the prophetic witness to a suffering 
Messiah. Of what paramount importance this was to the fixing of their belief, and 
that of the early Church, on a sure basis, has been pointed out in the note on St. 
Luke xxii. 37 : to which the reader is invited to refer. Behold, therefore, the risen 
Lord Himself pours into the wondering ears of the two Disciples a Divine Commen- 
tary on " Moses and all the Prophets." As it follows :— 

(p) Consider St. Luke xix. 11. (q) Acts i. 6. 

(r) Moberly. ( s ) l St. Peter v. 1. 



620 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded 
unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. 

Rather, — " He thoroughly interpreted." 

The walk to Emmaus was not certainly the most striking incident of the first 
Easter ; yet, who has not felt that if he must name the one recorded event of that 
glorious Day at which he would desire to have been present, it must be this ? — The 
appearance vouchsafed to Mary Magdalene, in the grey of the morning, — (the first 
of our Lord's recorded appearances !) (t) — when she " supposed him to be the gar- 
dener:" — the appearance to the Ten, as they sat at meat, — when, at Christ's 
bidding, with mingled terror, joy, and wonder, the men whose names we know so 
well, handled Him and saw that it was He indeed ; and when, with calm words of 
Benediction, He conveyed to them that Peace which the world can neither give nor 
take away -.(it) — almost any sight of the first Easter, it were bliss beyond all telling, 
to have beheld. Yet, to have walked with Him, although unknown, all the way to 
Emmaus ; and to have heard Him, " beginning at Moses,(aj) and all the Prophets, 
expound in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself," — this, surely, were 
the most blessed portion of all ! Surely, our hearts burn within us, even at the 
thought of what it must have been, to have heard Him so open the Scriptures. The 
Angels must have come down to listen, and Nature herself grown attentive to the 
accents of her Creator and her God ! 

Take notice that St. Paul, following in the footsteps of his Lord, " expounded and 
testified the kingdom of God," before his unbelieving countrymen, at Rome, "per- 
suading them concerning Jesus, both out of the Law of Moses, and out of the pro- 
phets, from morning till evening." (?/) 

28, 29 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went : 
and He made as though He would have gone further. But they con- 
strained Him, saying, Abide with us : for it is toward evening, and the 
day is far spent. And He went in to tarry with them. 

Consider on how many occasions besides the present, it is intimated that con- 
straint is necessary on the part of those who would secure the abiding presence of 
Christ. " Pass not away, I pray Thee, from Thy servant,"^) was the respectful 
language of the patriarch Abraham : and, " I loill not let Thee go, except Thou 
bless me," (a) was the earnest exclamation of the patriarch Jacob. " Depart not 
hence, I pray Thee, until I come unto Thee, and bring forth my present, and set it 
before Thee," said Gideon to the Angel. " And He said, I will tarry till thou come 
again. "(b) " I pray Thee, let us detain Thee"(c) was the entreaty of Manoah and 
his wife. 

St. Andrew and St. John are thus found to have followed after the Saviour, till 
they won from His lips the word of invitation :(d) while the Woman of Canaan 
even pursued the Holy One into the House whither He had retired. (e) On the Sea 
of Galilee, about the fourth watch of the night, the Disciples saw Him coming unto 
them, *' walking upon the Sea: and He would have passed by them, v (f) had they 
not cried out, and by their entreaties persuaded Him to enter the ship in which 
they were. The like is found to have taken place during the walk to Emmaus. 
By all of which we are reminded, that as, without an effort, the blessing of Christ's 
presence may not be won, so neither, without a constraining effort, may it be 
retained in the soul. 

30, 31 And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took 
bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. 

And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him ; and He vanished 
out of their sight. 

(0 St. Mark xvi. 9. («) See below, verse 36 to 43; and St. John xx. 19 to 23. 

\x) "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me :" (said our Lord,) "for he wrote 
of Me." St. John v. 46. 

{y) Acts xxviii. 23. (z) Gen. xviii. 3. (a) Gen. xxxii. 26. 

(6) Judges vi. 18. (c) Judges xiii. 15. (d) St. John i. 37 to 39. 

(e) St. Mark vii. 24. ■ (/) St. Mark vi. 48. 



XXIV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 621 

It is impossible to read this statement without a deep conviction that a mystery 
lies beneath it. Here was no mere recognition ; as when the unsuspected presence 
of a friend is discovered by his well-known gesture. It was more than that. The 
act described, corresponds exactly with what we read concerning the institution of 
the Lord's Supper ;(g) and " the breaking of the bread," (which is presently alluded 
to, as the special act of our Saviour on this occasion,) (h) is the very expression by 
which the Lord's Supper itself is twice indicated in the Acts.(t') Not that it is 
necessary to suppose that the Holy Eucharist was partaken of at Emmaus : but it 
seems to be implied that the blessing of Christ served to a sacramental purpose; 
and that, by means of the Bread which He gave to the Disciples, " their eyes were 
opened." "It enlighteneth with belief," says Hooker (A;) of the Holy Eucharist; 
" it truly conformeth us unto the image of Jesus Christ." Now, to " be like 
Him," and to "see Him as He is," are one.(Z) 

Take notice that the two Disciples, at Emmaus, had not been "forgetful to enter- 
tain strangers;" whereby, they had "entertained Angels unawares." (m) 

32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, 
while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened unto us the 
Scriptures ? 

" "We seem to be taught by this, that in reading the Scriptures there may be an 
affectionate warmth and wonder as He opens them to us, — a kindling of His own 
Divine Love in the soul of His Disciples, however imperfect, — while He shows 
therein His Cross and His sufferings ; and, it may be, discloses something of the 
Glory that is to be revealed. While we walk and are sad, from this we may yet 
find comfort. Discourses also which fill the hearers with a sensible warmth and 
fervour, and kindle a fire in their souls, maybe from God ; for Christ has promised 
that His Holy Spirit shall speak by His Ministers. But such must consist in the 
unfolding of the Scriptures, and in the setting forth of Christ crucified, and the 
Power of His -Resurrection. Let the middle, and the beginning, and the end, be 
the setting forth of Christ crucified, that the hearts of those that hear may burn. 
"We know not how much in these things Christ is with us, in the stirring of the 
heart and affections, until He vanishes from us, and it is all past. 

" But if He comes to be with us when we talk of Him, and while we. walk with 
Him, yet are we hereby taught that it is in the Breaking of Bread He is to be 
known in His Church, unto the end."(w) 

33, 34 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, 
and found the Eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, 
saying, the Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. , 

Take notice, that nothing is here said of the appearance to Mary Magdalene, or 
to the company of women. The appearance to Simon Peter is singled out in a 
marked way by the whole body of Disciples ; and the language used concerning it, 
is the language of men who believe the thing they state. It perhaps had been 
attended by some extraordinary circumstances. St. Paul gives it the foremost place 
in his enumeration of our Lord's appearances after His Resurrection. "He was 
seen of Cephas ; then, of the Twelve ; after that, He was seen of above five hundred 
brethren at once."(o) 

35 And they told what things ivere done in the way, and how He 
was known of them in breaking of bread. 

Yet, strange to say, their report did not win belief: as St. Mark has expressly 
recorded, (p) 

36 And as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of 
them, and saith unto them, Peace he unto you. 

(g) St. Luke xxii. 19. (h) See below, ver. 35. (0 Acts ii. 42 and 46. 

(k) Quoting Cyprian. \l) 1 St. John iii. 2. (m) Heb. xiii. 2. 

(n) Williams. (o) 1 Cor. xv. 5, 6. Consider the note on St. Matth. xxviii. 16. 

(p) St. Mark xvi. 13. 



622 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

" He ' stood in the midst of them/ — suddenly, and without a sound or step being 
heard, or any approach or passing by noticed ; noiseless as a shadow, and sightless 
in His coming as a dream. He is in the midst of them, with a suddenness and 
silence which marks all the comings of Christ. Here then was the promise visibly 
fulfilled, ' where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the 
midst of them/ "(q) And what words may declare the joy of the Disciples at this 
sight of their Divine Master, thus standing among them as of old ; restored to them, 
in a manner past all understanding, at the moment when they longed for Him most, 
and regarded His return as altogether impossible ? 

Peace, — the last word of the prophecy of Zacharias ;(r) the burthen of the An- 
gelic Hymn on the night of the Nativity ;(s) the Salutation which our Saviour had 
directed His Disciples to convey with them, wheresoever they published the Gospel 
of Peace ;(f) the precious legacy which the same Saviour, on the last evening of 
His mortal Life, bequeathed to His Apostles :(u) Peace, — is the first word which is 
heard from His lips when He is again risen from the dead. 

37, 38, 39, 40 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed 
that they had seen a spirit. And He said unto them, Why are ye 
troubled ? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts ? Behold My 
Hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me, and see ; for a 
spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have. 

And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and Sis 
feet. 

The Reader is requested to refer to some remarks in the Commentary on St. John 
xx. 20. 

41, 42, 43 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, 
He said unto them, Have ye here any meat ? And they gave Him a 
piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did 
eat before them. 

Thus showing them the reality of His Body. 

How is it possible here to avoid hanging upon every word with interest and won- 
der? This then was the fare of the Apostles, — " broiled fish," and " honeycomb." 
May there not be a meaning, also, in the food thus particularly mentioned, and 
partaken of on so great an occasion ? 

44 And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto 
you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which 
were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the 
Psalms, concerning Me. 

For not only "the whole Book," but "every folding, every leaf of this Book," is 
full of Him. " Thou shalt not find a Story," (says Hammond,) "a Kiddle, a Pro- 
phecy, a Ceremony, a downright Legal Constitution, but hath some manner of 
aspect on this glass, some way drives at this mysterjr, ' God manifest in the flesh/ 
For example, (perhaps you have noted,) whenever you read Seth's genealogies 
more insisted on than Cain's, Shem's than his elder brother Ham's, Abraham's than 
the whole Word besides, Jacob's than Esau's, Judah's than the whole Twelve Pa- 
triarchs; and the like passages which directly drive down the line of Christ, and 
make that the whole business of Scripture: whenever, I say, you read of any 
of these, then are you to note that Shiloh was to come ; that He which was sent, 
was on His journey ; that from the Creation, to the fullness of time, the Scripture 
was in travel with Him." 

45 Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand 
the Scriptures, 

(q) Williams, quoting St. Matth. xviii. 20. (r) St. Luke i. 79. 

(s) St. Luke ii. 14. (t) St. Luke x. 5. (u) St. John xiv. 27. 



XXIV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. 623 

Words soon read, but involving how important a doctrine ; and suggesting how 
many heart-stirring thoughts ! " Open Thou mine eyes, that I may see the won- 
drous things of Thy Law,"(;r) "was the prayer of the devout Psalmist. The gift 
which he coveted, was now imparted to the Disciples of Christ ; and by the hands 
of Christ Himself. 

Consider how glorious must have been the result, when these words were spoken 
by Him who said, " in the beginning," " Let there be Light, and there was Light/' 
He had already, in the case of Cleopas and his companion, "expounded in all the 
Scriptures/' (" beginning at Moses and all the Prophets,") " the things concerning 
Himself."(?/) But now, He caused all those dark writings to become clear to the 
mental eye ; enabling the Disciples, by a mere act of intuition, to " understand the 
Scriptures :" not so much, (be sure !) to understand the hard points in Chronology, 
Geography, Physical Science, Natural History, and the like, which abound in Holy 
Writ ; as to see which portions of Sacred Story are allegorical ;(z) which persons, (a) 
transactions, (b) and things, (c) are typical; how far typical; and of what ; — what 
hidden teaching lies concealed under the several enactments of the Law ;{d) — what 
is the true reference of the several Prophecies of the Old Testament ;(e) — lastly, 
what unsuspected mysteries and meanings lie beneath the surface of the latter, in 
every Work of the Spirit. (f) 

With most convincing power must men so enlightened, so unerringly instructed 
in the mysteries of Christ's Kingdom, have proceeded to spread the knowledge of 
the Faith. There was even a time (we know it for certain,) when certain great 
and curious secrets were in the keeping of the Church. (g) These, indeed, have since 
passed into oblivion. Yet must the result of such divine illumination have been per- 
manent. The general consent of Antiquity on certain great subjects, — as the refe- 
rence of our Lord's Discourse with Nicodemus to Water Baptism, — must be re- 
garded as quite conclusive as to the mind of the Spirit on those subjects ; and the 
style and ^method of the ancient expositors, generally, must be held to be in strict 
conformity with the Truth. To proceed, however. Our Saviour " opened the un- 
derstanding" of the Disciples : 

46, 47 and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved 
Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the Third Day : and that 
Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in His name 
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 

" Go ye therefore, and teach all nations," — is the language of our Lord's Charge, 
as recorded by St. Matthew. (h) "For, from the rising of the sun unto the going down 
of the same, My Name shall be great among the Gentiles, . . . saith the Lord."(^) 
The prophet Micah, in like manner, speaking of the last days, declares that "many 
nations shall say, Come, and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, and to the 
House of the God of Jacob : and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk 
in His paths : for the Laio will go forth of Sion, and the Word of the LORD from 
Jerusalem, (k) 

48 And ye are witnesses of these things. 

Take notice how distinctly the office of "witnesses" was assigned to the Apostles 
by their Lord ; here, in St. John xv. 27, and in Acts i. 8. Accordingly, it is recog- 
nized by them on many occasions : — at the election of Matthias, into the Apostolic 
body ;(7) in St. Peter's speech on the Day of Pentecost ;(m) after the healing of the 

(x) Ps. cxix. 18. {y) See above, ver. 27. 

(z) As, the History of Hagar. See Gal. iv. 21 to 31. 

(a) As, Melchizedek. See Heb. vii. 1 to 17. 

(6) As, the Crossing of the Red Sea. See 1 Cor. x. 1 to 6. 

(c) As, the Veil of the Temple. See Heb. x. 20. 

_(d) As, the High-Priest's entering the Holy of Holies: see Heb. ix. 7, 8. Also, the prohi- 
bition (in Deut. xxv. 4,) to muzzle the ox which treadeth out the corn : See 1 Cor. ix. 9 to 11. 

(e) Consider how St. Peter expounds Ps. xvi. 8 to 11, in Acts ii. 29 to 31. Consider also St. 
Matth. ii. 15, 18, 23, — with the notes on each place. 

(/ ) Consider the inference which our Lord draws from Ex. iii. 6, in St. Mark xii. 26, 27. — 
where see the notes : and how St. Matthew (viii. 17,) explains Is. liii. 4: and how St. Paul 
comments on the viii. Psalm in Heb. ii. 5 to 9. Consider also Gal. iii. 16.) 

(g) See 2. Thess. ii. 6. (h) St. Matthew xxviii. 19. (i) Mai. i. 11. 

(k) Micah iv. 2. (I) Acts i. 22. (w) Acts ii. 32. 



624 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

lame man "by St. Peter and St. John ; (n) before the Council : (o) before Cornelius 
and his company ;(p) and in St. Paul's Sermon at Antioch.(g) Consider also 1 St. 
Peter v. 1, and 2 St. Peter i. 16. 

Hitherto we have been occupied by the History of the first Easter, — the events of 
a single Sunday: but the five verses which come next, give the history of our 
Lord's Ascension into Heaven ; and therefore a long interval, — the space of Forty 
Days, in fact, — is interposed between what precedes and what follows. 

The place from which our Lord led the Eleven Apostles " out as far as Bethany/' 
was certainly the City of Jerusalem, — the scene of the preceding verses. He had 
indeed, in the meantime, manifested Himself to His Disciples on the Mountain in 
Galilee, and again by the Lake:(r) but they had now, once more, returned to Je- 
rusalem. "And, being assembled together with them," (as St. Luke says in an- 
other place ; where, by the way, the words should rather be translated, as in the 
margin, ' eating together with them/) He " commanded them that they should not 
depart from Jerusalem ; but wait for the promise of the Father, which, (saith He,) 
ye have heard of Me. For John truly baptized with Water ; but ye shall be bap- 
tized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence."(s) All this is here expressed 
more briefly, as follows : 

49 And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you : but 
tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from 
on High. 

Which is said with obvious allusion to the great outpouring of the Spirit on the 
Day of Pentecost, which was to follow in ten days from the date of the Ascension; 
and for which the Apostles were to wait, (literally, to "sit" still,) in Jerusalem. 

" Behold, I send." And so, in St. John's Gospel, — "The Comforter, whom I 
will send unto you from the Father." " If I depart I will send Him unto you."(tf) 
By which texts it is shown that the Holt Ghost "proceedeth from the Father 
and the SON." (a) — The outpouring of the Spirit, thus alluded to, was "the prom- 
ise" of the Father, (as it is called here, and in Acts i. 4 ;) for the gift had been 
promised in ancient clays by the mouth of His holy Prophets. (x) 

50 And He led them out as far as to Bethany, 

From Jerusalem, then, (as explained above, in the note preceding verse 49,) He 
led them forth along the well-known road to Bethany ; that road which, rather more 
than forty days before, they had seen Him daily tread in much affliction ;(y) and 
thus He guided them to the summit of the Mount of Olives, — which, in common 
with the entire district in which it stands, was known by the name of "Bethany." 
" Spots consecrated by the recollection of a thousand sayings and incidents which 
were full of peculiar interest to them ; and many of which, the events that had since 
occurred had now unfolded and explained ; but oh, with feelings and thoughts how 
different from those with which they had visited them before \"[z) 

There He delivered to His Apostles His parting Charge, — as related in the con- 
cluding verses of the two first Gospels. (a) Those solemn words ended, " He lifted up 
His hands," bearing the marks of the wounds which He had received for them ; 
and bestowed upon them His prevailing blessing, — as St. Luke alone records : 

and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. 

The Law therefore began and ended with a Curse :(&) but the Gospel ends, as it 
began, with a Blessing. (c) And take notice, that it was while our Saviour was in 
the very act of blessing His Apostles, — His hands yet lifted up in Benediction, yet ex- 
tended over them in Love unspeakable — that He commenced His majestic ascent. 
As it follows : 

(n) Acts iii. 15, and iv. 20, 33. (o) Acts v. 32. (p) Acts x. 39. (q) Acts xiii. 31. 

(»•) See St. Matthew xxviii. 6, &c, and St. John xxi. 1, &c. (s) Acts i. 4, 5. 

(t) St. John xv. 26: xvi. 7. (u) See also St. John xvi. 14, 15. 

(x) See Isaiah xliv. 3, Joel ii. 28, &c. (y) See St. Luke xxi. 37. («) Williams. 

(«) See St. Matthew xxviii. 18 to 20, and St. Mark xvi. 15 to 19, — where the reader is re- 
quested to see the notes. 

(b) Gen. iii. 14 to 19, and Mai. iv. 6. (c) St. Matth. v. 3 to 11, and the present place. 



XXIV.] ON ST. LUKE'S GOSPEL. - 625 

51 And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from 
them, and carried up into Heaven. 

Beautiful words ! denoting rather that He was taken away from the men He 
loved, than that by an act of His own, He left them. For His Passion, it is said 
that He was impatient :(d) for His Ascension, not so. He did not leave His Apos- 
tles, but " was parted from them." 

In the Commentary on St. Mark's Gospel, several remarks of a doctrinal charac- 
ter will be found on the subject of the Ascension, — to which the reader is invited to 
refer, (e) 

He "sat on the Right Hand of God/ 7 — as St. Mark is careful in this place to 
add.(/) But St. Luke's supplementary record, in the Acts, is especially worthy of 
remembrance here. After rehearsing a part of our Lord's Charge and Commission, 
nowhere else recorded, (g) the blessed writer adds, — "And when He had spoken 
these things, while they beheld, He was taken up ; and a cloud received Him out of 
their sight. A chariot-cloud, — which was doubtless a host of ministering Angels : 
for " the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of Angels ; and the 
Lord is among them, as in the holy place of Sinai. "(h) "Lift up your heads, 
ye gates," is their song; "and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of 
Glory shall come in."(i) 

" And while they looked steadfastly toward Heaven, as He went up, behold, two 
Men stood by them in white apparel ; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why 
stand ye here gazing up into Heaven ? This same Jesus, which is taken up from 
you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Hea- 
ven." That is, — As ye have seen Him in a cloud depart, so "in clouds"(A:) shall 
ye behold Him return. "And His feet shall stand in that Day upon the Mount of 
Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the East."(Z) 

" Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is 
from Jerusalem a Sabbath-day's journey." (m) The record of the same Evangelist, 
in his Gospel, is much briefer : namely, — 

52, 53 And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with 
great joy : and were continually in the Temple, praising and blessing 
God. Amen. 

They had been sorrowful, but their sorrow hath been turned into joy. Christ 
hath seen them again, according to His true promise: wherefore their heart rejoic- 
eth ; and now, their joy no man taketh from them.(n) They repair to the Temple; 
and lo, the Temple-Service becomes henceforth filled with new meanings. " The 
Song of Moses has become to them the Song of the Lamb." To them the Psalms 
speak henceforth another language, for they speak to them only of Christ. 

Well mnj the Apostles have been henceforth " continually in the Temple, prais- 
ing and blessing God !" 



THE PRAYER. 

Almighty God, who through Thine Only-begotten Son Jesus 
Christ, hast overcome Death, and opened unto us the gate of everlast- 
ing Life ; we humbly beseech Thee, that, as by Thy special Grace pre- 
venting us, Thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by Thy con- 
tinual help we may bring the same to good effect ; through Jesus 
Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy 
Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. 

(d) St. Mark x. 32, and St. Luke xii. 50. 

(e) See the note on St. Mark xvi. 19. (/) St. Mark xvi. 19. 
(g) Acts i. 6 to 8. (/*) Psalm lxviii. 17. (0 Psalm xxiv. 7. 
[k) See the note on St. Matthew xxiv. 30,— the latter part of the verse. 

(0 Zech. xiv. 4. ( m ) Acts i. 9 to 12. (n) St. John xvi. 20, 22. 

40 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



THE FOUR HOLY GOSPELS 



ST. JOHN 



CHAPTER I. 



1 The Divinity, Humanity, and office of Jesus Christ. 15 The testimony of John. 
39 The calling of Andrew, Peter, &c. 

St. John wrote his Gospel long after the other three Evangelists ; at a time, when 
" many deceivers" had " entered into the world, who confessed not that Jesus Christ 
had come in ihejlesh?\d) Now, " every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ 
is come in the flesh, is not ofGoD."(6) "This," (as the beloved Disciple states 
repeatedly, "is the Spirit of Antichrist." (c) Accordingly, it was the object of the 
blessed writer to check the growing Heresy. " These [signs] are written," as he 
declares, at the end of Ch. xx., (speaking of his own Gospel,) " that ye might be- 
lieve that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing, ye might have 
life through His name." 

We are prepared, after these statements, for the very express declaration con- 
cerning the Divinity and Humanity of Christ, with which the present Gospel com- 
mences. 

1 In the beginning was the Wobd, 

" In the beginning," — to remind us of the first words of Genesis (i. 1.) See the 
note on St. Matthew i. 1. 

St. Matthew and St. Luke supply the human genealogy of Christ ; and the for- 
mer Evangelist begins his Gospel with it. But the Disciple whom Jesus loved, soars 
up far higher ; and discourses at once of his Lord and ours, as " without descent, — 
having neither beginning of days, nor end of life: "(d) as "the Boot" as well as 
"the offspring of David :"(e) the Word, who was "in the Beginning;" and "ivas 
God." " Who shall declare His generation ?"(/) 

By this less usual name also, ("the Word,") St. John draws away our thoughts 
from the Human to the Divine Nature of our Redeemer. And yet it was no new 
designation, but one perfectly well recognized at the time. 

The reason of the Name may be perceived by many considerations. It is designed 
toteach us that the Son was "with the Father," somewhat as a word dwells in the 
mind. It is the utterance of the mind ; and the Son is the utterance (so to speak) 
of the Father. Begotten from all Eternity, He yet abstracted nothing from the 
Father ; whose very Image and Representation He yet was and is. And the name 
seems especially designed to preclude many of the thoughts which the mention of 
Sonship is sure to awaken, — and which cannot attach to a Being "without Body, 

(a) 2 St. John, ver. 7. (6) 1 St. John iv. 3. 

(c) 1 St. John iv. 3 ; ii. 22 ; 2 St. John, ver. 7. (d) Hebrews vii. 3. 

(e) Eevelation xxii. 16. (/) Isaiah liii. 8. 



628 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

parts, or passions." Then, further, Christ was fitly called "the Word" because 
He came upon Earth "to declare" the Father (i. 18:) whom He revealed to every 
creature, somewhat as words reveal the heart and mind of man. "All things/' He 
said, " that I have heard of My Father, I have made known unto you." (xv. 15.) 
Accordingly, it is stated in the Epistle to the Hebrews, God "hath in these last 
days spoken unto us by His Son." (i. 2.) See more, in the note on ver. 18. 

Lastly, it may be observed that a word becomes known, by clothing itself with a 
sound. Expressed in writing, it becomes visible also. And somewhat thus it was, 
that the Eternal Word, by assuming flesh, manifested Himself to the World : and, 
was beheld, not only by human eyes ; but, as the Apostle remarks, was " seen of 
AjigelsS'Xg) 

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

The Son was " in the Beginning :" so that there never was a time when He was 
not. But lest any one should suppose from this, that the Word was Unbegotten, 
the Evangelist adds immediately, — "And the Word was with God." To the same 
effect does the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity discourse concerning Himself, 
in the Book of Proverbs : — " The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, 
before His works of old. I was set up from Everlasting, from the beginning, or 

ever the Earth was. When there were no depths, before the mountains 

were settled, while as yet He had not made the Earth." (viii. 22 — 26.) So 

that there is one Person of the Father, and another Person of the Son. 

This was He whom the same St. John beheld by Revelation " clothed with a ves- 
ture dipped in blood: and His Name" was still "called the Word of GoD."(/i) 

2 The same was in the beginning with God. 

" With" Him, — yet so as to be one with Him : for, as it is said, — " I and My 
Father are one." (x. 30.) " He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." "I am 
in the Father, and the Father in Me." (xiv. 9, 10.) 

The words of the text are more precise (if possible) than those which went before. 
They preclude the notion that the Father was in any way prior, in time, to the Son. 

Wisdom, that is, Christ, (compare 1 Corinthians i. 24) says in the Book of Pro- 
verbs, — "When He prepared the Heavens, I was there : when He set a compass on 

the face of the depth : when He established the clouds above when He gave 

to the Sea His decree ; then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him : 

and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." (viii. 27 to 30.) 

3 All things were made by Him ; and without Him was not any 
thing made that was made. 

We are carried back to the very beginning of Time, — to that period which is 
spoken of in Genesis i. 1, and which long preceded Genesis i. 2. What, then, is 
here declared concerning the birthday of Creation ? Even, that when God the 
Father, " in the beginning," " created the Heaven and the Earth," — God the Son 
was " with" Him : " by whom also He made the worlds." (i) The Evangelist lays 
down this great truth first positively, and then negatively ; for it is one of those 
mighty verities which may admit of no doubt Or question. We proclaim in the Ni- 
cene Creed, — " By Whom all things were made," meaning Christ : and our warrant 
for it is the plain and repeated statement of Scripture. " There is but one God, the 

Father, o/whom are all things and one Lord Jesus Christ, oy whom are 

all things. "(j) But the most sublime passage of all, perhaps, is found in Colossi- 
ans, i. 16, 17 ; where it is said, — " For by Him were all things created, that are in 
Heaven, and that are in Earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones, or 
Dominions; or Principalities, or Powers: all things were created by Him and for 

Him : and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." See 

also Ephesians hi. 9, Hebrews xi. 3, 2 St. Peter iii. 5. Also Psalm cii. 25, com- 
pared with Hebrews i. 8, 10. 

It is asked in the Book of Proverbs, concerning the Author of Creation, — " What 
is His Name, and what is His Son's Name, if thou canst tell ?" (xxx. 4.) And, in 
the same Book, as here, God's work in Creation is ascribed to the Son : — " The Lord 

(g) 1 Tim. iii. 16. (h) Eevelation xix. 13. (i) Hebrews i. 2. (j) 1 Corinthians viii. 6. 



I.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 629 

by WISDOM hath founded the Earth." (iii. 19.) Now Wisdom, as already ex- 
plained, is one of the names of Christ. 

4 In Him was Life ; and the Life was the Light of Men. 

We still linger on the threshold of Creation. " In Him was Life." " In Him," — 
as in a Fountain ! " For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to 
the Sox to have Life in Himself." (/f) Moreover, the Life which was in Him, " was 
the Light of Men." All the Light which our Spirits are conscious of, and whereby 
alone they may be said to live, — is from Him! 

5 And the Light shineth in Darkness ; and the Darkness compre- 
hended It not. 

Our nature, since Adam's Fall, had become as it were "without form and void, 
and darkness was upon the face" of it. And it is said, — " the Light of men" shone 
athwart that darkness : but " the darkness comprehended It not." The Evangelist 
is hinting at the New Creation. 

Compare this repeated mention of Light (ver. 4, 5, 7, 8, 9,) with what is said in 
Genesis i. 3, 4, 5 ; and take notice how the first page of the New Testament again 
recalls the first page of the Old. 

But observe that in ver. 9, as if with a special reference to that earlier Revela- 
tion, Christ is called "the true Light:" just as He is elsewhere called "the true 
Bread," (vi. 32,) and "the true Vine." (xv. 1.) All others, therefore, were but "the 
figures of the true ;"(Z) that is, they were but types, emblems, figures, of Him who 
created them; — who, emphatically, is the Truth; — and for whose sake alone, "they 
are, and were created." 

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name ivas John. 

The Evangelist speaks generally of the office of St. John Baptist, — concerning 
whom he will speak more particularly by and by. He was "sent from God:" 
whence, speaking by the mouth of His prophet, God says, — "Behold, I send My 
Messenger /"(m) 

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that 
all men through him might believe. 

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 

See note on verse 23. 

The Baptist bore witness to the glorious Luminary which had arisen on the 
world, by the rays which it threw upon himself. In like manner the sunlight on 
the mountain informs men that the Sun has risen, though they do not yet behold 
the Sun's orb. 

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh 
into the World. 

In so marked and emphatic a manner is the appellation of Light bestowed upon 
our Lord at the outset of St. John's Gospel. That Name He often took to Him- 
self, — as in viii. 12 : ix. 5 : xii. 46 : and it is full of high and holy teaching. The 
creature is evidently meant to instruct us concerning the Creator. Here, the men- 
tion of Light seems to carry our thoughts back to "the beginning." (See note on 
verse 5.) It suggests, moreover, that the Son came from the Father, — being "the 
Brightness of His glory, and the express Image of His Person,"(w) — somewhat as 
Light comes from Light (" Light of Light," as it is said in the Creed.) Now, it is 
the nature of Light so derived, to be co-existent, con-substantial, co-equal. Whence 
our Lord could say, "he that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me." (xii. 45.) 

10 He was in the World, and the World was made by Him, and the 
World knew Him not. 

" The World" here denotes particularly the Gentiles ; and the reference is espe- 
cially to the time of the Old Dispensation. St. John reminds us that Christ was 

(k) St. John v. 26. (I) Heb. ix. 24. (m) Malacbi iii. 1. (n) Heb. i. 3. 



680 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

the Author of Creation : and bids us notice the marvellous fact that, though He 
-was ever in the World, (which was the work of His Almighty Hands,) — upholding 
and sustaining it, — yet that the World did not know Him. 

11 He came unto His own, 

" His own," — or " His own home," (as the same word is translated in xix. 27,) — 
denotes the House of Israel ; to which our Lord Himself declared that He was es- 
pecially sent.(o) The World might, of course, he equally called "His own," — 
since, by right of Creation, all things are equally His. Yet had the Jewish people 
'been, from the beginning, God's "peculiar treasure :"(_£>) "a special people unto 
Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." (q) " The seed of 
Abraham, [His] friend ;"(?*) "whose were the Fathers; and of whom, as concern- 
ing the flesh, Christ canie."(s) To them "pertained the Adoption ;"— as it is said 
in Exodus iv. 22, — "Israel is My Son, even My First-born." And again, "I will 
be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Al- 
mighty. 7 ^/) Well, therefore, when He was " made flesh," might the Only-Begotten 
of the Father be said to have come to " His own!" 

It is written in the Song of Moses, — "When the Most High divided to the Na- 
tions their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam .... the Lord's por- 
tion [was] His people, Jacob [was] the lot of His inheritance." (u) Well, there- 
fore, when He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, might our Saviour be said to have 
come to "His own home!" 

and His own received Him not. 

Observe what is here said. The World "did not know:" "His own," "did not 
receive Him." The " foolish heart" of the first had been " darkened," because 
" they did not like to retain God in their knowledge."^ 1 ) They, therefore, did not 
know God. But the Jews, — "to whom pertained the Adoption, and the Glory, and 
the Covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the Prom- 
ises" (x) — of them it could not be so properly said that they did not "know" as that 
they did not " receive" the Saviour. The first had ignorance to plead for not 
knowing Him : for not receiving Him, the second were without excuse. Whence it 
came to pass that He proved a Light to lighten the Gentiles, [y) when by repentance 
and faith they turned to Him: whereas, of the Jewish nation, it is at last declared 
that, in consequence of their hard and impenitent hearts, Jesus " did hide Himself 
from them."(z) "For judgment," said our Blessed Lord, "I am come into this 
world, that they which see not might see ; and that they which see might be made 
blind." (ix. 39.) 

12 But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become 
the Sons of God, 

For though the Jews, as a nation, rejected the Messiah, yet many among the 
people "received Him." See, for instance, St. John ii. 23: vii. 31: viii. 30, 31: 
ix. 1G : x. 42 : xi. 45, 48 : xii. 11 and 42. To these, in reward of their Faith, (as 
it is here said,) was given the privilege of becoming "the Sons of God;" concern- 
ing which wondrous title, see 1 St. John iii. 1, 2. — Christ does not compel obedi- 
ence. He does but invite it. 

Nor does He make men "the sons of God:" He does but give them " poioer to 
become" so. Implying thereby that we, being regenerate, (in Holy Baptism,) and 
made God's children by Adoption and Grace, (by the same Blessed ordinance,) — 
need daily to be renewed by God's Holy Spirit.(a) 

even to them that believe on His Name : 

For, as St. John in another place declares,(6) "Whosoever believeth that Jesus 
is the Christ, is born of GOD" 

(o) St. Matthew xv. 24. 

(p) Exod. xix. 5. Psalm cxxxv. 4, and see the margin of Malachi iii. 17. 

(q) Deut. vii. 6 and xiv. 2. (r) Isaiah xli. 8. (s) Romans ix. 5. 

(*) 2 Cor. vi. 18. \u) Deut. xxxii. 8, 9. (v) Romans i. 28. 

(x) Rom. ix. 4. (y) Isaiah xlii. 6 : xlix. 6. St. Luke ii. 32. 

(z) St. John xii. 36. (a) Collect for Christmas-Day. {b) 1 St. John v. 1. 



I-] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 631 



13 which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor 
of the will of Man, but of God. 

He speaks of our Begeneration, or new Birth in Christ, — and contrasts it with 
our natural Birth. More is said of this great mystery in ch. iii. verses 3 to 8 : 
where our Saviour declares that " except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit, 
he caunot enter into the Kingdom of God." This explains what the Beloved Dis- 
ciple only hints at in this place. See note on iii. 5. 

The Only-Begotten Sox of God, being by nature of one substance with the Fa- 
ther, for us men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was made 
Man. Baptized into Him, we become " members of His body, — of His flesh, and 
of His bones."(c) We are made "partakers of the Divine Nature." (rZ) "The 
Spirit itself beareth witness with our Spirit, that we are the children of God."(c) 
Whence, in amazing condescension, God describes the Sox as " the first-born among 
many Brethren :"(/) an( l H e Himself, (as the Apostle speaks,) " is not ashamed to 
call [us] brethren." (g) 

In order that Men might be born of God, God was first born of Man. Whence, 
it follows — 

14 And the Word was made flesh, 

That is "Man" as in Psalm cxlv. 21 : Joel ii. 28 : Galatians ii. 16. Now, Man 
consists of Body and Soul ; — so that besides human flesh, our Saviour Christ had a 
human soul also. 

It is not here said that " He came to," — or was "joined with," — but that He was 
"made" Man: for the Word came to men often, (h) but He was made man only 
once: and He might have been joined to man without becoming a partaker of man's 
Nature. But because He was made " very man," language which can be applied 
properly to man alone, is applied to Him, — as, that He wept(r) — hungered, (k) — 
thirsted ;(l) marvelled(m) was grieved, (?i) — wearied, (o) — and made angry. (p) It 
was because He had His own body, that He was able to bear our sicknessess : [q) 
because He had His own soul, that He was able to carry our sorrows, (r) 

Lest any should be so weak, or so wicked, as to pretend that the Word by being 
"made flesh," parted with the Divine Nature, or underwent any change whatsoever, 
the Apostle proceeds, — 

and dwelt among us. 

" The fullness of the Godhead, bodily," was therefore there, (s) 

"Dwelt among us" may seem only to imply that Christ made His dwelling with 
the sons of men: but something infinitely loftier than that is meant. "Tabernacled 
in us," (for so the words in strictness should be translated,) teaches that the Eternal 
Sox, not only put on a Tabernacle of.. Flesh, as St. Peter and St. Paul speak; but 
that He took up His abode, in that common Human Nature which belongs to all 
our race: whence it is declared that He dwelt "in us" As Hooker excellently 
says, — " It pleased not the Word or Wisdom of God to take to Itself some one per- 
son amongst men ; for then should that one have been advanced which was assumed, 
and no more. But Wisdom, to the end She might save many, built Her House of 
that Nature which is common unto all, — She made not this or that man Her habita- 
tion, but dwelt in us." By thus becoming a partaker of our fallen Humanity, 
Christ became the Restorer of it, likewise : for from Him is thereby derived to every 
other son of Adam those divine graces which are inherent in Himself. And this is 
why He is called "the new man," — the second Adam," — and "the beginning of the 
Creation of God."(£) This supplies the reason of that contrast — " for as in Adam 
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."(«) Hence, also, it is said — "If 
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." (i*) 

(c) Eph. v. 30. (d) 2 St. Peter i. 4. (e) Rom. viii. 16. 

(/ ) Romans viii. 29. (g) Heb. ii. 11. 

(h) Jeremiah i. 2, Hosea i. 2, &c. (i) St. John xi. 35, St. Luke xix. 41, and Hebrews v. 7. 

(£) St. Matthew iv. 2, and xxi. 18. (I) St. John iv. 7, and xix. 28. 

(m) St. Matthew viii. 10. [n) St. Mark iii. 5. (o) St. John iv. 6. 

(p) St. Mark iii. 5. (q) St. Matthew viii. 17. (V) Isaiah liii. 4 (s) Colossians ii. 9. 

(0 Rev. iii. 14. («) 1 Corinthians xv. 22. [v) 2 Corinthians v. 17. 



632 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Observe, further, that there is an allusion here to the manner in which Christ 
anciently "dwelt" among His chosen people. His "Glory filled the Tabernacle ;"(«) 
and that Glory, (or " Shekinah") was the token of His special presence. (a;) But the 
Tabernacle, or Temple, (by which latter name the Tabernacle is sometimes called, )(y) 
was a type of that Human Body, in which our Saviour's glorious Godhead was en- 
shrined, (z) When, therefore, the Evangelist says that the Lord "tabernacled in 
us," by employing a Greek term which closely resembles the Hebrew word "Sheki- 
nah/' he is evidently recalling, and reverting to, the past history of the Jewish 
Tabernacle and Temple ; and implying the actual fulfillment of what Haggai had 
predicted, — namely, that the Desire of all nations/ 7 when He came, would so fill 
Temple with Glory, that "the Glory of this latter House shall be greater than of the 
former." («) And this may help to show the meaning of the exclamation which 
follows, — 

(and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the Only-Begotten of the 
Father,) full of Grace and Truth. 

Our Lord "manifested forth His Glory," to be sure, when He wrought His mi- 
racles, — as at Cana, concerning which, see St. John ii. 11 ; and at the raising of 
Lazarus, concerning which, see St. John xi. 4, 40. But the Evangelist in this place 
alludes to a sight which was witnessed by only two others besides himself. He re- 
fers to the Transfiguration of our Lord ; — having been one of the "eye witnesses of 
His Majesty," and "with Him in the Holy Mount," as St. Peter speaks. See 2 St. 
Peter i. 16 to 18. 

15 John bare witness of Him, and cried, saying, This was He of 
whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me ; for He 
was before me. 

The history does not begin yet. The Evangelist is but anticipating here the wit- 
ness of the Baptist recorded in ver. 30. 

He says that John "cried," because John was "the voice of one crying in the wil- 
derness," — ver. 23. 

16 And of His Fullness have all we received, and Grace for Grace. 

These are the words of the Evangelist ; whereby he contrasts the supplies of 
grace under the Law and the Gospel respectively, — the one, almost a type or shadow 
of the other. " Grace for Grace," — the New in the place of the Old. 

17 For the Law was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by 
Jesus Christ. 

" Grace and Truth," — as at the end of ver. 14. This contrast of the Law and 
the Gospel supplies the best comment on the conclusion of the former verse. 

18 No man hath seen God at any time ; the Only-Begotten Son, 
which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. 

With one more solemn saying, the Evangelist concludes his introduction. That 
none ever saw God is clearly laid down in the Old Testament.(6) as well as in the 
New.(c) And yet, it is sometimes recorded of men in Scripture that they "saw 
God face to face,"(<f) — "saw the God of Israel,"(e) — " saw the Lord, "(f) — and the 
like. The meaning of those marvellous and mysterious sayings, is here explained. 

It was the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity who thus revealed Himself. To 
"declare the Father, had been the blessed office of the Son from the beginning. 
It was He, who, in the person of a created Angel, so often spoke to the Fathers in 
the Old Testament; as, to Abraham ;(g) to Jacob ;(h) to Moses :(i) to the chiefs of 

(v) Exodus xl. 34; Numbers xiv. 10. 

(x) Isaiah vi. 4, compared with 1 Kings viii. 10 11, and Revelation xv. 8. 

(y) 1 Sam. i. 9, and iii. 3. (z) St. John ii. 19 to 21, and 1 Cor. iii. 16. (a) Haggai ii. 7, 9. 

(6) Exodus xxxiii. 20. (c) St. John v.' 37: vi. 46. 1 Tim. vi. 16. 1 St. John iv. 12. 

(d) Gen. xxxii. 30. (e) Exod. xxiii. 10. (/) Isaiah vi. 1. (g) Genesis xviii. 2 — 22. 

(h) xxxii. 24—30. (i) Ex. iii. 2—6. 



I.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 633 

Israel ;(j) to Gideon ;(k) to Manoah and his wife;(Z) to Isaiah, [m) and the rest; — a 
prelude, as it were, to His future Incarnation. 

The Historical part of St. John's Gospel now begins. 

19, 20 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests 
and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou ? And he con- 
fessed, and denied not : but confessed, I am not the Christ. 

The attention of all the World was awakened to the probable Advent of the Mes- 
siah about this time. It was natural, therefore, that so remarkable a person as the 
Baptist should have called forth the inquiry, — Art thou the Christ? For John's 
reply shows that that was the question now put to him. 

21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias ? And he 
saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet ? And he answered, No. 

They meant, — Art thou Elijah come back to Earth in person ? For in tliat sense 
did the Jews interpret the two concluding verses of the prophet Malachi. To this 
the Baptist makes answer, " I am not." But we know that he ivas the promised 
Elias ; for our Blessed Lord expressly says so. See St. Matth. xi. 13, 14 ; and xvii. 
10 to 13. 

"Art thou the Prophet?" is said with reference to that famous prediction of 
Moses, — " The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of 
thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him shall ye hearken ;"(rc) whereby he 
foretold the Messiah, of whom he was himself in so many respects, a type. This 
second title, the Baptist of course disclaims. 

22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou ? that we may give an 
answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself ? 

23 He said, I am the Voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make 
straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. 

Quoting Isaiah xl. 3. — John was but "a Voice:" the voice of "the Word." So 
was he but " a burning and a shining lamp," (for that is the expression in St. John 
v. 35 :) going before Him, who reveals Himself as " the Light of the World;" — a 
lamp kindled at the fountain of Light ! 

Consider how empty and vain is the mere voice, without the word : whereas, the 
word needs not the voice, — except to make it known to others !(o) Consider also 
how humble is the office of the lamp ; helping only to dispel the darkness, until the 
Day dawns l(p) 

24, 25 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they 
asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not 
that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet ? 

26, 27 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water : but there 
standest one among you, whom ye know not ; He it is, who coming 
after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy 
to unloose. 

John contrasts his own Baptism, which was a mere washing with water, with the 
Baptism of Christ, which was attended with the gift of the Spirit. He then 
humbly professess his own comparative littleness and unworthiness ; (for to loosen 
the shoe or sandal, was the office of the meanest slave:) and thus ends the first re- 
corded testimony which he bore to Christ. The Evangelist proceeds to fix the 
scene of this transaction. 

28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John 
was baptizing. 

(j ) Ex. xxiv. 9—11. (h) Judges vi. 11—24. (I) Judges xiii. 3—22. (m) Is. vi. 
[n) Deut. xviii. 15, which is quoted both by St. Peter, Acts iii. 22, 23; and St. Stephen, Acts 
vii. 37 

(o) 1 Sam. i. 13, Ac. (p) 2 Pet. i. 19. 



634 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

And why, when so many names of places are, as it seems, industriously withheld, 
was the Evangelist guided to describe the present locality so particularly ? It may 
have been for the following reason : — 

Beth-abara signifies the "House of passage/' — a name eminently allusive to the 
Baptist's office ; for by him, the transition, passing, or passage, was made from the 
Law to the Gospel, from Moses to Christ. As the Israelites of old had to come 
through Jordan into the land of Canaan, so now were they being brought, by Bap- 
tism in the same waters, into the true land of Promise. There was a divine fitness, 
therefore, that " these things" should have been " done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, 
where John was baptizing." 

After what we are taught concerning the name of Nazareth, in St. Matthew's 
Gospel, ii. 23, (where see the note,) this will not perhaps be thought a fanciful Ex- 
position of the present text. 

29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Be- 
hold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the World. 

Surely, when the Baptist said that, he uttered a mighty prophecy ! His words 
look backward, and tell of "the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the 
world :(q) forward also, so far as to the last Passover. They are a prophecy of 
Christ's Crucifixion ; (" He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter !"(r) and they set 
forth the meaning of the Paschal type, — declaring therein how " Christ our Passover 
is sacrificed for us." (s) 

30 This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a Man which is pre- 
ferred before me : for He was before me. 

Alluding to what he had said the day before ; ver. 27. The testimony contained 
in the present verse was anticipated, as already remarked, in ver. 15. 

31 And I knew Him not : but that He should be made manifest to 
Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. 

32, 33, 34 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descend- 
ing from heaven like a dove, and It abode upon Him. And I knew Him 
not : but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, 
upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on 
Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I 
saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. 

The Evangelist St. John describes neither the Baptism of Christ, nor His Tempta- 
tion. He begins his narrative (in ver. 19) at a period subsequent to both events. 
But in these verses he supplies some precious particulars concerning our Lord's 
Baptism, and explains how the Forerunner stood personally affected towards Him 
whom it was his office to baptize. 

We learn that John had no certain knowledge of His mighty Kinsman, as He 
who should baptize with the Holy Ghost, till the promised Heavenly sign revealed 
Him. When the Spirit descended upon our Lord from Heaven like a dove, and 
abode upon Him, — (with which should be compared Isaiah xi. 2,) — then, and not be- 
fore, was John made conscious of the wondrous truth. Whereupon, as we learn 
from this place, he bore joyous testimony that " this was the Son of God." 

35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 

Here begins the history of the third day which St. John describes. Well may he 
describe it so particularly ! for it was the occasion when his eyes were first blessed 
with the sight of the SavIour of the World. — It will be perceived that this Evan- 
gelist, after his divine Introduction,^) begins with the events which he personally 
witnessed. 

86 And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the 
Lamb of God ! 

(2) Rev. xiii 8. (r) Isaiah liii. 7. (s) 1 Cor. v. 7. (t) Verses 1 to 18. 



I.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 635 

As St. John twice uses these words of Christ, (in ver. 29, and in this place,) so 
do we, in the Litany, twice call upon our Blessed Saviour by the same appellation, 

37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus, 

These were St. Andrew and St. John, — men who from the very first showed them- 
selves ready "to follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth/ ; (w) 

38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, 
What seek ye ? 

This was not perhaps a very encouraging address, — as men speak. It may warn 
us against expecting too much in our first approaches to Christ. That all His 
human heart was yearning towards them, all the while, — who shall doubt ? 

They said unto Him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Mas- 
ter,) where dwellest Thou? 

Their inquiry shows that they desired to be with Him : to know His dwelling, in 
order that they might frequent it. 

39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came, and saw where 
He dwelt, and abode with Him that day : for it was about the tenth 
hour. 

That is, they spent with Him the whole day, from 10 o'clock in the morning. St. 
John reckons his hours in the manner of the Asiatics, among whom he wrote ; and 
whose reckoning, strange to relate, agreed exactly with our own. 

How blessed and memorable was the occasion here recorded, to the Author of the 
present Gospel ! Well may he mark all things so accurately, — the place, and the 
day, and the hour of the day : the gesture of his Lord, and His gracious words. 
The Evangelist suppresses only the mention of himself. 

If we are but in earnest in drawing near to Christ, He gives us ample oppor- 
tunities. 

40, 41 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, 
was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother 
Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, (which is, being 
interpreted, the Christ.) 

" Hejirst ;" — that is, Andrew found his brother Simon, before John was able to 
find his brother James : but be sure the Disciple of Love was not much later in 
bringing his brother to Christ, How genuine was the zeal of these men towards 
God ; which would not let either rest till he had conveyed the good tidings to his 
Brother! 

42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, He 
said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona : thou shalt be called Cephas, 
(which is by interpretation, A stone.) 

Our Saviour no sooner sees Simon than He bestows upon him his name of 
strength ; foreseeing what would be hereafter. The speaker in this verse is the 
same who, in the Old Testament, gave new names to Abram, to Sarai, and to 
Jacob. 

43, 44 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee ; and 
findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow Me. Now Philip was of 
Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 

Thus, a fifth Apostle, — a fellow townsman of Andrew and Peter, — is gathered 
.into the fold! 

It is impossible to think of these poor plain men without wonder and admiration. 
They had left their home, and forsaken their trade, in order to wait upon the stern 

(«) Rev. xiv. 4. 



636 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Baptist, and become his disciples. Their souls were engrossed with the desire of 
"beholding the promised Messiah, whose advent they felt assured was at hand. Let 
it never be thought that they received " a call," and thereupon became earnest 
self-denying, holy. They did not become great Saints because they were called to 
become Apostles. They were, on the contrary, called to become Apostles because 
they were such great Saints. 

Surely their glorious History may well teach us to look on men of the same con- 
dition of life with interest, not to say with reverence. If Bethsaida alone contained 
an Andrew, a Peter, and a Philip, — there may surely be dwelling unsuspected 
Saints at this day among ourselves ! 

And can it be. wrong to extend this observation to the other sex; remembering 
that a maiden worthy to become the Mother of our Blessed Redeemer, was found 
dwelling in poverty in the despised Nazareth ? 

45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saitli unto him, We have found 
Him, of whom Moses in the Law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of 
Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. 

'• Jesus of Nazareth," — the appellation which fulfilled the prophecy noticed in St. 
Matthew ii. 23, — is here for the first time heard. Next, it is spoken by a devil, — 
see St. Luke iv. 34. It clung evermore to the Son of Man : was fastened to His 
cross :{x) pronounced by Angels :(?/) claimed by Himself :(z) and finally became the 
prevailing name by which diseases were banished, (a) and in conformity with which 
the first Christians were called. (6) 

Take notice, that Philip speaks of Him as One who had been long known to him- 
self and his friends, — Jesus of the city of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. " Have I 
been so long time uith you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip ?"(c) — was ac- 
cordingly the question which our Lord asked him at the Last Supper. 

" We have found V that is, Andrew and Simon, James and John ; the first named 
being his own especial friend. Consider the following passages, — St. John vi. 5 
and 8 : xii. 21 and 22. 

46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come 
out of Nazareth ? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. 

Nathanael (who is called Bartholomew by the other Evangelists,) was of Cana in 
Galilee, — as we read in ch. xxi. 2. The holy company had, therefore, by this time 
reached the scene of the miracle recorded in the next chapter. 

Arrived at Cana, Philip straightway hastened away in search of his friend ; 
(these holy men are our examples at every step of the history!) and his announce- 
ment, when he has found him, clearly shows how full his heart was of one great 
subject. It shows, too, what studious readers of Scripture they both had been. 
When Nathanael hesitates, Philip answers him with a saying which he had perhaps 
already learned from the lips of his Master, Christ. See ver. 39. 

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and saith of him, Behold 
an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. 

Our Lord (had He chosen) could have greeted His servant with a complete solu- 
tion of the difficulty he had recently expressed concerning the supposed place of 
Christ's Nativity : but we find that He took a far diviner course. He convinced 
Nathanael that He knew him., by declaring to him his character: thus leading the 
Disciple at once to the belief that he had to do with the Searcher of hearts. 

By calling Nathanael " an Israelite indeed/ 7 and by the notice of his character 
which follows, our Lord's words seem to have respect to the character of Israel, 
(that is, Jacob,) as it is set down in Genesis xxv. 27. Now, to Jacob the discern- 
ment of Angels was especially granted: consider Genesis xxviii. 12: xxxii. 1, 2: 
also 24 to 30. This prepares us for the remarkable language of our Lord in ver. 51. 

48 Nathanael saith unto Him, "Whence knowest Thou me ? Jesus 
answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou 
wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee. 

(x) St. John xix. 19. {y) St. Mark xvi. 6. (z) Acts xxii. 8. 

(a) Acts iii. 6, and iv. 10. (6) Acts xxiv. 5. (c) St. John xiv. 9. 



I.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 637 

Our Saviour perceived the thought which was already springing up in His ser- 
vant's heart, Nathanael suspected that surely it was Philip who had been talking 
to our Lord concerning him. Hence the peculiarity of our Lord's reply; by which 
He convinced Nathanael that He derived His knowledge from no human source. 

Before the arrival of Philip, Nathanael, as if in literal fulfillment of the prophetic 
foreshadowings of the days of the Gospel, is found to have been " sitting under his 
fig-tree." (d) He had been alone. He had thought himself unobserved also. The 
words of our Blessed Lord just now quoted, convinced him that he had been all 
along in the presence of one and the same Being, — even of Him whose " eyes are 
in every place, beholding the evil and the good/' 

What might the occupation of Nathanael have been, as he sat beneath his fig- 
tree ? Doubt not but what there is some very exquisite circumstance alluded to 
here ; "though we know it not, and cannot know it. 

49 Nathanael answered and saith unto Him, Rabbi, Thou art the 
Son of God ; Thou art the King of Israel. 

Such was his hearty confession, — produced by the discovery that he had to do 
with One who searcheth the heart and the reins. By the same evidence, the Wo- 
man of Samaria became a believer ;(e) and the Apostles were fully convinced that 
Jesus of Nazareth " came forth from God."(/) 

Doubt not that, evermore, Nathanael, (that is Bartholomew,) felt that he was 
bound to Philip by a tie strong as that of blood. Not in vain, be sure, is it recorded, 
that when our Lord sent forth His Apostles "by two and two,"(<7) it was "Philip 
and Bartholomew" who went together. Consider the following texts, — St. Matthew 
x. 3 : St. Mark iii. 18 : St. Luke vi. 14. 

50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I 
saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou ? thou shalt see greater things 
than these. 

One of the "greater things" here promised, was the miracle of the Water made 
Wine, which immediately follows. 

51 And He saith unto Him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Here- 
after ye shall see Heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and 
descending upon the Son of Man. 

Our Blessed Lord directs the divine saying which follows to Nathanael, ("He 
saith unto- Am;") but addresses His prophecy to all who were present, ("ye shall 
see.") Most mysterious indeed are His words, and hard to explain ; but they seem 
to mean something like this : — 

Ye are about to see the actual fulfillment of that which was only shown to Jacob 
in a dream. (Ji) Henceforth, ye shall be made conscious that " Heaven" is "opened;" 
that a free intercourse is established between Heaven and Earth. Moreover ye 
shall be witnesses how the heavenly messengers are perpetually occupied in offices 
of mercy towards mankind; "ascending and descending upon the Son of Man," — 
that is, ministering to Him, whether in His own person(i) or in the person of His 
members ;(/>') doing His bidding in behalf of "those who shall be heirs of Salva- 
tion."^) Whereby ye shall perceive that I am He "to whom all things in Heaven, 
in Earth, and under the Earth, do bow and obey :" and shall know Me to be God. 

On all this, a modern Writer says beautifully,— " This introduction of the Dis- 
ciples to our Lord is remarkable for its extremely quiet, and what might be called 
its domestic character. It is all emblematic of Him who "should not strive nor cry, 
neither should His Voice be heard in the Street." 

" Much is of the nature of human incident, and what looks like chance occur- 
rence. Natural ties, of Discipleship, of Kindred, and of Friendship, are the moving 

Id) Compare Micah iv. 4 and Zech. iii. 10. (e) St. John iv. 19. 

(/) Compare St. John xvi. 19 and 30. 

(g) St. Mark vi. 7. (ft) Gen. xxviii. 12. 

(i) For example, — St. Lvtke xxii. 43 : St. John xx. 12 : Acts i. 10. 

(&) For example, — Acts v. 19 : x. 3 : xii. 7 ; xxvii. 23. 

(0 Heb. i. 14 



638 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAF. 

causes, as in any circumstance of daily life ; and all this,, in order, as with noiseless 
hands, (m) to lay the everlasting, foundations of the City of God. The Holy Baptist in 
his ordinary teaching, intimates to .some disciples the presence of the Lamb of God, 
and that by way of hint or incidental mention, — "as he looked on Jesus/ ; while He 
passed by. They introduce themselves to His notice, and go in silence to His abode, 
and are received by Him, — as a man receives his friends. The door closes on them ; 
they are with Christ; but what passes is unknown. Then, the coming of the great 
Apostle is through the call of Kindred ; the natural tie is the apparent cause of his 
coming. Then, Philip also is called, as being one of the same city; and he natu- 
rally hastens to his own friend. Friendship does now, what Kindred did before: a 
few words are recorded ; and such is the beginning of the Church whose top reaches 
Heaven ! The grain of mustard-seed is scattered, as it were, to the mercy of the 
winds, till it finds fit place to take root. But it is all by Him, without whose know- 
ledge not a sparrow falleth to the ground : by Him who hath the times and seasons 
in His own Hand, and also the hearts of men: who calleth the stars by their names, 
and they answer, Here we be : or with the infant Samuel,. — ' Speak, Lord, for Thy 
servant heareth V " 



THE PRAYER. 

Everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the services 
of Angels and men in a wonderful order ; mercifully grant, that as Thy 
holy Angels alway do Thee service in Heaven, so by Thy appointment 
they may succor and defend us on Earth ; Through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 



CHAPTER II 



1 Christ turneth water into wine. 12 departeth into Capernaum, and to Jerusalem. 
14 where He purgeth the Temple of Buyers and Sellers. 19 He fortellelh His death 
and Resurrection. 23 Many believed because of His Miracles, but He would not 
trust himself with them. 

1 And the third day there was a Marriage in Cana of Galilee ; 

That is, the third Day after the three which the Evangelist has been describing. 

Thus the Gospel of St. John, like the Book of Genesis, begins with the history of 
a Week: the work of the sixth and last day, (on which the second Adam "mani- 
fested forth His Glory/') being the chief of all, and emphatically pronounced (see 
verse 10,) to be very "good." On both occasions, the sixth day was signalized by 
the Marriage rite : on the former, by its Institution, — on the second, by " a Marriage 
in Cana of Galilee." 

Take notice, that, as the Eternal Son had instituted Holy Matrimony "in the 
Beginning/' — so now, at the very beginning of His Earthly Ministry, He does 

(m) Consider 1 Kings vi. 7. 



II.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 639 

honor to the Marriage Rite, and blesses it anew. Surely, it was a fitting occasion 
for His presence, and for the act of Almighty Power which followed : for was He 
not Himself, mystically, the Bridegroom ; who had come into the World to take His 
Spouse, the Church? — Consider the following texts: — St. Matt. xxii. 2, &c; xxv. 
1, &c. St. John iii. 29. Ephes. v. 22 to 32. Rev. xix. 7 to 9: xxi. 2. 

The village is called by the same name ("Cana of Galilee/') to this day. It is 
described by a friend, (a) who has recently visited those parts, as occupying "a 
gentle declivity, facing the setting sun : a sweet peaceful Village, which still arrests 
the traveller with its loveliness, and makes him feel that something still lingers 
there of His presence who makes all things blessed and lovely." 

and the Mother of Jesus was there : 

" Was there," — not "was invited." It is thought that this Festivity celebrated 
the Marriage of one of her relations. 

2 and both Jesus was called, and His Disciples, to the Marriage. 

Our Saviour does not annul human relationships : He does but sanctify them 
with His presence, — when He is invited to witness them. Least of all, can the 
Holy Estate of Matrimony be thought displeasing in His sight. He had already 
blessed Virginity, by His Birth ; — and Widowhood, by revealing Himself to Anna, 
in the Temple. Behold Him now making a Marriage the occasion when He first 
"manifested forth His glory." 

that He were invited to all our Marriage-feasts ! Who shall describe the bles- 
sedness of having Him, at all times, for a guest ? 

3 And when they wanted wine, the Mother of Jesus saith unto 
Him, They have no wine. 

The circumstance seems to have become known at once to herself, — because she 
was among members of her own family. Her words to her Divine Son, clearly 
amounted to a request that He would supply the deficiency which began to be felt; and 
they show that she knew that He had the power to do the thing she wished, — if it were 
but His pleasure. It does not follow from this, that He had ever worked a miracle 
before. On the contrary. We are told that this was " the Beginning of Miracles." 
.... Observe, however, that a Mother's request, under ordinary circumstances, is a 
command: for this remark will help to prepare the mind for the words which fol- 
low. 

Can the presence of so many additional guests, — perhaps the unexpected presence 
of the six Disciples of Christ, — have been the occasion of this deficiency in the 
supply of wine? The thing is possible; but the conjecture would not really be 
worth hazarding, except for the memorable result of this day's entertainment, 
which made the Bridegroom's hospitality an occasion of his enriching, — instead of 
his loss. Six water-pots of wine, — (one for each guest!)— became a lasting memo- 
rial of the day, when, "not forgetful to entertain strangers," he " thereby enter- 
tained Angels unaivares."(b) 

4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee ? 
Mine hour is not yet come. 

" Woman" was a respectful mode of address at the time, and consistent with the 
utmost tenderness and love. See how the same Blessed Speaker addressed the 
same Mother from the Cross, — St. John xix, 26. (c) 

But, — "What have I to do with thee?" is the language of rebuke. This phrase 
occurs in other parts of the Scripture, and always denotes that the speaker has 
been unseasonably spoken to, and, as it were, interfered with.(cT) In this place, it 
seems to be as if our Lord had said, — What is there common to Me, thy Creator, 
and thee, My creature ? Thy Son I am, — after the flesh ; and, as thy Son, these 
thirty years have I been content to be " subject unto" thee. But I am also thy God ; 

(a) C. L. Higgins, Esq., of Turvey Abbey. 

(b) Hebrews xiii. 2. (c) Compare St. John xx. 13, 15. 

(d) 2 Sam. xvi. 10 : xix. 22. 1 Kings xvii. 18 : 2 Kings iii. IS : 2 Chron. xxxv. 21. St. 
Matthew viii. 29 : St. Mark i. 24. 



640 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

and it is only as thy God that I can do this thing. As such, — " What have J to do 
with thee?" 

" Mine hour is not yet come," — probably means that the moment had not yet 
quite arrived for Him to act: but the sayings of Him who "spake as never man 
spake," are wondrous deep ; and often, like this saying, very difficult. 

5 His Mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever He saith unto 
you, do it. 

' Once more she gives directions to the Servants, — as one comparatively at home. 
It is evident that the Blessed Virgin understood, even from our Lord's discourag- 
ing reply, that He was about to grant her petition. Compare with this, what Pha- 
raoh said to his servants concerning Joseph, a memorable type of Christ : — Gene- 
sis xli. 55. 

"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it:" — most holy and excellent counsel! 
Were it but deeply engraven in our hearts, so as to produce a life of perfect and 
uniform obedience, — how would Heaven begin, even on this side of Eternity !— 
How would the issue of all our undertakings be blest ! 

6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, 

There is not a single word or syllable in Holy Scripture which is set down there 
in vain. Why, then, does St. John, who omits so many important things, inform 
us that the waterpots were " six" in number? 

It seems likely that the number of these vessels was providentially overruled, 
(and was therefore recorded,) with reference to the six Apostles of our Lord who 
were present with Him on this occasion. See the note on verse 11 ; and consider 
that He was about to pour into those men, as into new vessels, the good Wine of 
the Gospel :(e) from whose ample stores the servants of Christ were to draw forth 
in turn ; and present to every " guest" at "the Marriage-Supper of the JjAWB,"(f) 
severally, as much as he would. For remember, — " The Kingdom of Heaven is 
like unto a certain King, which made a marriage for His Son . . . And the wedding 
was furnished with guests." [g) 

after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three 
firkins apiece. 

It was a religious custom among the Jews, to wash before meals, — as we are par- 
ticularly informed by St. Matthew (xv. 2.) and St. Mark (vii. 2 to 5.) St. John's 
mode of alluding to their practice, in this place, reminds us that he wrote his Gos- 
pel at a distance from Judaea. He always supposes his readers unaware of the 
Jewish customs, (/*) and unacquainted with the Jewish language. (i) Consider St. 
John v. 2. 

The " firkin" has been thought to contain about five gallons. What an over- 
whelming supply, therefore, of wine was here ! Surely, in the abundance thus un- 
expectedly produced, we have a lively image of that Royal bounty, which is wont 
to shower down upon us "more than either we desire or deserve !" 

7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with water. And they 
filled them up to the brim. 

To all appearance a very unpromising step towards remedying the want of Wine: 
but what are appearances worth, when GOD is the Speaker? "Hath He said, 
and shall He not do it?' ; Surely, in all cases of doubt or difficulty, His Mother's 
injunction to the servants, (in verse 5,) is the counsel which the Church addresses 
to ourselves, — the only course which is sure to lead to Peace at last ! Obedience 
ever inherits a Blessing. 

8 And He saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the Go- 
vernor of the Feast. And they bare it. 

It was the business of the Governor, or Ruler of the Feast, to provide for the 

(e) St. Matthew ix. 17. (/) Rev. xix. 9. (g) St. Matth. xxii. 2 to 10. 

(h) See St. John ii. 13 : iv. 9 : vi. 4: xi. 55. Consider also vi. 1. 
(i) See St. John i. 38, 41, 42 : ix. 7 : xx. 16. 



II.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 641 

entertainment of the guests, and to taste first what was set before them.. Hence 
our Lord's injunction. 

9, 10 When the Ruler of the Feast had tasted the water that was 
made wine, and knew not whence it was : (but the servants which drew 
the water knew ;) the Governor of the Feast called the Bridegroom, and 
gaith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine ; 
and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse : but thou 
hast kept the good wine until now. 

" Good wine," — for it came immediately from Him, whose works when they first 
left His Almighty hands, were pronounced good. The effects of the miracles of 
Christ are better than the productions of Nature. 

When the Ruler of the Feast spoke these words to the Bridegroom, he stated a 
sad truth, — of far wider application than at first sight appears. Men seek to show 
their best at first, — whether of property, or sentiment, or feature. They fall away 
on trial. In each respect they set forth " then, that which is worse." Is it not so 
with Him "whose ways are not Man's ways." 

Christ always keeps the best things till the end. They who " sow in tears, reap 
in joy." (i) In life "evil things," — after death, eternal comfort.(/v) "Heaviness 
may endure for a night, but Joy cometh in the Morning." (I) 

11 This beginning of Miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and 
manifested forth His Glory ; 

Unspeakably deep and mysterious, surely, must the teaching of our Lord's first 
miracle be. Do we not trace therein, symbolically, the purpose with which He 
came into the world, — namely, to convert the weak and watery ordinances of the 
Law, into the " new wine" of the Gospel, which " makes glad the heart of man" for 
ever ? Compare St. Matthew ix. 17. Not, observe, to create a new thing : but to 
convert the old into something better. 

For our Lord did not now create something new, — as when, "in the beginning," 
He "made the Heaven and the Earth."(m) Neither did He increase and multiply 
a thing already existing ; as when He fed the four and the five thousand. But He 
changed a thing which already existed, into a better thing of corresponding bulk. 
Just as, during the Great Six Days, He had "formed Man — of the dust of the 
ground.'\ri) 

"Now," (as the greatest Father of the "Western Chureh has remarked,) "if He 
had ordered the Water to be poured out ; and had then introduced the Wine, as a 
new Creation, He would seem to have rejected the Old Testament. But convert- 
ing, as He did, the Water into Wine, He showed us that the Old Testament was 
from Himself: for it was by His order that the waterpots were filled." (See ver. 7.) 
Aye, filled to the very brim. 

And so it is, that when the mind is suffered to dwell attentively on a Miracle like 
this, fresh points of analogy, and meanings, at first unsuspected, suggest them- 
selves. Thus one is led to observe that, m Scripture, Water and Wine, alike are 
connected with the mention of spiritual gifts. (o) Moreover, it is obvious to remark 
that on this occasion, the use of Water was but preparatory to the Feast ; whereas 
the Wine was an essential part of the Feast itself: and this seems to symbolize, in 
no obscure way, the relation in which the Law stood to the Gospel. See St. Luke 
v. 37 to 39. 

Surely, at "the Marriage of the Lamb," the great features of this marriage Feast 
will be restored ! It will then be confessed, on all hands, that the same Almighty 
Benefactor hath kept "the good wine until now ;" for things which " eye hath not 
seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive," hath 
He prepared for those who love Him. " Thou hast kept the good wine until now." 
Surely that is the cry of Saints in bliss ! 

(i) Psalm cxsvi, 5. (h) St. Luke xvi. 25. 

(Z) Psalm xxx. 5. (m) Gen. i. 1. 

(n) Gen. ii. 7 : compare i. 11, 20, 24, &c 

(o) Isaiah xii. 3,— compare St. John vii. 37, 38, 39. Isaiah xxxv. 6, 7 : xliv. 3. Joel ii. 28, 29, 
— compare Acts ii. 13, 15, 17, 18, &c. Ephes. v. 18, &c. 

41 



642 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Verily, the Author of the Miracle which we have been considering, hath not 
"left Himself without witnesses/' (p) even to the Heathen world. For do but con- 
sider how, year by year, the same miracle is performed, arid under our very eyes ; 
although, by reason of its frequency and regularity, we give no heed to it ! What 
is it less than a miracle that the Rain, falling upon our vineyards, should be " made 
Wine?" 

And fail not, reader, to remark, in conclusion, the severe simplicity of the pre- 
ceding narrative. Not a word is said of the dismay which the failure of the wine 
occasioned, — nor of the pleasure which attended so unexpected a supply : — nothing, 
of the surprise of the Servants, — nor of the satisfaction of the guests : — nothing, of 
the effect which this miracle produced on the Giver of the Feast ; nor of how it 
came, at last, to his knowledge. Neither is our attention called to the largeness of 
the miraculous supply which made him henceforth rich. We are left to study the 
details, and draw the inferences, and feed upon the teaching, of every part of the 

miracle, for ourselves Let it be freely allowed, at least, that the number of 

particulars withheld, 'serves to impart interest and dignity, a hundredfold, to every 
word which is actually set down. Nothing can be in vain, where so little is record- 
ed : nothing can be trivial, which conies from the Mouth of God. 

and His Disciples believed on Him. 

Those who delight in such inquiries, may like to pursue the hint given in these 
few words of the progress of the Gospel, by examining the following references: 
St. John ii. 23 : iv. 39, 41, 42: vii. 31 and viii. 30, 31: ix. 16: x. 42: xi. 45, 48: 
xii. 11 and 42. 

12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He, and His Mother, 
and His Brethren, and His Disciples : and they continued there not 
many days. 

We have just witnessed one great Miracle. In the verses which follow we are 
about to be presented with another. Between the two, comes this mention of the 
" Mother" and " Bret/i7*en." It is the manner of the Evangelists thus to blend the 
Divine and Human, in describing the actions of our Lord. See the first note on 
St. Matthew viii. 10, and on St. Luke viii. 23. Also the note on St. Mark ii. 5, and 
on St. Luke iv. 30. 

Concerning the "Brethren" of our Lord, see the note on St. Matthew xiii. 55. 
Capernaum, where this holy company now came to sojourn, and where our Saviour 
lived so much, was a town situated at the North-Western extremity of the Sea of 
Galilee. No traces of it are to be seen at the present day, — according to the me- 
morable prophecy contained in St. Matthew xi. 23. See the note on that place. 

13 And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to 
Jerusalem, 

" The Jews' Passover," — (as in xi. 55,) because St. John wrote at a distance from 
the Holy Land ; and addressed his Gospel to persons who were only slightly, if at 
all, acquainted with Jewish customs. See the first note on the second part of ver. 6. 

This, then, was the first of Four Passover seasons which are distinctly marked in 
the Gospels. Our Lord went up to Jerusalem on the occasion, in conformity with 
the requirements of the Law. See the references in the note on St. Luke ii. 41. 

14 and found in the Temple those that sold oxen and sheep and 
doves, and the changers of money sitting : 

The sheep and oxen were kept for the purpose of sacrifice. The doves were the 
offerings of those who came to be purified ;{q) especially of the poorer sort of peo- 
ple.^') The changers of money found their account in supplying those strangers 
and foreigners who came up, in great numbers, (s) to worship at Jerusalem on these 
occasions, and brought with them the money of other countries, in order to pur- 
chase victims for sacrifice; according to the express direction of the Law.(^) The 

(p) Acts xiv. 17. (q) Levit. xv. 14, 29. 

(r) See Levit. xii. 6, 8 : and compare the note on Luke ii. 24. 

(s) See Acts ii. 5 : also 8 to 11. (<) Deut. xiv. 24 to 26. 



II.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 643 

payment of "tribute/ 7 — that is, the tax of a half-shekel which all contributed to- 
wards the support of the Temple,— must have also supplied these " changers of 
money" with occupation. 

15 And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them 
all out of the Temple, and the sheep, and the oxen ; and poured out the 
changers' money, and overthrew the tables ; 

The " scourge of small cords" was not the instrument, so much as the emblem of 
His wrath. It is manifest that such a Weapon must have been powerless in other 
hands ; certainly, it would have been ineifectual to produce the mighty results here 
noticed. But Christ wrought a miracle on the present occasion ; not on lifeless 
matter, — as at Cana ; but on the hearts and minds of His rational creatures. Armed 
with that scourge, men beheld in Him a type of the Vengeance which will at last 
overtake the wicked. The traffickers in the Temple, panic-stricken, fled before the 
awful presence of Him, in whom they nevertheless had not eyes to discern their 
future Judge. And surely the spectacle is one which it will do men good to seek 
to realize to themselves. We love to speak of our Saviour as "meek and lowly ;"(w) 
and we do well, — for such an One He was. But, on this occasion, He revealed 
Himself in a very different character : terrible in His wrath, — and, as it were, con- 
sumed by His zeal for the honor of His Father's House. 

In truth, what we here behold is the fulfilment of that famous prophecy of Mala- 
chi : — " The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His Temple ; even the 
Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, He shall come, saith the 
Lord of Hosts. But who may abide the Day of His Coming? and who shall stand 
when he appeareth ? For He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap : and He 
shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of silver."(y) These words had a partial accom- 
plishment, doubtless, at the Presentation in the Temple :(w) their fullest accom- 
plishment, (as they refer to the first Advent of Christ,) when at the close of His 
Ministry, He purged the Temple for the second time: (a;) but they were strikingly 
fulfilled now. See the note on the last half of St. Luke ii. 38. 

Deeply emblematic, we may be sure, was this act of our blessed Lord. Besides 
its prophetic fulfillment, and its prophetic teaching, it set forth one great purpose of 
His coming ; — which was, to annul the system of carnal ordinances, and to bring to 
light the sublime truths which lay concealed beneath them. When He drove the 
victims from the Temple, He showed that a better Victim had at last appeared ; and 
that the Legal Sacrifices were no longer to have any place. 

And will it be said that it is merely an ingenious use of the text to find in it an 
individual application also ? " What? Know ye not that your Body is the Temple 
of the Holy Ghost, which is in you V\y) " Know ye not that ye are the Temple of 
God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (z) 

16 and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence ; make 
not My Father's House an house of merchandise. 

" My Father's House :" — the blessed Speaker had spoken of the Temple by the 
same name about eighteen years before ; (see the note on St. Luke ii. 49 :) thereby, 
in express words, claiming to be the Son of God. See the end of the note on St. 
John v. 17. 

On two occasions, — once at the commencement of His Ministry ; next, at its close, 
—our Saviour thus drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple. The first in- 
cident is related by St. John only : for the second, see St. Matthew xxi. 12, 13 : St. 
Mark xi. 15 to 18 : St. Luke xix. 45, 46. 

Surely, they still make His Father's House " a House of Merchandise," who 
carry thither anxieties about their secular concerns ; and allow thoughts about 
Trade, — hopes and fears about the Market, — to find place in the Sanctuary of God ! 

17 And His Disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of 
Thine House hath eaten Me up. 

(m) St. Matthew xi. 29. (v) Malachi iii. 1, 2, 3. (w) St. Luke ii. 22 to 38. 

(x) St. Matthew xxi. 12, 13. (y) 1 Cor. vi. 19. 

(») 1 Cor. iii. 16. Compare 2 Cor. vi. 16. Ephes. ii. 21, 22. Hebrews iii. 6. 1 St. Peter ii. 5. 



644 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Psalm lxix. contains many prophecies concerning Christ which the Apostles have 
noticed and applied. Yerse 9 is quoted, — partly by St. John, — partly by St. Paul.(a) 
Verse 21, by St. John (xix. 29.) Verse 25, by St. Peter. (Acts i. 20.) 

It was long after, that they "remembered:" certainly not till He was risen from 
the dead. See ver. 22 ; and compare the statement in St. John xii. 16. It may be 
presumed, indeed, that it- was not until the Ascension of Christ that they understood 
these things ; until after the out-pouring on His Disciples of that Spirit, of whom 
it was prophesied that "He should teach them all things, and bring all things to 
their remembrance, whatsoever Christ had said unto them/' (6) After that great 
event, it may be thought that the application of Ps. lxix. 9 to this act of Messiah, 
together with the real meaning of many more of our Lord's wondrous sayings, pre- 
sented itself to His Apostles. 

It is to be observed, however, that He " opened their understanding, that they 
might understand the Scriptures," (c) previous to His Ascension into Heaven. 

18 Then answered the Jews and said unto Him, What sign showest 
Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things ? 

It was their wont always to make such a demand. God had accordingly furnished 
Moses with more signs than one.(<i) The Prophets, in like manner, were all fur- 
nished with some visible proof of their mission. It will be remembered that Zacha- 
rias asked for a sign ; see St. Luke i. 18 to 20, and the notes there : and we find the 
Jewish people, on several other occasions, demanding a sign of our Lord. See St. 
Matthew xii. 38, and the note there ; also xvi. 1. St. Luke xi. 16. See also St. John 
vi. 30 : and consider 1 Cor. i. 22. 

19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this Temple, and in 
three days I will raise it up. 

A Divine answer, truly! He gave them the most wondrous sign imaginable, — 
a sign which was to become the very foundation of the Christian Faith. Sublimely 
allusive it also was, and was intended to be, to the mystical connection between the 
" House" for which He had displayed such zeal, and that "House of clay" (e) in 
which His own Divinity was enshrined, as in a Tabernacle. Compare 2 Cor. v. 1, 
4, and 2 Pet. i. 13, 14. Lastly, it contained a declaration of His own Godhead : 
for He professes that He will raise Himself 'from Death. 

It will be remembered, that this wondrous prophecy of his own Death ond Resur- 
rection supplied the enemies of Messiah with a ground of accusation, and subject of 
mockery, against Him, in the end. See St. Matthew xxvi. 61, — where it will be 
seen that a garbled version of it was found on the lips of the two false witnesses : 
and St. Matt, xxvii. 40, — where the blasphemy of the bystanders, at the Crucifixion, 
is recorded. " There seems a particular reason therefore why St. John should intro- 
duce the cluster of circumstances, here described : for the other Evangelists had re- 
corded the charge made against Him at His Death, without mentioning the occa- 
sion on which our Lord delivered it." - 

20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this Temple in 
building, and wilt Thou rear it up in three days ? 

They spoke of that material shrine, — the second Temple, as ZorobabeFs structure 
is called, — which had been restored, in a style of extreme magnificence, by King 
Herod the Great. 

21 But he spake of the Temple of His Body. 

" The Temple of His Body !" . . How marvellously do remote, and apparently 
diverse places of Holy Scripture harmonize with those words, — bring out their mean- 
ing, — and, in turn, receive illustration from them ! . . . Thus we are reminded that 
the present Evangelist, in his first chapter, (verse 14,) intimated that, in the fleshly 
Tabernacle of a human Body, that Godhead had come to reside, of which the 
" Shekinah," or glory, in the Temple, was but a type. See the last note on the first 
half of St. John i. 14. The Veil of the Temple, (which "was rent in twain from 
the top to the bottom, ;, (/) when Jesus Christ expired upon the Cross,) was, we are 

(a) Rom. xv. 3. (&) St. John xiv. 26. (c) St. Luke xxiv. 45. 

(cl) Exodus iv. 1 to 9. (e) Job iv. 19. (/) St. Matthew xxvii. 51. 



II,] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 645 

expressly told, emblematic of His flesh, (g)— in the same hour cruelly torn: and ob- 
serve, that as God was said to dwell in the Temple, so, in our Saviour's Body 
" dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. ; '(A) We have just read how men, 
with their merchandise, defiled the Temple of God ; and witnessed how God treated 
them: which reminds us of what is said of bodily defilement, in 1 Cor. iii. 17. 

The Temple of old, and our Churches, at this day, have one extremity pointing to 
the East, — the other to the West. And even so point the Temples of our Bodies, 
when they are laid in the dust. 

Many are the intimations in Holy Scripture that the Human Body is occupied by 
the Soul, as a House is occupied by its Tenant. Thus Job, as we have seen, de- 
scribes Men, as "them that dwell in houses of clay:" (i) and God is said in the be- 
ginning to have " builded" a Woman. (k) But St. Paul calls the Body, " our Earthly 
Tent-House," or " Tabernacle-Residence," — for that is the real meaning of 2 Corin- 
thians v. 1 : intimating thereby, (in the words of an excellent living Writer,) " that 
the Body is a temporary structure, easily taken down, and liable to removal at very 
short notice. And indeed/' (he adds,) "the order of removing the Tabernacle in 
the Wilderness from place to place, ' when the Camp set forward,' (as prescribed in 
Numbers iv.) supplies a very striking emblem of the awful process of dissolution, as 
it takes effect upon the natural Body of Man." 

As " one with Christ,"(Z) — in whom all the Building fitly framed together grow- 
eth unto an Holy Temple in the Lord,' 7 — we are further declared to be, spiritually, 
"the Temple of the Living God:" even "an Habitation of God, through the 
Spirit. v (m) 

22 When therefore He was risen from the dead, His Disciples re- 
membered that He had said this unto them ; and they believed the 
Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. 

See above, the note on ver. 17. The beloved Disciple here notes another of the 
.sayings of his Lord, the meaning of which only became plain long after, to those 
who heard it spoken. It was, in fact, the fulfillment of it, — " when He was risen 
from the dead," — which made it plain. "And indeed, it is evident," (says a pious 
Writer,) " from the subsequent mention of it by the false Witnesses, that it had 
been remembered in Jerusalem, and brought forth into prominent record when most 
needed. Thus, though it appeared no answer at the time, yet, the bread cast upon 
the waters was gathered after many days ; and the seed sown bore a hundred-fold: 
nor did His Word return unto Him void." 

St. John tells us, besides, how the Faith of the first Believers, both in the Scrip- 
ture, and in Jesus Christ, was confirmed thereby. And the Reader should take 
note that "the Scripture," (that is, the Old Testament,) — together with " the Word 
which Jesus had said," — made up the sum of the Faith of the first Believers ; for, 
as yet, the Books of the New Testament were not written. 

23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the Feast 
day, many believed in His Name, when they saw the Miracles which 
He did. 

But what miracles were these? One only is recorded, in verse 15. It may be 
that a whole world of wonders is' wrapped up in this short verse of Scripture : 
wonders, which are alluded to by Nicodemus, in chap. iii. 2 ; and which obtain fur- 
ther notice in chap. iv. 45. 

24, 25 But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He 
knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of Man : for He 
knew what was in Man. 

To know the thoughts and intents of the heart,— to look into the mind of Man, 
and see what is passing there, — is in the power of God, and God only. In the 
words of an Eastern Father, " He knows what is in the heart, because it was He 
who fashioned it. He needs no witness to inform Him concerning the mind, be- 

(g) Hebrews x. 20. (h) Coloss. ii. 9. 

li) Job iv. 19. (Jc) See the margin of Genesis ii. 22. 

(I) See the Exhortation in the Communion Service, (to) Eph. ii. 21, 22 : and 2 Cor. vi. 16. 



646 v A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

cause it was His own divine contrivance." In like manner, the great Father of the 
West has remarked, that " the Maker knew better what was in His own work, than 
the work knew what was in itself:" and he quotes our Lord's prophecy to St. 
Peter, (n) in proof of his observation. 

Consider the following texts of Scripture: — 1 Samuel xvi. 7 : 1 Chron. xxviii. 9 : 
2 Chron. vi. 30: Psalm vii. 9: cxxxix. 1, 2: Jer. xvii. 9, 10: St. Matthew ix. 4, 
(with which compare St. Mark ii. 8 :) xii. 25 : St. Luke vi. 8 : St. John vi. 64: Acts 
i. 24 : Rev. ii. 23. 

THE PRAYER. 

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts he open, all desires known, and 
from whom no secrets are hid ; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by 
the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love Thee, 
and worthily magnify Thy holy Name ; through Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 



CHAPTER III, 



1 Christ teacketh Nicodemus the necessity of Regeneration. 14 Of Faitli in His 
Death. 16 The great love of God towards the World. 18 Condemnation for un- 
belief. 23 The Baptism, Witness, and Doctrine of John concerning Christ. 

1, 2 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a Ruler 
of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night, 

The name thus introduced to our notice, is one of those which are peculiar to the 
Gospel of St. John. Nicodemus was a member of the High Court of Sanhedrin ; 
and, like St. Paul, belonged to "the most straitest sect" of "the Jews' religion."(a) 
The Evangelist elsewhere relates that, at a subsequent period, many other members 
of the same Court believed in our Lord ; " but because of the Pharisees they did 
not confess Him," lest they should be put out of the synagogue. (b) Such a timid 
believer, as yet, seems to have been Nicodemus. 

Very beautiful is the progressive history of his Faith, as it is revealed in the 
course of St. John's narrative ; for he who now comes to Jesus under cover of the 
Darkness, (doubtless in order to escape notice,) is the same who, subsequently, is 
found openly pleading with the other Rulers in our Lord's behalf. " Nicodemus 
saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night" as St. John is. careful to remind 
us,) "being one of them, Doth our Law judge any man, before it hear him, and 
know what he doeth?"(c) Whereupon the Pharisees are found to "chide with 
Nicodemus for taking His part."(d) "Waxing bolder in the end, when Joseph of 
Arimathea, (another member of the same Court,) had begged the body of Jesus, — 
" there came also Nicodemus, (which at first came to Jesus by night,) and brought 
a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight;" and they two 
buried Him. Thus, he who wfts at first only a timid Disciple, soon ripened into a 
bold Confessor ; and the same who at first believed only in secret, in the end came 
forward openly to assist at the Burial of the Lord of Life. 

(n) Compare St. Luke xxii. 33 and 34. (a) Acts xxvi. 5. 

(6) St. John xii. 42. (c) St. John vii. 51. 

(d) See the heading of St. John vii. 



III.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 647 

Nicodemus, then, came privately to our Lord, — (being at Jerusalem, on the occa- 
sion of the first Passover ; as was related in the former chapter :) (e) — 

and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come 
from God : for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except 
God be with him. 

Observe how this man reasoned. He had beheld the miracles of Christ, — that 
unrecorded cluster of miracles (as it would seem,) which is alluded to in the 23rd 
verse of the former chapter ;(f) (and concerning which it is expressly stated, that 
"many believed in His Name when they saw the miracles which He did;" and 
thence he had inferred, at once, the Divine Mission of Him by whose hands those 
works were wrought. He reasoned rightly. " I have greater Witness than that of 
John," said our Saviour: "for the Works which the Father hath given me to 
finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent 
Me."($r) 

Overcome, therefore, by the force of the evidence thus presented to him, Nicode- 
mus comes to Jesus by night ; clearly, with a view to learning more of the myste- 
ries of His Eeligion. But it is discovered that this learned Doctor has not discerned 
the Messiah, — the promised Redeemer of Israel, — in the meek and lowly Jesus ; 
(which he might have discerned, as our Lord's words show ; which so many others 
did discern, as the Gospel-narrative declares:) but only a mighty Prophet of the 
Lord ; one come "forth, from God as a Teacher." This seems clear from the lan- 
guage he employed, in addressing our Saviour. Yet was it an evidence of great 
candor and goodness on his part, that 'he should have thus speedily broken through 
the bondage of the system in which he had been brought up, and of which he was 
himself an eminent professor. " He that doeth Truth, cometh to the light," — as we 
shall presently hear our Saviour Himself declare ;(h) and this is what Nicodemus 
now did. He came to the Light, in order to have the darkness of his soul dispelled. 

Our Lord, in reply, says nothing expressly to magnify Himself: but proceeds 
gently to correct the low views of His Disciple. Availing Himself of the readiness 
implied by Nicodemus to receive instruction from His lips, " He begins, in the Dis- 
course which follows, to impart some great and fundamental truths concerning that 
' Kingdom of God' which Nicodemus, in common with the rest of his countrymen, 
was expecting to see established by the Messiah : thus leading him to entertain 
juster notions of its nature and end." 

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. 

As if He had said, — " Thou art not yet born again ; that is, by a spiritual beget- 
ting : and therefore thy knowledge of Me is not spiritual, but carnal and human. 
But I say unto thee, that neither thou, nor any one, except he be born again of God, 
shall be able to see the glory which is around Me ; but shall be out of the Kingdom : 
for it is the begetting of Baptism which enlightens the mind." 

Such seems to have been the force and bearing of the words, as they were ad- 
dressed to the heart of Nicodemus, personally. As containing a great disclosure of 
Divine Doctrine, what do they convey but man's need of Spiritual Regeneration, or 
New-Birth, in order to the eternal safety of his soul? Our Lord proceeds, in verse 
5, to explain His words ; and it is found that He speaks of Holy Baptism, — "as 
generally necessary to Salvation." In the meantime, the answer of Nicodemus 
proves that he had as yet no conception of our Lord's meaning. 

4 Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is 
old? can he enter the second time into his Mother's womb, and be 
born? 

He soars not above the carnal sense of words which cannot be understood car- 
nally ; and speaks like a child. " Observe," (says one of the Fathers,) " when a 
man trusts spiritual things to reasonings of his own, how ridiculously he talks !" — 

(e) St. John ii. 13 and 23. (/) See also St. John iv. 45; and the note on St. John ii. 23. 
(g) St. John v. 36; where see the note. Consider also the following places: St. Luke vii. 20 
to 22 ; St. John x. 25, 38 : xiv. 11 : xv. 24. 
(h) See below, verses 20, 21. 



648 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

"But do thou so understand the birth of the Spirit, as Nicodemus did the birth of 
the flesh;" (remarks another:) "for as the entrance into the womb cannot be re- 
peated, so neither can Baptism." — Our Lord proceeds to reveal more clearly the 
manner of our spiritual birth : 

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be 
born of Water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of 
God. 

As if He said, — " Thou understandest Me to speak of a carnal birth; but a man 
must be born of Water and of the Spirit, if he is to enter into the Kingdom of God. 
If, to obtain the temporal inheritance of his human Father, a man must be born of 
the Womb of his Mother ; to obtain the eternal inheritance of his Heavenly Father, 
he must he born of the womb of the Church. And since man consists of two parts, 
Body and Soul, the mode even of this latter birth is two fold: Water in the visible 
part, cleansing the body ; the Spirit, by His invisible co-operation, changing the 
invisible soul." — Consider the truly Catholic statements on this subject contained 
in our Church Catechism. It will be remembered that the Church of England, in 
her Baptismal Service, expressly grounds the necessity of Baptism on the present 
declaration of our Lord. 

" Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
Kingdom of God." Famous words ! which it has been the endeavor of misguided 
men, in every age of the Church, to set aside or explain away. Opposing them- 
selves to Externals in Religion, generally, and to the two Sacraments of the Church, 
in particular, sectarians have sought to fasten a strange sense on these plain words 
of Christ; contending eagerly, indeed, for the bestowal of GOD'S gift (the Spi- 
rit;) while they have striven to make it appear that the duty required on Man's 
side, (the Water,) can be a matter of no real importance. But, — "I hold it for a 
most infallible rule in expositions of sacred Scripture/ 7 (says our wise Hooker,) 
"that where a literal construction will stand, the farthest from the letter is com- 
monly the worst." And he adds, that, — " Of all the ancients, there is not one to be 
named, that ever did otherwise expound or allege this place than as implying ex- 
ternal Baptism." The result of the most searching inquiry has but served to 
establish the truth of this remarkable statement. 

Very abundantly also is it proved by the whole tenor of Scripture, that as the 
Spirit is the necessary inward cause, so is Water the necessary ouhcard means to our 
Regeneration. Thus, we are taught, that with water God doth cleanse and purify 
His Church. (?) Baptism is termed by the Apostles, the bath, or layer, of Regene- 
ration. (//) And when the multitude, "pricked in their heart," inquired of Peter 
and the rest of the Apostles, "Men and Brethren, what shall we do? ... . Peter 
said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ for the Remission of Sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost. "(Z) 

There have been those, however, who looking only at our Eternal Election in 
Christ, have been thereby led to undervalue the ordinary and immediate means of 
Life. Let such persons be reminded that Predestination does not conduct us to 
Life without the grace of external calling ; in which our Baptism is, of necessity, 
implied. 

Others, again, "fixing their minds wholly on the known necessity of Faith, im- 
agine that nothing but Faith is necessary for the attainment of all grace." _ Yet 
surely, (once more to quote Hooker's words,) — " If Christ Himself which giveth 
Salvation do require Baptism, it is not for us that look for Salvation to sound and 
examine Him whether unbaptized we may be saved ; but seriously to'do that which 
is required, and religiously to fear the danger which may grow by the want 
thereof." 

Our Saviour's weighty declaration that except a person be baptized " he cannot 
enter into the Kingdom of Gov," has, again, deterred many from cordially accepting 
His words, according to their strict literal construction : thinking themselves bound, 
in charity, to reject an interpretation which would press so heavily on those who 
cannot obtain Baptism. The Law of Christ, however, which maketh Baptism ne- 
cessary, " must," (says the same Hooker,) "be construed and understood according 

(i) Ephesians v. 2Q. (k) Titus hi. 5. (I) Acts ii. 37, 38. 



III.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 649 

to rules of natural equity." Thus "it is on all parts gladly confessed that there 
may be, in divers cases, Life by virtue of inward Baptism, even where outward is 
not found." One such case, the Church hath ever held to be that of unbaptized 
Martyrs ; whose Baptism is one of Blood. Another such case is supplied by per- 
sons as 'virtuous as they, who longed indeed for Baptism, but could not obtain it, 
and finally died without it. Desire of Baptism, in both these cases, has been held 
to supply the place of Baptism itself. 

It remains only to notice the case of infants dying unbaptized ; concerning whom, 
Charity and Reason alike compel us to entertain a favourable hope. " We are 
plainly taught of God, that the seed of faithful parentage is holy from the very 
birth :"(m) that is, the offspring of Christian parents " bring into the world a pre- 
sent interest and right to those means wherewith Christ hath ordained that His 
Church shall be sanctified." It is not to be thought, therefore, that He who, as it 
were from Heaven, hath marked them out for Holiness by the privilege of their very 
birth, "will Himself deprive them of -Regeneration and inward Grace, only because 
Necessity depriveth them of outward Sacraments." In such case, it is to be thought 
that the secret desire and purpose which others have in their behalf, will be imputed 
to them; and accepted as such by God, all-merciful to as many as are not in them- 
selves able to desire Baptism .... Consider, in connection with this subject, the 
case of the Paralytic borne of four, — and that of the Impotent man at the pool of 
Bethesda ; which will be found respectively discussed in the notes on St. Mark ii. 
3, and St. John v. 7. 

But it is time that we notice how the Discourse proceeded. Nicodemus is wholly 
unable to comprehend the meaning of the Divine Speaker: our Lord therefore helps 
him by suggesting the analogy of our carnal birth : 

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh : and that which is born of 
the Spirit is spirit. 

^ That is to say, The Nature which a man derives from his Parents, by virtue of 
his natural Birth, is corrupt, fleshly, and human : that which he derives from God, 
by virtue of his New Birth, is incorrupt, spiritual, and divine. 

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 

Words which reveal that Christ spake with one who was lost in wonder at the 
Discourse he heard. 

The expression should be compared with St. John v. 28, 29, where the note may 
also be read. The appeal is made in both cases to something sensible, in order to 
assist the understanding. Here, the Author of Creation, having already dwelt on 
the wonder of our natural Birth, notices the mysterious rushing of the Wind : — 

8 The Wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound 
thereof, but canst not tell whence it conieth, and whither it goeth : so 
is every one that is born of the Spirit. 

That is, — Something similar is observed to take place in the case of every re- 
generate person. It becomes manifest to all that he is acting in obedience to a new 
principle; but the Law of the Spirit's operation, — whence it comes, or. whither it 
goes,— how, or why, or for what length of time it will continue to affect a man, — 
there is none that knoweth. 

The illustration may not, of course, be unduly pressed : but the Wind, — which 
is unseen, yet may be both heard and felt : which obeys a Law indeed, yet depends 
for its motions entirely upon the Counsels of God's Will ; — the mysterious operation 
of the Wind supplies our Lord with an image, the fitness of which to express spir- 
itual influence, all can feel. In some languages, (in Greek for example,) one word 
stands for both Wind and Spirit. Consider also how the descent of the Holy 
Ghost, on the Day of Pentecost, was manifested by a sound from Heaven as of u a 
rushing mighty Wind." In) . . . Nicodemus, for all reply, confesses his utter per- 
plexity: — 

9 Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be ? 

(»0 Hooker j referring to 1 Cor. vii. 14. («) Acts ii. 2. 



650 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

But his very perplexity takes the shape of a curious doubt. He claims to under- 
stand what He is required to believe; and still asks a carnal question: "How can. 
these things be?" — as before he asked "How can a man be born again V 

10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, 
and knowest not these things ? 

Rather, — "Art thou The Teacher of Israel?" Such high and sounding titles were 
frequently bestowed on the Jewish Doctors. St. Paul seems to hint at several of 
those titles in the second chapter of his epistle to the Romans : " Behold thou art 
called a Jew/' (he says,) .... "and art confident that thou thyself art 'A Guide 
of the blind/ ' A Light of them which are in Darkness/ ' An Instructor of the 
foolish/ 'A Teacher of Babes/ "(o) On the supposition that Nicodemus enjoyed 
the lofty title of " The Teacher of Israel," "nothing is more probable," (remarks a 
learned Indian Bishop,) "than that our Saviour should have taken occasion to re- 
prove the folly of those who had conferred the appellation, and the vanity of him 
who had accepted it ; and no occasion could have been more opportune than the 
present when Nicodemus betrayed his ignorance on a very important subject. Our 
Saviour's readiness to condemn the practice here referred to, may be proved from 
St. Matthew xxiii. 7." 

"No one," (observes the great Father of the African Church,) "is born of the 
Spirit except he is made humble ; for this very humility it is, which makes us to be 
born of the Spirit. Nicodemus, however, was inflated with his eminence as a Mas- 
ter, and thought himself of importance, because he was a Doctor of the Jews. Our 
Lord casts down his pride in order that he may be ' born of the Spirit.' " 

" Art thou then The Teacher of Israel," (the words may perhaps be paraphrased,) 
"and rememberest thou not, that, in the days of Noah, both he and all his House, 
were saved by water? the like figure whereunto is the Baptism of which I speak?(^>) 
Knowest thou not that all thy Fathers were baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and 
in the Sea?(#) or hast thou not read of Naaman, the Syrian, who washed in the 
Jordan, and was delivered from his leprosy, (the well-known type of sin,) so that 
'his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean?' "(r) . . . 
Once more does our Lord condescend to his infirmity; making use of a common 
argument to render what He has said credible : — 

11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and 
testify that We have seen ; and ye receive not our Witness. 

"Sight," (says an Eastern Bishop,) "we consider the most certain of all our 
senses; [s) so that when we say we saw such a thing with our eyes, we seem to 
compel men to believe us. Christ, in like manner, speaking after the usage of 
men, does not indeed mean that He has seen with the bodily eye the mysteries 
which He reveals :" (for He speaks as God, and 'God is a Spirit;') "but it is clear 
that He intends to describe Himself as possessing the most certain absolute know- 
ledge." The Reader is here requested to verify the following references,— St. John 
viii. 26, 28, 38, 40 : xv. 15 ; and to read the whole of the note on St. John v. 20. 
He will also observe the striking parallel between the present place and verse 32, 
lower down ; where the note may be consulted. The Baptist is there heard de- 
claring the self-same things concerning Christ, as Christ here declares concerning 
Himself. 

It is ye, (observe,) and you: not thou and thee. So also in the next verse, our 
Saviour addresses not Nicodemus, but the Jewish nation at large, in the person of 
this their learned Doctor ; and prophesies that they will reject His testimony. Yet 
was He "the faithful and true witness l"(t) Moreover, He had the testimony, not 
of one, but oitwo; — as we find plainly asserted in St. John viii. 16 to 18 : and that 
is perhaps the reason why the same Blessed Speaker here uses the plural number : 
"ive speak," and "our witness/'(w) 

12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye helieve not, how shall 
ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things ? 

(o) Romans ii. 17, 19, 20. (p) 1 St. Peter iii. 20, 21. (a) 1 Cor. x. 2. 

(r) 2 Kings v. 14. (*) See 1 St. John i. 1 to 3. (t) Revel, i. 5 ; iii. 14 



(w) Compare St. Mark iv. 30. 



J 



III.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 651 



" Earthly things," — because it is here on earth that the mysteries spoken of are 
transacted. 

li Heavenly things," — seems to be said with reference to the higher mysteries of 
of the Kingdom : eternal Truths which, to the very last, as it may be humbly 
thought, remained unuttered ; for, on the eve of His Crucifixion, our Lord could 
say, " I have yet many things to say unto you ; but ye cannot bear them now." (a?) 
Observe, however, that in the case of the "earthly" and of the "heavenly things," 
alike, the appeal is made not to Reason, but to Faith ; whence our Lord does not 
say " understand not," but " believe not." 

13 And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came 
down from Heaven, even the Son of Man which is in Heaven. 

A little attention will suffice to establish the connection of these words with what 
goes before. Our Lord is here conveying the assurance that from Himself alone 
could the knowledge of " heavenly things" be obtained ; inasmuch as He alone had 
" ascended up to Heaven." His witness was worthy of all acceptation ; and His 
only: because He spoke and testified of what He had known and seen; and, be- 
side Himself, no man had ascended up to Heaven, to see those "heavenly things," 
and to know them. " What He hath seen and heard," (says the Baptist in verse 
32,) "that He testifieth." — "We have yet to set forth the meaning of this difficult 
place in Scripture. 

The first part seems to be explained by our Lord's declaration, — " I came forth 
from the Father, and am come into the world ;"(y) for then it was that the Eternal 
Son "came down from Heaven;" namely, when "He took Man's nature in the 
womb of the Blessed Virgin, of her substance." (z) The " Son of Man," before He 
was conceived in the Virgin's womb, was not in Heaven ; but, after His conception, 
by virtue of the union of the Divine Substance, He was in Heaven : (as He said, 
"the Son of Man which is in Heaven;" naming Himself "wholly from His huma- 
nity, as elsewhere He names Himself wholly from His divinity.") For, from the 
hour of His Incarnation, " two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the God- 
head and Manhood, were joined together in One Person, never to be divided, whereof 
is One Christ." Speaking after the manner of men, therefore, our Saviour dis- 
coursed of Himself to Nicodemus, as having ascended into Heaven ; because, what- 
soever is first on Earth, and then in Heaven, must be said to have ascended into 
Heaven. 

"Although He was made the Son of Man upon earth," writes an ancient father, 
"yet His Divinity, — with which, remaining in Heaven, He descended to earth, — 
He hath declared not to disagree with the title of Son of Man ; as He hath thought 
His Flesh worthy the name of Son of God. For through the unity of Person, by 
which both substances are One Christ, He walked upon earth, being Son of God ; 
and remained in Heaven, being Son of Man." — There is, in fact, an interchange of 
notions, when we apply the names GOD and Man to our Saviour Christ ; so that 
for truth of speech, it matters not "whether we say that the Son of God hath cre- 
ated the world, and the Son of Man by His death hath saved it, — or else that the 
Son of Man did create, and the Son of God did die to save the world. Howbeit, as 
oft as we attribute to God what the Manhood of Christ claimeth, or to Man what 
His Deity hath a right unto, we understand by the name of God and the name of 
Man neither the one nor the other nature, but the whole person of CHRIST, in 
whom both natures are. When the Apostle saith of the Jews, that they crucified 
the Lord of Glory, (a) and when the Son of Man being on earth affirmeth that the 
Son of Man was in Heaven at the same instant,(6) there is in these two speeches 
that mutual circulation before mentioned. In the one, there is attributed to God, 
or the Lord of Glory, Death, — whereof Divine Nature is not capable ; and in the 
other, ubiquity to man, which Human Nature admitteth not. Therefore, by "the 
Lord of Glory," we must needs understand the whole person of CHRIST, who being 
Lord of Glory, was indeed crucified, but not in that nature for which He is termed 
the Lord of Glory. "In like manner," (says Hooker, with reference to the present 
place,) " the whole person of CHRIST must necessarily be meant ; who being Man 
upon Earth, filleth Heaven with His glorious presence, but not according to that 
nature for which the title of Man is given Him." 

(a:) St. John xvi. 12. (y) St. John xvi. 28. (z) Article II. 

(a) 1 Cor. ii. 8. (6) St. John iii. 13. 



652 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

One of the ancients briefly sums up the matter as follows : — " So, then, He came 
down from Heaven, because He became the Son of Man ; and He was in Heaven, 
because the Word, which was ' made flesh,' had not ceased to be the Word." 

" Having made mention to Nicodemus, of the gift of Baptism," (remarks a third 
writer,) "He proceeds to the source of it, namely, The Cross:" "thus unexpect- 
edly introducing this Teacher of the Mosaic Law to the spiritual sense of that Law, 
by a passage from the Old Testament History, which was intended to be a figure of 
His Passion, and of Man's Salvation:" — 

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the "Wilderness, 

— "and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld 
the serpent of brass he lived :"(c) — 

15 even so must the Son of Man be lifted up : that whosoever believ- 
eth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 

For when the fiery serpents bit the Israelites, and " much people died," Moses, 
by the command of God, " made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole." With 
what result to those who beheld it, has been already stated. (d) This, then, was a 
manifest type not only of the manner, but also of the benefit of Christ's death ; as 
Christ Himself here declares to Nicodemus. Moreover, the Faith of " those Avho 
truly turn to Him," was aptly shown in the condition required of as many as were 
bitten of serpents, and had thus come under "the power of the Enemy ."(e) 

To be " lifted up" was the common phrase by which Crucifixion was expressed. 
Our Lord employed it on two subsequent occasions. " When ye have lifted up the 
Son of Man," (He said to the Jews,) "then shall ye know that I am He."(/) So 
again, at the very close of His ministry, only a day or two before He suffered : 
. "And I, if I be lifted up from the Earth, will draw all men unto Me." " This He 
said," declares the Evangelist, " signifying ivhat death He should die." (eft And, 
indeed, it is evident that the people understood the words in that sense, from the 
reply they immediately made : " We-have heard out of the Law that Christ abid- 
eth for ever ; and how sayest Thou, The Son of Man must be lifted up?" 

" Observe," says an Eastern Bishop, " He alludes to the Passion obscurely, in 
consideration to His hearer : but the fruits of the Passion he unfolds plainly," — 
namely, "whosoever believeth in Him, shall have Eternal Life." 

Hear, therefore, what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all that 
truly turn to Him — 

16 For God so loved the World, that He gave His Only-begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life. 

It is here declared that the Only-begotten Son was given to death. As before, 
that which belongs to God was attributed to Man ; so now, what belongs to Man, 
is assigned to God. Thus largely has the great mystery of Man's Redemption been 
already opened to Nicodemus ! Our Lord moreover here enlightens him as to a 
great truth, unsuspected by Nicodemus and by the Jewish nation at large ; namely, 
that Messiah was to be the Saviour nob of that nation only, but of the whole world. 
" God so loved the World that He gave His Only-begotten Son." "And He is the 
propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole 
World." [h) 

" God commendeth His love towards us," saith St. Paul, " in that, while we were 
yet sinners, Christ died for us :"{%) in that, " He .... spared not His own Son, 
but delivered Him up for us all."(A:) " In this," saith St. John again, " was mani- 
fested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His Only-Begotten Son 
into the World, that we might live through Him. Herein is love ; not that we loved 
God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sms._ {I) 

The Old Testament promised only length of days: but the Gospel promises 
"Everlasting Life." 

re) Numbers xxi. 9. (d) Numbers xxi. 6 to 9. (e) Consider St. Luke x. 19. 

( f) St. John viii. 28. \g) St. John xii. 32, 33. (h) 1 St. John ii. 2. 

\i) Romans v. 8. (k) Romans viii. 32. (0 1 St. John iv. 9, 10. 



HI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 653 

17 For God sent not His Son into the World to condemn the World; 
but that the World through Him might be saved. 

For God desireth not the death of a sinner, hut rather that he should turn from 
his wickedness, and live.(m) He is called the Saviour of the World, for He wills 
the Salvation of all men. If men perish, it is because they oppose their wills to His. 

18 He that believeth on Him is not condemned : 

On the contrary, — he "hath everlasting Life, and shall not come into condemna- 
tion ; but is passed from Death unto Life." So it is written in St. John v. 24, — ■ 
where see the note. 

but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not 
believed in the Name of the Only-Begotten Son of God. 

He is " condemned" because (as St. John Baptist declares in verse 36,) "he that 
believeth not the Son shall not see Life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him." 
And he is " condemned already ;" for although Judgment hath not appeared, yet is 
it already given. The Lord knoweth who are His : who are awaiting the crown, 
and who the fire. 

19 And this is the condemnation, that Light is come into the World, 
and men loved Darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were 
evil. 

"The condemnation" spoken of in the preceding verse consisted in this; that 
when Christ the true Light came into the world, men rejected Him and His Doc- 
trine : proving by their actions that they loved Darkness rather than Light, Evil 
rather than Good; inasmuch as they made free choice of the one and rejected the 
other. 

The reason is added, — "Because their deeds were evil." And this statement 
exactly falls in with what we are so often elsewhere assured of; namely, that the 
discernment of Truth is a moral, not an intellectual act. 

20, 21 For every one that doeth evil hateth the Light, neither cometh 
to the Light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth 
Truth cometh to the Light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that 
they are wrought in God. 

In the language of the Spirit, " Truth" is another name for Righteousness : 
hence, "Truth" is found directly opposed to "Unrighteousness" in Psalm li. 5, 6: 
John vii. 18: Bom. ii. 8:(n) 1 Cor. xiii. 6. This is surely a most instructive cir- 
cumstance ; for whereas Righteousness is a moral attribute, — we are apt to regard 
Truth as a purely intellectual matter. And yet Holy Scripture reminds us of our 
mistake in countless places ; as was remarked in the preceding note. See some ob- 
servations on this subject in the note on St. John vii. 17. The frequent recurrence 
of the words "True' ; and "Truth" in the present Gospel is very remarkable. 

With marvellous frequency do we find our Lord discoursed of in Holy Scripture 
under the image of Light. He loved to apply to Himself this Title ; and to dis- 
course of Himself and of His Heavenly doctrine in terms derived from this, the 
first-born of all His creatures, — "the beginning of the Creation of God."(o) 

Every one who is resolved to sin, (He says,) who delights in sin, hateth the Light 
which detects his sin. 

And thus ended this memorable discourse of our Saviour. Is it not possible that 
there was something personal, as it were, in its concluding sentences : or, at least, 
that the season when it was spoken, — the time of Darkness,(j?) — may have suggest- 
ed the prevailing image with which it is brought to a close ? 

22 After these things came Jesus and His Disciples into the land of 
Judaea ; 

(m) Ezckiel xxxiii. 11; xviii. 23, 31, 32. 

(?i) See also Romans i. 18; and consider Rev. xxi. 25; xxii. 15. 

(o) Rev. iii. 14. (p) See above verse 2 : and the note there. 



654 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

That is to say, the blessed Company withdrew from the City of Jerusalem, 
(whither our Lord had been to keep the Passover,(g) and where the preceding Dis- 
course with Nicodemus had taken place ;) and went to dwell somewhere on the 
banks of the Jordan. For, as it follows, — 

and there He tarried with them, and baptized. 

Not that He baptized any Himself. Of this we are particularly assured in the 
beginning of the next chapter, — where it is said, " Though Jesus baptized not, but 
His Disciples. "(r) 

23 And John also was baptizing in iEnon near to Salim, because 
there was much water there : and they came, and were baptized. 

The Evangelist describes a locality in the north of the Holy Land, — our Sayiour 
living at this time in the south of it, and therefore at a distance of many miles from 
the scene of the Baptist's ministration. All Samaria lay between Christ and His 
Forerunner. Salim is thought to have been the place called Shalim in 1 Samuel 
ix. 4. iEnon and Salim will have been in Galilee, a little to the south of Bethshan, 
and west of the Jordan. In this neighborhood, on account of the abundant supply 
of water, the Baptist had fixed himself: 

24 For John was not yet cast into prison. 

With this passing allusion, the beloved Disciple dismisses the imprisonment of 
the Forerunner, concerning which the other Evangelists have discoursed to us so 
largely .(s) John Baptist was not yet cast into the dungeon of Machaerus, — where, 
at the end of two years, he was murdered, (t) — but he was on the very eve of that 
event. The discourse, therefore, which begins at verse 27, and extends to the end 
of the present chapter, — being the lengthiest of his recorded discourses, — may be 
regarded as the latest public witness which John was permitted to bear to Messiah. 

25, 26 Then there arose a question between some of John's Disciples 
and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John, and said 
unto him, Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou 
barest witness, behold, the Same baptizeth, and all men come to Him. 

They refer to the transaction recorded in St. John i. 19 and 32 ; which " took 
place at Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing." 

It is clearly implied that the "question," or rather the dispute, arose on the part of 
the Disciples of John ; and may very well have turned upon the efficacy of the Bap- 
tisms respectively administered by the Baptist, and by our Lord. They come to 
their Master, as if with the language of complaint ; revealing by their words how 
wholly unconscious they are of the surpassing majesty of Christ. " He who was 
with thee ;" (and it seems to be implied, "who received Baptism at Thy hands ;") 
"the same baptizeth." The expression "All men come to Him," is the language 
of Disciples jealous for their Master's Honor and Reputation. Thereby is implied, 
what in the first verse of the ensuing chapter is expressly stated, — namely, that 
" Jesus made and baptized more Disciples than John." 

The design of John's reply is to remove the jealousy of his ardent followers ; and 
to conduct them to the knowledge of the Truth. 

" 27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing except it be 
given him from Heaven. 

Which may either be the Baptist's vindication of our Saviour's conduct ; or a 
humble admission of his own inferiority, and dependence on God. It is perhaps 
rather, as if he had said, — I am a mere man, and cannot assume any thing more 
than has been freely bestowed upon me from on High. — The very argument by 
which his ardent followers thought to have overthrown the Messiah, he proceeds to 
turn against them : — 

(q) St. John ii. 23. (r) St. John iv. 2. 

(*) See St. Matth. xiv. 3 to 12 : St. Mark vi. 17 to 29 : St. Luke iii. 19 and 20. 

(0 See the notes on St. Matth. xiv. 6 to 11, and St, Mark vi. 21 to 28. 



HI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 655 

28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the CHRist, 
but that I am sent before Him. 

Alluding to the saying recorded of him in St. John i. 20, 30, 31 : which doubtless 
must have contained a special reference to Malachi's prophecy, — " I will send My 
Messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me."(u) Now, as many as are so 
sent, are servants. The Baptist however proceeds to declare the relation in which 
he stood to Christ by a different resemblance : as it follows : 

29 He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom : 

Christ is that "Bridegroom ;" and His Spouse or " Bride" is the Church. To 
Him the Bride belongeth. — The language of the Spirit is very constant in this re- 
spect. "Thy Maker is thine Husband: the Lord of Hosts is His Name," says the 
Prophet Isaiah :(x) and again, " As the Bridegroom rejoiceth over the Bride, so shall 
thy God rejoice over thee."(^/) Again, "I was an Husband unto them, saith the 
Lord. ,; (z) This thought supplies the imagery of the xlv. Psalm, and of "the Song 
of Songs, which is Solomon's." It furnishes St. Paul with illustration and argu- 
ment when he discourses of the duties of the married state, (a) Lastly, the Mar- 
riage of the Lamb, is told of in the Book of Revelation ; where the Holy City, New 
Jerusalem, (that is, the Church of the Redeemed,) is seen coming down from God 
out of Heaven, prepared as " a Bride adorned for her Husband :(b) whence it is 
styled " the Bride, the Lamb's Wife."(c) — Christ, then, is the chief person; for it is 
" He that hath the Bride :" — 

but the friend of the Bridegroom, which standeth and heareth Him, 
rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice: this my joy there- 
fore is fulfilled. 

As if he said, — That joy, therefore, has been mine ; for I have heard the voice of 
Christ. I, the friend of the Bridegroom, have heard the Bridegroom's voice — How 
must the Disciples of John have thrilled with wonder and admiration when, a year 
or two after, they heard our Saviour claim to Himself the very title which the 
Forerunner here bestows upon Him ! See St. Mark ii. 19, and the notes thereon. 

The expression "which standeth,"" (says an ancient Father,) " is not without 
meaning; but indicates that the part of John is now over, and that for the future 
he must stand and listen." .... That the expression is not without meaning, either 
here, or in chapter i. 35, (the place to which the Baptist's words seem to have re- 
ference,) may well be suspected : but what its meaning precisely is, is doubtful. {d) 

Certain however it is that in this place the Baptist, (calling himself "the friend 
of the Bridegroom,") describes the joy which tilled his heart when he first heard the 
blessed sound of the Saviour's Voice. Very brief indeed appears to have been the 
intercourse of Messiah and His Forerunner. One only sentence is our Saviour 
known to have addressed to the Baptist, — or even to have uttered within his hear- 
ing! See St. Matthew iii. 15, and the last words of the note there. 

But our Saviour was now about to begin His Ministry: John Baptist therefore 
is ready to withdraw from the scene, — " as the Morning-Star is willingly drowned 
in the brightness of the rising Sun." It follows, — 

30 He must increase, but I must decrease. 

My reputation must grow less and less ; my followers must fall away ; the very- 
Disciples whom I have baptized will have to be rebaptized by Him.(e) But His 
Name must spread, and His Disciples increase : His Faith must extend into all 
Lands, till all the World doth acknowledge Him, and Earth as well as Heaven be- 
comes full of the majesty of His Glory Such is the scope of these words of the 

Forerunner: " a prophet, yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet !"(/) 

31 He that cometh from above is above all : he that is of the earth 
is earthly, and speaketh of the earth : He that cometh from Heaven is 
above all. 

(u) Malachi iii. 1. ( x ) Isaiah liv. 5. (y) Isaiah lxii. 5. 

(z) Jerem. xxxi. 32. Compare iii. 14, 20. Also Hos. ii. 19, 20. 

(a) Ephesians v. 23 to 32. Compare also 2 Cor. xi. 2. And see Rom. vii. 1 to 4. 

(6) Rev. xxi. 2 : xix. 7. (c) Rev. xxi. 9. (d) Compare St. John vii. 37. 

(e) Acts xix. 1 to 5. (/) St. Matthew xi. 9. 



656 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Rather, " Is above all [things] ;" which is only another way of expressing the 
ordinary Name of God, — " the Most High :"'as He is called in Acts vii. 48, and as 
He is described in Psalm xcvii. 9. St. John Baptist therefore in this place asserts 
the Divinity of Christ. " He that cometh from above," — he says ; or, (as our Lord 
expressed it in verse 13,) " He that came down from Heaven," — is God. The fore- 
runner is contrasting himself, earthly in his parentage, and earthly in all his 
thoughts, with Messiah, the Lord from Heaven, whose way he came to prepare .... 
Still speaking of Him, he continues, — 

32 And what He hath, seen and heard, that He testifieth ; and no 
man receiveth His testimony. 

"We speak that we do know, and testify that We have seen ; and ye receive not 
Our Witness;" said our Lord in verse 11, where see the note. " As our senses are 
our surest channels of knowledge," observes an ancient writer, " and teachers are 
most depended on who have apprehended by " sight" or " hearing" what they teach, 
John adds this argument in favor of Christ, that, "what He hath heard and seen, 
that He testifieth ;" meaning that every thing " which He said is true." The parallel 
between verses 31, 32, (the words of the Baptist,) and verses 11 and 13, (the words 
of Christ,) is very remarkable. 

The Disciples of John had said, — " All men come to Him."(^) Their Master 
here replies, — " And yet no man receiveth His testimony !" 

33 He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God 
is true. 

The Baptist declares that whosoever hath received Christ's Testimony, hath set 
his seal to God's Truth: just as "he that believeth not God" is elsewhere declared 
to have made Christ " a liar ; because he believeth not the testimony that God gave 
of His SoN."(7i) The words which follow are to be taken in close connection with 
what precedes: — 

34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God. 

Which supplies the reason of what goes before. For CHRIST, whom God hath 
sen{, speaketh the very words of G OD. How remarkable are these statements of 
the Baptist concerning Christ, when compared with the similar statements made 
by Christ concerning Himself! For example, — "I have not spoken of Myself ; but 
the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a Commandment, what I should say, and 
what I should speak .... Whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said 
unto Me, so I speak."(i) "I speak to the World those things which I have heard 
of Him. "(A:) — For the correct understanding of which sayings, and the many similar 
ones contained in the Gospel, the mysterious relation of the First and Second Per- 
son in the Blessed Trinity, as set forth in the Creeds of the Church, is to be faith- 
fully borne in mind. Some remarks will be found on this subject in the nt)tes on St. 
John v. 20 ; to which the reader is referred. 

for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. 

As unto men He giveth; "dividing to every man severally as He will." (I) On 
the contrary : "in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the GoDhead bodily." (m) 

35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His 
hand. 

And so our Lord declares of Himself ; saying, " all things are delivered unto Me 
of My Father. "(n) And the present Evangelist remarks concerning Him, that He 
knew "that the Father had given all things into His hands."(o) 

He speaks of the union of Deity with Manhood. "Because 'the Father loveth 
the Son' as man, He hath, by uniting Deity with Manhood, ' given all things into 
His hands.' "(p) "All things that the Father hath are Mine," said our Savi- 
our : [q) because in Him is the fullness of the same GoDhead ; and more than that, 

(g) Verse 26. (h) 1 St. John v. 10. (i) 1 John xii. 49, 50. 

(//) St. John viii. 26. (I) 1 Cor. xii. 11. (m) Coloss. ii. 9. Sec also i. 19. 

(n) St. Mark xi. 27. (o) St. John xiii. 3. (p) The words are Hooker's. 
(q) St. John xvi. 15. 



HI.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL, 657 



the Father cannot have. " But since the Father alone is originally that Deity 
which Christ originally is not, (for Christ is God by being of God, Light by issuing 
out of Light,) it followeth that whatsoever Christ hath common unto Him with 
His Heavenly Father, the same of necessity must be given Him : yet naturally and 
eternally given, not bestowed by way of benevolence and favour." (r) 

Now, because the Father hath given all things into the hands of the Son, He 
hath given Eternal Life into His hands also : whence, it follows immediately, — 

36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life : and he that 
believeth not the Son shall not see Life ; 

St. John says elsewhere, — " He that hath the Son hath Life ; and He that hath 
not the Son of God hath not Life."(s) "He that believeth on Me" (said our Savi- 
our) "hath everlasting Life;"(£) "but he that believeth not, is condemned al- 
ready."^*) So faithfully did the Baptist (who was the Voice of the Word) deliver 
his Testimony concerning Messiah ! 

The three concluding verses of the present chapter are illustrated in a remark- 
able manner by St. John v. 19 to 24, where Christ is the Speaker. The train of 
thought will be perceived to be similar in both places. 

but the wrath of God abideth on him. 

" See, 1 " (exclaims an ancient Bishop) "how He refers to th« Father when He 
speaks of punishment ! He says not ' the wrath of the Son/ though the Son is 
Judge :{v) but He makes the Father the Judge in order to alarm men more." 

It is not said that on such an one cometh the Wrath of God ; but on him the 
Wrath of God (it is declared) abideth : " for all who are born, are under the Wrath 
of God, which the first Adam incurred." We " were by nature the children of 
wrath, ,; as the Apostle speaks. (iv) In this place therefore, the very form of the ex- 
pression bears witness to the doctrine of Original or Birth-Sin. 



A pious living writer, at the end of his commentary on the present chapter, ex- 
claims : — "Out of this Land of Darkness, and which lieth under the shadow of 
Death, I stretch forth my hands unto Thee. Thou who dwellest in Light which 
no man may approach unto, who art without variableness or shadow of turning, 
from whom alone cometh every good and perfect gift, — grant unto me that Wisdom 
which cometh from above, and which Thou hast promised to give unto those who 
ask it of Thee. Grant me to understand Thy Words, which are from Heaven ; and 
to loose my hold of earthly things ; and to follow Thee ! Do Thou forget those 
things that are past ; blot them out of Thy Book, and wash them out of my 
heart, that I may be able to see Thee who art the true Light : to see Thee and to 
love Thee, in such sort that I may see and love nothing else, except what I behold 
and love in Thee V 

THE PRAYER. 

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life ; grant us 
perfectly to know Thy Son Jesus Christ to be the Way, the Truth, 
and the Life ; that, following the steps of Thy holy Apostles, Saint 
Philip and Saint James, we may steadfastly walk in the way that 
leadeth to eternal Life ; through the same Thy Son Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 

(r) The quotation is again from Hooker. (s) 1 St. John v. 12. 

(0 St. John vi. 47. («) St. John iii. 18. (v) St. John v, 22 and 27. (u?) Ephes. ii. 3. 



42 



658 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 



CHAPTER IV 



1 Christ talkeih with a Woman of Samaria, and revealeth Himself unto her. 27 
His Disciples marvel. 31 He declareth to them His zeal to God's Glory. 39 
Many Samaritans believe on Him. 43 He departeth into Galilee, and healeth the 
Ruler's son that lay sick at Capernaum. 

The former chapter ended with the record of the last public witness which the 
Forerunner was permitted to bear to his Lord, — the longest of his recorded 
discourses. The Baptist had since been cast into prison, and the Ministry of 
Christ was now about to begin. It had begun, in a manner, half a year before; 
namely, immediately after His Baptism : but the Imprisonment of John is clearly 
noticed as the event from which our Saviour's public Ministry dated its more spe- 
cial commencement. A journey into Galilee was then undertaken, — which all the 
four Evangelists concur in recording,(a) — and the immediate occasion of which, the 
Evangelist St. John subjoins. The present chapter contains a relation of the great 
incident which rendered that journey for ever memorable. 

It might well have been suspected beforehand that the events of a journey under- 
taken at such a time must have been replete with interest and wonder : but nothing 
so exquisite as the fulfillment of history, (so to speak,) which St. John here records, 
could have been imagined by unassisted reason. For we shall discover that our 
Redeemer at the close of His first day's travel, arrived at that very spot of ground 
where Abraham had made his first resting-place on entering the Land of Canaan. 
Our Saviour Christ, as faithful Abraham had done before Him, ; ' passed through 
the land unto the place of Sichem ;"(6) and lo, as Abraham had there been blessed 
with the vision of Jehovah, and the promise — " Unto thy seed will I give this 
land ;" so did Messiah, (having taken " on Him the seed of Abraham,")(c) at once, 
and at this very spot, enter on His promised spiritual inheritance ! The people of 
Sichem, (here written "Sychar,") were the first to enter the Heavenly Canaan. 
They became the first-fruits of the spiritual Harvest of the Land. And thus much 
for the present incident, as it was a fulfillment of ancient Prophecy. 

Standing in the very fore-front of the Sacred Narrative, it seems to have been 
further designed to inform us that the Samaritans were included, — included, as the 
remoter heathen nations were not, — in the circle to which the Gospel message in the 
first instance extended ; while yet their preparation and previous character were es- 
sentially different from that which belonged to the legitimate family of Abraham. (d) 

It becomes necessary now to enter on the particular consideration of the narra- 
tive before us ; but the train of thought thus opened will be found pursued lower 
down, in the notes on ver. 42. 

2, 3 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard 
that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (though Jesus 
Himself baptized not,) but His disciples, He left Judea, and departed 
again into Galilee. 

The first of the four Passovers which mark the duration of our Blessed Lord's 
Ministry, was now past.(e) Our Saviour had not returned at once into Galilee ; 
but had withdrawn with his Disciples from Jerusalem to the banks of the Jordan, 
where He made a brief sojourn and baptized, (/) and where He was now residing. 
From a comparison of the Gospels, it is found that John Baptist, who in the last 
chapter, "was not yet cast into prison, "(g) now was a prisoner. At this juncture, 
our Saviour withdraws from Judea, and returns into Galilee ;(/*) and it is here 

(a) St. Matth. iv. 12: St. Mark, i. 14: St. Luke iv. 14: St. John iv. 3 and 43. 

(b) Gen. xii. 6. (c) Heb. ii. 15 and St. Matth. i. 1. (d) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(c) St. John ii. 23. (/) See St. John iii. 22. (g) St. John iii. 24. 
(h) The references are given in the above note (a.) 



IV.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 659 

hinted that the immediate cause of His withdrawal was the jealousy of the Phari- 
sees, — occasioned by the number of Disciples which He made. 

But why did a message, conveyed to the Pharisees at Jerusalem, to the eifect that 
"Jesus is making and baptizing more Disciples than John, (7) lead to the Saviour's 
withdrawal from Judea into Galilee ? Were the Pharisees inclined to become John's 
Disciples? or were they even jealous for the Baptist's honor? Not so. But from 
chapter i. verses 19 and 24, it is found that they had long since satisfied themselves 
that John was not " the Christ." Fully alive to the general expectation which 
then prevailed, of Messiah's near Advent ; and aroused by the tidings of one who 
"was baptizing," and making many disciples, "inBethabara beyond Jordan;" 
they had sent a deputation from Jerusalem, formally to inquire whether John were 
the Christ or not ; and to ascertain his exact pretensions. (k) " When therefore the 
Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard" that He was drawing to Himself more 
Disciples even than John, — that " all men," in short, were " coming to Him," and 
that He was baptizing them,(Z) — (which last circumstance, however, was not strictly 
true, as the Evangelist is careful to note,) — it became a measure of prudence to 
withdraw from their observation into the remoter region of Galilee : whereby our 
Great Pattern is found to have submitted Himself to the precept which He delivered 
to His Apostles, concerning flight from persecution. (w) 

It is obvious to remark in passing that a hint is here supplied to the probable 
reason why our Saviour so frequently imposed silence on the objects of His mercy, 
— forbidding them to make Him known. (n) Especially does that command of His, 
delivered both to Apostles(o) and Evil Spirits, that they should not tell "that He 
was the Christ, "{p) derive illustration from our Lord's conduct at this juncture. 
To attract towards Him the notice of the chief professors of Religion among the 
Jews, would probably have been the most effectual way of defeating the gracious 
purpose of His Ministry. He knew when, and how, and to whom, to reveal Him- 
self, (q) Other men, not so. 

4 And He must needs go through Samaria. 

Because that country occupies the centre of the Holy Land, separating Judaea 
Galilee. 

5 Then cometh He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, 
near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 

Alluding to the act of the dying Patriarch, recorded in Genesis xlviii. 22. Sychar 
is the city called (by anticipation) " Sichem,"(r) and " Shechem" in the Old Tes- 
tament;^') after "Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite."(£) In the Acts,(w) the 
name is written " Sychem." " The parcel of ground" here spoken of, is twice men- 
tioned in Genesis : first, as the spot where the patriarch Jacob spread his tent, and 
erected an altar to the Lord. (a;) Here also it was, that " the bones of Joseph, which 
the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt," were buried ; " and it became the 
inheritance of the children of Joseph." (?/) Indeed, it would seem from St. Stephen's 
Apology, as if all the patriarchs had been buried in this place. (2) The spot is 
clearly distinguishable at the present day, — "a field which the Lord hath 
blessed. "(a) In the words of a recent traveller, (b) — " It is a most lovely spot : just 
such a choice piece of ground as a Father would give to a favorite Son. It is level 
and very fertile, like a garden ; just at the entrance of a pleasant valley between 
hills. I have no doubt that the very ancient tomb which stands upon it, is rightly 
called Joseph's." 

But why is it specially recorded that the incident which follows took place " near 
to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph?" Chiefty, it may be 

(i) Such is the exact translation of ver. 1. ( h) See St. John i. 19 to 28. 

(l) Verses 1 and 2 should be compared with verses 22 and 26 of the former chapter. 

(to) St. Matth. x. 23, — where see the note. 

(n) See the note on St. Mark i. 44; also the last note on St. Mark i. 

(o) St. Matth. xvi. 20. (p) St. Mark i. 34 and iii. 12 ; St. Luke iv. 4L 

(q) Consider St. John iv. 25, 26 : ix. 35 to 37, &c. &c. (r) Gen. xii. 6. 

(s) See Genesis xxxiii. 18. Joshua xxiv. 32. (0 See Gen. xxxiv. 

(u) Acts vii. 16. (x) Genesis xxxiii. 18 to 20 : see also xlviii. 22. 

(y) Joshua xxiv. 32. (z) Acts vii. 15, 16. (a) Gen. xxvii. 27. 

(6) C. L. Higgins, Esq., of Turvey Abbey. 



660 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

thought, in order to lead us to connect that solemn bequest of the Patriarch to his 
Son, with the present incident, — somewhat in the manner which will be found 
pointed out below, in the note on ver. 42. " To this spot of ground our Lord came, 
that the Samaritans, who claimed to be inheritors of the Patriarch Jacob, (c) might 
recognize Him ; and be converted to Christ, the Patriarch's legal heir."(d) 

Shechem, or S}^char, lay between the mountains Gerizim and Ebal ; and towards 
this spot, ("the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh,"(e) is 
Almighty God found to have directed the eyes of His chosen People, at the end of 
their wandering in the Wilderness. They were commanded, when they should 
come into the Holy Land, to repair hither and put the blessing upon Mount Geri- 
zim, and the curse upon Mount Ebal ;(/*) — building on the latter mountain an altar, 
and stationing six of the tribes on Mount Gerizim to bless the people ; and six upon 
Ebal, to curse. (g) The singular nation, known after the Captivity as "the Sama- 
ritans," are found to have made Shechem their chief place of residence ; which 
lasted, as we see, down to the time of our Lord. Certain of them remain in the 
same locality to the present day. 

Their origin has been already briefly noticed in the note on St. Matthew x. 6 : 
the only authentic account we possess concerning them, being derived from the 
Bible. (h) It seems probable that along with the strange nations which the King 
of Assyria transplanted into the cities of Samaria, must have been mixed many of 
the ancient inhabitants of the Land. Such a remnant will have retained the wor- 
ship of the true God, as anciently they professed to have clone, (i") notwithstanding 
the general idolatry of the Land ;(k) and this will account for the anxiety to be per- 
mitted to help the Jews, on their return from the Captivity, to rebuild the Temple. 
The Jews denied them the wished-for privilege ; whereupon the Samaritans did all 
in their power to prevent the rebuilding of the City and the Temple ;(Z) and out of 
this, grew the hatred which ever after subsisted between the two races. The Sa- 
maritans, in the time of Sanballat, built a rival Temple of their own upon Mount 
Gerizim, (the scene of ancestral worship to which the woman refers in ver. 20,) and 
their name, as we have seen, became henceforth a reproach, and a contemptuous 
by-word with the Jewish nation. (m) That the Samaritans were wholly in the 
wrong, in all the points of controversy between the rival races, is certain : yet may 
the injustice of the sentiment with which they were regarded by the Jews, be infer- 
red from the many favorable notices bestowed upon them by our Saviour, {n) — 
their prompt and hearty Faith, so far surpassing that of their more favored rivals, 
and the astonishing use they had made of their Knowledge of the Way of Salvation, 
which had been wholly gleaned out of the Five Books of Moses. 

6 Now Jacob's well was there. 

And there it is, unmistakably, to this day : a deep well, dug as was customary 
in the patriarchal age, in the piace of sojourn ;(o) and which Tradition has always 
pointed out as the well of the patriarch Jacob. It is described as "one of the most 
interesting objects in the Holy Land, — admitting of no doubt as to its identity with 
the spot St. John describes. It is exactly in the road which a traveller would take, 
in passing from Judsea into Galilee, — is not far from Sychar, — and above all it is 
the only well in the neighborhood which fulfills the requirements of the Scripture 
record. This it does entirely, — being very deep, while all the other wells and 
springs lie near the surface, and the water of the larger portion can be reached 
even with the hand. The water, from its depth, is always exceedingly cool ; on 
which account it is that persons are accustomed to visit it, in preference to other 
springs nearer the City."Q}) 

How striking a picture then is here set before us. He to whom Jacob had erect- 
ed his Altar, and whom the patriarch Jacob himself foreshadowed, sits down 
wearied on Jacob's well : and presently we shall behold Him surrounded by the 
chiefs of Twelve spiritual tribes — the men who are hereafter to "judge the twelve 
tribes of Israel."^) 

c) See below, ver. 12. (d) Alcuin. (e) Deut. xi. 30. (/) Deut. xi. 29. 

g) Deut. xxvii. 1 to 13. Joshua viii. 30 to 35. (h) See chiefly 2 Kings xvii. 

i) Ezra iv. 2. See also 2 Kings xvii. 27, 28. (/«.■) 2 Kings xvii. 29 to 33. 

(I) Ezra iv. 11 to 16, &c. (m) See the note on St. Luke x. 35. 

(n) See St. Luke x. 33 to 35, and the note on ver. 37 : xvii. 16 to 18, &c. 
(o) Gen. xxi. 25 to 30 : xxvi. 15, 18 to 22, 32, 33. 
( p) From the MS. already cited in the note on verse 5. 
(q) St. Matth. xix. 28 : St. Luke xxii. 30. 



iv.] on st. John's gospel. 661 

Jesus, therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the 
well : 

" Thus," in this place, means "accordingly." That is, our Saviour was weary, 
and so He sat on the well. 

And how is it possible at this mention of a well, and the meeting which follows, 
to avoid recalling the many occasions in the Old Testament when a well was the 
scene of mighty transactions in the Economy of Grace ? Isaac, and Jacob, and 
Moses, each found his future wife beside a well of water :(r) and here it is seen 
that one greater than these, their Divine Antitype, the Bridegroom, (as the Baptist 
has so lately called Him,) (5) takes to himself His alien spouse, the Samaritan 
Church, at a well likewise. (t) On this head, see more in the note prefixed to the 
present Chapter. Take notice then, that as His Death is our Life, so is His very 
weariness our refreshment. He thirsted that we might not thirst for ever. 

Hunger is once recorded of the Son of Man:(w) Thirst, twice. (x) He partook of 
all our trials ; and was made conscious, by His own mysterious experience, of all 
our wants, — wants which the perfection of His nature doubtless rendered unspeak- 
ably acute and severe. It is discovered, however, from what follows, that it was 
not meat from the city, or drink from the well, for which He so hungered and 
thirsted, as for the souls of the men of Sychar, — the soul of her who came to draw 
water. Consider verses 10, 31, 32, 34, 35. 

The beloved Disciple proceeds to fix with exactness the time at which the event 
he is describing, occurred, — which it is his manner to do, more than the other 
Evangelists :{y) 

and it was about the sixth hour. 

It was "the time of the Evening, even the time that women go out to draw 
water,"(2) — namely, six o'clock. It has been already pointed out that St. John 
does not reckon the hours after the Jewish method, (for it is clear that he wrote his 
Gospel at a distance from Judaea, and addressed it to persons who were familiar 
neither with the language nor with the customs of the Commonwealth of Israel ;)(«) 
but, writing in Asia, he reckons time after the Asiatic method ; which, singular to 
relate, corresponded exactly with our own. It was now Evening, therefore, not 
Noon : and the Son of Man, weary with the length of His day's Journey, sat Him 
down to rest on Jacob's Well. 

7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water : Jesus saith 
unto her, Give Me to drink. 

This " woman of Samaria," or rather, " Samaritan woman," seems to have be- 
longed to the city of Sychar. She came to draw water from the well ; little sus- 
pecting that before her return to the city she should draw her first draught of living 
water out of the Well of Salvation !(&) 

Are we to suppose that she now complied with the request of the Stranger ? For 
she does not seem to have done so afterwards. Our Lord may have withdrawn 
from the well's mouth, while she let down her waterpot, before addressing her ; and 
then opened the conversation in the manner recorded in the verse before us. In 
the meantime, the Evangelist proceeds to assign the reason why our Saviour ad- 
dressed His request to her; — 

8, 9 (For His Disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 
Then saith the Woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that Thou, 
being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria ? (for 
the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.) 

(r) Gen. xxiv. 11 to 29 : xxix. 2 to 10. Exod. ii. 15 to 17. 
(s) St. John iii. 29. 

(t) The, reader is referred to the note on St. Luke xxii. 12. 
(«) St. Mark xi. 12. (x) See St. John xix. 28. 

\y) Consider the following places,— St. John i. 29, 35, 39, 43 : ii. 1, 13 : iii. 2 : iv. 52 : v. 1 : 
vi. 4, 22 : vii. 2, 14, 37 : x. 22 : xi. 6. 55 : xii. 1, 12 : xiii. 30 : xix. 14, Ac. 
(z) Genesis xxiv. 11. 

(a) See the note on St. John vi. 1. Compare with the text, St. John i. 39. 
\b) Isaiah xii. 3. 



662 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

That is, — No familiar intercourse takes place between them. The two nations 
might trade together, — buy and sell, as the Disciples were even now doing : but 
not ask favors of one another, or even drink out of the same vessel. Take notice, 
however, that this rancorous feeling subsisted rather on the side of the Jews, (c) than 
of the singular people towards whom our Lord manifested His favor on this, and 
so many subsequent occasions. It was "the Jevjs" who would "have no dealings 
with the Samaritans." Hence it may be thought that our Saviour's request, and 
gracious manner, — so full of Divine Love, and gentleness unspeakable, — at once 
opened the heart of this Woman; even while she offered her waterpot to His parched 
lips, and gladly bestowed upon Him the favor which He had so far humbled Him- 
self as to ask at her hands. 

The words in the last clause, explaining the reason of the Woman's surprise at 
being so addressed by our Lord, are clearly not her's, but the Evangelist's. 

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of 
God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink ; thou wouldest 
have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. 

" Living water" is properly water from the spring, — as opposed to that which is 
stagnant. Our Saviour speaks of the life-giving Spirit under this figure, as that 
which is always stirring within the heart, and refreshing the soul of him who re- 
ceives it. 

But, by "the gift of God," in this place is meant ike gift of His Only SON~, 
Hear our learned Hooker: " The gift whereby God hath made Christ a fountain 
of Life, is the conjunction of the nature of Man in the person of Christ ; which 
gift, (saith He to the woman of Samaria,) if thou didst know, and in that respect 
understand who it is which asketh water of thee, thou wouldest ask of Him, that 
He might give thee living water." So that what our Lord in the last chapter said 
to Nicodemus, He here repeats ; namely, "God so loved the world that He gave," 
(observe, the gift,) " His Only-begotten Son ; that every one who believeth in Him 
should not perish, but have Everlasting Life."(d) The connection of our Saviour's 
reply with the Woman's question thus becomes apparent. She had reminded Him 
of the enmity which existed between her nation and His own. His answer implies 
that God loves the whole World, and wills the Salvation of ever?/ one. 

" If thou knewest," (saith our Lord,) "that God hath given and sent His Son; 
and that I who speak to thee am He ; instead of rebuking Me for begging a draught 
of water at thy hands, thou wouldest have been the first to ask the same favor at 
Mine ; nor would I have rebuked thee, much less would I have denied thee: but I 
would have given thee to drink even of the water of Life !" 

He "takes occasion therefore, from the well of Jacob that was there, to discourse, 
according to His Divine manner, of that water of Life which conveys pardon, peace, 
and the purification of the soul from sin ; excludes the thirst of discontent, or the 
feverish desire of inferior and unreal blessings ; and is to every one who truly re- 
ceives it a well of water springing up to Everlasting Life. "(e) 

And besides the illustration thus afforded of our Lord's manner in availing Him- 
self of some accidental outward circumstance on which to base His Divine Teaching, 
two things' here strike us. First, He is found to open His Discourse on this occa- 
sion, as on so many others, with a hard saying, — a parable as it were, — and to leave 
the force of what He declares to be evolved afterwards. (/*) Next, we are struck 
with the form His Divine address to the woman takes. He wishes that she would 
ask of Him, in order that He might give. As a very ancient writer profoundly re- 
marks, — " No one can receive a Divine Gift who asks not for it:"(#) and he illus- 
trates his observation by alleging the striking language of the second Psalm ; where 
the Eternal Father, addressing the Son, says, — " Ask of Me, and I will give Thee 
the Heathen for Thine inheritance."^) So, in another place it is enjoined, — "Ask, 
and it shall be given you; seek, and ya shall find; knock, and it shall be opened 
unto you ; for every one that asketh, receiveth."(0 — " It is highly instructive to 

(c) See the note on St. Luke x. 36. Also St. John viii. 48, and St. Luke ix. 54. 

(d) St. John iii. 16. 

(e) Altered from Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(/) Consider such places as the following: St. John iii. 3: iv. 32: vi. 27, 33, 35: St. Matth. 
xvi. 6 : St. Luke xvii. 37. 

(g) Origen. (h) Ps. ii. 8. (i) St. Matth. vii. 7, 8. 



IV.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 663 

trace this principle in our Lord's conduct towards this woman, and indeed in all 
His dealings with mankind."(&) 

Take notice that she has already learned to treat the unknown Stranger respect- 
fully. She calls Him " Sir;" and instead of denying the possibility of what He has 
asserted, asks Him to explain it. 

11 The woman saith unto Him, Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, 
and the well is deep : from whence then hast Thou that living water ? 

Striking indeed is the discovery that the well, concerning which we have already 
briefly spoken, and which Tradition has pointed out from the beginning as "Ja- 
cob's well," should so remarkably retain the character here assigned to it. Tra- 
vellers have found it to be of the depth of one hundred and five feet; and to this 
day it contains ten or fifteen feet of living water. 

The woman, whose attention is now effectually aroused, seems to imply that He 
must be some great One indeed, if, unaided by ordinary means, He can command 
such a supply of the pure element, as shall render her future laborious journeys to 
this spot superfluous. She proceeds : 

12 Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, 
and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle ? 

Perhaps when "cattle" were supplied from a well, it was a proof that the water 
was abundant. Consider Gen. xxiv. 14 and 19, 20. The argument here, is, — The 
great patriarch not only gave his children and his cattle to drink of this well, but 
he drank of it himself. He knew of no other resource whereby to quench his own 
thirst. " Art thou greater than our father Jacob ?" — she therefore asks. And she 
already begins to suspect that she is addressing some great One indeed. That she 
little suspected the majesty of the Stranger, whom she had found sitting on Jacob's 
well, wearing the garb and using the language of a Jew, our Saviour has already 
assured her. He proceeds to let her know that He is greater even than the Patri- 
arch; not by vaunting Himself as such, but by contrasting the nature of the gift 
which it was in His power to bestow, with that of Jacob. As it follows : 

13, 14 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of 
this water shall thirst again : but whosoever drinketh of the water that 
I shall give him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him 
shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting Life. 

So spake He who proclaimed Himself of old as "the Fountain of living waters ;"(Z) 
with whom "is the Well of Life;"(»i) and in whom whosoever believeth, "shall 
never thirst."(n) To the same effect on a subsequent occasion we shall hear Him 
cry, saying, " If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that be- 
lieveth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
water. But this spake He of the Spirit," adds the Evangelist, " which they that 
believe on Him should receive." (o) And of the Holt Spirit our Saviour 
speaks in this place also. It is the Water which CHRIST will give, because the 
Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son. " The fountain of Life in mortal 
man soon fails ; but that fountain of Life which is in the Spirit never fails. None 
can fathom it, nor tell the depth nor circumference thereof. And this water of 
which he that drinks shall thirst again, is a type of all earthly desires, for nothing 
upon earth can satisfy the cravings of an immortal spirit ; which, being made for 
God, can find rest in Him alone." (p) 

15 The Woman saith unto Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst 
not, neither come hither to draw. 

Of her history we know nothing beyond what is here recorded : but may not 
something be inferred even from her anxiety to be spared these daily journeys to 
the Well? 

(h) Williams. (I) Jer. ii. 13 : xvii. 13. 

(m) Ps. xxxvi. 9. Consider Jer. xviii. 14, (where see the margin,) and Rev. vii. 17: xxi. 6: 
xxii. 17. 

(») St. John vi. 35. (o) St. John vii. 37 to 39, — where see the notes. (p) Williams. 



664 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

She asked in her simplicity, still supposing that it was water from the spring of 
which our Saviour spake. What she meant, however, was, in dutiful obedience, 
and faith, to ask for the thing which Christ had bade her ask for. Seeing there- 
fore that she came to the Fountain of all Wisdom, (who knoweth our necessities be- 
fore we ask, and our ignorance in asking,) He had compassion upon our infirmities ; 
and that thing which for her unworthiness she dared not, and for her blindness she 
could not ask, God vouchsafed to give her for the worthiness of His Son Jesus 
Christ our Lord. 

Very strange and startling is the turn which the dialogue at this place takes. 
Observe, however, that what the woman had in effect said, was, that she desired 
refreshment: ("that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw:") — and to all such, 
saith not our Saviour, " Come unto Me?" As it follows: 

16 Jesus saith unto her^ Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 

Why did our Lord thus allude to the man with whom she appears to have been 
unlawfully connected ? Was it only to give her an opportunity for the confession 
which follows ? 

17, 18 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus 
said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband ; for thou hast 
had five husbands : and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband : in 
that saidst thou truly. 

By thus showing Himself acquainted with the past and present history of the 
stranger before Him, our Saviour gave her the same evidence of His Godhead 
which He had already supplied to the guileless Nathanael.(g) Nor can we doubt 
that, in either case, certain unrevealed circumstances imparted peculiar wonder to 
His words. He proved by a single sentence that His eye had been the witness of 
what had been transacted in strictest privacy, or with the utmost secrecy. (r) 

The discovery, moreover, was attended in both cases with the same blessed results ; 
for it follows, — 

19 The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I perceive that Thou art a Pro- 
phet. 

" The astonished Samaritan, — (respecting whom there is no necessity for suppos- 
ing that she was now living in sin, and in whom the errors of her past life, whatever 
they might have been had not obscured that perception of moral truth which our 
Saviour ordinarily required in the hearer of His heavenly mysteries,) — confesses 
immediately that her informant is a prophet. None but one supernaturally en- 
lightened could have discovered from the midst of a foreign race, what might have 
been probably unknown to many of her own countrymen. v (s) She recognized our 
Saviour at once as a prophet; and presently, as the "Prophet promised in the 
Law.(f) — Take notice that while the Jews looked chiefly for a Kingly{u) Messiah, 
the Samaritans seem to have dwelt chiefly on His Prophetic character: while the 
Baptist is found specially to notice the Priestly office of Christ. (x) 

Then pointing to Mount Gerizim, which stands full in sight of the spot where 
this conversation occurred, the woman appeals to the immemorial worship of her 
people there, and claims the holy patriarchs as the authors of her race; saying, 

20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain ; and ye say, that in 
Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 

Does she thereby seek to give a speculative turn to the conversation which has 
grown painfully personal ; as we ever seek to turn the edge of reproof, and to es- 
cape from what is private and particular, by referring to that which is general and 
indifferent ? Surely, not so ! — Or do we behold in these words the statement of a 
prejudice, introduced by the speaker, to outweigh a strong internal conviction? Is 
her conviction incomplete, from the difficulty she finds in recognizing the prophetic 

(q) St. John i. 48. (r) See the note on St. John i. 48. (s) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(t) Deut. xviii. 15, 18. Also St. John iv. 25, 29, 39. 

(u) Consider St. Matth. ii. 2. St. John i. 49 : vi. 15 : xii. 13. St. Luke xix. 38, &c. 

(x) See St. Matth. iii. 14. St. John i. 29, &c. 



IV.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 665 



character in a Jew I — Neither of these suggestions seems nearly so worthy of our 
acceptance as the following, offered by an excellent writer, who is pointing out that 
"her character is marked throughout with good." He says: — "The gentleness 
with which she first received the request of a Jewish stranger ; her pious memory 
of the patriarch Jacob ; her readiness to believe ; her expressions of respect 
throughout, saying, ' Master ;' her uncalled-for confession, that it was not her hus- 
band ; and her apparent innocence on that subject, when she found herself before 
a Prophet ; her immediate inquiry respecting a point which ivas evidently nearest her 
heart, of the most acceptable mode of worshipping GOD ; the fullness of her faith 
afterwards ; and the expressions that show she was evidently one of those who 
'waited for the Consolation of Israel:' — all these things prove that although, like 
many others, she may have been chosen under circumstances apparently the most 
adverse, yet that her heart was in the main right towards God : the shadow of Ge- 
rizim, the mount of blessing, beside which she dwelt, was not in vain upon her ; 
for she inherited the blessing of the pure of heart, in that she had eyes to discern 

GoD "(y) 

And surely it is impossible to call to mind this woman's case, — that of the sinner 
mentioned in the vii. of St. Luke,(z) and again of her who is recorded in the viiith of 
St. John, (a) — as well as the case of the repentant malefactor, — without feeling 
that such examples are recorded not only for the consolation of great offenders, but 
also for the guidance of all. A great lesson of charity and forbearance is incul- 
cated, when, from a stem to all appearance so lifeless, the fruits of the Spirit are 
found so abundantly to spring. 

21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when 
ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the 
Father. 

In neither place, (He means,) to the exclusion of all other places. — "Believe Me," 
He begins : for that is the necessary condition of all teaching that is to profit. — It 
may not be out of place to remind the reader that Christian Churches do not take 
the place of the Jewish synagogues, but of the temple of Jerusalem, itself. — Our 
Lord's phrase, " The hour cometh," denotes how close at hand were the days of 
the Gospel, — when, "from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the 
same," God's Name should " be great among the Gentiles. "(6) 

" There was no necessity for Christ to show why the Fathers worshipped in that 
mountain, and the Jews in Jerusalem. He was therefore silent on that question; 
but asserted the religious superiority of the Jews on another ground, — the ground 
not of place, but of knowledge." (c) As it follows: 

22 Ye worship ye know not what : 

That is, — " You have lost the clear knowledge of the professed object of your 
worship, Jehovah the God of Israel, in forsaking that Tabernacle and Temple 
where He as truly fixed His habitation and His Glory in the days of David and 
Solomon, as He had fixed it in Shiloh of Ephraim before. You approach God in a 
way of your own invention ; and have recklessly cut off all genuine record of the 
facts of Sacred History, subsequent to the time of Moses, with every sacred book 
from which the religious supremacy of Judah and Mount Sion, —the Koyalty of 
David, and the promised descent of Messiah from his line, — could be learned by 
the people."(d) 

we know what we worship : for Salvation is of the Jews. 

" For we, the Jews, can trace the line of human hope from Moses, through David 
and all the prophets, of whom ye are ignorant." — " He reckons Himself among the 
Jews, in condescension to the woman's idea of Him : and says as if He were a Jew- 
ish prophet, " We worship ;" though it is certain that He is the Being who is wor- 
shipped by all. The phrase " for Salvation is of the Jews," means that every thing 
calculated to amend and save the world, — the knowledge of God, the abhorrence of 
idols, and all the doctrines of that nature ; even the very origin of our religion, — 

(y) Williams. (z) St. Luke vii. 37, &c. (a) St. John viii. 3, Ac. 

(b) Mai. i. 11. ( c ) Chrysostom. (d) Abridged from Dr. W. H. Mill. 



666 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

comes originally from the Jews,"(e) " to whom pertaineth the Adoption," as the 
Apostle speaks, " and the Glory, and the Covenants, and the giving of the Law, 
and the service of God, and the promises: whose are the Fathers; and of whom 
as concerning the flesh Christ came."(f) — Our Lord proceeds : 

23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall 
worship the Father in spirit and in truth : for the Father seeketh 
such to worship Him. 

" The Jewish worship then was far higher than the Samaritan ; hut even it was 
to be abolished. "(#) And the accepted ones would no longer be those of a particu- 
lar nation ; but the distinction would be into false worshippers and true. Our 
Lord had already said, " The hour is coming:"(7?) but here He adds, "and now is," 
— to imply that the event foretold was not remote, like the predictions of the an- 
cient Prophets ; but close at hand, even at the doors. 

Having said thus much concerning the place and the manner of acceptable wor- 
ship, the Divine Speaker thus concludes : 

24 God is a Spirit : and they that worship Him, must worship Him 
in Spirit and in Truth. 

Of these words, and of those which go before in verse 21, it would clearly be a 
wanton abuse to suppose that they convey a condemnation of externals in Reli- 
gion ; or imply that the place of Divine Worship is a matter of indifference to Al- 
mighty God. — Not so. But in an age when it was believed that in Jerusalem only, 
might God be acceptably worshipped ; and among a people whose Law of ceremo- 
nial and outward observances had become so burdened by carnal traditions, that 
spiritual worship had well nigh disappeared altogether, it was of the last impor- 
tance to vindicate the Mind and Will of Him who said " I will have Mercy and not 
Sacrifice ;"(•/) and, by His Prophets, had so often claimed the spirit and the truth 
of those ordinances which, in respect of the letter and the type, had been punctu- 
ally enough fulfilled. (A;) 

25 The woman saith unto Him, I know that Messiah cometh, (which 
is called Christ :) when He is come, He will tell us all things. 

Her words seem to have respect to what had gone before. She had asked con- 
cerning the place of Divine Worship: the stranger has spoken concerning the man- 
ner of it also. In reply, she declares her belief in the near Advent of the Mes- 
siah, — (a Hebrew word, which St. John, for the second time,(Z) explains to mean 
the "Christ," that is, "the Anointed One ;") — and implies that all doubts of this 
nature will be effectually solved by Him, at His coming : " a confession truly extra- 
ordinary, whether we consider the previous materials of this conviction, or the 
occasion that now drew it forth. The occasion which now drew forth this recogni- 
tion of the great hope of mankind was simply what had just been spoken concern- 
ing the approaching establishment of a spiritual religion and worship. Her intro- 
duction therefore of the Messiah upon this, proves that it was a spiritual Leader, — 
a teacher of the true worship of God, — that she expected under that name and cha- 
racter. How different from the Jewish expectation of a conquering hero, and tem- 
poral deliverer ! And how much more remarkable does this difference appear when 
we compare the materials for their respective convictions !(m)" The truth has been 
discovered by the Samaritans, possessing only the Pentateuch ; and missed by the 
Jews, though David and all the Prophets were theirs. — Little prepared, however, 
was the woman for the disclosure which was to follow : — 

26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He. 

" And the result of this announcement was the conversion, not only of this 
woman, but of many of her countrymen." It is the first open declaration of the 
same nature which our Saviour is recorded to have made. The next is to the man 
born blind. See St. John ix. 37. 

(e) Chrysostom. (/) Rom. ix. 4, 5. (g) Chvysostom. (Ji) See above, ver. 21. 

(i) St. Matth, ix. 13, quoting Hos. vi. 6. (&) Consider Isaiah i. 11 to 17, &c. 

(0 See St. John i. 42. (m) Dr. W. H. Mill. 



IV.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 667 

27 And upon this came His Disciples, and marvelled that He talked 
with the woman : yet no man said, What seekest Thou ? or, Why talk- 
est Thou with her ? 

Many are the recorded tokens of the deferential respect with which our Lord 
was regarded by His faithful followers. The reader may be pleased at having such 
places as the following recalled to his remembrance : — ver. 33, below : St. John xii. 
20 to 22 : xiii. 22 to 24 : xvi. 17 to 19 : xxi. 12. St. Mark ix. 32. 

But what was the precise ground of wonder to the Disciples on this occasion ? 
Not, probably, so much at beholding their Divine Master discoursing with a female ; 
for many followed His footsteps, and ministered to His needs; moreover, He is re- 
corded on many occasions to have spoken to women. The Disciples seem rather to 
have been astonished at finding Him engaged in converse with such a woman, and at 
such a place. They were at a loss, (as the Evangelist himself, who was one of their 
number, expressly intimates,) to know what He could want? or what could possibly 
be the subject of His conversation with her? Moreover, if the juncture at which 
they came up is considered, it will perhaps be thought that the woman's astonish- 
ment, so far exceeding their own, must have added, not a little to their perplexity 
and surprise. 

They knew not that they beheld the Good Shepherd rejoicing over the recovery 
of the sheep which He had lost. 

28. The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the 
city; 

An ancient writer remarks, — " The woman is almost turned into an Apostle. So 
forcible are His words, that she leaves her water-pot to go to the city, and tell her 
townsmen of them."(w) Another points out that " as the Apostles on being called, 
left their nets, so does she leave "her water-pot, to do the work of an Evangelist. 
She calls not one person, but a whole city."(o) As it follows : — 

29 and saith to the men, Come, see a Man, which told me all things 
that ever I did : is not this the Christ ? 

" Come, see" Him! — Like Philip, when he invited Nathan ael,(_p) she knew that 
to see Him would be enough ; and that belief must surely follow. How eager are 
the Saints of God ever found to be for the salvation of others ! how impatient to 
communicate to their brethren the knowledge of the way of Life ! Consider the 
conduct of those whom our Saviour first called, — St. Andrew, and St. Peter, and 
St. Philip. (q) " Come and hear," (they seem to say,) and I will declare what God 
hath done for my soul."(r) 

30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto Him. 

We shall be told, in ver. 39, that "many of the Samaritans of that city believed 
on Him for the saying of the woman" here recorded. How they acted when they 
came to Christ, we learn in verse 40. 

In the meantime, it seems incumbent on us to notice how much of ministerial 
guidance, how many precious lessons, are obtainable from the portion of sacred 
narrative before us. First, the case' of none is to be regarded as hopeless, or be- 
yond the reach of ministerial zeal. Next, in so sacred a cause, we may converse 
with such as this fallen woman was : for " not of Apostles only, but of Believers 
generally, it was said ' Ye are the salt of the earth ;' and salt must mix with that 
which is to be salted. It is to be remembered that our Lord ate and drank with 
Publicans and Sinners, neither refused He the invitation of the Pharisee. Such is 
our duty: such is the great exemplar of our lives."(s) Nay more, from such in- 
stances of conversion to God, it is not obscurely hinted that the most blessed results 
of all may be hoped for. It seems to be implied, in addition, that discourse of this 
nature may most fitly take its rise from some accidental circumstance, and be sug- 
gested by the events of the moment. From what follows, it is further found that 

(n) Origen. ( ) Chrysostom. (p) St. John i. 46. 

(q) See John i. 40, 41, 45, and the note on 46. (r) Ps. lxvi. 16. 

(s) From a MS. Sermon by the Rev. W. J. Palmer. 



668 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

the pursuit of a lost soul should be meat and drink to him who is called to be a 
Shepherd of souls : and lastly, it may not be overlooked, that by conversing with 
this sinful woman openly, and in a public place, He teaches us to join the wisdom 
of the serpent to the harmlessness of the dove, — to give the enemy no opportunity 
for injurious insinuation. 

And now the Evangelist proceeds to detail what took place when the Disciples 
returned from Sychar, with the supply of food for the evening meal which they had 
been sent thither to provide. 

31 In the mean while His Disciples prayed Him, saying, Master, eat. 

" All ask Him at once. This is not impatience in them, but simply tenderness 
for their Master. ;; (0 

32 But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 

Thus, in conformity with His Divine practice on other occasions, already 
noticed, (u) our Saviour is found to have opened with a hard saying the subject on . 
which He was no less desirous of enlightening His Disciples than they were of ask- 
ing Him. He is willing that they should rejoice with Him over the recovery of His 
lost treasure, (x) but He leads them to the subject by degrees; first arresting their 
attention by a few dark words, from which He may afterwards lead them up to 
something higher and spiritual. — Very Man, He truly hungered, truly thirsted. 
Yet were His bodily needs as nothing compared to the longings of His Human soul 
towards the Race which He had come to save ; and these longings had been largely 
satisfied, while those needs continued urgent as ever. But all this the Dis- 
ciples had yet to learn. They " knew not" as yet the depth of the Redeemer's 
Love : they knew nothing as yet, experimentally, of a heart finding in Obedience 
the full supply of every earthly want : they " knew not" that the woman whom 
they saw retiring from the well, was about to bring a whole city to the knowledge 
of the Truth. 

33 Therefore said the Disciples one to another, Hath any man 
"brought Him ought to eat ? 

" What wonder," (exclaims Augustine,) " that the woman did not understand 
about the water ? Lo, the Disciples do not understand about the meat 1" 

Observe that they said this " one to another," (y) — with that respectful reverence 
of which we find so many traces in the Gospels. And it is done in Heaven as it 
was done on Earth ; for " Isaiah in a vision of the Lord in His Glory," when he 
heard the Seraphim crying, " Holy, Holy, Holy," noticed that besides covering their 
faces with their wings, one so "cried unto another. ,'\z) — Our Lord hastens to release 
them from their perplexity. 

34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that 
sent Me, and to finish His work. 

Our Saviour here speaks of Himself not as God, but as Man. As Man, it was 
His meat and drink to do the Father's Will. The Human Will in the One Person 
of our Saviour Christ, we know was in all things conformed to His Divine Will, 
although it existed independently of it.(a) His Divine Will was altogether one with 
the Father's. 

" My meat is to do the Will of Him that sent Me :" for, " Behold, I am come to do 
Thy Will, God, (ft) — was the prophetic language in which our Saviour long be- 
fore had spoken of His own future Advent in the flesh; adding that he found His 
" delight" therein. That Christ was the "sent" of God, is the constant declaration of 
Holy Scripture. It shall suffice, once for all, to enumerate the chief statements to 
this effect which are supplied by the writings of St. John alone, (c) 

(i) Chrysostom. 

(u) See above, the note on ver. 10. (x) Alluding to St. Luke xv. 6, 7, and 9, 10. 

{y\ Compare Mai. iii. 16. See above the note on ver. 27. (z) Isaiah vi. 3. 

(a) See St. John v. 30 and vi. 38, where see two notes. 

(b) Psalm xl. 7, 8 : as quoted Heb. x. 9. 

(c) See— St. John iii. 17, 34: v. 23,24, 30, 36, 37, 38: vi. 29, 38, 39, 40, 44, 57: vii. 16, 18, 
28, 29 : viii. 16, 18, 26, 29, 42 : ix. 4 : x. 36 : xi. 42 : xii. 45, 49 : xiv. 24 : xv. 21 : xvi. 5 : xvii. 
3, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25 : xx. 21.— 1 St. John iv. 9, 10, 14. 



IV.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 669 

But the Salvation of Mankind is the special " Will of God" here intended ; for 
God " willeth that all men should be saved."(<f) This is also "His Work;" for He 
is the sole cause of Salvation in Man: God not only "willing"" our Salvation, but 
also " working in us both to will and to do."(e) 

Not only so ; but the entire scheme of man's Redemption was God's great work, 
as the Apostle so often declares :(/) a work which addresses itself throughout to 
Man's Faith. Whence our Saviour's declaration: " This is the work of God, that 
ye believe on Him whom He hath sent."(#) And " to finish" this work is found to 
have been the great object of all He said and did on earth: from the Day of His 
Baptism until the day of His Crucifixion ; when He said " It is finished;" and bowed 
His head ; and gave up the Ghost."(^) 

With obvious reference therefore to the " door of Hope"(Q which was even now 
being opened to the men of Sychar, our Lord intimates that He has been re- 
freshed and supported during the Disciples' absence by having effectually done the 
work of Him that sent Him. 

35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then conieth harvest ? 
behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields ; for 
they are white already to Harvest. 

The interval between the season of sowing and the season of reaping in Judsea, 
was four months. Our Lord's words are allusive to this circumstance, and perhaps 
to some proverbial saying which may have grown out of it. But the entire passage 
before us has been thought difficult, and given rise to so much conjectural criticism, 
that it may be as well in explaining it to show its connection with what goes before 
and what follows. 

The Disciples had been pressing our Divine Lord to partake of food. Pie told 
them in reply that it was food to Him to do His Father's will, and to finish 
His work. Then, addressing them as the men who were destined to become 
His blessed instruments therein: — "At seed-time," saith He, "say ye not: Pass 
four months and it will be Harvest? But look abroad on yonder fields, and take 
notice that the wheat is ripe already, and the time of Harvest hath come" It was 
in fact shortly after the Passover season that He thus spake. The wheat was there- 
fore fully ripe ; presenting that whitish appearance, which many ancient writers have 
described, and a few modern travellers have noticed. 

We are of course left to infer that to the Divine Speaker's inner vision, a corres- 
ponding spectacle discovered itself in respect of the region where that part of the 
spiritual " Harvest of the Earth" was also "ripe" already :(k) and that He beheld 
the season for thrusting in the sickle, close at hand. Moreover, He seems to imply 
that as the fields of Samaria were now teeming with ripe grain, in the sowing of 
which His Disciples had had no share, — just so was it in respect of the fruits of the 
spiritual Kingdom. The Patriarchs and Prophets of old had soivn; the seed had 
fallen into honest and good hearts ; and there had been an abundant increase. The 
Apostles of Christ would therefore now have but to reap ; that is, to bring to the 
full knowledge of the Gospel, hearts already well prepared and fully disposed to re- 
ceive the Heavenly message. The privilege of such reaping is stated in the words 
which follow : 

36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto 
life eternal: 

That is, — Between an ordinary reaper and yourselves, there will be this mighty 
difference ; that whereas he receiveth wages, and garnereth for another in an earthly 
barn, the fruit which wasteth away and perisheth, — ye, besides your great hire, shall 
gather immortal souls into the Heavenly Garner, unto Life Eternal, to be your 
crown of rejoicing in the Great Day of the Lord.(7) — With such language does the 
Blessed Speaker sustain the spirits, and kindle the desires of His lowly followers : 
adding, 

{d\ 1 Tim. ii. 4. (e) Phil. ii. 13. (/) See Ephes. i. 5, &c. 

(g) St. John vi. 29. \h) St. John xix. 30. 

(i) Hos. ii. 15. May not that prophecy have had reference to this very occasion ? Observe 
that the situation of the valley of Achor is unknown ; but it seems to have been not far from 
Gerizim. 

(k) Rev. xiv. 15. (1) Consider 1 Thess. ii. 19. 



670 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 

Our Lord is declaring another point of contrast between earthly and heavenly 
reaping. It is as if He had said, — Now, here on earth, he that sows hath all the 
labor, and he that reaps hath all the joy; but the consequences of what I have been 
describing will be that the Sower shall partake in the Reaper's bliss : My ancient 
Saints, — the Patriarchs and the Prophets of Israel, — shall rejoice together with you, 
My Apostles. — "Rejoice together:" for if the Repentance of one sinner sufficeth to 
fill beholding Angels with Joy,(m) what rapture at the eternal bliss of many Saints, 
must fill the hearts of such as have been God's instruments in turning these to 
righteousness \{n) 

And surely, thrice glorious is the anticipation thus held out, — the hint, namely, 
of the bliss in store for all those who have already gone to their rest, and who here- 
after shall go, with nothing but the experience of labor, for which they beheld no 
fruit? Doubtless, they who thus went on their way weeping, and bearing forth good 
seed, shall come again with joy, and even bring their sheaves with them !(o) 

37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 

The meaning is, — That common proverb, "One soweth and another reapeth," is 
nevertheless true ; and its truth consists in the fact, that here also, he who reaps is 
a different person from him who sowed. As it follows : 

38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor : other men 
labored, and ye are entered into their labors. 

The sower and the reaper are therefore different persons; and so far the saying is 
true: but as the saying is commonly employed to denote that one has all the labor, 
the other all the rejoicing, it is no longer applicable ; for the rejoicing to the sower 
and to the reaper is the same. 

" I seat you to reap :" not that their Lord had sent them yet ; but since they were 
named " Apostles," that is " [men] sent," from the first, (p) the expression was cor- 
rect at all times after they had once been called. The rest of the verse has been 
explained already, by anticipation. But the repeated mention of ministerial labor 
in this place, suggests a reference to such passages of St. Paul as are noticed at 
foot ;(q) while the allusion in ver. 36, to the "joy in harvest," recalls Isaiah ix. 3. 

The Evangelist now proceeds with the history of the Samaritans. 

39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for 
the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. 

In illustration of this and the next verse, what the Evangelist has already stated 
in verses 29 and 30 should be recalled. Take notice of the largeness of the faith 
here described; surpassing even that of the Woman herself. "Is not this the 
Christ?" she had timidly asked: but many of these men are found to have "be- 
lieved on Him," — that is, to have believed that it ivas He, — from her report alone. 
Whatever her own faith may have been, she had at least seen our Saviour: but 
the men of Sychar were more blessed, in that though they had not hitherto seen 
Him, they had yet believed. (r) All this was, however, His gift; no less than the 
request which follows. 

40 So when the Samaritans were come unto Him, they besought Him 
that He would tarry with them : and He abode there two days. 

Bequeathing to the City which so honorably entertained Him, as it would seem, 
an abiding blessing. Unlike Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida, where our 
Lord was rejected and despised, and which have since utterly disappeared, Sychar, 
(or as it is now called, " Nablous,") is in a flourishing condition to the present day. 
"Its prosperity is far too striking to be overlooked by the traveller; having nothing 
of the lifeless, indolent, poverty-stricken appearance of almost all the other towns 

(m) St. Luke xv. 7, 10. (n) Dan. xii. 3. 

(o) Ps. cxxvi. 6. (p) St. Luke vi. 13. 

[q) 1 Cor. xv. 10. 2 Cor. xi. 23. Gal. iv. 11. Col. i. 29. Phil. ii. 16. 1 Thess. ii. 9 : iii. 5. 
2 Thess iii. 8. 1 Tim. iv. 10 : v. 17, &c. 
(r) St. John xx. 29. 



IV.] 



on st. John's gospel. 671 



of the country. On the contrary, its neighborhood is fertile; refreshing springs 
run through its streets ; a great amount of activity and bustle is found among the 
inhabitants, who seem a thriving prosperous people : the bazaars are crowded ; and 
altogether its appearance is so different from other places, that you are induced to 
think that there must be some especial circumstances connected with its locality, 
more favorable than ordinary. This however does not appear to be the case." (s) 

Josephus remarks that it is a three days' journey out of Judasa into Galilee. The 
two days therefore which would have sufficed to conduct our Saviour back to Ca- 
pernaum, He passed among the men of Sychar : and thus the faith of the " noble- 
man," of whom we shall read in ver. 46, and whose son was even now a-dying, was 
was taxed to the uttermost. See more in the note on ver. 47 ; and consider, in con- 
nection with the constraint exercised by the men of Sychar, the remarks which 
were offered on St. Luke xxiv. 29. — It follows: 

41 And many more believed because of His own word : and said 
unto the Woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying : for we 
have heard Him. ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, 
the Saviour of the world. 

"Because of His own Word," the men of Sychar became believers: not because 
of any Miracles which He wrought among them. " Their grounds were therefore 
not those overpowering proofs of His Divinity which were yet insufficient to con- 
vince the stubborn Jews. All that these good Samaritans appear to have pos- 
sessed, or sought, was the sober conviction with which our Lord's prophetic cha- 
racter inspired them ; and on the strength of which they proclaim Him, in the 
true spirit of knowledge and charity united, the Saviour of the whole World l"(t) . 

And truly, if their faith was so readily kindled, even from the Woman's report 
of Him, what must have been the effect of His prolonged converse on their hearts ! 
If the rising of the Day-Scar filled them with light and heat, what must have been 
wrought in them by the noontide glow of Christ's actual presence! "We have 
heard Him ourselves," they say, "and know:" for "Faith cometh by hearing."(w) 
Accordingly, their Faith is ample, and their Confession complete : — " This is indeed 
the Christ, the Saviour of the World !" 

It has been admirably pointed out, that " this was not however their final state ; 
nor designed to be represented by the inspired historian as such. When the mys- 
teries of human Redemption were accomplished and Christ was glorified, then we 
are told by St. Luke, in the book of Acts, how Samaria received the Word of God ; 
first, by the preaching and Baptism of Philip the Evangelist, and afterwards by 
Apostolic Confirmation, and the imposition of hands. Thus, doubtless, were these 
men of Sychar in particular actually admitted into that Kingdom for which their 
previous reception of its Lord had prepared them, and which He described as on 
the point of manifestation to the World. "(a;) 

It is impossible to dismiss this great incident, — which is none other than the 
beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecies made to Abraham, confirmed to 
Isaac, and renewed to Jacob, without dwelling a little further upon its precious 
details. We have read of the first great gathering in of the aliens, (for the Sama- 
ritans were reckoned almost with the very heathen,) (y) into the fold of Christ. 
Here it is that the Heavenly Canaan first opens to our sight. Viewed from this 
spot of holy ground, what new and unexpected light is found to fall on many a 
familiar incident of Old Testament history ; and how beautifully does the design 
of the inspired narrative straightway become ! 

We are reminded, before all things, of that original mention of Sichem as the 
first place of the Patriarch Abraham's rest, to which attention was called above. (z) 
There he received the promise ; there Jehovah (and it was none other than Christ 
Jesus Himself!) appeared to him ; and there, he builded his first altar. The spot 
thus singularly hallowed as the first place at which God had appeared to man, re- 
mained for ever holy in the eyes of Abraham's descendants. Here Jacob, when 
he returned with his family into Canaan, hid all the strange gods which were in 
their hand. (a) Here arose " the Sanctuary of the Lord,"(6) and here was one of 

(s) From the MS. quoted above, on verses 5 and 6. 

(t) Dr. W. H. Mill. («) Rom. x. 17. (a?) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(y) St. Matth. x. 5. (z See the first note on the present chapter, 

(a) Gen. xxxv. 4. \b) Josh. xxiv. 26. 



672 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY. [CHAP. 

the cities of refuge, (c) To this place, Joshua solemnly summoned the Twelve 
Tribes before his death, and renewed the covenant with them after the conquest 
and partition of the Land.(cT) Here Abimelech, (Joseph's descendant,) (e) was 
made king ;(/) and here Rehoboam was crowned.(#) Jeroboam likewise "built 
Shechem in Mount Ephraim,(/i) and dwelt therein."(i) Here, therefore, where the 
Ten Tribes rebelled against the house of David, [k) was David's Son about to 
"gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. "(Z) 

Very striking is the consideration, suggested by the actual record of the Evan- 
gelist,^) that the spot of ground where our Saviour uoav rested, and where He 
was destined to receive the first earnest of His spiritual inheritance, (n) was the 
same which had become the first possession of any of His Ancestors after the flesh. 
Machpelah seems to have been a place of burial, and no more ; not so the " parcel 
of a field" where Jacob spread his tent on returning to Canaan after his absence 
of twenty years at Haran. This piece of ground had already been the property of 
his grandfather Abraham, (o) and now became his own by renewed purchase of 
the same family from whom Abraham had originally obtained it.(p) Subsequently, 
by right of conquest also,(g) had the Patriarch secured this precious spot of ground 
to himself and his family ; bequeathing it to Joseph, " a portion/' (or " Shechem'-' 
as the Hebrew expresses it,) "above his brethren," — in token that the right of 
primogeniture should be his.(r) To Joseph's descendants (the tribe of Ephraim) 
this piece of territory is accordingly found to have afterwards belonged : among 
the rest to Joshua, the temporal Jesus, Joseph's immediate descendant, who con- 
quered the entire Land, — beginning his conquest almost at this very place. (s) The 
spot is found to have been very fertile and well adapted from the beginning for 
pasturing of sheep ;{t) — a character which it preserves in a remarkable manner to 
the present day. 

An ancient writer says strikingly, — " This parcel of ground I conceive to have 
been left not so much to Joseph as to Christ, of whom Joseph was a type ; and 
whom the Sun, the Moon, and all the Stars, truly adore." (u) It was in fact the 
scene of the youthful patriarch's dreams ;(x) and, (what is remarkable,) after an 
interval of just 1700 years, this "parcel of ground" is found to have retained its 
ancient distinction of fruitfulness in corn ; for, as we have seen, the abundant har- 
vest which grew on the spot suggested the form of discourse which our Saviour 
adopted in addressing His Disciples on the present occasion. (y) At Jacob's well, 
therefore, and in "the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph," did 
the discourse above recorded, and which led to such memorable results, occur ; 
whereby Joseph became that "fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a well,"(z) 
of which the dying Patriarch spake ; " whose branches run over the wall." 

43 Now, after two days He departed thence, and went into Galilee. 

Our Lord was on His way from Judsea into Galilee, when the incident occurred 
which led to His sojourn of two days at Sychar.(a) Those two days ended, He 
proceeded on His journey ; but He did not return to Nazareth, which for thirty 
years He had made His home, (and which is hence called in the Gospels, (b) " His 
own country ;") — and tliat, for the reason which the Evangelist proceeds to give : 

44 For Jesus Himself testified, that a Prophet hath no honour in his 
own country. 

The Evangelist alludes to the proverbial saying which our Lord is recorded to 
have addressed to His fellow-townsmen in the Synagogue of Nazareth, on two 
subsequent occasions. See St. Matthew xiii. 57, and St. Mark vi. 4. 

(c) Josh. xx. 7 : xxi. 21, and 1 Chron. vi. 67. (d) Joshua xxiv. 1 to 28. 

(e) Compare Joshua xvii. 2, with Judges vi. 11, vii. 1, and ix. 1. 

(/) Judges ix. 1 to 6. (<j) 1 Kings xii. 1. 

(h) For Abimelech "had beaten down the city, and sowed it with salt." — Judges ix. 45. 

(i) 1 Kings xii. 25. {k) 1 Kings xii. 1 to 20. (I) St. John xi. 52. 

(to) In ver. 5. («) Consider Ps. ii. 7, 8. (o) Acts vii. 16. 

(p) Gen. xxxiii. 19. Joshua xxiv. 32. (q) G-en. xlviii. 22. 

(?■) Deut. xxi. 17. 1 Chron. v. 2. Ezek. xlvii. 13. («) See Joshua vii. 

(0 Gen. xxxvii. 12, 13. 

(u) Alcuin. (x) See Genesis xxxvii. 5 to 9. (y) See above, ver. 35 to 38. 

(z) Consider also Deut. xxxiii. 28. (a) See above, ver. 3. 

(6) See St. Matth. xiii. 54, and St. Luke iv. 23. 



IV.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 673 

45 Then when He was come into Galilee, the Galilseans received 
Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jerusalem at the Feast : 
for they also went unto the Feast. 

"Received Him/' denotes that they -welcomed Him "back, and gave Him a hind 
reception. (c) In assigning the reason of this, the Evangelist alludes for the third 
time to the Miracles (doubtless very surprising ones!) which our Saviour had 
lately wrought at Jerusalem, and which the Evangelist has nowhere described 
particular] y.(cZ) It was the sight of those wonders which wrought conviction in 
Nicodemus :(e) and from the present verse it is discovered that they prevailed with 
the Galilseans likewise. How far more noble was the faith of the men of Sychar, 
who "believed — because of Sis WordV\f) "Except ye see signs and wonders, 
ye will not believe," was our Lord's reproachful address to the nobleman of Caper- 
naum, (g) 

46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where He made the 
water wine. 

Instead of returning to Nazareth, our Lord revisits Cana, — which was probably 
the abode (as before suggested, )(Ji) of some of the relations of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary. . .. . ""Cana of Galilee, where He made the Water Wine:" — how much is this 
in St. John's manner ! It is his wont thus to identify places and persons, by some 
single circumstance which rendered them forever memorable. Nicodemus, as 
often as his name recurs, is mentioned as he "which at the, first came to Jesus by 
night :"(i) — the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, was performed "after 
that the Lord had given thanks : "(h) — Philip, we are reminded, "was of Bethsaida 
of Galilee:" (J) — and the Evangelist himself desired to be remembered by the 
Church, as "the Disciple which Jestjs loved; . . . which also leaned on Sis breast at 
Supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth Thee?" (in) 

And there was a certain Nobleman, whose son was sick at Caper- 
naum. 

It is uncertain who and what this person was ; but probably he belonged to the 
Court and Palace of King Herod. Hence the marginal suggestion that we should 
translate " Courtier." If Chuza, (Herod's steward,) was a believer as well as his 
wife,(n) the "Nobleman" may have been Chuza himself. But he was doubtless a 
Jew ; one of those Galilseans, it may be thought, who are spoken of above as hav- 
ing " seen all the things which Jesus did at Jerusalem at the Feast." 

47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, 
he went unto Him, and besought Him that He would come down, and 
heal his son : for he was at the point of death, 

Let us notice what is here revealed, (doubtless for our profit,) and not miss the 
precious teaching which it seems intended to convey, — Here was a child sick of a 
fever at Capernaum. His father had been anxiously expecting our Saviour's re- 
turn to that City ; but in vain. He knew that Christ could save his child, and 
despaired of help from any other source. Every hour at last became of impor- 
tance. Presently, he is told that the Great Physician has arrived at Cana. We 
may judge of the father's distress and anxiety, by finding that he trusts no mes- 
senger, (though a man of such rank as to have many servants at his command,) (o) 
but leaving the object of his love at the point of Death at Capernaum, repairs in 
person to Cana, — a distance of some six or eight hours. How untoward must he 
have thought our Lord's prolonged absence! How "unlucky" must that two- 
days' sojourn at Sychar, and now this halt at Cana, have seemed ! Yet, perceive 
we not that the Great Physician had been thereby dealing no less lovingly with 
the father, than He was prepared now to deal with the son ? Was it not to try 
the man's faith, and because He designed his great blessedness, that Christ had 

(c) So in St. Luke ix. 11. (d) St, John ii. 23. (e) St. John iii. 2. 

(/) See above, ver. 41, 42. (g) See below, ver. 4S. (/*) See the last note on St. John ii. 2, 
(0 See St, John iii. 2 : vii. 50 : xix. 39. (k) St. John vi. 11 and 23. 

(Z) St. John i. 44: xii. 21. (m) St. John xiii. 23, 25 : xxi. 20. 
(«) St. Luke viii. 3. (o) See below, ver. 51. 

43 



674 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

first lingered on the road, and now directed His steps not to Capernaum, but to 
Cana; — "knowing that tribulation," as St. Paul testifies, and "the trying of 
faith," as St. James declares, (p) "worketh patience; and patience, experience; 
and experience, hope ; and hope maketh not ashamed V\q) — For more on this sub- 
ject, see the note on St. Luke v. 17 ; and especially the notes on St. Mark v. 24 
and 35. 

It was doubtless Faith which brought this man from Capernaum to Cana, in 
search of our Saviour : yet it is found to have been a most imperfect Faith. Thus, 
he does not believe that Christ can cure his son at a distance. (r) He thinks (like 
the Ruler of the Synagogue) that He must perforce "come down," and perhaps 
that He must lay His hand upon the sufferer, in order to his recovery. (s) He re- 
minds us of the father of the lunatic boy,(£) rather than of the Gentile Centu- 
rion, (u) or the woman of Canaan, (x) or even the Ten Lepers, (y) To this slowness 
of heart, therefore, our Saviour replies in the first instance. 

48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye 
will not believe. 

"Ye," — that is, ye Jews, My countrymen : so unlike those Samaritan aliens 
whom I have lately left, and among whom I wrought no signs. Take notice that 
these words fully disclose to us the reason of the discipline to which the Holy One 
was subjecting the man who addressed Him; and who, while he came to obtain 
help for his son, little suspected that he was even in greater want of the Divine 
Physician, himself. Nothing but the sight of miracles and wonders would pro- 
duce conviction : (z) whereas Faith and Sight are in a manner opposites. What a 
contrast, by the way, was all this to the scene we have been so lately witnessing 
beside Samaria's Well, — where He who spoke was a stranger, and they who lis- 
tened were members of a despised race ! 

49 The Nobleman saith unto Him, Sir, come down ere my child die. 

For he had left him " at the point of death ;"(«) and his agony will brook no 
delay. From his reply, we perceive yet more clearly the limits of the nobleman's 
faith. He supposes Christ's power will be ineffectual if his child dies. (5) How 
far was he, in the meantime, from realizing the object of those miraculous cures 
which he seems to have been already acquainted with, and of which he was even 
now imploring the repetition ! He knew not that the purpose of Christ's coming 
was to build up the feeble in Faith; and that the chief object with which He 
healed bodily sickness, was to remedy spiritual infirmity. 

50 Jesus saith unto Him, Go thy way, thy son liveth. 

The Physician of souls, seeing that His first medicine avails not, mercifully tries 
another treatment ; and wins by benefits the man whom he could not move by re- 
proaches. Thereby teaching those in the Ministry that by various methods are 
men to be gained over ; and reminding us that resources may yet be discovered, 
even after our best-devised plans have failed. 

Take notice of the Wisdom of the course our Saviour pursued with this man. 
Had He complied with his request, — gone down with him to Capernaum, and there 
healed his son, — the nobleman's faith must forever have remained weak ; for he 
would have ascribed to Christ's presence what was the result only of His power. 
Had He, on the contrary, sent the nobleman away disappointed, the small spark of 
faith in him would have been entirely quenched. By granting one half of the man's 
petition, and denying the other, He fanned that spark at once into a flame. (c) 

When the Centurion told our Saviour, of his servant "lying at home sick of the 
palsy, grievously tormented," he received for answer, "I will come and heal him"(d) 
— a favour which he had not asked. Here our Lord is entreated by a Nobleman to 
come down and heal his son, and He refuses. The reason of this diversity of treat- 
ment is to be found in the spiritual condition of these two individuals, respectively. 
The nobleman's imperfect faith was perfected by our Lord's refusal to come down : 

O) St. James i. 3. (q) Romans v. 3 to 5. (r) And see below, the note on ver. 49. 

(s) See St. Matth. ix. 18. (t) See St. Mark ix. 22. («) See St. Matth. viii. 8, 9. 

(.x) See St. Matth. xv. 27. (y) See St. Matth. viii. 2. (z) Consider 1 Cor. i. 22. 

(«) See verse 47. {b) See above, the latter part of the note on ver. 47. 

(c) From Toletus. (d) St. Matth. viii. 6, 7. 



IV.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 675 



the perfection of the Centurion's faith was displayed by our Lord's proposal to come 
down. Both men become the Church's instructors : the first, in the way of warn- 
ing ; the second, in the way of example. 

It seems worth pointing out that as our Saviour abode for "two days" at Sychar, 
and then restored the young man, so also when He heard that Lazarus was sick, 
"He abode two days in the same place where He was," and then announced His 
intention of going to "awake him out of sleep." (e) Were not these acts typical of 
His own Resurrection "on the third day?" according to that of the prophet,- — 
"After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we 
shall live in His sight.'XjQ 

And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, 
and he went his way. 

Retracing his steps as we may suppose to Capernaum, with joy not unmingled 
with anxiety: and travelling, as we shall presently discover, by night. (g) Take 
notice that it is not here said of the nobleman that he believed in Christ. This 
effect was to follow, and is declared to have followed in ver. 53 ; but the first ne- 
cessary step had been taken, inasmuch as he believed His word: that is, he believed 
it would be as Christ had said ; and departed convinced that his son was already 
in the way of recovery. He will have afterwards attained the conviction that the 
Holy One, besides announcing his child's recovery, had been the Author of it like- 
wise. 

51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told 
him, saying, Thy son liveth. 

As soon as the wonderful change in the young man's state was witnessed, the 
servants had been dispatched in quest of their master ; and now they greet him with 
the very words which he had already heard from the lips of Christ. 

52 Then inquired He of them the hour when he began to amend. 

How natural is this ! "He wished to find out," (observes Chrysostom,) "whether 
the recovery was accidental, or owing to our Lord's "Word." 

And they said unto Him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever 
left him. 

He asked his servants when the child began to amend. They tell him in reply, 
that this has been no progressive recovery : but that, yesterday evening, his son 
suddenly — got well. " At the seventh hour, the fever left him." . . . The reader is 
referred to what has been already offered on this striking subject in the Commen- 
tary on the latter part of St. Mark i. 31. 

" The seventh hour" in the present Gospel denotes either seven o'clock in the morn- 
ing, or seven in the evening : not one o'clock, — according to the Jewish mode of 
reckoning Time. This has been already explained on ver. 6. In this place, there- 
fore, it will have been seven o'clock in the evening; for Capernaum is certainly not 
more than 8 hours distant from Cana, and the servants met the nobleman on his 
way back, — probably when he had got about half way. It was, however, the mor- 
row when they met, as we discover from the servant's language ; which could not 
have been the case had the miracle been wrought, and the journey commenced, in 
the morning. 

We have heard the nobleman's inquiry, and his servants' reply. The result will 
remind us of the truth of the remark, that the more attentively we scrutinize the 
works and the ways of God, the more will our Faith be nourished and increased. 

53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, 

Rather; — "that [the fever left him] at the same hour," — 

in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth : and he himself be- 
lieved, and his whole house. 

(e) St. John xi. 6, 11. (/) Hosea vi. 2. 

(g) See below, the note on ver. 52. 



676 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Words which evidently imply at least thus much ; — that when the father heard 
that his child had been restored to perfect health at seven o'clock on the previous 
evening, — and connected with this, the circumstance that in the self-same hour our 
Lord had conveyed to him the comfortable assurance, " Thy son liveth, ;; — the mist 
cleared up from his soul at once, and he became a true believer in Jesus Christ. 
He had arrived, although by slow and painful steps, at that point of Faith with 
which the Centurion originally came to Christ. He perceived that he had been 
discoursing with One who could say to a fever, as to a servant, " Go, and he 
goeth."(7i) Thus a single sentence from the lips of the Lord of Life, (as Cyril of 
Alexandria remarks,) brought healing at once to two souls ! The nobleman "him- 
self believed ;" nor only so, but he became the head of a believing household. Such 
then was the gracious design with which illness had been sent into this man's 
family ! It was the Hand of Love which had brought his child to the brink of the 
grave, and rendered the skill of the physicians ineffectual. Now all these things 
"were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scrip- 
tures might have hope."(i) 

Venerable Becle points out that " Faith, like the other virtues, is formed gradu- 
ally ; and has its beginning, growth, and maturity. The nobleman's faith had its 
beginning when he asked for his son's recovery ; its growth when he believed our 
LoRD's:words, ' Thy son liveth ;' but it did not reach maturity, until the announce- 
ment of the fact by his servants." 

54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when He was 
come out of Judaea into Galilee. 

Rather, — " This second miracle again Jesus did." The Evangelist has described 
one other famous miracle, (the Water made Wine,) and this is the second. Both 
were wrought at Cana of Galilee ; and they are brought into mysterious prominence 
by the very manner in which St. John records them : the one, as the " beginning of 
miracles;'' (k) the other, as the "second miracle." 



CHAPTER V 



1 Jesus on the Sabbath day cureth him that was diseased eight and thirty years. 10 
The Jews therefore cavil, and persecute Him for it. 17 He answereth for Himself, 
and reproveth them, showing by the testimony of His Father, 32 of John, 36, of 
His Works, 39 and of the Scriptures, who He is. 

1 After this there was a Feast of the Jews ; and Jesus went up to 
Jerusalem. 

The Feast of the Passover is probably intended, — the second of the four Passover 
Seasons indicated in the Gospels. 

2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a Pool, which is 
called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. 

Rather, — "by the Sheep-^afc," — as in the margin. (a) "Bethesda" means either 
"House of Mercy," or, "House of Washing." See the note on St. John vi. 1. It 
may be also worth observing that the Greek word which here (and in St. John ix. 
7,) is translated "Pool," (literally "a Bath for swimming in ,") was the name which 
the early Christians gave to their Baptisteries, and to their Baptismal Fonts. Con- 

(h) See the note on St. Matth. viii. 9. (i) Kom. xv. 4. 

(k) St. John ii. 11. [a) Compare Nehemiah iii. 1 : xii. 39. 



V.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 677 

sider the foot note on St. Luke v. 10: and the first note on St. Matthew xiii. 47. 
Bethesda itself, with its five porticos, was evidently a considerable edifice ; for it 
follows : — 

8 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, 
withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 

The water of this Bath, which availed to heal every form of disorder, (as we read 
in the next verse,) was clearly typical of the Water of Baptism : which heals the 
soul by virtue of a Divine Efficacy imparted to it. Mark the contrast, however, be- 
tween the Laver of Regeneration, (b) unexhausted and inexhaustible, — the "Foun- 
tain opened to the House of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for Sin and 
for Uncleanness,"(c) — and the Pool of Bethesda, available only for a single cure! 
.... It was because a created Angel imparted healing virtue in the one case ; 
whereas the Creator Himself, by going down into Jordan, sanctified all Waters 
"to the mystical washing away of Sin."(c?) See more in the note on verse 7. 

The analogies of Holy Scripture are endless. As in Nature, so in Grace, the 
more attentively we gaze, the more we seem to discover. Pursuing the contrast 
already hazarded, how obvious is it to remark that the Law, [having five Books, 
like the Building here described, "having five Porches,") did but display, — revealed 
without being able to remove, — the different aspects of Human Infirmity I 

4 For an Angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and 
troubled the water; whosoever then first after the troubling of the 
water stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. 

Perhaps, all that met the eye, in the Pool of Bethesda, was "the moving of the 
water," — that is, the agitation of its surface. And this may possibly have been re- 
ferable to some natural cause, — as, to a spring which bubbled up from below ; or to 
a gust of wind which came down upon it: either of which causes would suffice to 
produce a ripple on the water. But the Bible lifts the veil from the unseen world, 
and tells us of things which unassisted Reason could never have suspected. It 
discovers to us the Ministry of Angels. Reason may have known that the Wind 
was moving the Water ; but Faith here informs Reason that an Angel ivas moving 
the Wind. See the note on St. Luke xxii. 3. 

5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and 
eight years. 

While so many things which we earnestly desire to know, are carefully kept from 
us in the Gospels, why are we informed of such a thing as this, which does not seem 
to concern us much ? The same reverent inquiry is also suggested by St. Luke 
viii. 42 and 43 : xiii. 11, 16. Are we, in this case, to see an emblem of Israel's 
punishment, in the sufferings of one of Israel's descendants ; and to connect his 
thirty and eight years of affliction, with theirs ?(e) This suggestion, which is an 
old one, and is humbly repeated, shall not be pressed. Neither shall the analogy 
suggested, be pursued. It shall but be observed concerning it, that such remarks 
are not foreign to the spirit of Inspired Scriptural Exposition: and that as the dig- 
nity, depth, and importance of every word and deed of the Incarnate Jehovah can- 
not possibly be over-rated ; so neither can the written record of his actions be sup- 
posed to be in any respect trivial, unmeaning, or superfluous, either. 

6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long 
time in that case, He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole ? 

Into the House with the five porches, our Saviour enters ; and moving past the 
crowd of sufferers described in verse 3, He singles out to be the special object of his 
Mercy one infirm person, who seems to have been in greater need than any of the 
rest: — a man without a single friend; and in whose case Hope deferred for eight 
and thirty years must have made the heart very sick. Let the infirm, and the 
friendless, and the despairing, take comfort from this wondrous narrative. 

(b) See Tit. iii. 4, — where the word "Laver" is rendered " Washing." 

(c) Zechariah xiii. 1 (rf) See the Baptismal Service, 
(ej Deuteronomy ii. 14. 



678 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

7 The impotent man answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the 
water is troubled, to put me into the pool : but while I am coming, an- 
other steppeth down before me. 

He makes no churlish answer, observe. He simply states his great misery and 
his extreme need. He perhaps secretly wished, that the " Man" he spoke to would 
befriend him when next the troubled water betokened the Angel's presence. Little 
did he suspect that it was the Creator of Angels with whom He was conversing ! 
His utter helplessness reminds us of another case of suffering, — that of the Paralytic, 
who depended entirely on the active piety of four friends to bring him to Christ. 
The reader is referred to the latter part of the note on St. Mark ii. 3 ; also to the 
note on St. Luke v. 20 : after calling attention to which, it is only fair to remark 
that the present miracle seems further to teach that God does not so tie Himself 'to 
Sacraments, — has not so annexed the bestowal of his favors to outward and appoint- 
ed means, — as that He will never, under any circumstances, be induced to bestow 
Sacramental grace without the Sacramental sign. The same lesson is taught by 
Numbers xi. 16, 17, and 24 to 26. See the notes on St. John iii. 5 : also on St. 
John vi. 53. 

No only in his peculiar helplessness does this man remind us of the Paralytic ; 
but in the mention made, in the case of either, of his sins. Compare St. Mark ii. 
5, and the notes on the latter part of that verse. 

See also the notes on the next verse, (verse 8,) of the present chapter. 

8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 

The same three acts of Faith which our Lord required of the man sick of the 
Palsy. See St. Mark ii. 9, and the notes on St. Mark ii. 11 and 12. 

Observe that the man, (in the third chapter of the Acts,) not walked but leaped, 
when healed by St. Peter and St. John ; neither is he said to have carried his bed : 
perhaps, because in his case, there had been no punishment overtaking ; but he had 
been " lame from his mother's womb. ,} {f) 

9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, 
and walked : and on the same day was the Sabbath. 

On which day our Blessed Lord is repeatedly declared to have performed his acts 
of Mercy. See the note on St. Luke iv. 36 ; and consider the following places : — 
St. Mark iii. 1 to 5. St. Luke iv. 31 to 35 : also 38 to 39: xiv. 1 to 4. St. John 
ix. 14. Thereby, He declared plainly that the Jewish Sabbath was only a tempo- 
rary institution, which had attained its fulfillment in Him ; since in Him is our 
Eternal Rest, — which the Sabbath foreshadowed. See Colossians ii. 16, 17. 

10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the Sab- 



bath day : it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. 

Consider the following texts: — Exodus xxxi. 14, 15 ; Numbers xv. 33 to 36: Ne- 
hemiah xiii. 19, (where burdens of merchandise alone are forbidden:) Jeremiah 
xvii. 21, 22 : St. Mark ix. 16. — Concerning " the Jews," see the note on ver. 15. 

11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto 
me, Take up thy bed, and walk. 

The character of the man whom our Saviour had restored, begins immediately 
to display itself. He says, — I have a mighty warrant for carrying my bed. It 
was the command of One, who by a single word cured me of an infirmity of which I 
have suffered for thirty-eight years. He must needs be a Teacher come from God ; 
for no man can do such miracles except God be with him 1(g) 

12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, 
Take up thy bed, and walk ? 

These hypocrites do not ask, What man is that which made thee whole ? but name, 
instead, the pretended offence of the Holy One. 

(/) See Acts iii. 2 to 8. (g) St. John iii. 2. 



V.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 679 

13 And he that was healed wist not who it was : for Jesus had con- 
veyed Himself away, a multitude being in that place. 

The expression in the original is remarkable. It denotes a swift and silent glid- 
ing (literally swimming) out of, and away from the crowd. 

14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the Temple, 

The Impotent man is found next in the Temple. Doubt not but what he hastened 
thither to pour out his heart in gratitude to the Author and Giver of all good 
things 1(h) The character of those whom our Saviour selected to be the objects of 
His Mercy, should always be carefully noticed. 

and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole : sin no more, lest a 
worse thing come unto thee. 

"A worse thing," (observes a thoughtful living writer,) "than 38 years of Pain 
and Infirmity ! — words which give us an awful glimpse of the severity of God's 
judgments. This infirmity had found the man young, and left him old: it had 
withered up his manhood, and yet 'a worse thing' even than this is threatened him, 

should he sin again What the past Sin of this sufferer had been, to which 

our Lord alludes, we know not ; but the man himself knew very well. His consci- 
ence was the interpreter of the warning." 

Sometimes, therefore, bodily sickness and suffering are to be regarded as correc- 
tive of past Sin, — the direct consequence to the sinner of Sin in himself: but by no 
means always. It was indeed so in Gehazi's case,(?') — in the case of Ananias and 
Sapphira,(/f) — of Elymas,(Z) — and of Herod. (ra) Consider further 1 Corinthians xi. 
30. David, however, was punished for his adulterous connection with Bathsheba, 
by the death of his child :(n) and many are the cases where Sickness, Suffering, and 
Death itself, have been brought on the individuals of a nation by the sin of their 
rulers. Consider Genesis xii. 17 : xx. 18. 1 Samuel v. 6 to 12. 2 Samuel xxi. 1: 
xxiv. 10 to 17. Then, further, — Bodily Ailment may be sent, not for the correction 
of past sins, but for the prevention of future, — as in the case of St. Paul.(o) Lastly, 
its purpose may be to try and prove the patience of the Saints, — as in Job's case :(p) 
or "that the works of God may be made manifest," — as in the case of the Man 
born blind, (q) 

"We learn besides from our Lord's words," remarks an ancient Bishop, "that if, 
after undergoing a heavy punishment for our sins, we fall into them again, we shall 
incur another and a heavier punishment." See the notes on St. Matthew xii. 43 
to 45. 

15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which 
had made him whole. 

Not — "which had said, Take up thy bed and walk;" (for that was an offence to 
the Jews, and was not the ground of the speaker's joy :) but — " which had made him 
whole." Compare verse 12, and the note there. And here we lose sight of the 
man ; who goes forth, preaching Christ ! 

But it is time to point out concerning the personages whom St. John in ver. 10, 
in this place, and in ver. 15, calls " the Jeios," that the Bulers of the People (as in 
chap. vii. 48,) are clearly spoken of: members of the Sanhedrin, or Great Council 
of the Nation, who were chiefly of the sect of the Pharisees. Compare ver. 33, 
below, with chap. i. 19, 24. Consider also the following places : — St. John vii. 1, 
13: ix. 18 to 22, (and 13, 15:) xviii. 12, 14. The actual power in the hands of 
these persons(r) was what rendered their enmity so formidable: as it follows, — 

16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay 
Him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. 

17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I 
work. 

(h) See 2 Kings xx. 8. (t) 2 Kings v. 20 to 27. 

(7c) Acts v. 1 to 10. ' (I) Acts xiii. 8 to 11. (m) Acts xii. 23. 

In) 2 Sam. xii. 14. ( ) 2 Cor. xii. 7. {p) Job ii. 3, &c. 

(q) See St John ix. 1 to 3. (r) St. Matthew xxvii. 65. St. John vii. 32, 45, &c. 



680 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

That seems to mean, — Ye seek to slay Me for having, as ye say, broken the Sab- 
bath ; whereon, according to the Commandment, men must rest, — after the pattern 
of God, who "rested on the seventh day/' But if upon acts of Mercy, Providence, 
and Goodness, ye bestow the name of " works," learn ye that " My Father worketh 
hitherto," — hath been "working" up to this very hour, — with sleepless watchful- 
ness, unremitting energy, untiring love. Learn that, by "rested" (in Genesis ii„ 
2, 3,)(s) it is implied only that God, at the end of six days, ceased from the Work 
of Creation,— 'made no more new creatures. Those were " the works" which " were 
finished from the foundation of the world." (t) But from that time until now, God 
has been carrying on the government of those creatures, — upholding and sustaining 
them. Were He to cease from such working, the World itself would cease to exist. 
Why then do ye desire to kill Me for displaying a similar care and concern for the 
Lives of men ? 

But by saying " MY FATHER worketh hitherto, and I work," — the Divine 
Speaker was declaring a glorious Doctrine. First, His own Divinity: for He calls God, 
His " Father," — evidently in a different sense from that in which men, addressing 
the same Almighty Being, are taught to say " Our Father." Consider St. Mat- 
thew vi. 9, in connection with Isaiah lxiii. 16. "My," implies equality. Consider 
St. John x. 30, 33, 36. — Next, our Lord conveys the Doctrine that He is Himself 
" of one substance with the Father," — " in the Father," as the Father is in Him : 
so that as the " Father worketh hitherto," He also "worketh." Consider Hebrews 
i. 3. And thus it was that the Jews understood His words, — n«>r did He deny the 
correctness of their inference :— 

18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not 
only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, 
making Himself equal with God. 

Strange, that these impious men should have seen so clearly in our Lord's Words? 
— (namely, in the statement "that God was His own FATHER "){v) — the great 
Truth which many an Unbeliever of the present day declares that he cannot find 
there ! 

If the reader will call to mind what was said in the second note on verse 15, 
above, and then observe the exceeding solemnity of the words which follow, — (than 
which anything graver, grander, and more momentous is not to be found in the 
whole of the Gospel,) — he will probably be of opinion that from verse 17 to the 
end of the present chapter is to be regarded as the Defence of the Saviour of the 
World when cited before the Bar of His Enemies : a formal Address which He de- 
livered before the Court of Sanhedrin. 

19, 20 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Yerily, verily, I 
say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what he seeth the 
Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son 
likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things 
that Himself doeth : 

Compare this, with what is said in ver. 30: — "I can of Mine own self do no- 
thing: as I hear, I judge." The terms "hearing" and " seeing," when applied to 
God,(x) as in chap. iii. 11 and 32, — should create no surprise. In no better way 
can Heavenly mysteries be revealed to human hearts and minds than by using 
such ordinary forms of human speech. God speaks to us in the Bible, as we speak 
to little children. We tell them the Truth ; but we put the Truth into language 
which they can understand. When full-grown, they do not reproach us with 
having deceived them. Far from it. They in turn, use the self-same language to 
the children of the next generation. 

Now, it may be convenient, before we pass on from verses 19 and 20, to bring 
under one point of view some other similar places of St. John's Gospel ; and to 
offer a few remarks upon them all together, instead of dividing our remarks, or 
repeating them. Thus, then, in St. John viii. 26 to 28, it is said, — "He that sent 

(s) Compare Exodus xxxii. 17. (t) Hebrews iv. 3. 

(u) Compai*e Romans viii. 32, — where Jesus Christ is called God's "own Son." 
(x) Consider the following places : — Genesis i. 4, 10, 12, &c. : xi. 5 : xviii. 21 : xxi. 17. Exo- 
dus iii. 7. 



V.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 681 

Me is true ; and I speak to the World those things which I have heard of Him. 
(They understood not that He spake unto them of the Father.) Then said Jesus 
.... I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these 
things." Again, in St. John xii. 49, 50, — "I have not spoken of Myself; but the 
Father which sent Me, He gave Me a Commandment, what I should say, and what 
■ I should speak .... Whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto 
Me, so I speak." Again, in St. John xiv. 10: — " Believest thou not that I am in 
the Father, and the Father in Me ? The words that I speak unto you, I speak 
not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the work, (y) — In 
all these places a high and heavenly Doctrine is set before us : concerning which 
our words should be wary and few. 

There are certain great Truths — held by all men, held at all times, held in all 
places, — fundamental Truths concerning the Three Persons in the GoDhead, — (the 
mystery of the Blessed Trinity, as it is called, — Truths above .Reason yet not 
against Reason, which have been certainly gathered by the Church out of God's 
Word ; and which enable it to explain other places in Holy Writ which would else 
have been hopelessly dark and difficult. Thus, the Doctrine of the Eternal Gene- 
ration of the Son, rightly stated, will be found to bring all the texts above quoted 
within the limits of Man's understanding. 

For the Church teaches, and hath ever taught, that the Divine Essence of God 
the Son, He hath not of Himself, but by communication from God the Father : 
yet is this statement, and others like it, made without reference to Time. We 
cannot talk of "One Person of Himself originally subsisting,^) without straight- 
way inquiring, — Was there ever a time when the other two Persons in the God- 
head did not exist? To which the Church answers, " In this Trinity, none is afore 
or after other;" "The Father, eternal: the Son, eternal: and the Holy Ghost, 
eternal. (a) There never was a time, therefore, when any One of the Three Per- 
sons was not; and yet the Son was "begotten" of the Father: the Holt Ghost 
"proceeded" from the Father and the Son. 

"All things that the Father hath are Mine," saith Christ ;(&) because in Him 
is the fullness of the same GoDhead ; and more than that, the Father cannot have. 
But yet, in that perfect and absolute equality, there is notwithstanding this dispa- 
rity, — that the Father hath the GoDhead not from the Son, nor any other ; whereas 
the Son hath it from the Father. Christ is the True God, and Eternal Life ; but 
that He is so, is from the Father: "for as the Father hath Life in Himself, so 
hath He given to the Son to have Life in Himself ;"(c) not by participation, but 
by communication. It is true, our Saviour was so "in the form of God," that 
He "thought it not robbery to be equal with God :" but when the Jews sought 
to kill Him, because He made Himself equal with God, He answered them, 
— " Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself but what He 
seeth the Father do :" by that connection of His operations, showing the reception 
of His Essence ; and by the acknowledgment of His Power, professing His Sub- 
stance from the Father. 

When, therefore, our Lord says, (in verse 30,) "I can of Mine own self do no- 
thing," — it is because He is not of Himself; and whosoever receives his Being, 
must receive his Power from another ; especially where the Essence and the Power 
are undeniably the same, as in God they are. " The Son," then, " can do nothing 
of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do," — because He hath no Power of 
Himself but what the Father gave : and since the Father gave him all the Power, 
as communicating His entire and undivided Essence, therefore, "what things 
soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise," by the same Power by which 
the Son worketh ; because He had received the same GoDhead in which the Father 
subsisteth. 

The reader is also referred to the note on St. John xiv. 28, for some remarks on 
this great subject. Speaking of what things the Father showeth the Son, our 
Lord proceeds : 

21 and He will show Him greater works than these, that ye may 

(y) St. John iii. 34 may be also referred to ; where a similar statement concerning our Saviour 
is made by His Forerunner. 

(z) These words, and many others in the present note, are borrowed from the great Work of 
the learned and wise Bishop Pearson. 

(«) See the Athanasian Creed,— the great Treasury of Catholic Truth. 

(b) St. John xvi. 15. (c) St. John v. 26. 



682 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the Dead, and quickeneth them ; 
even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. 

To raise the dead would be a more marvellous work than that performed upon 
the Impotent Man. But our Lord's language seems to be intentionally made 
capable of a double interpretation ; being applicable either to the quickening of 
those who are "dead in trespasses and sins,"(c?) or to the raising of the dead at 
the last day : to which allusion is made in chap. vi. 39, 40, 44, 54. And this may 
have been done, because while the relief of bodily suffering Avas the actual subject 
of our Lord's discourse, — Sin and Eternal Death, (of which Sickness(e) and Disso- 
lution are but the emblems,) were in reality the objects at which His gracious 
words pointed. 

All this is made plainer in the sequel : for, while verses 24, 25 and 26, declare 
the spiritual Resurrection which takes place in Time, — verses 28 and 29 will be 
found to set forth "bodily Resurrection which is for Eternity. Yerse 27 may be 
compared with ver. 22. 

" Whom He will:" — that is the Prerogative of God alone. Of God the Father, 
— as in St. James i. 18 : of God the Son, — as in St. Matthew viii. 3, and in this 
place : of God the Holy Ghost, — as in 1 Corinthians xii. 11. — God, and God only, 
may do as He will. Yet is it certain that the Will of God is not arbitrary : for, 
(as the Apostle declares,) He worketh all things " after the counsel of His own 
Will ;{/) " and whatsoever is done with counsel or wise resolution, hath of neces- 
sity some reason why it should be done." 

22 For the Father 

— who never took upon Him the nature of men or of angels, — 

judgeth no man, but hath committed all Judgment unto the Son : 

As stated in Acts xvii. 31 and x. 42. And the reason why He hath committed 
it to Him, is because He is not only the Son of God, (as verses 22 and 23 imply, 
and verse 25 clearly states,) and so, truly God; — but also "the Son of Man," (as 
stated in verse 27,) and so truly Man: that Son of Man who suffered so much for 
the sons of men. 

There is therefore an original, supreme, judicial power : and there is a judicial 
power derived, given by commission. Christ, as God, hath the first, together with 
the Father: Christ, as Man, hath the second from the Father. And the reason 
of this delegated authority is set forth in the next verse : — 

23 that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the 
Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father, 
■which hath sent Him. 

For the Son could not be the Son, but for the Father : nor could He be the Fa- 
ther if He had not the Son. 

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and 
believeth on Him that sent Me, 

Our Lord says not " on Me :" but " on Him that sent Me :" and the reason is plain. 
He is " declaring the Father :"{g) is engaged in revealing to the Jews the mysterious 
relation in which Himself, (the Son,) stood to the Father. It will suffice, there- 
fore, if He can persuade them to " believe on Him that sent:" for if " every one that 
loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is Begotten of Him, "(70 certainly Belief 
on Him that sent will produce Belief also in Him that is sent. See above (ver. 23,) 
how the honor of the Father and of the Son are declared, mutually, one to imply 
the other. Consider St. John xii. 44 : xv. 23. — He then, so hearing and believing, 

hath everlasting Life, and shall not come into Condemnation ; but is 
passed from Death unto Life. 

"To hear," in the language of the Spirit, is "to obey." "He that heareth My 

(d) Ephesians ii. 1. (e) See above, verse 14. (/) Ephes. i.ll. 

\g) St. John i. 18. (A) 1 St. John v. 1. 



v.] on st. John's gospel. 683 

Word," is therefore, " He that keepeth My commandments." See the note on ver. 
29. Of such an one it is said, — he "hath Everlasting Life:" he " is passed from 
Death unto Life." That is, he has begun already to be a partaker of it. The Eternal 
Life which he obtains here, is as it were, an earnest of that which is to follow. 
Remember what is said in St. John xi. 25, 26 : and take notice how exactly it cor- 
responds with what is here declared of a passage, in this World, "from Death unto 
Life." Consider St. John vi. 47, and the note. 

25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, 
when the Dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God: and they that 
hear shall live. 

" Hear," — so as to obey : as explained in the preceding note. Spiritual deadness, 
obviously, is here spoken of. A state of Sin is set forth under the image of Death, 
as in so many other places ;{{) while Repentance is spoken of as Life itself. Com- 
pare St. Luke xv. 24, 32. Also Ephes. ii. 1,5: v. 14. Coloss. ii. 13. 1 St. John 
iii. 14. And see the note on St. Matthew ix. 25. 

26 For as the Father hath Life in Himself; so hath He given to 
the Son to have Life in Himself. 

The likeness of Nature between the First and Second Persons of the Blessed 
Trinity is here declared. Both the Father and the Son have the same life : both 
have it in themselves : both, in the same degree ; as the One, so the Other : but only 
with this difference, — the Father (from all Eternity) giveth it ; the Son (from all 
Eternity) receiveth it. And this has been already explained in the note on ver. 20. 
From whence, in a certain place, Christ professeth that " the living Father sent 
Him, and that He liveth by the FATHER;" {It) and here, that the Father "gave 
Him to have Life in Himself:" which is tantamount to saying that the Father 
" begat" Him. 

In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily ;(?) and this, He sufficiently 
showed by His acts of Divine power: not only healing diseases, and casting out 
devils ; stilling the winds and waves, and even raising the dead ; but from Him as 
from a fountain, without word or sign, Healing Virtue went into as many as touched 
His garments in Faith. (m) More than this ; He was able, at will, to impart to 
others a measure — as much as He would — of His own Divine Power, (n) So that, 
most truly, " in Him was Life."(o) — It follows : 

27 And hath given Him authority to execute Judgment also, because 
He is the Son of Man. 

That is, because, of the three Persons which are God, He only is also the Son of 
Man. And therefore, because of His alliance with man's nature, — because of His 
sense of man's infirmities, — because of all He did and suffered for man's sake, as the 
Son of Man, — He is most fit, us well as most worthy, to be Man's Judge. See above, 
on verse 22. 

Yet further, — since " Son of Man" is a title of our Lord which often stands for 
" The Messiah," (as was explained in the second note on St. Matthew viii. 20,) it 
seems to be here implied that the Divine Speaker must needs duly perform that part 
of the Mediatorial office which made Him Judge both of quick and dead. 

28 Marvel not at this : 

Referring, probably, less to what He had just before said of Judgment to come, 
than to the statements in verses 24 and 25 concerning spiritual Resurrection: 

29 for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall 
hear His Voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done Good, unto 
the Resurrection of Life ; and they that have done Evil, unto the Re- 
surrection of Damnation. 

*') See St. Matthew viii. 22, and the note there. (h) St. John vi. 57. 

I) Coloss. ii. 9. ( m ) St. Mark v. 28, 29. St. Luke vi. 19. 

(n) St. Luke x. 19 : St. Mattt. x. 8 : St. Mark xvi. 17 : St. John xiv. 12. 
(o) St. John i. 4. 



684 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

In this way our Lord repeatedly reasons. Consider the following places : St. 
John i. 50, 51 : iii. 7, 8 : vi. 61, 62. St. Mark ii. 9 to 11, &c. 

These two verses, then, stand in marked contrast with verses 24 and 25, and 
should be compared with them, throughout. There the Resurrection which takes 
place in this World,— the Resurrection of the Soul from the Death of Sin to the 
Life of Righteousness was spoken of: here, the Resurrection of Soul and Body at the 
Last Day is declared. Hence, in the former place, the phrases, — " now is," " the 
dead," (whether all or some is not stated,) "shall live;" in the latter, — " is coming" 
(for the Judgment is yet future :) "all," (for we must all stand before the Judg- 
ment Seat of Christ;) "in the Graves," and "shall come forth," (for the Resurrec- 
tion of the Body is intended.) 

It might be thought by one who should contend for the mere letter of ver. 24, 
that the phrase "he that heareth My Word' 7 should not be interpreted of works of 
Obedience. The language in that place may seem to some, little else than a decla- 
ration that " Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."(j>) Let 
such "hearers," however, attend to the description (in ver, 29) of those who "shall 

come forth unto the Resurrection of Life" Eternal. It is "they that have 

done good," — and none other. 

30 I can of Mine Own Self do nothing: as I hear, I judge : 

This is said because the Son is not of Himself, but was from all Eternity begot- 
ten of the Father ; and whosoever receives his Being, must receive his Power, from 
another ; especially where the Essence and the Power are the same, as in God they 
are. — The reader is referred to verse 19, and the note there. See also the note on 
the last words of St. John xiv. 28, for a few more words on this great mystery. — 
"As I hear, I judge:" 

and My Judgment is just ; because I seek not Mine own Will, but 
the Will of the Fathee which hath sent Me. 

The reader is referred below, to the notes on ver. 44; and will observe that our 
Lord pronounces here, " in reference to His own conduct and example, f that Hu- 
mility, Submission, and entire Singleness of purpose, — founded upon implicit Obe- 
dience to God, — are the true rudder to guide us to Truth in reasoning." 

Not that the Will of God the Son is here spoken of as something distinct from the 
Will of God the Father : for that were absurd: but, as the Son of Man, our Blessed 
Saviour had a Human Will, — distinct from the Divine ; though never at variance 
with it. Consider by all means the memorable words in St. Luke xxii. 42. In this 
place, then, our Lord declares, that His Will is not His own in such a sense, as to 
be different from the Father's : that, as Man, He seeks not His own Will in oppo- 
sition to that of God. "For" (says a great African Bishop) "men do their own 
Will, not God's, when, to please themselves, they violate God's commands. But when 
they do what they wish, so as at the same time to follow the Will of God, they do 
not their own Will, but God's." — Compare St. John vi. 38. 

See some remarks in the notes on St. Matthew ix. 13, on the expression "not 
Mine own .... but;" and compare in the present Gospel, iii. 17: vi. 27: vii. 16: 
ix. 3 : xii. 44, 47 : xiv. 24. 

31, 32 If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There 
is Another that beareth witness of Me ; and I know that the witness 
which He witnesseth of Me is true. 

Our Lord means, that they would not allow Him to bear witness of Himself; 
that they would pronounce such witness untrue, — as they actually did, in chap, 
viii. 13. And further, that His witness as Man, without the Avitnessof another,(g) 
— without the witness of God,— was inconclusive. (Consider Acts ii. 22, and He- 
brews ii. 4. See also verse 36, below; and the note there.) He proceeds there- 
fore to remind them that He had, besides, a fourfold witness : — (I.) the witness of 
St. John Baptist, — (II.) the witness of His own miraculous works, (verse 3G,) — 
(III.) the witness of the Father, (verse 37,)— -and (IV.) the witness of the Holy 
Scripture, (r) (verse 39, &c.) . . . First, He reminds them of the Baptist's Testi- 

(p) Romans x. 17. (q) St. Matth. xviii. 16. 

(r) See the heading of the present chapter. 






V.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 685 

mony, -which was the least of all ; and, as if to anticipate their objection that it 
might not be true, He adds : 

33, 34 Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the Truth. But 
I receive not testimony from man : but these things I say, that ye might 
be saved. 

That is, — Ye sought him yourselves, to inquire of him ; (alluding to chap. i. 19 
to 27 :) that is why I use his testimony,' — that ye might be saved. For I, being 
God, need not the Testimony of Man. 

35 He was a burning and a shining light : and ye were willing for a 
season to rejoice in his light. 

Rather, — " He was the burning and shining Lamp." The reader is referred to 
the notes on St. John i. 23. 

36 But I have greater witness than that of John : for the works 
which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do, 
bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me. 

Our Lord says that His miracles not only proved Him to be GOD, but proved 
Him to be the MESSIAH likewise, — by corresponding with the predictions of 
Prophecy: Isaiah xxix. 18: xxxii. 3, 4: xxxv. 5, 6: xlii. 6, 7, &c. He often thus 
appealed to the witness of His miracles, — as in St. Luke vii. 20 to 22. St. John 
x. 25, 38 : xiv. 10, 11 : xv. 24, &c. 

37, 38 And the Father Himself, which hath sent Me, hath borne 
witness of Me. Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen 
His shape. And ye have not His Word abiding in you : for whom He 
hath sent, Him ye believe not. 

"God is a Spirit ;"(•§) "without body, parts, or passions. "(0 He hath no voice, 
therefore, — neither hath He a shape. And this is what our Lord here declares. 
Consider Exodus xxxiii. 20 : Deut. iv. 12 : 1 Tim. vi. 16 : 1 St. John iv. 12. But 
the Voice from Heaven, which attended the Baptism of our Saviour, and pro- 
claimed Him as the "Beloved Sox," was doubtless part of the "witness" borne to 
Him by the Father. (w) 

In this place, however, our Lord certainly does not refer in any special manner 
to that remarkable Testimon}^. Rather may it be thought that He even draws 
away the attention from it. The Father, by giving to the Jews His Word, (that 
is, the Gospel, [x ) through the Son, had thereby " borne witness" to Him. But 
their actions proved that they had not that Word abiding in themselves ;(?/) — 
namely, the Commandments of God, in the true spirit of them : for (He adds,) 
" Whom He hath sent, Him ye believe not." Now, as our Lord declared on an- 
other occasion, — " If any man will do His Will, He shall know of the Doctrine, 
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself." (z) 

39 Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have Eternal 
Life : and they are they which testify of Me. 

" Of Me, — through whom alone that Life may be obtained." 

40 And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have Life. 

Perhaps this ought to be read, — "Ye search the Scriptures." The meaning is, 
that though the Scriptures bore such clear testimony to Christ, yet the Jewish 
nation, to whom those Books belonged, (a) would not come to Christ. 

(•s) St. John iv. 24. (0 Article I. 

[u) See St. Matth. iii. 17, and St. Luke iii. 22, — where (in the words of the heading of the 
chapter,) "Christ receiveth testimony from Heaven." See also St. Matthew xvii. 5: hut ob- 
serve, the Transfiguration was an event yet future. 

(x) Compare St. John vii. 16 : viii. 28 : xii. 49 : xiv. 10, 24. 

(y) Compare 1 St. John ii. 14. (z) St. John vii, 17. (a) Romans iii. 2. 



686 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

It was said, above, (in the note on verse 32,) that our Lord appealed to a four- 
fold testimony. It should be observed that a gradation, as well as a connection, 
is discernible between every link in the chain. — Ye chose the witness of John 
(I.) : but the witness of My miracle is far greater ; for those works are the confir- 
mation of his words (II.) Still weightier witness do My doctrines supply, that I 
I came forth from God, and am the Messiah (III.) But the most mighty testi- 
mony of any is supplied by the writings of Moses, — by the whole volume of Scrip- 
ture ; which, in Types and Shadows, — Histories and Laws, — Civil and Religious 
Enactments, — Feasts and Sacrifices, — Prophecies and Psalms, — is full, from end 
to end, o/Me(J.Y.) 

It seems as if it were further implied, — I do not bring forward this fourfold tes- 
timony because I seek My own glory. (6) "I complain not of your being unwil- 
ling to come to Me, as though I should gain honour from your coming ; for," — 

41 I receive not honour from men. But 
" I speak thus of you, because" 

42 I know you, that ye have not the Love of God in you. 

To convince you that it is not from your love of God that you persecute Me ; for 
He bears witness to Me, as I have shown, by My doctrine, by My works, and by 
the Scriptures. 

43 I am come in My Father's Name, and ye receive Me not : if 
another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. 

Alluding to the "false Christ's and false Prophets," which our Lord foretold: 
St. Matthew xxiv. 24. "Here, then," observes an old Eastern Bishop, "is the 
crowning proof of their impiety." He says, — " If it was the Love of God which 
made you persecute Me, you would persecute Antichrist, (who will come in his 
own name,) much more : for he will not profess to be sent by the Father, or to 
come according to His will ; but, on the contrary, usurping what does not belong 
to him, will proclaim himself to be God over all." Whereas, Antichrist ye will 
receive. 

" The true disciples of our Lord were few; though in one instance four, and in 
another five, thousand were miraculously fed by Him. But a Jew, who afterwards 
came from Egypt, with no other credentials but self-confident boasting, led away to 
Olivet, as Josephus informs us, no less a number than 30,000 deluded followers. And 
though, as far as appears, neither he nor any of his brethren in imposture actually 
assumed the title of Messiah ; yet their general conduct showed to what their am- 
bitious views aspired." 

44 How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and 
seek not the honor that cometh from God only ? 

Mark the contrast between the disposition implied by these words, and what our 
Lord states concerning Himself, in verse 41. 

This is one of those marvellous places, (places in which are scattered with no 
sparing hand throughout the Book of Life,) in which a secret is revealed to us 
concerning ourselves. It is found that the disposition which courts honor at the 
hands of man, and is content to rest in such honor, is at enmity with the spirit of 
Faith. Compare chapter xii. 42, 43. St. Matthew xxiii. 5. Rom. ii. 29. — There 
is, indeed, "scarcely any doctrine or precept of our Saviour more distinctly and 
strongly stated, than that the capacity for judging of, and for believing the Truths 
of Christianity, depends upon moral Goodness, and the practice of Virtue." The 
reader will do well to consider the texts indicated at foot.(c) 

45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father : there is one 
that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 

He answers them out of their own authorities : John, — to whom they sent ; the 

(b) Compare St. John vii. 18; viii. 50, 54. 

(c) St John vii. 17 : viii. 12. Ecclus. i. 26 : xxi. 11. St. Matth. v. 8. Psalm xix. 8 : cxix. 
100. And see above, the first note on the latter half of verse 30 ; and the note on St. Luke xi. 
33 and 43. 



VI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 687 

Scriptures, wherein they thought they had eternal Life; Moses, — in whom they 
trusted. And he warns them that their trust in Moses is based on a foundation of 
sand : that the great Lawgiver himself will prove the accuser of the nation, — nay, 
is their accuser already. And the memorable reason follows : 

46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me ; for he 
wrote of Me. 

A wondrous declaration, truly, if we consider who is the Speaker.(cT) to have 
known what he said on this subject to Cleopas and his companion as they went to 
Emmaus ! But the Books of Moses are in our hands. Where then does he write of 
Christ ? Shall it suffice to appeal to ten or twenty places in the Pentateuch, — 
such as the reader will find enumerated at foot of the page?(e) Surely, those 
places do not come up to the largeness of our Lord's statement 1(f) Where does 
Moses say "that Christ should suffer?" — or "that He should be the first that 
should rise from the dead?" — or that He "should show Light unto the people, and 
to the Gentiles V And yet, St. Paul found some, if not all, of these things in 
" Moses l"(g) The plain truth is that we do not thoroughly understand the Bible; 
and the next best thing to understanding it, is to know that we understand it not. 

47 But if ye believe not his Writings, how shall ye believe my 
Words ? 

That is, — If ye practically disbelieve the ancient Writings of one whom ye pro- 
fess to hold in such honour, how should ye believe the mere Sayings of One for 
whom ye entertain no respect ? 

With such words does our Saviour conclude a discourse which yields to none in 
Holy Scripture, in dignity, difficulty, and mysterious importance. In declaring the 
eternal relations of the Father and of the Son, this chapter may be regarded as a 
very "pillar and ground of the Truth/' 



CHAPTER VI. 






1 Christ feedeth Jive thousand men ivith five loaves and two fishes. 15 Thereupon 
the people ivould have made Him King. 16 But withdrawing Himself He walked 
on the sea to His Disciples : 26 reproveth the people flocking after Him, and all the 
fleshly hearers of His Word : 32 cleclareth Himself to be the Bread of Life to believ- 
ers. 66 Many Disciples depart from Him. 68 Peter confesseth Him. 70 Judas 
is a devil. 

The Evangelist St. John does not record the Institution of either of the two 
Sacraments. But what the other Evangelists have set down in the way of histori- 
cal narrative, St. John is found to deliver in the way of doctrinal statement. 
Accordingly, our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus, in the third chapter of St. 
John's Gospel, is allowed by the Universal Church to relate to Holy Baptism : 
while the Discourse in the Synagogue of Capernaum, in the present chapter, as 
plainly relates to the great mystery of the Holy Eucharist.(a) A singular coinci- 
dence is moreover observable in the manner and arrangement which runs through 
the chapters in which these two Sacraments are predicted ; as will be found pointed 
out below in the notes on verses 52 and 62. 

In the Miraculous feeding of the Five Thousand, which precedes the Discourse 

(d) Compare St. John i. 45. St. Luke xxiv. 27. Acts xxviii. 23. 

(e) Gen. iii. 15: xii. 3 : xviii. 18 : xxvi. 4: xlix. 10. Numb. xxi. 9. Deut. xviii. 15, 18. 
(/) See above, the note on ver. 40. (g) See Acts xxvi. 22, 23. 

(a) See below, the note on ver. 35. 



688 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

in the Synagogue of Capernaum, our Lord mystically showed the virtue of His own 
Incarnation and Sacrifice. No fitter preparation for that Discourse can therefore 
be imagined, than is here supplied : and thus it may be declared briefly, that the 
Incarnation, and the Eucharist as connected with it, is the one pervading topic of 
the whole chapter. 

After these tilings Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the 
sea of Tiberias. 

Between chapter v. and chapter vi., a whole year elapses, — the second year of 
our Lord's Ministry. St. John, because he wrote his Gospel at a distance from 
the Holy Land, and addressed it to a people unacquainted with the language or 
religion, the customs or geography of Judi~ea, is found frequently to explain his 
own statements, and the terms which he himself employs. Thus, in the first chap- 
ter of his Gospel, we meet with an explanation of the words "Rabbi/' "Messias," 
and " Cephas." (b) Below, in ver. 4, he informs his reader that "the Passover" is 
" a Feast of the Jews ;" and towards the close of his Gospel, he explains what is 
"the manner of the Jews to bury. "(c) In the fourth chapter, he explains that one 
journeying out of Judcea into Galilee, "must needs go through Samaria ;"(d) and, 
in the verse before us, he identifies the mountain Lake, known in Palestine as "the 
Sea of Galilee," by mentioning the most considerable city which stood upon its 
shore. Tiberias, situated on the western side of the Lake, was built by Herod 
Antipas, and named after the Roman Emperor Tiberius. 

2, 3 And a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His 
miracles which He did on them that were diseased. And Jesus went 
up into a mountain, and there he sat with His Disciples. 

At all to understand the history of the transaction thus alluded to, rather than 
described, — (the reason, namely, why our Lord "went over the Sea of Galilee," 
and the manner of the pursuit adopted by the "great multitude,") — the reader 
should consult the narratives of the three earlier evangelists. (e) He will be dis- 
posed to remark, when he has done so, that this part of St. John's Gospel does not 
by any means produce a corresponding impression on the mind. To which it may 
be answered, that neither was it intended that it should. St. John passes very 
briefly over the previous history, (which had been so fully treated by the Evange- 
lists who wrote before him ;) being chiefly anxious to describe the miraculous feed- 
ing of the Five Thousand which followed, and above all to record the Divine Dis- 
course of our Saviour, to which none of the other Evangelists had been guided 
even to make allusion. Take notice of his remarkable method, as exemplified in 
the very next verse : — 

4 And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. 

The reader may be invited, in passing, to compare this explanation of the term 
" Passover" with what is found in St. John ii. 13, and xi. 55. See above, the note 
on verse 1 ; and the note on the latter part of chap. ii. 6. 

But it is far more important that he should consider what may have been the 
object of the blessed writer in introducing here the statement that the Passover was 
nigh. Was it done merely to mark the close of the second year of our Saviour's 
Ministry? We cannot believe it. Much worthier seems the supposition that the 
Holy Spirit thereby guides Believers to connect the miracle which follows, with 
the Paschal season : to view therein a lively symbol of the Efficacy of the Sacrifice 
of " Christ, our Passover ;"(/) and thus to regard the entire transaction as having 
mysterious reference to the great event which took place at Jerusalem exactly one 
year after the date of the present transaction. For, as the Holy One Himself 
declared on this occasion, — "I am the Bread of Life," — "the living Bread, which 
came down from heaven ;" and the Bread which I will give is My flesh, which I 
will give for the life of the World." " Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat 
the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you \"(g) 

That these words have reference to the blessed Sacrament of Christ's Body and 

(6) St. John i. 3S, 41, 42. (c) St. John xix. 40. (d) St. John iv. 4. 

(e) St. Mathew xiv. 73 to 14: St. Mark vi. 32 to 34: St. Luke ix. 10 and 11. 
(/) 1. Cor. v. 7. (</) See below, verses 35, 41, 51, 53. 



VI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 689 

Blood, the Church allows :(h) and indeed can we doubt that both miracles of feed- 
ing, — this, performed for the relief of the Five Thousand, and tJiat for the relief of 
the Four,(i) — were emblematic of the same Heavenly Feast, which was expressly 
ordained for the support of souls fainting in this World's wilderness ? 

But our attention is invited to the mountain's side, on the north-eastern extremity 
of the Lake, where our Saviour has withdrawn with His Twelve Apostles. 

5, 6 When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company 
come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that 
these may eat ? And this He said to prove him : 

But why did He address this inquiry to Philip ? The Evangelist himself supplies 
the reason: "this He said to prove him," that is, to make trial of the Apostle's 
Faith. Was then Christ ignorant of what would be St. Philip's reply ? God for- 
bid that such a thought concerning the Searcher of hearts should be seriously en- 
tained ! Effectually to preclude it, the Evangelist adds, — 

for He Himself knew what He would do. 

"He only intended to draw forth by His question the mind of that Apostle and 
the rest, who had besought Him to send away the multitude to buy food for them- 
selves in the nearest villages. (Je) All were to be made fully aware of the insuffi- 
ciency of their own resources for such a multitude ; and to feel that a power no less 
than Divine was concerned in supplying the deficiency.(Z) 

But the question recurs, Why was Philip singled out for the inquiry recorded" in 
the text? The clue is probably to be found in our Saviour's dialogue with him re- 
corded in the xiv. chapter of the present Gospel. (in) A certain slowness of heart 
to recognize the GoDhead of the Incarnate Son, maybe presumed thus on two re- 
corded occasions to have suggested words, the tendency of which was to reveal 
St. Philip to himself. — His reply sufficiently shows that he dreamed of nothing less 
than a display of miraculous power. 

7 Philip answered Him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not 
sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. 

And yet, this was the same Philip who, in the beginning of the Gospel, "findeth 
Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law, 
and the Prophets, did write."(n) Strange that one who was prepared to make such 
a confession, should have been unprepared for the inferences which, to us, seem so 
unavoidable ! Instead of replying, — " The eyes of all wait upon Thee, Lord ; 
and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thy hand, and 
fillest all things living with plenteousness !"(o) — we find him adverting only to the 
slender store of money contained in their common purse, — which may have amount- 
ed in value to about 71. or 82. sterling. 

8, 9 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith 
unto Him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two 
small fishes : 

On which one of the ancients suggests beautifully, — " Probably he had some rea- 
son in his mind for this speech. He would know of Elijah's miracle, by which a 
hundred men were fed with twenty barley loaves. {p) This was a great step, but 
here he stopped. He did not rise any higher : for his next words are, — 

but what are they among so many ? 

" He thought that less could produce less in a miracle, and more more : a great 
mistake ; inasmuch as it was as easy for Christ to feed the multitude from a few 
fishes, as from many. He did not really want any material to work from ; but only 

(h) " For then we spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ, and drink His Blood." (From the Ex- 
hortation in the Communion Service.) 

(i) See St. Matthew xv. 32, and the note there. 

(k) See St. Matth. xiv. 15 : St. Mark vi. 36 : St. Luke ix. 12. 

(0 Dr. W. H. Mill. ( m ) St. John xiv. 7 to 11. (n) St. John i. 45. 

(o) Psalm cxlv. 15, 16. (p) 2 Kings iv. 42 to 44. 

44 



690 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

made use of created things for this purpose, in order to show that no part of the 
Creation was severed from His wisdom." See the note on St. Matthew xiv. 17. 

" A lad" carried these loaves ; thus the young obtain an interest in the Gospel, — 
"becoming the objects, or the instruments, of God's Mercies in Christ. There are 
some beautiful verses on this subject in the " Lyra Innocentium," beginning ; — 

What time the Saviour spread his feast 

For thousands on the mountain's side, 
One of the last and least 

The abundant store supplied. 

10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much 
grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thou- 
sand. 

This was the number of " the men." Including the women and the children, (r) 
there must have been far more than twice five thousand. Each Apostle will there- 
fore have had about as many to minister unto, as experience shows may not unrea- 
sonably be left to the pastoral care of a single individual. St. Mark relates that 
the vast assembly was further subdivided into companies of fifty and a hundred. 

" There was much grass in the place," — and the grass was " green ;"(s) for it 
was in the month of March or April, as we learn from what was stated in the 4th 
verse. — As, in all the accounts of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist, it is ex- 
pressly mentioned that, in the first instance, our Saviour "took bread/ ; (tf) — so, in 
all the four accounts of the present miracle, does the same act find special record 
likewise. (u) As it follows : 

11 And Jesus took the loaves ; and when He had given thanks, He 
distributed to the Disciples, and the Disciples to them that were set 
down ; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 

" The distribution is preceded by a solemn giving of thanks ; which, emphati- 
cally repeated both in the narrative itself, and the subsequent allusion in the 23d 
verse, shows that the eucharistic act was an essential part of the mystery "{v) 

By thus giving thanks, Christ further teaches us what should be our habit when- 
ever we sit down to meat. — By his distribution " to the Disciples," — He shows that 
the Bishops and Pastors of His flock are the appointed channels for the convey- 
ance of His gifts. Both which circumstances will be found already remarked upon 
in the notes on St. Mark's Gospel, — chap. vi. 41. — The marvellous increase of food 
which followed, has been the subject of some observations in the notes on St. Mat- 
thew xiv. 19, 20 ; and St. Luke ix. 1G. It was achieved by the same creative power 
which produces a harvest out of a few grains : for those five loaves were as seeds 
in Christ's Hands, — seeds which yielded to the Great Husbandman a thousand- 
fold. 

How marvellous must have been that growth, — so rapid and so abundant, yet 
eluding observation and defying understanding! The bread is broken, yet not 
diminished : each loaf is divided into parts, yet the sum of the parts is found to be 

greater than the whole: half is given away, yet all remains ! Above all, 

there remained at last a far larger supply than existed at the beginning. And thus 
the saying of the wise man came literally true, — " There is that scattereth, and yet 
increaseth."(x) 

12 When they were filled, He said unto His Disciples, Gather up 
the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. 

These memorable words are peculiar to the present Gospel. A most precious in- 
junction this will be felt evermore to be ; and a mighty warrant, even amid the 
greatest abundance, that no Waste should be allowed. The reason of this, in such 
as we are, is indeed plain enough ; for every thing we call our own, is in reality 
" another man's." (y) We are not Lords and Masters of anything. We are but 

(r) St. Matthew xiv. 21. 

(s) St. Mark vi. 39. (0 St. Matth. xxvi. 26. St. Mark xiv. 22. St. Luke xxii. 19. 

(u) See the end of the note on St. Luke ix. 16. (v) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(x) Proverbs xi. 24. (y) St. Luke xvi. 12. 



VI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 691 

Stewards and Servants ; and of this, the Gospel often reminds us. But even the 
Lord of the whole Earth, — at whose will a table was furnished in the wilderness, 
and bread provided for His people,(a) — even He, the Lord and Master of all, bade 
gather up the fragments, and was solicitous that nothing should be lost ! 

Other inferences besides this, have been drawn from our Lord's injunction ; 
some of which are indeed sufficiently obvious. Who does not feel, however, that 
there must be a yet deeper meaning here than meets the eye ? 

The Evangelist proceeds to record the necessary result of the injunction before 
us, — which was delivered to Twelve Men : — • 

13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets 
with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and 
above unto them that had eaten. 

It cannot be without an object that St. John has twice reminded us that these 
were " barley loaves." What may that object, therefore, be presumed to be? And 
why do all all the Evangelists so often state that the loaves were jive in number ? 
Are we simply to see in the material of the loaves an indication of the season of the 
of the year:(6) in their number, a careful distinction of the present miracle from 
that other occasion when seven loaves furnished forth a banquet for four thou- 
sand ?(c) 

The perfect safety of such criticism forcibly recommends it to writers and readers 
of every description : and very far are we from disparaging a style of remark 
which we believe to be in itself perfectly true, and which is doubtless highly valu- 
able also. But the question arises, — Is it the whole truth ? May there not have 
been yet another object in the writer's mind for dwelling on the fact that the present 
miracle was wrought with, jive loaves of barley bread ? But we forbear to speculate. 
It shall suffice to have invited the reader's attention to the subject; and to have 
avowed our own suspicions. The reference of the present miracle to the coming Sac- 
rifice of Christ, and to the benefits consequent thereon, is however, something more 
than a mere matter of opinion. " Certainly," as one of the greatest of our Divines(tZ) 
has remarked, " no more significant act, — none more pregnant with meaning and 
mystery, — appears in the whole course of Christ's humiliation, than this feeding of 
the Five Thousand." "It is the only event before the Passion and the Resurrection, 

which is found related by all the four Evangelists Not without reason is it 

that the Church repeats this, as no other is found repeated, in her cycle of Gospels ; 
giving this narrative from St. John, not only on Mid-Lent Sunday, as preparatory 
to the approaching Paschal Eucharist, — but again, divested of its significant pre- 
face, in the concluding Gospel of her year.(e) On one of the intermediate Sun- 
days, (the Seventh Sunday after Trinity,) we are also presented with the other 
miraculous feeding from St. Mark, — chap. viii. 1 to 9. 

" It is not mere stupid astonishment, then, which seizes on this great multitude, 
such as we sometimes see to be the sole effect of our Lord's miracles; their thoughts 
ascend from the gift to the giver." As it follows : 

14 Then those men when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, 
said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world. 

The prophet, namely, like unto Moses, whom the same Moses had foretold that 
the Lord God would raise up unto the Israelites, of their brethren :{f) for Christ 
had now fed them, (as Moses did,) with manna in the wilderness. Consider he 
questions which were put to the Baptist in the early part of his Ministry ;(</) and 
take notice that the multitude here spoken of, seem, from what follows, to have 
identified " the Prophet," with Christ, the promised Xing. Accordingly, it is 
added, — 

15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take 
Him by force, to make Him a King, He departed again into a moun- 
tain Himself alone. 

(a) Psalm lxxviii. 19, 20. (5) Compare Exodus ix. 31, and 2 Kings iv. 42 

(c) St. Matth. xv. 32, &c.< St. Mark viii. 1. (d) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(e) See the Gospel for the fourth Sunday in Lent, (which is St. John vi. 1 to 14,) and for the 
Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity ; which last begins at verse 5. 
(/) Deut. xviii. 15, 18. ( g ) St. John i. 20, 21. 



692 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Rather, — "He withdrew again to the mountain," already mentioned in verse 3 ; 
and that, as St. Matthew(/i) and St. Mark(i) relate, for the purpose of prayer : 
thereby teaching us, (as a great man remarks,) that whenever escape is necessary, 
there is necessity for prayer also. "Dismissing His Disciples to the Lake by 
themselves, and eluding the carnal-minded multitudes, He retires for private prayer 
to the mountain ; to add one vigil more of fasting and devotion to a life perpetually 
offered up in sacrifice to His Father for the sin and madness of mankind/'' 

One of the charges which the enemies of our Lord brought against Him, at the 
time of His Passion, was, that He claimed to be " Christ a King:"(k) so that He 
is found, like Joseph, to have suffered for the very offence which He had shown 
Himself most careful to avoid. (I) Not but what He was and is a King ;(m) nay, 
more, — King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. "(n) Yet was His Kingdom "not of 
this World ;"(o) neither was He a King by the will of man; but because He 
reigned from all Eternity with the Father. 

16, 17 And when even was now come, His Disciples went down unto 
the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Caper- 
naum. 

Rather, — " And when the Evening was come, His Disciples had gone down to the 
sea, and having entered the ship, were going over the sea to Capernaum." " It is 
easy," says the great Father of the West, "to perceive that John relates that as 
done afterwards by the Disciples, which our Lord had ordered them to do before 
His departure to the mountain." 

And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. 

Darkness, — Desertion, — a Storm raging around : from such causes springs terror ; 
whether assailing the Church of Christ, or any of its individual members. When, 
in the Baptismal Service, we speak of "so passing the waves of this troublesome 
World, that finally we may come to the Land of Everlasting Life," — what do we 
but supply a key to the mystical interpretation of the present incident ? If, in the 
miraculous feeding of the Five Thousand, our Saviour set forth in emblem the 
virtue of His Incarnation and Sacrifice, — what but a type of "the Ark of Christ's 
Church," when deprived of its head, did the Disciples' storm-tossed bark supply ? 

18 And the sea arose, by reason of a great wind that blew. 

This circumstance of the Wind, (which, as St. Matthew and St. Mark relate, 
"was contrary,") (p) explains why, at the end of many hours, the Disciples had 
not got much more than half way across the Lake, — which is nowhere more than 
eight miles in breadth. As it follows : — 

19, 20 So when they had rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty fur- 
longs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the 
ship : and they were afraid. But He saith unto them, It is I : be not 
afraid. 

Literally, — " I AM : fear not !" Thus the Greek idiom in more than one place,(g) 
recalls the Divine Name itself. (r) 

21 Then they willingly received Him into the ship ; 

Rather, — " Then they wished," or " were eager to receive Him." St. John says 
nothing of St. Peter's miraculous walking on the water, which occurred at this 
juncture :(s) " all, events full of mystery," — remarks a truly great writer.(tf) 

Indeed, the entire transaction clearly bears a symbolical character, — as we have 

(h) St. Matth. xiv. 23. CO St. Mark vi. 46. 

(/c) St. Luke xxiii. 2. (I) Consider Genesis xxxix. 8, 9, 12 and 14. 

(to) Jeremiah xxiii. 5. Zech. ix. 9, (quoted St. Matthew xxi. 5 : St. John xii. 15 :) St. John 

i. 49 : St. Luke xix. 38 : St. Math, xxvii. 11 : St. John xviii. 37, &c. 
(n) 1 Tim. vi. 15 : Kev. xvii. 14: xix. 16. (o) St. John xviii. 36. 
(p) St. Matth. xiv. 24 : St. Mark vi. 48. (?) So in St. John viii. 58 : xviii. 5, 6, 8. 
(r) Exod. iii. 14. («) See St. Matth. xiv. 28 to 31. 

(0 Dr. W.H. Mill. 



VI.] . ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 693 

already suggested ; and as was more fully pointed out in the note on St. Mark vi. 
48. How lively an image of the Church, " tossed with waves," did that Ship with 
its little company present; when "the sea arose by reason of a mighty wind that 
blew !" The small progress effected, in spite of the incessant labor ; and the oppo- 
sition continually experienced, as well as the storm patiently sustained ; are all cir- 
cumstances which suggest their own obvious interpretation. Christ walking upon 
the Sea, — drawing near to the Ship, — and only then remedying the distress of its 
crew, when at last He blesses them with his actual presence, — completes the sacred 
allegory. For verily there is found to be much toil here below, without Him, and 
but little advance. Meantime, we know that He keepeth his Eye lovingly on his 
Church ;(«) and maketh intercession for it from afar. " The Lord hath gone up on 
high," and "is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves 
of the sea."(x) He delays his coming, indeed; and will delay it till "the night is 
far spent, and the Day is at hand:" but then, He will come with power; and Kest 
and Joy will come with Him. 

and immediately the Ship was at the land whither they went. 

Many have thought that a quick miraculous gliding of the Vessel to its destina- 
tion, is here spoken of. But the words in themselves do not, by any means, imply 
this. " Immediately" merely signifies that "forthwith," " straightway," the Dis- 
ciples reached " the haven where they would be."(^/) 

The Evangelist proceeds to explain what took place on the morrow, with respect 
to the multitude which our Saviour had left on the Eastern side of the Lake. 

22 The day following, when the people which stood on the other side 
of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one 
whereinto His Disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with 
His Disciples into the boat, but that His Disciples were gone away 
alone ; 

St. John was about to add, that the multitude, when they saw this, (or rather, 
having noticed this over-night,) took ship and crossed over to Capernaum in pur- 
suit of our Saviour. He checks himself, however ; for he has not yet explained 
how this was possible. If "there was none other boat there, save that one where- 
into His Disciples were entered," — how could hundreds of persons cross the Lake 
in boats ? He explains as follows : 

23 (howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the 
place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks :) 

That is to say, — Although, at the time when the Disciples set out, for Capernaum, 
there was only one boat to be seen on the shore, yet did the wind of the preceding 
night, (which to the Disciples rowing in a westerly direction, had been contra- 
ry,)^) compel many boats from Tiberias, (on the western side of the Lake,) to put 
in, for security, to the eastern shore, — " nigh unto the place where they did eat 
bread, after that the Lord had given thanks." Take notice, by the way, of the sig- 
nificant manner in which St. John speaks of the great miracle we have been con- 
sidering above ; [a) and connect his present reference to the Eucharistic act by which 
it had been prefaced, with his former allusion to the Paschal Season at which it had 
been performed. (b) Having thus explained that, on the morrow, owing to the re- 
cent stress of weather, there was no lack of shipping on the north-eastern side of 
the Lake, where the multitude yet lingered, earnestly but vainly expecting to see 
our Saviour re-appear among them, — St. John adds : 

24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither 
His Disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seek- 
ing for Jesus. 

Rather, — " they also went on board the boats." That is, they persuaded their 

(u) St. Mark vi. 48. (x) Ps. xciii. 4. 

(y) Ps. cvii. 30. (z) See the note and references above, on ver. 18. 

(a) See the first note on verse 11, above ; also the note on St. John iv. 46. 

(b) See above, the note on ver. 4. 



694 A PLAIN COMMENTARY - [CHAP, 

owners, on setting sail, to take them on board with them, and give them a passage 
to Capernaum, — the city of our Lord's habitual residence. 

25 And when they had found Him on the other side of the sea, they 
said unto Him, Rabbi, when earnest Thou hither ? 

They do not ask Him "7iow" but "when" He came. There was but one boat; 
and the multitude had seen the Disciples depart in that boat alone. (c) The Holy 
One therefore, as they supposed, must have eluded their vigilance ; and in the course 
of the night, walked to Capernaum. Accordingly they inquire, " When earnest 
Thou hither 1" All their thoughts about our Lord are low and groveling. They 
little thought that they had to do with Him of whom it had been written, — " Thy 
way is in the Sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not 
known V'(d) 

Very instructive is it to observe how our Lord dealt with the inquiry, — " Kabbi 5 
when earnest Thou hither V 

26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, Verily, I say unto you, 
Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat 
of the loaves, and were filled. 

The Searcher of hearts exposes these men to themselves. "Verily, verily," He 
begins, — speaking from the depths of His own certain knowledge. " Not for My 
sake, but for your own, have ye followed Me. My miracle hath wrought in you no 
conviction, — but only a desire that the abundance of yesterday might be re-pro- 
duced to-day/' 

" In the banquet of which they had been the astonished partakers," says a great 
writer, " these men saw only a foretaste of the abundance with which the anointed 
Son of David would enrich His followers. With no higher or purer affection than 
this, they looked for the expected Kingdom." 

Having therefore in this manner replied to their inquiry in verse 25, by reproving 
the low and sensual motive which had led them to follow Him to Capernaum, He 
indicates what had been the true import of His gracious work, — " by exhorting 
them to labor for the meat which the Son of Man was able and ready to impart to 
the soul that hungered after Righteousness."(e) 

27 Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which 
endureth unto everlasting Life, which the Son of Man shall give unto 
you: 

As if He had said, — Labor, if you will, for bodily food ; such perishable bread as 
ye partook of yesterday : but labor rather(/) for that Heavenly Bread which per- 
isheth not, — " the Bread which availeth for the eternal Life of Soul as well as 
Body."(<7) In which words of our Lord, the same Divine Wisdom is discoverable 
which we noticed in His address to the Woman of Samaria ; when he had sought, 
(not vainly as now !) to awaken a desire for something loftier than human food. (h) 

Then, lest His hearers should suppose that He spoke of that which their own un- 
assisted labor might procure, He adds that this must be His gift, — a gift which 
" the Son of Man" is not only able, but also willing to impart. By which words, 
He openly proclaims his own GoDhead ; yet does He not call himself the Son of 
God, in respect of this gift, but the Son of Man, — because it was not as GOD, but 
as Man, that He would give his Flesh for the Life of the World.(i) The explana- 
tion follows : 

for Him hath God the Father sealed. 

That is, — For God the Father hath set his seal upon Him, by joining the God- 
head to the Manhood in His Person. The order of the words in the original sug- 
gests that it is further implied, — That the Father had thus sealed Him, in that the 
Father is God. And thereby it is explained how the Son of Man, (being Himself 
Yery God,) can impart to others the Bread of Eternal Life ; as well as how it comes 

(c) See above, ver. 22. (d) Ps. lxxvii. 19. (e) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(/) See the note on St. Matth. ix. 13, and the end of note on St. John v. 30. &c. ■ 

(g) Consider Isaiah lv. 2. (h) See the note on St. John iv. (i) See below, verse 51. 






VI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 695 

to pass that His flesh, (so conjoined with GoDhead,) should actually he to others 
that Bread of Life. 

Besides the notion of attestation implied by this remarkable saying, consider what 
is "the nature of an impression from a signet. It exhibits accurately, as well as 
entirely, the character of that which impresses : and while it is altogether a recipi- 
ent, in respect of the signet which produces the impression, it supplies every whit 
of the substance which sustains that impression."^ ) 

28 Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work 
the works of God ? 

" Our Lord having exhorted the people to work for that meat which endureth. 
unto Everlasting Life," they here (as again at the end of ver. 30) in allusion to His 
language, ask how they "may work the works of God," — that is, do the works 
which God requires and will accept, so as to obtain that meat. Thus in Ps. li. 17, 
" the sacrifices of God," are " the sacrifices acceptable to God ;" and in St. James i. 
20, the "Righteousness of God," is the "righteousness which God requires." (&) — 
Take notice that the word translated " labour," in ver. 27, is translated "work," in 
the present verse. 

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, 
that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. 

The Blessed Speaker so far condescends to their weakness, as to reply to them by 
using their own expression. The "work" required of them was "Faith in Him 
whom God had sent :"(7) that is, they were required to believe in Christ as the 
Son - of God sent for the Salvation of Mankind. 

" But when these men do indeed understand that it is as One sent from Heaven, 
and not as an Earthly King, that He requires their submission and obedience, the 
tone of their discourse is immediately altered from that of deference and veneration, 
to that of questioning and unbelief."^) As it follows : 

30 They said therefore unto Him, What sign showest Thou, then, 
that we may see, and believe Thee ? 

That is, — " Thou declarest Thyself to be the Messiah, and claim est to be be- 
lieved in as such. Now, all who have ever put forth any lofty pretensions, have 
been able to appeal to some sign. 'What sign therefore showest Thou?'> Thou 
must display some transcendent miracle which may suffice to prove the justice of 
Thy claim." By which demand, it is implied that the miraculous feeding of the 
Five thousand which had taken place on the previous day, was in their estimation 
insufficient for the purpose. But our Lord, having therein given them an abun- 
dantly sufficient sign, " instead of complying with their demand, proceeds to lay 
before them some deep truths which it required an earnest personal affection, and a 
firm conviction of the authority of His teaching, to accept. Very different was the 
temper of the men, who continue as follows : 

31 What dost Thou work ? Our fathers did eat manna in the de- 
sert ; as it is written, He gave them bread from Heaven to eat. 

They refer to the miracle recorded in Exodus xvi. 4, 15. Their argument seems 
to be : " Moses fed 600,000 Israelites with manna, during their wanderings in the 
wilderness : a sign from Heaven ! for as it is 'said in the seventy-seventh Psalm, He 
gave them bread from Heaven to eat. Now, this lasted for a long series of years. 
Moreover, this miracle was repeated daily : and yet Moses raised no such preten- 
sions as Thou raiseth ; nor was he ever so believed in, as Thou requirest us to be- 
lieve in Thee." . . . A sign from Heaven{n) seems, in fact, to have been the thing 
which these unbelievers thought requisite for their conviction. 

Here then was a two-fold requirement. First, "We must see," (say they,) "in 
rder that we may believe:" next, "We must have a sign from Heaven, such as 
Q ur Fathers had." ... To their first requirement, our Lord's reply is found to 

(j) Hilary. - (7c) Lonsdale and Hale. (I) See the foot-note (c) on St. John iv. 34. 

(m) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(n) Consider Isaiah vii. 11. Also St. Matth. xii. 38, compared with St. Luke xi. 16. 



696 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

have been, — "Ye have seen already ; yet have ye not believed." This, we shall 
discover by and by, from his language in ver. 36. — To their second demand His 
reply is as follows : 

32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses 
gave you not that bread from Heaven. 

There is a double emphasis here. " The bread you speak of did not come down 
from Heaven ; but only from that upper region of the air, to which the name of 
Heaven is sometimes popularly given.(o) Moreover, it was not Moses who gave you 
that bread." 

but My Father giveth unto you the true Bread from Heaven. 

Here, also, there is a double emphasis. Besides implying that the Bread spoken 
of was given them by GOD, not by Moses, our Saviour proceeds, — "But the gift of 
My Father is the true Bread : that spiritual Bread, namely, of which Manna was 
but the type or shadow. (p) And this Bread truly cometh down from Heaven itself , 
— even from that Heaven of Heavens where God dwelleth." 

By saying, "My FATHER giveth," — the Divine Speaker implies that He is 
Himself the Son of God ; and yet of equal power with God. Consider St. John v. 
17, 18 ; and the notes there. The Jews understood Him in this sense, — and not as 
contradicting what He had said before :(q) for we shall find them presently saying, 
— "Lord, evermore give us this bread l"(r). . . . "Giveth" obviously implies "is 
willing," " is prepared to give." 

33 For the Bread of God is He which cometh down from Heaven ? 
and giveth life unto the world. 

Bather, " For the Bread of God is that which cometh down from Heaven." Our 
Lord does not, apparently, explain that He is speaking of a person, until ver. 35. 

In three other respects then is the Bread of which our Lord discourses, declared 
to be superior to the Manna which fed the Israelites : first, because it "came" (not 
"was poured,") "down" from Heaven ; next, because it conveyed the gift of eter- 
nal life ; lastly, because it was to be a portion, not to the Jews alone, but "unto 
the World." 

In these three verses and the seventeen which follow, our Lord asserts the great 
truth of His Incarnation ; and tells the Jews that this was the reality, of which the 
gift of Manna was but a sign. " He states to them that the relation between Man 
and God, on Avhich depended Man's happiness, was only to be maintained through 
Himself, as a Mediator ; that into His Man's nature the Godhead had poured its 
gifts, and thus had constituted Him the real food and sustenance of men's souls. 
This was the fact which it had pleased God to exhibit by way of type, when He fed 
His people with manna in the wilderness ; and He Himself, by coming into the 
World, had brought down among them the true principle of spiritual existence." 

34 Then said they unto Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 

Their answer, which recalls that of the Samaritan woman, (s) is expressive of 
some degree of Faith. " Lord !" — it begins. They still suppose, however, that 
CnRiST speaks of bodily food, — of a more nutritious kind, indeed, than their boasted 
manna ; yet, like it, requiring to be periodically renewed. Wherefore they exclaim, 
— "Evermore give us this bread 1" That is, " Give us day by day.' 1 

35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the Bread of Life : he that 
cometh to Me shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on Me shall 
never thirst. 

The Divine Speaker Himself was the "Bread" of which He had spoken. To be 
made partakers thereof, men must "come to Him;" that is, must believe in Him.(/) 

(o) As in Gen. i. 20: vii. 11: viii. 2, &c. 
(p) Compare St. John xv. 1. Also Heb. viii. 2: ix. 24. 

(q) In ver. 27. (r) See below, ver. 24. (s) See St. John iv. 15. 

(t) Consider verses 37, 44, 35: also v. 40: vi. 37; and St. Matth. xi. 28, — with the note. 
Rev. xxii. 17. 



VI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 697 

As many as do this will not require that He should "evermore" supply their 
needs ; but will never hunger, never thirst again. This last saying further recalls 
our Saviour's discourse to the Woman of Samaria ;(u) and the meaning of His 
words is in both places the same. He teaches that even here below, in the case of 
believers in His Divine Doctrines, that longing for unreal joys, — which may be fitly 
called thirst and hunger, — will altogether cease ; while those lofty desires of the 
soul, which in eternity will assuredly be fully appeased, will even here have their 
partial gratification. The analogy of other parts of Scripture(f) abundantly pre- 
pares us for such metaphorical language. But it is time to remind ourselves of the 
very holy ground which we are approaching ; and to ascertain the general structure 
of the entire Discourse. 

The great subject of the present Chapter has been already declared to be the 
Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist; but it cannot for a moment be thought that this 
lengthy specimen of our Saviour's teaching refers directly, throughout, to that 
grand mystery. Indeed, the verses which have exclusive reference to the Sacra- 
ment of Christ's Body and Blood, (x) will perhaps be found to be very few in num- 
ber. Let the plain meaning of the words before us be attentively considered ; and 
we shall be disposed to admit that although, in subsequent parts of the present 
chapter,(?/) a Eucharistic meaning is so unequivocally fastened upon the expression 
" The Bread of Life," that the covert reference of the phrase in the present verse 
to the Holy Eucharist may reasonably be suspected, — yet would it be to deal unfair- 
ly with language to doubt that our Lord is here rather declaring His own Divinity ; 
and inviting men to Faith and Obedience. While a general promise is added, 
" that spiritual sustenance, even unto Life Eternal, will be the corresponding gift 
on the part of God." (z) 

On a review of the contents of the entire chapter, it will perhaps be thought that 
from ver. 26 to ver. 33, inclusive, is, as it were, introductory of the subject: that 
ver. 35 to ver. 50 treats of the Incarnation of Christ, and of Faith therein as the 
means of Life: while ver. 51 to ver. 58 is a building of the Doctrine of the Holy 
Eucharist on the Doctrine of the Incarnation ; the Divine Speaker in that place 
advancing a step in His solemn discourse, by the mention for the first time of His 
"flesh." From the lesser acts of Faith, He thus goes on to speak of the highest 
of all ; and because His whole discourse points in the direction of the Holy Eucha- 
rist, even that part of it which relates to ordinary Belief, is conceived in language 
which has covert reference to Sacramental Communion. 

The progressive character of our Lord's teaching is in fact nowhere more clearly 
distinguishable than here. From the mention of "Bread," (in verse 31,) He takes 
occasion, first, (in verse 32,) to speak of the " true Bread:" next, (in verse 35,) He 
proclaims that He is Himself that Bread : then, (in verse 39,) He hints at Resurrec- 
tion as the consequence of union with Himself: presently, (in verse 51,) He ex- 
plains that His Flesh must be eaten : lastly, (in verse 53,) He makes open and re- 
peated mention of His Flesh and His Blood. 
He proceeds : 

36 But I said unto you, that ye also have both seen Me, and believe 
not. 

" I said unto you:" from which it appears likely that He had used these words 
already ; as will be found pointed out at the end of the note on ver. 31. (a) What 
follows should be translated " Ye have loth seen Me," &c. It has reference to the 
demand of the Jews, in ver. 30 ; and is a refutation of the pretended need of some 
sign "which they might see,'*' and on which they might base a rational belief in 
Him as Christ. The Jews had already beheld Him perform many miracles, (He 
tells them,) whereby they might have known Him to be the Messiah ; and yet they 
believed not. — How this came to pass, His next words explain ; and it was in order 
that He might supply those words of explanation that He repeats the saying before 
us for the second time. 

37 All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me ; 

(«) See St. John iv. 13, 14. 

[v) Such as Deut. viij. 3. Is. Iv. 1, 2. Jer. xv. 16. Amos viii. 11. St. Matth. v. 6. St. 
John iv. 13, 14 : vii. 37. Heb. v. 12, &c. 

(x) As verses 53 to 56. (y) As verses 51 to 58. (z) Bp. Turton. 

(a) Consider St. John xi. 28 and 40, which are also instances of the same method. 



698 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

That is, — No sign in and by itself" can produce real conviction in the heart of 
man. Faith is God's own gift. There must be an inward calling from the Father, 
to enable any one to obey such an invitation as is contained in ver. 35, and come 
to Christ. " A man must be given to Me, in order for him to become Mine/' This 
our Lord will be found to state more plainly lower down, in ver. 45,— where see 
the note. In illustration of this expression, see the references at foot.(fr) 

" All," or rather " everything" "that the Father giveth Me, thall come to Me." 
"Everything/' — whether male or female, old or young, rich or poor, learned or 
simple, Jew or Gentile. — These words are prophetic of the Call of the Gentiles, 
while they imply the unbelief and consequent rejection of many of the Jews. 

and he that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. 

By which words, our Lord declares that His "Will is one and the same with that 
of the Father ; and that every individual believer whom the Father has willed 
should come to Him, He will graciously receive, and sanctify, and save. — To be 
" cast out" is a well-known expression in the Gospel, descriptive of the fate of lost 

souls. (c) 

38 For I came down from Heaven, not to do Mine own Will, but the 
Will of Him that sent Me. 

That is, — " For I came down from Heaven for this very purpose ; namely, to per- 
form the merciful Will of God towards ' mankind." (c?) — He speaks as the Son of 
Man. Now, as such, the Father's Will was prior, in point of time, to His ; as well 
as, in its nature, independent of it. But in the next two verses, He will speak as 
God — that raiseth the dead. — Compare the form of the expression in ver. 38, with 
what is met with in St. John v. 30. 

In the meantime, consider " the Will" of God with respect to the World, as it is 
declared in a former chapter. " God so loved the World that He gave His Only 
Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life."(e) The process of Salvation is here declared more plainly : — 

39 And this is the Father's Will which hath sent Me, that of all 
■which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up 
again at the Last Day. 

Literally,—" And this is the will of Him that sent Me, [even] the Father ; that 
of nothing which He hath given Me, should I lose [any part."] See^ above, the 
latter part of the note on first clause of ver. 37. — Compare St. John xvii. 12. 

The connection of these words with those which precede will be perceived to be 
of the closest kind. The entire verse is more than an expansion of ver. 37, above. 
It explains that entire statement likewise: showing that "casting out" implies 
"loss ;" showing also, that the momentous consequence of becoming Christ's, is to 
be raised up by Him on the last day, and to be made a partaker in the Resurrection 
of the Just. 

40 And this is the Will of Him that sent Me, that every one which 
seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have Everlasting Life ; and 
I will raise him up at the Last Day. 

An important verse ; for it contains an explanation of two of the sayings which 
have gone before. Who, (it might be asked,) are they whom " the Father giveth 
the Son ?" They are as many as " behold the Son, and believe in Him."(f) And 
next,— What is meant by not being " lost V The enjoyment of " Everlasting Life' 7 
is meant thereby ; which will be the consequence of being by Him raised up in the 
Last Day. 

The several statements contained in this Discourse of our Lord, will be perceived 
on consideration to be, one and all, of the highest importance ; and even for what 
He omits, a reason is discoverable. Thus, if He says nothing of the Resurrection 
of unbelievers, it is because He is revealing Himseif throughout as the Bread of 
i?*/e. — gut w hy does He say so much about Resurrection at all ? It is, lest His 

(6) See ver. 39 : also x. 29 : xvii. 2, 6, 9, 11, 12, 24 : xviii. 9. (c) See St. Matth. xxv. 30. 

\d) See the note on St. John iv. 34. (e) St. John iii. 16. (/ ) Consider ver. 36. 



vi.] on st. John's gospel. 699 

hearers should suppose, either that in consequence of participation of the Bread of 
Life, men would never die ; or dying, would experience no further benefit from the 
heavenly food of which they had been partakers. He explains therefore, that 
Christian men, after being so nourished, must indeed taste of Death ; but, by virtue 
of such participation, will be restored to Life Eternal. " For doth any man doubt/' 
(asks Hooker,) " but that even from the flesh of Christ our very bodies do receive 
that life which shall make them glorious at the latter day ; and from which they 
are already accounted parts of His Blessed Body?" 

41 The Jews then murmured at Him, because He said, I am the 
Bread which came down from Heaven. 

Take notice that our Lord is nowhere recorded to have said these words ; but 
the Jews rightly connect a clause in ver. 35 with a clause in ver. 33, and make a 
complete sentence out of them : rightly, — for our Lord Himself so speaks in ver. 51. 
Not content with disbelieving His statements, however, they are found to murmur 
at them likewise, — in the verses which follow: 

42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose Father 
and Mother we know ? how is it then that He saith, I came down from 
Heaven ? 

They are offended by the Humanity of Christ, who was legally, (and as they 
supposed, naturally,) the Son of Joseph, — whose father Jacob, (g) (or Heli,)(7i) as 
well as his mother, they also knew. Their blame lay not in this supposition ; but 
in failing to recognize in His miracles, (if not in His discourse,) the evidence of 
One who was not mere Man. See St. John v. 36, and the note there. — Compare 
with the language of these unbelievers, what is found in St. Matthew xiii. 55, and 
St. Mark vi. 3 : where see the notes. — Observe also, in passing, that our Saviour 
does not undeceive these men with reference to the mystery of His Birth. That 
great secret must as yet be kept hid from men and devils. 

43, 44 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not 
among yourselves. No man can come to Me, except the Father 
which hath sent Me, draw him : 

Murmur not at My sayings, as if they were contrary to reason. The fault is not 
on My side, but on yours ; who are without that preventing grace, which is re- 
quisite, before ye can come to Me and believe My words. A man needs to be drawn 
by My Father before he can come to Me.(i) Or, as the present text is re-worded 
below, in ver. 65, — " No man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of 
My Father : ;; 

and I will raise him up at the last day. 

Compare that solemn address to the Father, where the Son says of Himself, — 
" Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give Eternal Life to as 
many as Thou hast given ffim."(k) 

" I will raise :" — which, unless He were the Bread of Life, He could not do. By 
thus reminding them of His Divine Power, He exposes to them the danger of mur- 
muring at His words in a spirit of Unbelief. At the same time, He asserts His 
equality to the Father :(/) which was necessary ; lest, from his repeated assertion 
that no one could come to Him unless the Father draw him, His hearers should 
suppose that, as touching His GoDhead, He was inferior to the Father. 

45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of 
God, 

In other words, — What I have said of the impossibility of a man's coming to me 

(g) St. Matth. i. 16. (ft) St. Luke iii. 23. 

(i) Take notice how many of our Collects embody this doctrine : e. g. Second Collect at Even- 
ing Prayer ; 5th after Easter j 1st, 9th, 17th, 19th, after Trinity ; the Fourth Collect after the 
Communion Service,' &g. 

(k) St. John, xvii. 2. 

(I) See the notes on St John v. 17, 18 : also above the note on the 'latter part of ver. 32. 



TOO A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

with Faith, "except the Father draw him," is the fulfillment of what "the pro- 
phets," and Isaiah in particular, foretold ; when they described the Covenant of the 
Gospel, as one under which all should be "taught of God."(w) 

Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the 
Father, cometh unto Me. 

That is, — " Every one, therefore, who," — like Simon Peter on a previous occa- 
sion, (n) — "hears the Father's teaching, and is willing to learn of it, is drawn by 
My Father, and so cometh, as a believer, unto Me."(o) Consider what is said of 
Lydia, in Acts xvi. 14. 

These words of course are not intended to depreciate the human preaehing of the 
Gospel : for consider Komans x. 14, 15. They do but declare that no external helps 
can avail without an inward drawing of the heart, and illumination of the soul, by 
God. As it is written, " Neither is he that planteth, any thing ; neither he that 
watereth ; but God that giveth the increase."^) 

Then, to guard against any gross misconception of His Divine meaning, He adds : 

46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is of 
God, He hath seen the Father. 

In other words, — Not that the hearing and learning of the Father which I speak 
of, is effected with the bodily organs, — as when pupils see the Teacher who instructs 
them. He which is Begotten of the Father, and He which Proceedeth from the 
Father, alone hath so seen the Father. 

In ver. 44, our Lord asserted (1) the need of a Heavenly drawing, to enable a 
man in the first instance to come to Him ; — and (2) He promised Resurrection to 
eternal Life, as the final result of such coming. Verses 45 and 46 contain some ex- 
planation of the former of those two sayings. The latter saying, in an expanded 
form seems to be repeated in ver. 47, which follows ; and the Blessed Speaker, be- 
cause He is about to resume and enforce a Doctrine already laid down, begins, (as 
His Divine manner is,)(#) with the well-known phrase of solemn asseveration, — a 
phrase peculiar to St. John's Gospel. 

47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath 
everlasting Life. 

This should be compared with St. John v. 24, — " Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath Everlasting 
Life, and shall not come into Condemnation ; but is passed from Death unto Life." 
See the notes on that passage. 

Take notice therefore that the very foundation of all that follows, is Faith. 

" Hath everlasting Life," — because he hath the present right to it. "Hath" it, 
also, — because he hath already entered upon the present enjoyment of that which 
will become Everlasting Life hereafter. " This is Life Eternal," (said our Saviour 
on another occasion,) "to know Thee the only trueJjrOD, and Jesus Christ whom 
Thou hast sent."(r) 

First, then, the reason is briefly assigned why those who believe in Christ have 
everlasting Life : 

48 I am that Bread of Life. 

"And," (it is implied,) " I nourish those that come to Me." 

When our Lord is called " the living Bread," (as in ver. 51,) it seems to be taught 
that he hath the principle of Life in Himself: when, "the Bread of Life," as here, 
— that in Him is vested the lofty privilege of conveying the gift of Life to others. 

49, 50 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 
This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven, that a man may eat 
thereof, and not die. 

(m) Is. liv. 13. See also the other places referred to in the margin. 

(n) See St. Matth. xvi. 17. (o).Lonsdale and Hale. 

{p) 1 Cor. iii. 7. And consider Ephes. 17, 18. 

(q) As in St. John iii. 2, 5, 11 : v. 19 vi. 26, 32 : x. 1, 7 : xiv. 12, &c. 

(r) St. John xvii. 3. 



VI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 701 

Because he speaks of Himself in this place as God, he says " Your fathers/ 7 not 
" Our/' — as in chap. iv. He then contrasts the manna, given by Moses, with the 
gift of this Bread which came down from Heaven. Those who partook of the for- 
mer bread, were thereby sustained in temporal life, yet not preserved from death. 
They all died : and the manna will not avail to raise them up at the last day. But 
the Bread which Chkist giveth — though the recipient thereof, in due course of na- 
ture, must perforce die, — availeth to raise up to a blessed Immortality that Body 
whose mere temporal life it was never intended to sustain. He continues: 

51 I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven : if any 
man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever : 

' See above, the note on verse 41. — In that Christ is "Bread" He is the support 
of those who feed upon Him. In that He is "the living Bread," and hath the 
principle of Life in Himself, He is able to impart the gift of Life to others. In 
that He came down " from Heaven" this Life of His is Heavenly, not Earthly, — 
eternal, not transitory. Hence, the Blessed Speaker adds, — " If any man eat of 
this Bread, He shall live for ever." 

The next words introduce a fresh statement. It should not perhaps be said that 
there is here a transition to another subject. The Divine Speaker seems rather to 
advance one step in His solemn Discourse, — distinctly alluding, in all that follows, 
to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 

and the Bread that I will give is My Flesh, which I will give for the 
life of the world. 

That the " Bread" of which He had been hitherto speaking was His own "Flesh," 
our Lord here explains for the first time. He adds that this was to be a propitia- 
tory sacrifice on behalf of mankind ; and declares that it would be His own free 
gift. So singular an announcement is found to produce strife and debate among 
His auditory. 

52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can 
this Man give us His flesh to eat ? 

Compare the inquiry of Nicodemus, in chapter iii. 4. When our Lord had 
said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God," — the 
other made answer, " How can a man be born when he is old?" Our Saviour, 
in reply, with peculiar solemnity and claim to attention, pointed out the possibility 
and the means of being born again ; as well as the necessity of such Regenera- 
tion : " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of Water and of the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." — On the present occasion, His 
answer corresponds to that given to Nicodemus, even to the very turn of the sen- 
tence, (s) 

53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ex- 
cept ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye 
have no Life in you. 

It will be perceived that He does not seek to abate the wonder which His words 
have occasioned, by simplifying, much less by withdrawing any part of His former 
assertion. On the contrary, He repeats the statement with solemn asseveration, — 
mentions His Blood, in addition to His Flesh, — and concludes with the startling 
assurance that without participation in these, men have "no life" in them. — Take 
notice, in passing, that our Church, as a faithful witness and keeper of Holy Writ, 
hath not failed to remind her children, in the Exhortation " at the time of the cel- 
ebration of the Communion," of the solemn statement contained in this verse and 
in verse 56. 

Notwithstanding this plain declaration, however, and the express command, 
"Drink ye all of it," — one mighty section of the Church of Christ, perseveres in 
the sinful novelty of denying the Sacrament of His Blood to the laity.(^) 

It would be almost an omission to pass on, without calling attention to the noble 
exposition of Catholic Truth contained in the following passage of our own Hooker. 

(«) Bp. Cleaver. (t) Consider St. Matth. xxvi. 27, and the note there. 



702 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

" The grace which we have by the Holy Eucharist doth not begin but continue 
Life. No man, therefore, receiveth this Sacrament before Baptism, because no 
dead thing is capable of nourishment. That which groweth must of necessity 
first live. If our bodies did not daily waste, food to restore them were a thing su- 
perfluous. And it may be that the grace of Baptism would serve to Eternal Life, 
were it not that the state of our spiritual being is daily so much hindered and im- 
paired after Baptism. In that life, therefore, where neither body nor soul can 
decay, our souls shall as little require this Sacrament as our bodies corporal nour- 
ishment; but as long as the clays of our warfare last, during the time that we are 
both subj ect to diminution and capable of augmentation in grace, the words of our 
Lord and Saviour Christ will remain forcible, — ' Except ye eat the Flesh of the 
Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you/ 

" Life," he continues, " being therefore proposed unto all men as their end, they 
which by Baptism have laid the foundation and attained the first beginning of a 
new life, have here their nourishment and food prescribed for continuance of life 
in them. Such as will live the life of God must eat the Flesh and drink the Blood 
of the Son of Man ; because this is a part of that diet which, if we want, we can- 
not live." 

The Rubric at the end of "the Communion of the Sick/' will here occur to some 
readers : — " But if a man, either by reason of extremity of sickness, or for want of 
warning in due time to the Curate, or for lack of company to receive with him, or 
by any other just impediment, do not receive the Sacrament of Christ's Body and 
Blood, the Curate shall instruct him, that if he do truly repent him of his sins, 
and steadfastly believe that Jesus Christ hath suffered death upon the Cross for 
him, and shed His Blood for his Redemption, — earnestly remembering the benefits 
he hath thereby, and giving Him hearty thanks therefore, — he doth eat and drink 
the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his Soul's health, although 
he do not receive the Sacrament with his mouth." It might appear undutiful, 
were we to omit so remarkable a statement of Doctrine, while on this subject; 
especially after the extracts from Hooker which precede. 

Let no one, however, be so perverse as to suppose that the Church is here sanc- 
tioning the monstrous opinion that " every holy prayer and devout meditation ren- 
der the faithful soul a partaker of Christ in the same sense that His own Divine 
Sacrament does." (it) And yet, by parity of reasoning, what we hold concerning 
certain persons who die unbaptized, we may well hold concerning some who die 
uncommunicate. As "it has been constantly held, as well touching other believ- 
ers as martyrs, that Baptism taken away by necessity is supplied by desire of 
Baptism," (y) — the same may reasonably be thought touching cases as strong in 
regard to the Eucharist. Far safer, however, is it, not to speculate, but by all 
means to endeavor to obey. "With God," remarks an old writer, "inasmuch as 
He is their Author, the Sacraments may be dispensed withal : with Man, inasmuch 
as his duty is to obey, they may not possibly be dispensed with. For it is in 
the power of God, independently of them, to save : but it is not in the power of 
any, without them, to attain to Salvation." (a?) — On all this subject, the reader is 
referred to the note on St. John iii. 5. And now to proceed. 

54 Whoso eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath eternal 
Life ; and I will raise him up at the last day. 

" And," in this place, denotes consequence, — as in verse 44. The promise is thus 
repeated for the fourth time.(?/) 

The progressive character of our Lord's teaching, observable throughout all His 
Discourses, and in none more clearly than in this, (as was pointed out above, in 
the note on verse 35,) may be recognized even here; where, to an inattentive rea- 
der, He may seem to be merely repeating what He had said in the previous verse. 
For (1st,) By the new word which He employs to denote " eating," (and which He 
repeats in verses 56, 57 and 58,) He puts it out of all doubt that what He refers to 
is a "pressing with the teeth" of "the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of 
Christ." (z) And (2dly,) What our Saviour delivered negatively in the former 
verse, He here delivers with affirmation, — using the language of encouragement, not 

(«) Keble. (v) Hooker. (x) Hugo, referred to in a note by Hooker. 

(y) See above, verses 39, 40, 44. 

(z) The word recurs in St. John xiii. 18, — a memorable place. 



VI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 703 

of threatening. Consider in connection with the declaration of our Lord, at the end 
of th? verse, the language used in delivering the consecrated elements. " The 
Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee," — " The Blood of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, — preserve thy body and sold to ever- 
lasting Life." 

55 For My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed. 

That is why Christ, in the two verses which precede, has been insisting on the 
necessity of participation. He proceeds to explain how it happens that they are 
instrumental for the transmission of eternal Life. 

56 He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, dwelleth in 
Me, and I in him. 

Rather "AbidetJi in Me." That is,— " Becometh mystically united to Me:" "Is 
made one with Me, and I with him, by a secret and spiritual union. (a) — And thus, 
for the fourth time, in four successive verses, our Saviour makes mention of His 
own Flesh to be eaten, His own Blood to be drunk, — thereby forcibly calling atten- 
tion to that very remarkable expression, and putting it out of doubt that He is al- 
luding to that Blessed Sacrament; whereof "the inward part, or thing signified," 
is declared in our Catechism to be " the Body and Blood of Christ, which are 
verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper." 

Of the manner of our Lord's presence in this great Sacrament, we are not dis- 
posed to dispute. " Where God Himself doth speak those things which either for 
height and sublimity of matter, or else for accuracy of purpose we are not able to 
reach unto, as we may be ignorant without danger, so it can be no disgrace to con- 
fess we are ignorant."(6) Enough for us to know that "the Cup of Blessing which 
we bless" is " the Communication of the Blood of Christ," — "the Bread which we 
break, " the Communication of His Body;"(c) and that, " by the faithful in the 
Lord's Supper," His " Body and Blood are verily and indeed taken and received." 
Firmly embracing this blessed Truth, let us be content to " feed on Him in our 
hearts by Faith, with Thanksgiving;" and, (in the words of an ancient Father,) 
" adore, while others dispute."(d) 

Our Lord proceeds : 

57 As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father : 
so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. 

It is not quite certain whether our Saviour here speaks of Himself as God, or 
as Man. But it is true, even as God, that He "lives by the Father."^) This is 
but another way of expressing His eternal Generation. 

The words before us may perhaps be thus paraphrased, — As the living Father 
sent Me in the flesh ; and by virtue of the consequent Union of the GoDhead, 
(which I have by Communication from Him,) with the Manhood, Eternal Life is 
conveyed to this else perishable Human Body; — even so shall he, who by sacramen- 
tal participation unites himself with Me, — even he shall live by Me. — The entire 
passage recalls St. Paul's argument in Romans viii. 11. — " Sacraments," (says 
Hooker,) " are the powerful instruments of God to Eternal Life. For as our natu- 
ral Life consisteth in the union of the Body with the Soul ; so our life supernatural 
in the union of the Soul with God." 

58 This is that Bread which came down from Heaven : not as your 
fathers did eat manna, and are dead : he that eateth of this Bread shall 
live for ever. 

And thus does our Lord conclude the entire Discourse, and dismiss His mighty 
theme, — repeating some of the sayings which He will be found to have delivered 
in verses 32, 33, and 49, 50, 51. — As if He said, — " This then is the Bread I spake 
of, as coming down from Heaven, and giving Life unto the World : and herein is it 
superior to that Manna which your Fathers partook of, and which had no power to 
bestow eternal Life." 

(a) See the note on St. John xiv. 20. (&) Hooker, 

(c) 1 Cor. x. 16. (d) Augustine, 

(e) See more in the notes on St. John v. 20, and 26: also xiv. 28. 



704 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Hooker, in his majestic way, observes, — " Christ having Adam's nature as we 
have, but incorrupt, deriveth not Nature but Incorruption, and that immediately, 
from His own person into all that belong to Him. As therefore we are really par- 
takers of the Body of Sin and Death received from Adam, so except we be truly 
partakers of Christ, and as really possessed of His Spirit, all we speak of Eternal 
Life is but a dream/ 7 — Ignatius, the earliest of the Fathers, has a brief but preg- 
nant allusion to the present Discourse of our Lord, when he declares the Sacra- 
mental Bread to be " an antidote against Death, — the Medicine of Immortality." 

59 These things said He in the Synagogue, as He taught in Caper- 
naum. 

St. John, as his manner is£f) fixes the locality in which this momentous dis- 
course was delivered ; — the same Synagogue, doubtless, which the faithful Centu- 
rion built in order to show his love toward the Jewish nation !(^) — " Other dis- 
courses in St. John, as that in the former Chapter, (h) seem as if they were deliv- 
ered before some formal assembly or Council, though it is not mentioned ; and here 
it only seems to be introduced incidentally, though doubtless not so ; and it is an. 
interesting and remarkable addition to the discourse. (i) 

60 Many therefore of His Disciples, when they had heard this, said, 
This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 

"A hard Doctrine," truly: yet was the hardness which called for complaint, 
wholly their own. Judging from our Saviour's discourse which follows, and the 
expressions in ver. 58, above, — two things seem chiefly to have perplexed His Dis- 
ciples : (1) His assertion that He had come down from Heaven, — (2) His require- 
ment that His flesh must be eaten. Accordingly, it follows : 

61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, 
He said unto them, Does this offend you ? 

Is it a stumbling-block in the way of your belief that I should say, — " I am the 
living Bread which came down from Heaven ?"(&) 

62 What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He 
was before ? 

By this prophecy of His future Ascension, — (an event which in St. John's Gos- 
pel is twice alluded to,(Z) but nowhere described,) — our Lord may be thought to 
have supplied a seasonable check to the unbelief, which His hearers had conceived 
on hearing Him say that He had come down from Heaven ; while His words will 
have suggested that, not as Man, but God, His flesh was to prove the channel of 
life to mankind.(ra) 

But the true purpose of this saying was doubtless of a yet loftier nature. He 
intended thus to cure His auditory of low carnal notions concerning what He had 
been delivering ; and lift them up to the spiritual appreciation of His heavenly dis- 
course. He asks, — " If therefore ye behold the Son of Man ascending up where 
He was before;" (evidently implying,) — "What will ye say then ^ Ye will no 
longer ask, How can this Man give us His flesh to eat ? Ye will be constrained to 
give up all such carnal imaginations, and to believe that only as God, and after 
some lofty spiritual fashion, I propose to do this thing." [n) Consider His marvel- 
lous words to Mary in the garden, when (doubtless) she stretched out her arms, as 
if to embrace His knees : — " Touch Me not ; for lam not yet ascended." (o) 

We are once more forcibly reminded of the discourse with Nicodemus. " How 
can these things be?" exclaimed the master of Israel: to which our Lord replied, 
— "Knowest thou not these things? .... If I have told you earthly things, and 
ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things ?"(p) — words 
which seem very well to introduce the saying which follows : 

(/) See the note on St. John iv. 6, foot-note (y) p. 107. 

(g) See St. Luke vii. 5,— which ought to he translated "the Synagogue." There doubtless 
was but one, at Capernaum. (h) See the note on St. John v. 18. 

(i) Williams. (k) See above, ver. 51. (I) See St. John xx. 17. 

(m) Cyril. (») Amplified from a hint of Athanasius. 

(o) St. John xx. 17, where see the note. (p) St. John iii. 9 to 12. 






VI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 705 

63 It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the Flesh profiteth nothing. 

Literally — " the Spirit is that which giveth life ;" or " maketh alive." By which 
name, (of Spirit,) in this place, our Saviour speaks of "His Divine, as opposed to 
His Human Nature. He explains to His wondering Disciples that those miracu- 
lous effects which were to attend the reception of His Flesh, would not arise from 
its natural influence, (as the flesh of Man,) but from that supernatural efficacy with 
which it was endowed," in consequence of the entire Union of the GoDhead with 
the Manhood in His Person. " The word Spirit in our Lord," (says Bishop Bull,) 
"is commonly employed in Holy Scripture and in the writers of the first age, to 
express that Divine Nature in Himself to which it properly pertaineth to quicken, 
or give life to mortals : in respect whereof, Christ is called the ' Prince of Life/ 
in Acts iii. 15 ; and ' Life' itself, in St. John i. 4." The truth here revealed there- 
fore, is, that our Lord's Manhood was to be the principle of Life, by reason of the 
GoDhead with which it was united. Hence, in his chapter on the Resurrection of 
the Body, St. Paul is found to use these same words concerning Christ. " The 
first man Adam," (he says,) was made a living soul : the last Adam was made a 
quickening Spirit." (q) 

The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 

Some explain it thus, — Let what I have spoken to you be understood spiritually. 
Ye may not eat of this flesh which ye behold with your eyes, nor drink the crimson 
current which flows in these veins ; yet, under sacramental emblems, shall faithful 
men verily and indeed become partakers of both in My Supper. 

But the following seems better : — " I perceive from the reasonings of your hearts, 
that ye foolishly suppose Me to have said that this Earthly Body can naturally 
impart Life. Far different was the purport of My discourse. I spoke altogether 
concerning the Divine Spirit, and concerning Life Eternal . . . Wherefore, the 
words which I have spoken unto you, ' are Spirit,' — that is, they are spiritual, and 
about the Spirit : ' and are Life ;' that is, are life-giving, and concerning that which 
is in its essential nature, Lite." — So, Cyril of Alexandria in his noble Commentary 
on the Gospel of St. John. 

64 But there are some of you that believe not. 

He foresaw that some were about to forsake Him. He therefore assigned before- 
hand the true occasion of their departure : which lay not in anything which He had 
spoken, but in their unbelief. — The present sentence will be found continued below, 
in ver. 65 : " Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me," &c. 

(For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, 
and who should betray Him.) 

Which parenthetical words of the Evangelist have reference partly to what fol- 
lows in ver. 66, and partly to what follows in ver. 70, 71. — " The Evangelist wishes 
to show us, that Christ knew all things before the foundation of the World ; which 
was a proof of His Divinity." (r) He continues to relate the saying of Christ, 
which he had intenupted half-way : 

65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come 
unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father. 

That is, — because I was made aware by the Spirit within Me, that some among 
you are unbelievers, I made the remark some time since, — "No man can come to 
Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him."(s) "As if He said, — 
Men's unbelief does not disturb or astonish Me. I know to whom the Father 
hath given to come to Me"(0 • • . And this is the end of the subject. 

66 From that time many of His Disciples went back, and walked no 
more with him. 

It is not certain that St. John meant to say that "from that time" many 

(?) 1 Cor. xv. 45. (r) Theophylact. (a) Ver. 44. 

(t) Chrysostom. 

45 



706 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

fell away from Christ. He may have meant, that it was "from this [circum- 
stance/'] — ■" in consequence of this [discourse,"]— or the like "When 

you hear, however, of His Disciples " murmuring" and " going back" understand 
not those really such ; but rather some who, as far as their behaviour went, seemed 
to be receiving instruction from Him. For, among His followers were some of the 
people, who were called Disciples, because they companied with His Disciples." (w) 



67 Then said Jesus unto the Twelve, Will ye also go away 



Take notice that although he had all along foreseen this defection of certain of 
His followers, (miserable men!) yet had he continued lovingly to plead with them 
till now. Seeing many thus fall away from Him, He sadly asks the Twelve 
whether they intend to go away likewise? Words which at once implied the free- 
dom of the will in those whom He addressed, and provoked them to a noble confes- 
sion by the largeness of the good at stake, which His recent discourse had brought 
before them. — Simon Peter returns answer in the name of all the rest:(v) 

68, 69 Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we 
go ? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life. And we believe and are 
sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. 

" This is an hard saying," — the others had declared. Better taught, the Apostle, 
(with allusion to what his Lord had said in ver. 63,) confesses that His Master's 
sayings have the savor of " Eternal Life." — Some again there were "that believed 
not:"(a:) but "We," (says St. Peter, in behalf of His fellow-Apostles,) "We believe 
and know that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God !" 

70 Jesus answered them, Have I not chosen you Twelve, and one of 
you is a devil ? 

" Chosen" by Christ: yet able to become "a devil!" Therefore hath God left 
the will of Man perfectly free ! "His election does not impose any necessity upon the 
person with respect to the future ; but leaves it in the power of his will, to be saved 
or perish."(y) 

Notice the rebuke implied in these words of our Lord. "We believe and know," St. 
Peter had said ; and the whole body of his fellow-Apostles will have largely sympa- 
thized in the loving forwardness of that prompt Confession. They will have 
beheld some of the other Disciples wavering: perhaps they will have heard some 
openly professing their resolve to walk with Christ no longer. Meantime, a hedge 
seemed to have been set about themselves ; and standing, as they probably did, 
apart from the multitude, and keeping together, (which appears to have been their 
wont on other occasions besides the present), (z) they may have felt as if entire 
faithfulness and perfect security were at least their portion. " Have not I made 
choice of you, — the Twelve?" (exclaims our Lord,) "and yet one of you is a devil !" 
— showing that his language in ver. 64 was applicable, and had doubtless been 
addressed, to one of themselves also. He calls Judas " a devil, not only because, by 
his means, Satan was to assail Christ ; but also because he was to fall, (if he had 
not already fallen,) from a state of uprightness, as Satan himself had done, to a 
state of utter and hopeless wickedness. 

By this solemn word of warning, doubtless, the entire company of the Disciples 
will have been rendered more humble, more watchful, more apprehensive. The 
name of the traitor was mercifully withheld, — whereby all were profited ; for each 
one trembled lest he might prove the guilty man. " Mark the wisdom of Christ," 
(says Chrysostom:) "He neither, by exposing Judas, makes him shameless and 
contentious ; nor again emboldens him, by allowing him to think himself concealed." 

The checks, hints, warnings which from first to last, are addressed to Judas Isca- 
riot, exceed in number what any one would suppose who had never attended to the 
circumstance. Some remarks have been already offered on the subject in the note on 
St. Mark xiv. 25. Take notice that Judas must have been a good man when Christ 
chose him, — namely, about a year before ; and it is not certain from the present 
words that Judas had even yet fallen. The words of Christ are therefore words of 
warning addressed to Judas, — whom he nevertheless "knew should betray Him." 

(u) Theophylact. (v) So Cyril and Chrysostom. (x) Ver. 64. 

\y) Chrysostom. (z) Consider St. Matthew xii. 49. 



Till.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 707 

And thus we are unexpectedly brought upon the contemplation of one of the 
deepest and most perplexing questions it speculative Divinity, concerning which it 
is safer to meditate than to argue ; and safest of all to obey. " The secret things 
belong unto the Lord our God : but those things which are revealed, belong unto 
us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this Law."(°D 

71 He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon : for he it was that 
should betray Him, being one of the Twelve. 

Thus, for the seventh or eighth time in the course of one brief chapter, did our 
Saviour show that the future, as well as the unseen present, is all exposed to His 
Almighty ken. (6) Take notice that, on the first four occasions on which St. 
John speaks of Judas Iscariot, he always adds " the son of Simon,"(c) — to distin- 
guish him from St. Jude, his namesake, our Lord's cousin. That short clause — 
"being one of the Twelve," — is added with special reference to the four preceding 
verses ; and is the only comment, if comment it can be called, which the four Evan- 
gelists any where make on the traitor's crime. (d) 

" It is very remarkable," says a pious writer at the close of his Commentary on 
this chapter, "that as so much is said of the Holy Eucharist being a savor of Life 
unto Life, or of Death unto Death, — even Discourse respecting it is found to work 
awfully the same effects. Thus, on the present occasion, not only many Disciples 
fall away ; but even among the Twelve, it brings forth fearfully, for the first time, 
the light and the shade : — in St. Peter, the blessed Confession unto Life ; and in 
respect of Judas, the first disclosure as to his having a devil. . . . Great reason 
then is there for caution when this awful doctrine is discussed \"(e) 



CHAPTER VII. 



1 Jesus reprovetJi the ambition and boldness of His kinsmen : 10 goetli up from 
Galilee to the Feast of Tabernacles : 14 teacheth in the Temple. 40 Divers opinions 
of Him among the people. 45 The Pharisees are angry that their officers took Him 
not, and chide with Nicodemus for taking His part. 

After these things Jesus walked in Galilee : for He would not walk 
in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill Him. 

The Evangelist St. John thus assigns the reason why our Saviour did not go up 
to Jerusalem to keep the Third Passover. To speak more accurately, — he is here 
accounting for our Saviour's absence from the Capital for the entire space of 
eighteen months. He abode in Galilee, instead: or rather, He " walked" there ; 
for, to the period comprised in the present verse is to be referred the journey into 
the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, which comprised a circuit East of the Sea of Gali- 
lee.(/) To the same period belongs the miraculous feeding of the Four Thousand :{g) 
the journey through the towns of Csesarea Philippi ; and the Transfiguration.(A) 
Six month's of our Saviour's Ministry had in fact elapsed, since the miracle re- 

(a) Deut. xxix. 29. (&) Consider verses 6, 15, 26, 43, 51, 61, 64, 71. 

(c) St. John vi. 71 : xii. 4 : xiii. 2 : xiii. 26. There was no fear or mistake in verse 29, or 
afterwards. 

(d) See the note on St. Matth. xxvi. 47. (e) Williams. 
(/) St. Matth. xv. 21 to 29. St. Mark vii. 24 to 31. 

(<j) St. Matth. xv. 32 to 39. St. Mark viii. 1 to 9. 

(h) St. Matth. xvii. 1 to 8. St. Mark ix. 2 to 8. St. Luke ix. 28 to 36. 



708 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

corded in the former chapter : concerning which interval the beloved Disciple was 
divinely guided to preserve no single word of record ; but to pass on at once from the 
Passover season, to the Feast of Tabernacles. 

The occasion of this prolonged retirement in Galilee proves therefore to have been 
the murderous intentions of "the Jews ;" of which we had the first intimation in 
chap. v. 16, 18 ; and which seem to have dated from the time of the cure of the im- 
potent man at the Pool of Bethesda, recorded in chap, v. Those intentions are 
found to have been rife in the Capital, at this very season ; as our Saviour's lan- 
guage on confronting His enemies shows ;(d) and as their subsequent conduct 
abundantly attests. (e) The pretended ground for these wicked designs is zeal for 
God's honor, — occasioned by our Lord's supposed breach of the Fourth and First 
Commandments, (f) Amazing blindness ! which nothing but a long course of Sin 
can be supposed to have produced. And take notice, that it was the publicity 
which the Miracle had acquired by the formal defence of the Holy One before the 
Court of Sanhedrin,(<7) which must be presumed to have rendered its author so ob- 
noxious in the eyes of the Jewish Rulers. Their enmity was not one whit abated, 
though a full year and a half had elapsed since the transaction alluded to took 
place. 

2 Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. 

It was therefore now the Autumn of the year ; for the Feast of Tabernacles, or of 
Ingathering, as it was sometimes called, was " in the end of the year, when thou 
hast gathered in thy labors out of the field," (7i) — "thy corn and thy wine."(t) It 
began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Tisri, which corresponds with 
part of our September and October ; and lasted for eight days, — the first and last 
being "a solemn assembly," and "a sabbath." (j) The Festival itself was intended 
as a memorial of the time when the Israelites dwelt in tents in the wilderness ;(Ar) 
and it beautifully shadowed forth that season, yet future, when Christ should taber- 
nacle in the flesh, and "dwell among us."(Z). It was, in fact, one of those three- 
great annual Feasts, when as many of the Commonwealth of Israel as were able,, 
being males, presented themselves before the Lord in His Temple :(m) and our Sa- 
viour, (like a Son in His own house,)(?i) is found to have appeared with them. 

Many were the august ceremonies with which this Festival was kept ; one of 
which will be found alluded to in the note on ver. 37. But the Jewish people do 
not seem to have obeyed the letter of their Law, which required that they should 
"take boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and the boughs of thick 
trees, and willows of the brook;" and rejoice before the Lord their God, "dwelling 
in booths seven days."(o) One such observance of this solemn Festival, indeed, took 
place in the time of Nehemiah ; when the Children of the Captivity are said to- 
have "found Avritten in the Law" "that they should proclaim in all their cities and 
in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the Mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine 
branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to 
make booths :" (which may perhaps be regarded as an ancient Jewish exposition of 
Levit. xxiii. 40, 42, already quoted.) Thereupon it is recorded that "the people 
went forth, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and 
in their courts, and in the courts of the House of God, and in the street of the water 
gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim:" but it is expressly added that 
" since the days of Jeshva the son of Nun unto that day, had not the children of 
Israel done so."(p) That is, they had failed to obey this part of the Law for a 
thousand years. 

Bow this Festival was observed in the time of our Lord, is not known precisely : 
but inasmuch as it was the practice of every pious Israelite who was able to com- 
ply with the requirement of the Law, to repair to Jerusalem, "in the Feast of un- 
leavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles," (q) — 
it follows : 

(d) See below, ver. 20 and 25. (e) See below, verses 30, 32, 44, 45. 

(/) See St. John v. 16, 18. (g) See the note on St. John v. 18. 

(h) Exod. xxiii. 16. (?) Deut. xvi. 13. 

( ?') Numb. xxix. 12 to 38. Compare Levit. xxiii. 36, 39 : Numb. xxix. 35. 

(k% See Levit. xxiii. 43. (I) See St. John i. 14 and the note there. 

(vi) Exod. xxiii. 14 to 17. Deut. xvi. 1 to 17. See St. Luke ii. 41. 

(n) Hebrews iii. 6. (o) Levit. xxiii. 40, 42. (p) Nehemiah viii. 13 to 17. 

(q) Deuteronomy xvi. 16. 



VII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 709 

3, 4 His Brethren therefore said unto Him, Depart hence, and go 
into Judaea, that Thy Disciples also may see the works that thou doest : 
for there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself 
seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show Thyself to 
the World. 

The scene where these words were spoken is not recorded. It seems likely, how- 
ever, that Nazareth was the place, — thai \)Qmg the home of Christ's "Brethren" 
after the flesh. Concerning the persons alluded to, see what has been offered on the 
places indicated at foot.(r) They were probably the sons of another Mary, who 
was wife of Clopas, and sister of the Blessed Virgin ; and their names, — James, and 
Joses, and Simon, and Judas. "(s) Of these brothers, one at least (Jude) was a 
member of the Apostolic body.(^) It was not therefore all " the Brethren of Christ 
who addressed Him in the manner here recorded. Indeed, the suggestion in the 
heading of the chapter, may very well be correct ; namely, that the speakers were 
certain of His " Kinsmen," generally. 

These men therefore urge our Lord to proceed to the Capital, and there to show 
Himself openly ; not to continue his residence in the remote region of Galilee, — 
travelling about secretly,(w) and seeking (however vainly) to be hid.(«) Marvellous 
works our Saviour did indeed perform in that despised district: and "the Breth- 
ren" are observed here to make two distinct allusions to them : but these did not 
attract the same measure of attention, nor procure for their Divine Author the same 
renown, which was achieved by His few miracles wrought at Jerusalem. Thus, 
the cure of the impotent man, recorded in St. John v., had evidently obtained such 
notoriety, that at this very time our Lord's personal safety in the Capital was en- 
dangered. Consider verse 21, lower down, and see the note there. 

But while malignity was devising the destruction of the Holy One in the very 
spot where He had wrought such stupendous acts of Mercy, not a few faithful 
hearts are found to have entertained towards Him a humble measure of faith and 
love.(x) Our Saviour had already many "Disciples" in Jerusalem; and His 
•cousins at Nazareth are found to have grown impatient that their great Kinsman 
should gather these about Himself, — openly declare His pretensions, and proclaim 
His Mission. Such is apparently the purport of the sayings in verses 3 and 4. 

The worldly spirit which that address of " the Brethren" reveals, is much to be 
noticed. The speakers knew nothing of that goodness which seeks " the honor that 
cometh from God only."Q/) As little did they know of that heavenly method which 
our Saviour Christ was at this very time pursuing, — in gathering together the 
outcasts, and fetching home the wanderers from the fold ; extending His kingdom 
upon Earth by methods which to men seemed foolishness ; building up His Church 
out of the " base things of the world, and things which are despised, yea, and things 
which are not."(z) They were ambitious of human honor; and thought all lost 
which was done in secret. Thus, they were led to reject their Mighty Kinsman, 
(as the people of Nazareth had twice done before,)(a) and to regard Him with secret 
unbelief. Of this, the Evangelist himself assures us in the very next verse. "How 
can ye believe," (our Saviour had already asked the Jews at Jerusalem,) "which 
receive honor one of another ?"(b) 

5 For neither did His Brethren believe in Him. 

This truly marvellous statement suggests many important inferences as to what 
must have been our Saviour's method with his immediate followers. There had 
been no special works wrought for their personal conviction. Much less had any 
constraint been put upon their wills and affections. And perhaps it was to guide 
us to some such reflections, that the Evangelist here records the unbelief of " the 
Brethren" of Christ. 

(r) St. Matth. xii. 47 : xiii. 55. St. Mark iii. 31 : vi. 3. 

(s) See St. Matth. xiii. 55, and St. Mark vi. 3. 

(t) See the note on " Thaddseus," in St. Mark iii. IS,— vol. ii. p. 74. 

(w) St. Mark ix. 20. (r; See St. Mark vii. 24. 

(x) See St. John ii. 23 ; vii. 31. 

(y) St. John v. 44. (z) 1 Cor. i. 28. 

(a) See St. Luke iv. 16 to 30, and St. Matth. xiii. 54 to 58. 

(b) St. John v. 44. 



710 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAF. 

6 Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come : 

Rather, "My season." A certain moment is spoken of, well known in the deep 
counsels of God: the hour, namely, "that He should depart out of this World unto 
the Father."(c) Until that "hour" had "come," Christ would not show himself 
openly ; nor indeed could any " lay hands on H\m."(d) It came at last ; and then 
He distinctly proclaimed its arrival, (e) and "steadfastly set His face to go to Jeru- 
salem."^/") In the meantime, the Blessed Speaker contrasts the -position of His 
kinsmen after the flesh with His own position ; and explains what prevented His 
going up to Jerusalem with them, openly, now. It follows : — 

but your time is alway ready. 

Our Saviour tells his " Brethren" that they may visit Jerusalem at any time 
with perfect safety. They were not objects of public hatred, and secret conspiracy y 
like Himself. 

7 The World cannot hate you ; 

"For you urge the principles of the World, and Hhe World will love its own/ "(g) 

but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are 
evil. 

" This is the secret of the World's hatred. The words, the deeds, the presence,, 
the very thoughts of the good, are a witness which it will not endure, — as Cain 
could not endure Abel. ' He is grievous unto us, even to behold/ • He abstaineth 
from our ways, as from filthiness/ "(h) 

The beloved Disciple in a certain place inquires, Wherefore Cain slew Abel ? 
And the answer which he subjoins, forcibly recalls the present place of his Gospel. 
"Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my 
brethren, if the World hate yo>u.'"(i) 

8 Go ye up unto this Feast : I go not up yet unto this Feast ; for 
My time is not yet full come. 

The meaning of these words was of course hid from the men to whom He spake. 
They supposed that our Lord was alluding only to the period at which it would 
please Him to go up to the Feast of Tabernacles ; whereas all His words may have 
had a deeper meaning ; and His concluding saying certainly had. They little knew 
the nature of the manifestation for which they expressed impatience, or suspected 
what was to follow at "the fullness of Time." 

In the meanwhile, it is to be observed that our Lord here announces His actual 
intention of being present at the approaching solemnity. He does but declare that 
He proposes not to go up yet. Accordingly, it follows : 

9, 10 When He had said these words unto them, He abode still in 
Galilee. But when His Brethren were gone up, then went He also up 
unto the Feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. 

How long He staid in Galilee does not appear : for the space of a few days, it 
maybe thought. "The Brethren" having departed, our Saviour followed, jour- 
neying privately ; and when He reached the Capital, (which may well have been 
on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles,) He probably lived there for three days 
in.perfect seclusion. See below, verse 14. 

11 Then the Jews sought Him at the Feast, and said, Where is He ? 

Showing that the memorable events which had attended our Saviour's last visit 
to the Capital, (recorded in chapter v.) had obtained such notoriety, that His pre- 
sence was eagerly looked forward to at Jerusalem, and His arrival diligently in- 
quired after, as often as the greater Festivals of the Church came round. " The 

(c) St. John xiii. 1. (d) See below verse 30. Also chap. viii. 20. 

(c) St. John xii. 23 : xvii. 1. St. Mark xiv. 41. (/) See St. Luke ix. 51. 

(</) St. John xv. 19. {h) Williams, quoting Wisdom ii. 15, 16. 

(V) 1 St. John iii. 13, Consider also St. John xv. 18 and xvii. 14. 



VII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 711 

Jews"(&) are the most diligent seekers after Him ; who nevertheless cannot bring 
themselves to mention His hated Name: but, — "Where is He?" they ask. The 
word is emphatic. 

12 And there was much murmuring among the people concerning 
Him : for some said, He is a good Man : others said Nay ; but He de- 
ceiveth the people. 

In verse 43, below, it is also said that the populace were divided " because of 
Him." " Some" there were, in fact, of "the commm people," who "hung upon" 
His words, (I) — "heard Him gladly,"(m) — and came to Him "early in the morn- 
ing,"^?) in the Temple. "Others," were the partizans of those hypocritical Chief 
Priests, who finally compassed His death. These were taught to call Him a " De- 
ceiver," to the very last.(o) 

13 Howbeit no man spake openly of Him for fear of the Jews. 

Rather, — " spake freely of Him :" by which it is implied that some would have 
spoken in His favor, had they dared. " The Jews," in this place, as in so many 
others, is a phrase which indicates a certain section of the people, — that large and 
powerful body of Pharisees, whose enmity kept in awe Joseph of Arimathaea,Q?) 
and many other of the Rulers. (q). See the note on St. John v. 15. 

14 Now about the midst of the Feast Jesus went up into the Tem- 
ple, and taught. 

It was now the fourth day of the Festival ; and our Saviour, who was already in 
Jerusalem, (r) made his appearance in the Temple, — no longer remaining hid, but 
revealing Himself openly, and assuming the office of a public Teacher. Very as- 
tonishing must His remarks on their Sacred Books have appeared to the Jewish 
Rulers, — blinded though they were by prejudice, and hardened against conviction, 
by Sin: for Re knew, as no one else could know, not only the recondite meanings 
of the Law and the Prophets, but also what observations upon them would affect 
His auditory most. Accordingly, it follows : — 

15 And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this Man letters, 
having never learned ? 

Rather, — "How does this [person]," (or "fellow,") "know the Scriptures?" 
The expression recurs in St. John v. 47, and 2 Tim. iii. 15. — These blind Teachers 
give little heed to His Divine Doctrine. Too proud to acknowledge their admiration 
of its sublimity, their very surprise at what He says is swallowed up in wonder as 
to how He knows it. They marvel " how" such treasures of wisdom can dwell with 
One who has never studied in their schools, — (for it is not here implied that our 
Saviour had never been a learner ; but only that He had attained His marvellous 
acquaintance with the Scriptures without having sat at the feet of any of their 
famous Rabbis.) The inference was indeed sufficiently obvious, — namely, that He 
must have been divinely assisted: but this they were not in a condition to perceive. 

Our Saviour, knowing the thoughts of their hearts, makes answer to their doubts; 
accounting for the admiration which His Teaching had occasioned them, and ex- 
plaining the source of His Knowledge, — which was neither human, nor yet demo- 
niacal, as some of them may have suspected. 

16 Jesus answered them, and said, My Doctrine is not Mine, but 
His that sent Me. 

This form of expression we have met with so repeatedly before, that it is almost 
needless to explain it further.(.s) "Not Mine, but His that sent Me," — obviously 
conveys no denial that the Doctrine which our Saviour delivered was His own, as 
God ; but only the assertion that whatever He, the Eternal Son, had, — whether 

(h) See below, the note on ver. 13. (I) St. Luke xix. 48. 

(m) St Mark, xii. 37., (n) St. John viii. 2. 

(o) See below, verse 47. Also St. Matth, xxvii. 63. {p) St. John xix. 38. 

(q) St. John xii. (r) See above, on ver. 10. 
(«) See the notes on St. Matth. ix. 13, and St. John v. 30. 



712 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Doctrine, or any other thing, — He derived from the Father ; inasmuch as He de- 
rived from Him His Essence, by virtue of that Eternal Generation of which we have 
already spoken particularly, elsewhere. (f) It matters nothing, therefore, whether 
our Saviour here speaks of Himself as God, or as Man. In either case He would 
have referred His wisdom to the Eternal Father. As God, — because that relation 
whereby the Son receives all things of the Father, (whereas the Father receives 
nothing of any,) is the fundamental truth of the Gospel. (u) As Man, — because, 
although His own Divinity was doubtless the source of that Divine Wisdom whereby 
He spake, yet if He had failed to ascribe that Wisdom to the Father, a door would 
have been opened to misconception and error. Men might have doubted whether 
He was Begotten of the Father, and of One Substance with Him. 

Concerning the superiority implied by the Mission here spoken of, ("His that 
sent Me,") hear what Cyril says : — " Our Saviour does not hereby represent Him- 
self as inferior to the Father in honour: nor may His being "sent" be thought of 
as if it were something servile, — true though it be that He took upon Himself the 
form of a Servant.(y) He was ' sent' as a word from the mind, or a sunbeam(a;) 
from the sun ; — things which are disposed to project themselves, so to speak, from 
that wherein they abide, by reason of their innate tendency to external manifesta- 
tion : while yet they are naturally inherent in their respective sources, and insep- 
arable from them. For when a word hath been uttered from the mind, or bright- 
ness from the sun, it is not supposed that the source which begat hath experienced 
loss or privation in respect of that which is begotten : but on the contrary, either is 
supposed still to remain in the other." 

In the verse before us then, our Lord by a few mysterious words explains the 
source of that Divine Knowledge in Himself which so perplexed His enemies. He 
straightway adds, — 

17 If any man will do His "Will, he shall know of the Doctrine, — 
•whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself. 

Whereby it will be perceived that He further explains to His enemies the reason 
of their perplexity and unbelief. As though He had said, — " If ye were faithful 
doers of the Will of Him that sent Me, ye would recognize My Doctrine to be His, 
likewise" ..." Of Myself" in this place, is evidently put in opposition to that 
which is " of God." This is made plainer in the next verse. 

These famous words may be looked upon not only as conveying a most gracious 
promise ; but also as embodying a great and most important precept, — namely, that 
the perception of Truth depends upon the practice of Virtue. It is a favorite maxim 
of the present day that increased Knowledge will bring with it growth in Godliness. 
Holy Scripture, at all events, exactly reverses the process. The way to "know of 
the Doctrine, whether it be of God," is — to do " His Will" And to this agree many 
other declarations of Holy Scripture. (y) 

Literally, — " If any man wills," that is, wishes, sincerely desires, to do God's Will, 
" he shall know." Thus, the love of God has the promise of conducting to the Know- 
ledge of God. The words are full of consolation : yet full of terror likewise ; for 
they remind us that the " rejection of true doctrine is a proof of an evil heart." " Un- 
derstanding," (says Augustine,) "is the reward of Faith. Seek not to know, in 
order that thou mayest believe ; but seek to believe in order that thou mayest know." 
God hath indissolubly linked together our intellectual and our moral nature ; and 
will call us to account for our views and opinions, no less than for the actions of 
our lives. This is an unfashionable Doctrine, but it is true. 

18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: 

And he that seeketh his own glory, the same " is a deceiver and an antichrist." (z) 
" My Doctrine," (saith our Saviour,)" is not Mine, but His that sent Me :"(«) and 
the character of Him that seeketh the Glory of Him that sent Him, follows : 

but He that seeketh His Glory that sent Him, the same is true, and 
no unrighteousness is in Him. 

(0 See the notes on St. John v. 20, &c. (u) See St. John xx. 31. 

(v) Phil. ii. 7. (x) Cyril says, "brightness," — recalling Heb. i. 3. 

(y) See the places referred to in note (c) at page 686, — in the Commentary on St. John v. 44. 

(z) 2 St. John ver. 7. («) See above, ver. 16 



VII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 713 

" True," — and therefore no deceiver ofthepeople,(6) as some of them had said.(c) 
" Unrighteousness" here stands for Falsehood, as in so many other places of Scrip- 
ture, (d) It is further implied that the Pharisees, who sought " honor one of another, 
and not the honor that cometh from God only,"(e) were both liars and unrighteous : 
liars, — because they taught for doctrines the commandments of men ;(f) unrighte- 
ous, — because they were themselves transgressors. As it follows : 

19 Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you keepeth 
the Law? Why go ye about to kill me? 

This is said with allusion to their alleged ground of offence against our Lord ; 
namely, His supposed violation of the Mosaic Law.(^) The argument is, — "Ye 
profess honour for the Law of Moses. Why go ye about to kill Me, in whom is no 
unrighteousness ; and thus prove by your actions that ye despise that Law which 
so strictly forbids murder?" 

This was the question of Him " unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, 
and from whom no secrets are hid." Our Lord knew the murderous intentions 
which already filled the hearts of His enemies : He knew also the occasion of their 
hate. But this has been explained already in the note on verse 1. 

Take notice that on a former occasion, also, the same Divine Speaker had asked 
His enemies a question very like the present. It was the Sabbath-day: He was 
about to restore a man which had a withered hand : the Scribes and Pharisees mur- 
mured at Him for doing what was unlawful on the Sabbath, and evidently designed 
nothing less than His destruction. Accordingly, He addressed to them the wither- 
ing inquiry, — "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath-clays, or to do evil? to save 
life, or to kill?"(h) 

His enemies in the meantime ascribe to demoniacal possession His knowledge, 
the reality of which they are unable to deny : — 

20 The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth 
about to kill thee ? 

Without condescending to notice their calumnious charge, or their question — our 
Saviour at once exposes the source of their malignity ; — 

21 Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and 
ye all marvel. 

"Marvel" is here thought to signify "are inflamed," "enrage yourselves." — 
Take notice that He says not, — " I restored to health on the Sabbath-day one hope- 
lessly diseased." He simply describes the miraculous cure described in the v. chap- 
ter, as "a work" which He had done, — thereby soothing the feelings of his excited 
auditory. It seems to be implied, — "For this one work, although wrought for a 
sick man's perfect restoration, ye persecute Me as if I were a malefactor, guilty of 
some monstrous crime. Ye pretend to be actuated only by jealousy for the honor 
of the Sabbath : yet might your regard even for that Institution well give way at the 
sight of One standing among you so manifestly invested with Divine Power as My- 
self. Ye marvel at My disregard of Moses' Law, inasmuch as I have done this one 
work*: what then, think ye, must be the wrath of Almighty God against yourselves, 
for jour numberless offences against Him!"(i) 

22, 23 Moses therefore gave unto you Circumcision : not because it 
is of Moses, but of the Fathers ; and ye on the Sabbath-day circum- 
cise a man. If a man on the Sabbath-day receive Circumcision, that 
the Law of Moses should not be broken ; 

Not that the Law of Moses any where commands Circumcision on the Sabbath- 
day. In only one place does the ancient Lawgiver prescribe the observance of this 

(6) Consider 2 Cor. vi. 8 : "as deceivers and yet true." (c) See above, ver. 12. 

(d) Consider St. John iii. 21, (where see the note.) Horn. i. 18: ii. 8. 1 Cor. xiii. 6. 2 
Thess. ii. 12. 

(e) St. John v. 41. (/) St. Matth. xv. 3, 6, 9. (g) See St. John v. 16 and 18. 
(h) See St. Mark iii. 4, and the note there. 

(i) Prom Cyril. 



714 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

sacred rite at all ; and there, he merely says of the "man child," — " In the eighth 
day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised." (k) Our Lord, in verse 22, says 
" Moses gave you Circumcision," because the Jewish nation rested their continued 
observance of that sign of God's covenant with Abraham(Z) on the passage already 
quoted from the Law of Moses. 

But the remarks thus offered, instead of removing, seem rather to increase the 
difficulty of the place ; the meaning of which will perhaps best appear from some 
such a paraphrase as this : — 

" On the following account(w) Moses gave you Circumcision: — not, because it was 
any part of the Law which he received new from God ; but, on account of its being 
a Patriarchal Rite. His command to circumcise, amounts therefore only to his 
sanction of a Patriarchal Precept. And yet, though Circumcision is nothing more 
than this, you hesitate not to circumcise on the Sabbath-day, — thus transgressing 
the letter of the Fourth Commandment ; and violating (according to your own 
standard of strictness,) the oldest and most solemn of the Divine Institutions. If, 
then, ye yourselves practice a wounding of the flesh on the Sabbath-day, are ye 
angry at Me," — 

are ye angry at Me, because I have made a man every whit whole 
on the Sabbath-day? 

That is, — " Now, if Circumcision, which is a wounding, and partial mutilation 
of the Body, must needs be performed even on the Sabbath, in order that the 
Law of Moses may be preserved inviolate, — are ye angry at Me because I made the 
whole frame of a man healthy on the same day?"00 In which words, a contrast 
seems to be implied between Moses, who, "verily was faithful in all his house, as a 
servant;" and "Christ as a Son over his own House. "(p) 

24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judg- 
ment. 

This does not mean, "judge not according to ivhat appears ;" as if the Divine 
Speaker implied that appearances are often deceptive. It means, — Be not partial 
judges ; but learn to give an impartial judgment. Do not assent to what Moses 
requires, and yet charge Me with Sin : but regard your own act, and Mine, with 
fair and impartial eyes ; for the Law of the Sabbath is equally binding on us all. 
Ye consider that ye circumcise on the Sabbath-day by Moses' requirement. Be it 
so. Contrast therefore the bloody rite of Circumcision, practised on a Babe, with 
the glorious recovery of entire soundness in the case of one who had been dis- 
eased for 38 years. Look at the work, and judge fairly. Be "not acceptors of per- 
sons." 

25 Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this He, whom they 
seek to kill? 

Showing that the intention of the Jewish Rulers was no secret to the people. 

26 But, lo, He speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto Him. 
Do the Rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ ? 

Rather,— " Have the Rulers/' (that is, the members of the High Court of Sanhe- 
drin,) " perhaps really ascertained that this is indeed the Messiah ?".... These 
words of the people convey a lively picture of the majesty and power with which 
our Saviour must have spoken the preceding words ; for His enemies are seen 
silent and confounded in His presence, —the presence of One whom, it was noto- 
rious, they only wanted to get into their power in order to destroy. Here He is, 
and they are powerless ! Nay, so awe-struck do they appear, that a looker-on would 

suppose them conscious that Messiah stood before them Unbelief however 

soon interferes to prevent the person who threw out this suggestion, from accept 
ing it for their own souls' health. It follows : 

(k) Levit. xii. 3. (I) Gen. xvii. 9 to 14. 

(m) The learned reader should compare, for the construction, St. John v. 16, IS : viii. 47 : x. 
17: xii. 18, 39. St. Matth. xiii. 13. 1 St. John iii. 1. The word "therefore" must not be 
connected with the preceding verse. 

(«) See above the note on ver. 1. (o) Heb. iii. 5, 6. 



VII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 715 

27 Howbeit we know this Man whence He is : 

The reasoners knew that Jesus of Nazareth was the reputed son of Joseph, " the 
carpenter," and Mary his wedded wife. They might have found out, however, had 
they pursued the investigation with real care, that Bethlehem had been the place 
of His actual Birth ; and it was within the limits of inquiry to ascertain that His 
Parents claimed to be of the House and lineage of David. (p) All this however the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem were little likely to suspect. Their boast on every occa- 
sion was, that they "knew" whence Christ was; that is, they knew His Parent- 
age and connections, (q) A veil had been cl^^vn over the early history of the Holy 
One, — a thicker veil than men, or even the Pri ice of Evil himself, could penetrate. 
The flight into Egypt and subsequent return to Nazareth, — the home (and probably 
the birth-place) of the Blessed Virgin Mary,(r) as well as of her saintly Husband, — 
must have effectually obliterated the memory of the Nativity at Bethlehem. Won- 
ders had attended that event indeed ; but, on reflection, it will be felt that every 
part of this "crying mystery," as Ignatius speaks concerning the Incarnation, had 
been "wrought in the silence of God."(s) The portentous Star and the arrival of 
the Magi at Jerusalem must have been the events of a single day ; while the visit 
and the offerings of those royal persons to the Infant "King of the Jews," must 
have been scarcely less secret a matter than the homage of the shepherd-swains 
which had preceded it. The Presentation in the Temple was altogether a private 
transaction. The very Murder of the Babes of Bethlehem must have been looked 
upon as little more than one of the many acts of cruelty which disgraced the latter 
days of Herod, — a thing to be condemned, deplored, and forgotten. In the mean- 
time, the Holy Family disappeared from the Holy Land for a period : and when 
Joseph and Mary returned, it was not to the scene of their late singular distinc- 
tion. They had come back to dwell in extreme poverty among the despised race 
to which they belonged ; and in a city where no persons knew what had befallen 
them since their departure. Thirty troublous years had elapsed since then ; and 
a fresh generation had sprung up. The title "Jesus of Nazareth" had now become 
the established appellation of our Saviour. (t) Men were able, therefore, with con- 
fidence, to say, "We know this Man whence He is !" Consider below, verses 41, 
42. It follows : 

but when Chkist cometh, no man knoweth whence He is. 

They allude to the declaration of the prophet Micah, that the "goings forth" of 
Him " that is to be Ruler in Israel/' " have been from of old, from everlasting :"(w) 
and again to those words of Isaiah respecting him: "Who shall declare His gene- 
ration V'(y) Hence, they reason thus : Concerning Christ, it will not be known 
whence He cometh (alluding to His Parentage;) but we know whence this Man 
cometh. Therefore He is not Christ. ... A melancholy specimen of perverse 
reasoning, truly ! They had nothing to advance against the Holy One ; nothing 
whereon to rest their unbelief; except the inconvenient fact that they knew (or 
thought they knew) His origin.(jc) He proceeds to deprive them even of this 
excuse : — 

28 Then cried Jesus in the Temple as He taught, saying, Ye both 
know Me, and ye know whence I am : and I am not come of Myself, 
but He that sent Me is true, whom ye know not. 

He spake this with a loud Voice, as if proclaiming the Truth in triumph. The 
sense is : "Ye both know Me, and ye know whence I am." So ye say : and in a 
certain sense, ye say truly. "And yet, I came not of Myself: but He is faithful 
and true that sent Me, — fulfilling His promises made to the Fathers. And Him, ye 
know not." . . . Hence, it is implied that the enemies of Christ, in reality, knew 
not whence He was. And so our Lord says in another place :(y) adding, in express 
words, " Ye neither know Me nor My Father." (z) It follows : 

(p) See St. Luke ii. 4, and the note. 

(q) St. Matth. xiii. 55 to 57. St. Mark vi. 2, 3. St. Luke iv. 22. St. John vi. 42. 
(>•) St. Luke ii. 39. ( s ) See the note on St, Luke ii. 35. 

(t) Consider St. John i: 45, (where see the note,) xix. 19, St. Matth. xxi. 11, and especially 
Acts xxii. 8. 

(«) Micah v. 2. ( v ) Isaiah liii. 8. 

(x) Compare the place with St. John ix. 29, where see the note. 
(y) See St. John viii. 14. (z) St. John viii. 19. See also St. John xvi. 3. 



716 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

29 But I know Him : 

" The Son alone knoweth the Father, as being of one substance with Him ; and 
He only can reveal Him. The peculiar knowledge here spoken of implies a pecu- 
liar Generation from which it springs. For since the knowledge of the Father is 
peculiar to him, as being from Him, then the being from Him is peculiar to Him 
also ; that is, the being the true' Son of God, by nature/' (a) 

for I am from Him, and He hath sent Me. 

" 'From whom I received My Essence by communication, from Him also received 
I this commission. 7 Thus He which begetteth sendeth, and He which is begotten 
is sent. ,; 

" 'I know Him' (saith Christ), 'for I am from [or of] Him/ And because He 
is from [or of] the Father, therefore He is called by those of the Nicene Council, 
in their Creed, ' God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God/ " In fact, they 
gathered those words of their Creed from this place ; but not immediately, for (as 
Bp. Pearson remarks) they were in some of the Oriental Creeds before. He goes 
on to explain : " The Father is God, but not of God : Light, but not of Light. 
Christ is God, but of God : Light, but of Light. There is no difference or in- 
equality in the Nature or Essences, because the same in both ; but the Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ hath that Essence of Himself, from none ; Christ hath the 
same, not of Himself but from Him."(6) 

By these words, then, the Eternal Son declares Himself to be the Only-Begotten 
of the Father, and asserts His Eternal Generation ; as well as proclaims His In- 
carnation and divine Apostleship.(c) He had, in fact, now repeated the solemn 
Doctrine which we met with in chap. v. ; and accordingly, in the estimation of His 
hardened auditory, He was guilty of the same offence which is recorded of Him on 
that earlier occasion ;(d) and it is attended by the same consequence. Namely : 

30 Then they sought to take Him : but no man laid hands on Him, 
because His hour was not yet come. 

That is, — It was divinely overruled that none should lay hands upon Him : be- 
cause, "His Hour" was yet future. Concerning that phrase, see above, the note 
on ver. 6. "He laid invisible hands on their power" (remarks Williams) ; "for it 
is He who hath said to the Sea, — Hitherto shalt thou come and no farther." 

31 And many of the people believed on Him, and said, When Christ 
cometh, will He do more miracles than these which this Man hath 
done ? 

Showing the nature of the expectations which were popularly entertained con- 
cerning Messiah. These men were wrought upon by the same considerations which 
prevailed with Nicodemus ;(e) the witness, namely, of " the works" of Christ. See 
St. John v. 36. 

They believed therefore with their heart, and confessed Him with their lips. In 
this manner were the Israel of God by slow degrees gathered into the Fold. A 
similar statement will be found in the ensuing chapter ;(/) and the reader is refer- 
red to the note on the last words of St. John ii. 11. In the meantime, the words 
which wrought so blessed an effect on "many out of the crowd," or "common 
people," did but harden the hearts of their Rulers. As it follows : 

32 The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things con- 
cerning him ; and the Pharisees and the Chief Priests sent officers to 
take him. 

It will be perceived by a comparison with other parts of Scripture that the per- 
sons spoken of were the Court of Sanhedrin.Q/) These were those " blind guides" 
whom our Lord rebuked so severely ;(h) for such acts as the present, denouncing 

(a) Williams, from Hilary. (b) Bp. Pearson. See the note on St. John xiv. 28. 

(c) See above, the note on ver. 16. Id) St. John v. 16, 18. 

(e) St. John iii. 2. (/) See St. John viii. 30. 

(g) See St. John xi. 47, and Acts v. 21. (h) See Matth. xxiii. 16 and 24. 



VII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 717 

eight woes upon them. "Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye 
shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men : for ye neither go in yourselves, 
neither suffer ye tJiem. that are entering to go in."(i) 

33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, 
and then I go unto Him that sent Me. 

He says, " Yet a little while," — because at the ensuing Passover He will suffer 
death. " I go," for Christ laid down His life by His own free will. (A;) " Unto Him 
that sent Me," — implying that He is " Very God of very God •" " the Only-Begotten 
Son of the Father." . . . These words were possibly addressed to the Officers who 
were sent to apprehend the Holy One. The effect which our Lord's Discourse pro- 
duced upon those men, we shall discover lower down, in verses 45, 46. 

" Yet a little while am I with you." Notice the tenderness of that plea, which 
our Saviour so often urges : " words" (says Williams) " which make the strongman 
of wrath as a little child ; the subject which, of all others, lies the nearest to human 
tears ! And not only such as to soften enemies, but, as Chrysostom observes, such 
as to make those who were in earnest more eager to hear Him, as having but a little 
while to do so." Consider the places at foot.(Z) In the meantime, He proceeds: 

34 Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find Me : 

This is at once a prophecy and a threat, — that after the close of our Lord's Min- 
istry, when He had returned to the Father, they who now despise Him will too 
late discover their mistake, and be made conscious of their sin. According to that 
of Hosea, — " They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord ; 
but they shall not find Him ; He hath withdrawn Himself from them.(w) Then, (as 
it had also been prophesied of old,) ' though they shall cry unto Me, I will not 
hearken unto them.' "(n) And again, — " When ye spread forth your hands, I will 
hide Mine eyes from you ; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear."(o) 
" Because I have called, and ye refused ; I have stretched out My Hand, and no 

man regarded ; I also will laugh at your calamity ; I will mock when your 

fear cometh.' ; (p) The allusion may be specially to the time of the Siege, as Chry- 
sostom suggests. Our Saviour adds : 

and where I am, thither ye cannot come. 

He speaks of course of Heaven ; and the same saying will be found repeated in 
chap. viii. 21, and is alluded to by Christ Himself in chap. xiii. 33. A slight dif- 
ference however is discoverable between the two places. For it is not here said 
u whither I go, ye cannot come;" but "where I am;" — a saying which recalls the 
sublime assertion already considered in the note on chap. iii. 13. 

Moreover, it is observable that this is one of those sayings of our Lord, (of which 
there are indeed so many,)(^) which evidently obtains a different meaning in differ- 
ent places. The expression does not seem to signify the same thing here, and in 
chap. xiii. 33. Here, it implies that our Saviour was about to withdraw to that 
blessed Region, whither His saints should follow Him ; (for indeed He went to pre- 
pare a place for their reception :) but whither the unbelieving and impenitent Jews, 
His enemies, would never arrive. The marriage Feast, the Great Supper, the Ever- 
lasting Habitations, the many Mansions, the Heavenly Jerusalem, — all this was not 
for them. Yea, to this day, their descendants seek Him, yet do not find Him ; and 
(strange to think !) it is precisely for the reason which their forefathers, in the very 
next verse, suggest : — 

35 Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will He go, that 
we shall not find Him ? will He go unto the dispersed among the 
Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles ? 

The meaning of the original seems to be rightly given here. They ask, — Will 
Christ then go "to the Twelve Tribes in the dispersion," (or " scattered abroad," 

(i) St. Matth. xxiii. 13, I (k) Consider St. John x. 18. 

(0 See St. John xiii. 33 : xiv. 19 : xvi. 16. (m) Hos. v. 6. 

(n) Jerem. xi. 11. (o) Isaiah i. 15. (p) Proverbs i. 24, 26. 

(q) See the note on St. Matth. xix. 30. 



718 A PLAIN COMMENTARY. [CHAP. 

as we render the place ;)(j°) " and teach the Gentiles," — literally, " the Greeks ?" 
In which words there seems to be a tacit allusion to the prophecy in Isaiah xlix. 6. 
They add : 

36 What manner of saying is this that He said, Ye shall seek Me, 
and shall not find Me : and where I am, thither ye cannot come ? 

And thus ended the dialogue. Our attention is next invited to a memorable 
scene which took place in the Temple, four days later, — -namely, on the eighth day 
of the Feast of Tabernacles. 

37 In the last day, that great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and 
cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. 

It was on the eighth, (s) which had come to be regarded as the principal day of 
that Feast which the Jews observed with most veneration, and attended in largest 
numbers ; a day observed with peculiar solemnity, as that which closed not only 
the Feast of Tabernacles, but also all their yearly festivals ; — in the presence of a 
mighty concourse, therefore, it was, that the Saviour of the World took His stand, 
and spake these words. It cannot be in vain recorded of Him that He " stood and 
cried." There must have been something exceedingly solemn in that attitude, and 
that voice. He "stood," — -where all might see:(f) He "cried," — that all might 
hear. " If any man thirst," was His cry, — " let him come unto Me and drink !" 
And how must those words have recalled the exclamation of the Prophet, — " Ho, 
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the Waters, and he that hath no money ; come 
ye, buy and eat V\u) 

Consider that this was the last time that our Lord was ever to keep one of the 
three great Festivals at Jerusalem ; and it was the last day of that Festival. He 
" cried," therefore, that the deaf ears might hear ; and the careless ones be made 
attentive. It was a strong cry of reproof, of warning, of invitation. " Wisdom," 
(as it is written concerning Christ Himself,) " crieth in the chief place of concourse, 
in the openings of the gates : in the City she uttereth her words, saying, How long 
ye simple ones will ye love simplicity ? and the scorners delight in their scorning, 
and fools hate knowledge ? Turn you at My reproof: behold, i" will pour out My 
Spirit unto you"{x) .... The words are almost a prophecy! 

It is of the Soul's TJwst that our Lord here speaks. He might have said 
"Hunger," had he willed, — as in St. John vi. 35; and the meaning would have 
been the same. Why then is it Thirst, in this place, and not Hunger ? Plainly 
because Thirst is the keener want : because, also, it is the manner of Scripture to 
discourse of the Spirit under the figure of Water ; and our Saviour was revealing 
Himself to His countrymen, — fetching water, as on this day they did, from " Siloa's 
brook(z) that flowed fast by the Oracle of God," and bringing it with pomp and 
ceremony into the Temple, — as Himself the Living Fountain, — the true source of 
spiritual refreshment to Israel. 

Here then is a most gracious invitation, and most loving promise. " Let him 
come unto Me :" there is the invitation. " Let him drink:" there is the promise. 
To appreciate the blessedness of these words, we have but to call to mind the things 
which the soul most ardently longs for ; as Happiness, — Love, — Knowledge, — 
Holiness : and further, to remember how the thirst for these becomes aggravated 
by Misfortune, — Bereavement, — Perplexity, — Falls. We know too that the things 
of Time cannot, were not meant, to satisfy those immense desires which will find 
their full gratification only in Eternity. Their office is to lead on to something 
higher, and purer, and better. The thirst of Happiness was meant to guide us to 
God's Right Hand \{a) and of Love, to Him who is ever with us :(6) and of Know- 
ledge, to the presence of Him who dwelleth in Light :(c) and of Holiness, to Him 
who alone maketh holy.(rf) " Come unto Me," (it is therefore written,) " all ye 
that labour and are heavy laden, and /will give you rest."(e) " I am Alpha and 
Omega, the beginning and the End. I will give unto him that is athirst, of the 

(r) St. James i. 1. Compare 1 St. Peter i. 1. 

(«) See Levit. xxiii. 36, 39, and Numb. xxix. 35. 

(t) Compare St. John i. 35. («) Is. lv. 1. (x) Prov. i. 20 to 23. 

(z) See St. John ix. 7. (a) Psalm xvi. 11. 

(b) Hebrews xiii. 6, — see the margin. 

(c) 1 Tim. vi. 16. {d) 1 St Pet. i. 16. (e) St. Matth. xi. 28. 



VII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 719 



Fountain of the Water of Life freely."(/) " If an y man thirst, let him come unto 
Me, and drink !" 

A partial fulfillment, then, these words would have had at the time when they 
were spoken. A yet larger fulfillment they will have obtained at the Feast of Pen- 
tecost. But their entire scope belongs to that period, yet future, when the " Spirit 
and the Bride will say, " Come :"(#) when " a pure river of Water of Life, clear as 
crystal/ 7 will be seen "proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb."(/2.) 
There, (in " that great City, the Holy Jerusalem,") the Saints of God shall " hunger 
no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall the Sun light on them, nor any heat. 
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall lead them unto living foun- 
tains of Waters ; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes !"(&') 

38 He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his 
belly shall flow rivers of living Water. 

It is well known that nowhere in the Bible are these words to be found ; and it 
is not by any means likely that we ought to explain the passage with Chrysostom 
and others, — " He that believeth on Me as," (that is, " in conformity with what,") 
" the Scripture hath said ;" making the words which follow, a promise which had 
been reserved for the New Covenant. The true meaning of our Lord's words is, 
that as many of the goodly fellowship of the Prophets as have discoursed in dark, 
deep phrase, of the largeness of spiritual endowments, — that free outpouring and 
indwelling, even to overflowing, of the Spirit, which was to mark the reign of 
Messiah ;(&) — all these, more or less implicitly, have said the thing which He by 
whose Spirit they spake(Z) here attributes to them. The language used by our 
Lord on this occasion, seems, therefore, to be as nearly as possible tantamount to 
that which He used in addressing the Woman of Samaria ; — "Whosoever drinketh 
of this water shall thirst again : but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall 
give him shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a 
well of water springing up into Everlasting Life."(?n) In both places it is dis- 
tinctly marked not only that he that drinketh shall have no lack for evermore ; but 
that he shall have in himself a well-spring of blessedness, — derived indeed from 
Him with whom all fullness dwells ; yet flowing away in rivers even from the 
earthen vessel to which it had been imparted. " The manner of our Saviour's 
expression implieth that the Spirit should be poured out in such a plentiful 
measure as would be not only sufficient to satiate the souls of them that thirsted 
after it, but in a manner overflow to the Salvation of others."(«) Hence, that word 
of the Apostle, — -" As every one hath received the gift, so let him minister." (o) . . . 
The " belly," in this place, of course denotes the whole " inner man."" 

And take notice that this is one of the occasions, (so much more numerous than 
is supposed,) when the Evangelist himself comes forward to prevent mistake, or 
misconception : adding, 

39 (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him 
should receive : 

St. John says, — Seek not for this saying of our Lord, (thine and mine,) in any 
special place of the OJd Testament. Thou wilt strive to discover this particular 
passage, all in vain : for " this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on 
Him should receive ;" " the streams whereof shall make glad the City of God."(p) 

Take notice however that " each is filled according to the size of that vessel of 
Faith which each brings to the Fountain. If the love of the World dwelleth in 
thee, there is no room in thee for the love of God. Thou art a vessel, but thou art 
full. Pour forth what thou hast, that thou mayest receive that which thou hast 
not. Pour forth the love of the World that thou mayest be filled with the love of 
God. Each according to his thirst, shall find drink in God." (2) — St. John adds, 

(/) Rev. xxi. 6. (g) Consider Rev. xxii. 17. 

(h) Rev. xxii. 1. '({) Rev. vii. 16, 17. 

(7c) As Is. xii. 3 : xxxv. 6, 7; xli. 18 : xliii. 19 : xliv. 3 : lv. 1 : lviii. 11. Ezek. xxxix. 29. 
Joel ii. 28, 29. Zech. xii. 10 : xiv. 8, 16, Ac. 

(0 1 St Peter i. 11. (m) St. John iv. 13, 14. 

(n) Dr. Jackson. (o) 1 St. Peter iv. 10. (p) Ps. lxvi. 4. 

(q) Williams, quoting Augustine and Ludolph. 



720 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

for the Holy Ghost was not yet given ; because that Jesus was not 
yet glorified.) 

The allusion here to the great Pentecostal effusion (r) is unmistakable. " The 
Spirit" was a gift yet future, — something which believers " should receive/' Hence 
it is said "for the Holy Ghost was not yet given." The waters of Life would not 
flow till the Rock was smitten. It is the manner of St. John in this way to allude 
to events which he yet does not describe. (s) 

Take notice also of that expression — " Jesus was not yet glorified." It is thus 
that not only St. John, but our Saviour Himself, elsewhere speaks of His Triumph 
over Death, and His subsequent exaltation to the Right Hand of God. (t) Moreover, 
that out-pouring of the Spirit, which was to take place ten days after our Lord's 
Ascension into Heaven, He expressly makes dependent on His Ascension. " It is 
expedient for you that I go away," (He said to His sorrowing Disciples ;) " for if I 
go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send 
Him unto you."^) This sequence and order is marked also in the sixty-seventh 
Psalm: " Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive : Thou hast 
received gifts for men."(v) — Hence the word " Because," in the text. 

But verse 39 is parenthetical and explanatory. In the next verse we are in- 
formed what was the effect produced on our Lord's auditory by the very remark- 
able sayings in verses 37 and 38. 

40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, 
Of a truth this is the Prophet. 

Referring to the famous prediction in Deuteronomy xviii. 15, 18, — of a Prophet 
like unto Moses which God should raise up, in the latter days. Compare St. John 
i. 21, and the note there. 

41 Others said, This is the Christ. 

Hazarding a yet bolder confession : for it is found to have been a different one 
from the other, (x) 

But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee ? 

" Ever stifling, by the Scripture itself, the yearnings of Faith." A true sample 
this, of the World's wisdom in things spiritual, — knowing so much, yet knowing so 
little ! Sufficiently clever in suggesting technical difficulties ; not skillful enough 
to suggest their solution. Surely the dawn of the truth was discoverable even from 
Isaiah ix. 1, 2. 

42 Hath not the Scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of 
David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was ? 

The objection thus raised against our Lord is a striking confirmation of the truth 
of what was offered above in a note on verse 27 ; for it is quite evident that a belief 
had firmly obtained that " Jesus of Nazareth" was a native of Galilee. Neither 
does it seem to have been generally known that the Husband of the Blessed Virgin 
•claimed to be of " the House and Lineage of David." — The prophecies which had 
gone before respecting the Royal descent(?/) and Birth-place of Messiah, (z) were in 
the meantime, a matter of notoriety. (a) — " Bethlehem, where David teas," seems to 
be said to distinguish this Bethlehem from another in the Tribe of Zabulon. See 
the note on St. Matthew ii. 5. 

43 So there was a division among the people because of Him. 

(r) Acts ii. 1 to 4. 

(s) As, to the institution of Baptism in chap, iii., and of the Lord's Supper in chap. vi. : to 
the Ascension, in chap, vi. 62 and xx. 17. In this place, to the Day of Pentecost. 

(t) St. John xii. 16, (with which compare xiv. 26,) and xii. 23, (with which compare xvii. 1 
and 5.) Also St. John xiii. 32. And consider such places as the following : St. Luke xxiv. 26. 
Bom. viii. 17. 1 St. Peter i. 11 : iv. 13 : v. 1, Ac. («) St. John xvi. 7. 

(v) Ps. lxviii. 18, quoted in Eph. iv. 7 to 12. See Acts ii. 33. (,x) St. John i. 20. 

(y) 2 Sam. vii. 12; Jer. xxiii. 5, 6 : xxxiii. 15, 16. Ps. exxxii. 11, &c. (z) Micah v. 2. 

(a) Acts ii. 30, Rom. i. 3, &c. Also St. Matth. ii. 6. 



VII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 721 

" His own prophecy began already to be fulfilled, that He came to send Division 
upon Earth : though God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace."(&) See 
also St. John ix. 16, x. 19, and xii. 42. 

44 And some of them would have taken him ; but no man laid hands 
on Him. 

The allusion does not seem to be to those officers who were despatched in verse 
32 : for compare verse 30. There doubtless was a large party of miscreants in 
Jerusalem, completely at the disposal of the Chief Priests and Pharisees ; and who, 
at this very time, were ripe for those atrocities which six months after they per- 
petrated with greediness. (c) But their purpose was overruled for the present by 
an unseen Arm ; because the Hour appointed in the Divine Counsels for Christ's 
Death, was not yet come. See above, on verse 30. 

In the meantime, the officers who (as we read in verse 32) were despatched to 
apprehend the Holy One, return ; and from the general tenor of all that follows, it 
would seem as if the Sanhedrin, (consisting of the Chief Priests and Pharisees,) 
were now assembled in Council. 

45, 46 Then came the officers to the chief Priests and Pharisees ; 
and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought Him? The 
officers answered, Never man spake like this Man. 

Take notice that they complain neither of want of opportunity, nor fear of the 
populace, as on a subsequent occasion they might have done.(rf) His innocence 
has disarmed them, and the majesty of His Discourse has made them afraid. 
" Never at any time so spake man as this Man speaketh." — The Doctrine, so un- 
earthly : the eloquence, so convincing: the aspect, so awful: the manner, so divine. 
It is as if they said, — He is not Man, but God ! In short, they prefer braving the 
anger of their employers to incurring the danger of laying violent hands on such 
a Being. Nay, they are converted into Apostles ; and come back to the Sanhedrin, 
— preaching Christ ! 

47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived ? 

For they wickedly called Christ a " Deceiver," — that is " an Impostor." (e) They 
seek to convince their servants of the error of believing in Christ, by appealing to 
the estimation in which He was held by their own learned Body, (who perforce, it 
is implied, must be the best judges of such a matter ;) asking with scorn, — 

48, 49 Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him ? 
But this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed. 

This was their customary way of denouncing their unlearned brethren. Take 
notice however that even " among the chief Rulers, many believed" in Jesus Christ 
already ; " but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess Him, lest they should 
be put out of the Synagogue. "(/) The faith of Jairus,((/) of Joseph of Arimathsea, 
and perhaps of more(/i) who are mentioned in the Gospel, remained therefore yet a 
secret. The well-known name of a third member of the Sanhedrin follows. He 
was present ; and felt constrained to speak. 

50, 51 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, 
being one of them,) Doth our Law judge any man, before it hear him, 
and know what he doeth ? 

Concerning Nicodemus, who was mentioned at first as a secret Disciple of Christ, 
and who now comes forward as His open Apologist, — (hereafter to show himself a 
bold Confessor likewise,) the reader is referred to the note on St. John iii. 2: and 
he is also requested to peruse the note on St. John iv. 46. — "Wisely appealing to 

(6) Williams, quoting St. Luke xii. 51. 1 Cor. xiv. 33. 

(e) Consider St. Matth. xxvii. 20. St. Mark xv. 11. (d) St. Luke xix. 47, 48. 

(e) See above, on ver. 12. (/) St. John xii. 42 : see xix. 38. 

(g) Compare St. Mark v. 22 with St. Matth. ix. 18. 

(h) Consider St. Luke xvi. 1, and xviii. 18. 

46 



722 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

their own law,(*) and secretly pleased to find the officers so affected with awe, Nico- 
demus hoped that the Rulers themselves might, in like manner, be overcome by the 
presence of Christ." (k) Take notice that, instead of argument, certain members 
of their assembly assail their brother counsellor with insult: asking, in derision, 
if they may attribute his taking of our Lord's part, to the bond of a common 
Country. 

52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee ? 
Search, and look : for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. 

Their taunt, in the original, runs thus, — "Surely, thou too art not of Galilee, [art 
thou?"] "Search and see," they add: that is, — "Search the Scriptures," (?) and 
notice what is there written: for it is nowhere foretold "that the Prophet is to 
arise (■?}*) out of Galilee;" in other words, "is to be born" there. 

This is certainly what the speakers meant. They were far too learned not to 
know that many of "the goodly fellowship of the prophets" had been Galileans, — 
as Elijah and Elisha, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, and Nahum. — In the meantime, the 
remonstrance of Nicodemus is found to have been attended with the result which 
he must have mainly intended; for the Council evidently broke up, — as usual with 
them, after the evening daily sacrifice. Accordingly, we read: 

53 And every man went unto his own house. 

But "Jesus" (it is added,) "went unto the Mount of Olives." Why then are 
those words severed from their context, and made the commencement of a new 
chapter ?(?i) The balance of the sentence is thereby destroyed; the affecting con- 
trast between its two members, lost; and only half the Evangelist's meaning con- 
veyed. "What God had so joined together should not have been put asunder. 



CHAPTER VIII 



1 Christ delivereth the woman taken in adultery. 12 He preacheth Himself the 
Light of the World, and just ifieth His doctrine: 33 answereth the Jews that boasted 
of Abraham, 59 and conveyeth Himself from their cruelty. 

1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 

Concerning the import of these few words, enough has been said at the close of 
the preceding chapter, — to which, in fact, they properly belong. It will be remem- 
bered that the time spoken of is "the last day, that great day of the Feast" of 
Tabernacles, — a Festival which marked the close of the Sacred Year; and which, 
in this place, indicates the commencement of the last half-year of our Lord's 
Ministry. 

2, 3, 4 And early in the morning He came again into the Temple, 
and all the people came unto Him ; and He sat down, and taught them. 
And the Scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in 
adultery ; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto Him, 
Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 

Concerning the position given to the accused person, compare Acts iv. 7. It 

(i) To such places as Exod. xxiii. 1. Levit. xix. 15. Deut. i. 17 : xix. 15. 
(k) Williams. [I) Compare St. John v. 39. 

(to) The learned reader will perceive that this is one of the cases where the Vulgato dis- 
charges the office of a Commentary, 
(n) See foot-note (b) on St. Mark ix. 1. 



VIII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 723 

should be observed that her accusers belonged to the class which occupies such 
prominent notice in St. Matthew xxiii. 

5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned : 
but what sayest Thou ? 

"Thou, — who pretendest to have an authority greater than that of Moses ?"(a) 
It is remarkable that this command is not found in the Pentateuch ; which how- 
ever mentions, that stoning should be the punishment for a betrothed person. (6) It 
must therefore have been the ancient gloss of the Scribes on Leviticus xx. 10, — 
which only declares that the guilty parties shall "be put to death;" without speci- 
fying how. This mode of punishing adultery appears however to be alluded to in 
Ezekiel xvi. 38, 40. 

6 This they said, tempting Him, that they might have to accuse Him. 

By which last words, the beloved Disciple explains the design of these sinful 
men in bringing the case of the woman taken in adultery before the Holy one. 
Remarkable indeed is the necessary inference from what is here revealed of their 
conduct and intentions: for it shows how just an opinion they had conceived of our 
Saviour's clemency. What else was the difficulty to which they exposed Him? 
Why should He not have simply confirmed Moses' sentence, and so dismissed the 
case? But they had learned, by the experience of His past acts and sayings, that 
it was improbable He would do so. "It was unlike His mercies to condemn; yet, 
if He did not, they would charge Him as a transgressor of the law. 'In the same 
net which they hid privily, is their foot taken/ " (c) — as we shall presently discover. 

But Jesus stooped down, and with Sis finger wrote on the ground, 
as though He heard them not. 

Take notice that the words in italics ("as though He heard them not") form no 
part of the sacred record. They are not the words of Inspiration; but the pious 
suggestion of some very ancient reader, who inscribed them in the margin of his 
copy of St. John's Gospel : and the Church has so far respected them, as to retain 
them to this day, — distinguished from the words of the Evangelist by the difference 
of type. 

The commentary thus supplied is indeed too valuable to be lost sight of. We 
read that our Saviour was sitting at early morning in the Temple, and that He 
was teaching a multitude of persons. While thus engaged, — the hour and the 
place, the solemn Season and His Divine occupation, all suggesting thoughts of 
holiness and acts of forbearance, and words of love, — the Scribes and Pharisees 
suddenly enter ; and disturb the flow of His heavenly teaching by a filthy accusa- 
tion, and that confusion and excitement which are inseparable from public transac- 
tions of a semi-judicial nature like the present. Here was the accused and her 
many accusers, — powerful men attended by their servants and followers, as well 
as by a noisy rabble, — all crowding into the Saviour's presence, and challenging 
His notice. Very striking therefore must have appeared the gesture of One who, 
at such a moment, could stoop down, and with His finger trace words on the dusty 
floor, as if heedless of what they were saying. His action must truly have been 
"as though He heard them not.'' Viewed as conveying a lesson to ourselves, it 
seems to say — "Turn away mine eyes, lest they behold vanity." (d) 

What, however, may have been our Blessed Saviour's puipose and meaning in 
thus "stooping down?" and what may He be supposed to have "written on the 
ground?" The matter is certainly obscure and difficult; but a clue to the entire 
mystery seems discoverable from a careful study of the ancient law concerning the 
punishment of an adulteress, — that law which was delivered to Moses by Christ 
Himself. A few suggestions on the subject will, however, be most conveniently 
submitted to the reader in a collected form, when we have reached the end of the 
present narrative. See below, the long note on the concluding words of verse 9. 

The accusers of the woman, in the meantime, are not to be so put off. They per- 
severe in their inquiry, and will have an answer. 

(«) Lonsdale and Hale : referring to St. Matth. v. 21, 22 : 27, 28 : 31, 32, &c: xii. 8 : xix. 9. 
(6) See Deut. xxii. 24. (c) Williams, quoting Ps. ix. 15. (d) Ps. cxix. 37. 



724 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

7 So wlien they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and 
said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a 
stone at her, 

Rather, " Let him that is without sin among yon be the first to cast his stone at 
Tier:" for the Law which prescribed death, by stoning, commanded likewise that 
" the hands of the witnesses should be first upon" the guilty one to put him to death, 
" and afterwards the hand of all the people. (e) It would seem as if these accusers 
had presented themselves before the great Judge, prepared to execute the sentence 
of the Law, and armed with the instruments of destruction. 

8, 9 And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And 
they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out 
one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last : 

How terrible a picture, by the way, of moral degradation! Can we read such 
things, and then wonder at the severity of our Lord's denunciations pronounced 
against these very men?(/) St. Mathew xii. 39 may therefore be taken literally I 
Consider also St. James iv. 4. 

Take notice that He has neither condemned the Woman, nor yet absolved her. 
He has, in fact not answered the question of His hypocritical assailants at all ; and 
yet He has defeated their malice, and ridded Himself of their molestation. Nay, 
He sends them away covered with shame ; and yet it is not He that has condemned 
them, but they have been made to condemn themselves. 

and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 

In the midst, probably, of that circle of attentive listeners whom our Lord was 
addressing when these hypocrites entered. And thus they stood, — " Misery and 
Mercy, — the pitiable one, and He that is Pity itself, — confronting each other. "(#) 
" It was a fearful sentence, to stand before Him and to be forgiven \"(h) "There 
is mercy with Thee : therefore shalt Thou be feared."(i) 

What, in the meantime, is to be said in the way of interpretation of the striking 
narrative which precedes ? Observe that the matter in hand was the trial of a 
woman taken in adultery : but our Lord sees fit to treat the case as if it were what 
is called in the Law, "the trial of Jealousy." This trial by the bitter water (or 
water of conviction, (k) was a species of ordeal, intended by the Almighty for the 
vindication of innocence, and the conviction of guilt. There is reason for believing 
that, in common with many other enactments of the Divine Law, it had fallen into 
practical disuse at this time, — in consequence of the great prevalence of the special 
sin against which it was directed: but He who gave the Law is here found to enforce 
it ; and that, after a divine and unexampled, as well as a wholly unexpected manner. 

It is worth observing that, according to the Jewish tradition and belief, this test 
proved effectual only in the case of the woman whose husband was himself innocent 
of the crime with which he charged his wife. If he were just as guilty as herself, 
no conviction followed. This circumstance helps to explain the merciful treatment 
which the "woman taken in adultery" meets with at our Lord's hands. For it will 
"be found that He exactly reverses the process which her accusers intended ; and 
treats them as the accused party. Let the language of Numbers v. 16 to 24 be care- 
fully considered ; and then, the truth of what has been asserted will at once appear. 
We read : — " The priest shall bring her near," (that is, the accused woman,) " and 
set her before the Lord : and . . . take holy water in an earthen vessel ; and of the 
dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the 
water." " And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the 
curse ; and . . . shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man 
have lain with thee, . . be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse : 
but if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thine husband, and if thou be de- 
filed, . . . then the priest shall charge the woman with her oath of cursing," (which 
follows: "and the woman shall say, Amen, amen. And the priest shall write these 

(e) Deut. xiii. 9 : xvii. 5 to 7. (/) See all St. Matth. xxiii., especially ver. 27, 28. 

(g) Augustine. (h) Williams. (i) Ps. cxxx. 4. 

(/c) So interpreted by the Septuagint in Numb. v. 18, 19, 23, 24. 



VIII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 725 

curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water ;(J) and he shall 
cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse. And the water 
that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter." Thereupon, if the 
woman were guilty, she immediately fell under a visible penalty ; her body testify- 
ing terribly to her sin. If innocent, nothing followed. Such were the provisions 
of the Law. 

And now, with all this before us, who sees not that our Blessed Saviour has been 
dealing with these adulterous hypocrites exactly as if they had been the culprits, 
instead of the wretched woman whom they had dragged into His presence ? 

Terribly " near" to the incarnate Jehovah had they themselves been brought. Be- 
fore Him, they had been " set ;" and doubtless, when He stooped down and wrote upon 
the ground, it was a bitter sentence against the adulterer and adulteress which He 
wrote in " the dust of the floor of the tabernacle." We have but to assume that the 
words which he had thus traced on the ground, had some connection with the words 
which he uttered with His lips, and He will indeed have " taken of the dust and put 
it on the water," and " caused them to drink of the bitter water which causeth the 
curse!" 

For, when by His Divine Spirit our Great High Priest addressed Himself to these 
adulterers, — what did He, but, (in the very phrase of the Apostle,) present them 
with living water, (m) "in an earthen vessel;" — an expression which St. Paul ex- 
plains to denote the " earthly tabernacle" of the body ?(w) Did not the Great Priest 
of the Temple further charge these men with an oath of cursing; saying, " If ye 
Jiave not gone aside to uncleunness, be ye free from this bitter water : but if ye have 
gone aside to others instead of your wives, and if ye be denied," — On which alter- 
native being presented to them, did they not, self-convicted, go out one by one ? 
And what was this, but themselves pronouncing the acquittal of the sinful woman 
for whose condemnation they were, or seemed to be, so impatient ? for, according 
to their traditional belief of what happened in such cases, (as already explained,) 
she must perforce have submitted to the ordeal with impunity. 

Meanwhile, our Lord is found to have resumed His former attitude and occupa- 
tion. Did He continue writing on the ground the curses of the adulteress ; making 
the "floor of the Tabernacle" His "book?" It seems likely that He did so; and- 
if He did, it would be no more than a mere matter of fact that in the case of the 
sinful woman before Him, He also blotted out those curses by her acquittal ; and, 
as one may say, with that very bitter water too which He had compelled her ac- 
cusers to drink. For it follows : 

10 When Jesus had lifted up Himself, and saw none hut the woman, 
He said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers ? hath no man 
condemned thee ? 

" Hath no one remained to demand the enforcement of the Law against thee?" 

11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do 
I condemn thee : go, and sin no more. 

Our Lord says not, " Neither do I condemn thy sin;" but " Neither do I condemn 
tliee." Take notice also that He speaks of a judicial sentence, — that judicial sen- 
tence which He first inquired if no one else had enforced against the woman? On 
being told that no man had done this, He declines, on this occasion, to assume the 
judicial office, (o) In the words of the heading of the chapter, He simply " deliver- 
eth the Woman." The sin of Adultery He heavily condemns, (p) but this individual 
offender He is mercifully pleased to acquit, — an instance of His clemency, which, 
like His forgiveness of the repentant malefactor, cannot but prove a source of un- 
speakable consolation to us all. 

Strange, that this entire history, (from chap. vii. ver. 53 to ver. 11 of the present 
chapter inclusive,) should be found wanting in so many ancient manuscripts of the 
Gospels ! The inference is obvious, — namely, either that men must have suspected 
the authenticity of the passage, or that they must have dreaded lest so merciful a 

(0 That is, he was to write the curse so superficially, that by pouring water over it the writing 
was to disappear. 

(to) So the ancient Greek version renders "holy water" in Numb. 17. 

(ft) 2 Cor. iv. 7, and v. 1. (o) So also in St. Luke xii. 13, 14. 

(p) As in St. Matth. v. 27 to 32. 



726 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHA?. 

sentence should prove productive of evil in the Church of Christ. But who and 
what are we that we should presume thus to judge of the Work of the Spirit? 
" It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth ?"(<?) What know we of 
this woman's age, history, character, mind, heart ? The reader is invited to refer 
to some remarks on this subject which have been already offered in the note on St. 
John iv. 20. 

The chief lessons derivable from the present narrative seem to be (1st,) one of 
solemn warning to ourselves against the condemnation of others ; — (2d,) one of 
encouragement to the greatest of offenders, never to despair of forgiveness : — (3d,) 
one of exhortation to all ; for we are hereby reminded that the very condition of 
mercy, is to " sin no more." Compare St. John v. 14. — " By occasion of" this 
woman, the Holy One showeth, (as is said in the heading of St. Luke vii.) " how 
He is a friend to sinners, not to maintain them in sins, but to forgive them their 
sins, upon their Faith and Kepentance." 

Whether what follows took place at the same time as what precedes, does not 
appear. The locality was the same, — as we learn from ver. 20 ; and there are some 
allusions in our Lord's discourse which recall the scene of the preceding incident ; 
but on the whole, it seems to belong to another occasion ; for observe, it begins : 
" Then spake Jesus again unto them." It may have occurred somewhat later in 
the same day. 

12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the Light of 
the World : he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall 
have the Light of Life. 

" The Light of the World 1" This title our Lord assumes in the manner of the 
Doctors of His nation ;(r) with a propriety of which they could have no conception, 
and with a sublimity surpassing even our own assisted powers of thought. But 
the chief thing to be noticed is, that He hereby claims to Himself one of the well- 
known appellations of the Messiah. Consider Isaiah xlii. 6, xlix. 6, and lx. 3 ; 
and see the end of note on St. John x. 24. 

Some remarks will be found upon this highly significant title, which our Saviour 
claims on many occasions, in the Commentary on St. John ix. 5, to which the 
reader is accordingly referred ; but he is requested to take notice that the aspect 
of this appellation there enlarged upon, is not precisely the aspect which gives it 
such peculiar propriety here. In this place it seems to have reference to what has 
immediately gone before. Our Saviour had been making manifest the filthy wick- 
edness of the Scribes and Pharisees: now, ''whatsoever doth make manifest is 
Light." (s) See what has been said on the subject of "Darkness" in the note on 
St. John xii. 35 ; and compare the entire place with St. John xii. 46, 35, and 36. 

13 The Pharisees therefore said unto Him, Thou bearest record of 
Thyself ; Thy record is not true. 

These sinful men, (members of the sect already mentioned in ver. 3, but pro- 
bably not the same individuals,) allude to a well-known precept of the Law, which 
allowed not that any should bear testimony for himself. In His Discourse on a 
former occasion, our Saviour had anticipated them in their present sentence : " If 
I bear witness of Myself," (He said,) " My witness is not true."(£) He proceeded 
however on that occasion, as he proceeds on this, to show that His record is true, 
— even though he bears it of Himself: for that, in effect, it was the Eternal Father 
who bare Him record. 

14 Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of 
Myself, yet My record is true : for I know whence I came, and whither 
I go ; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go. 

That is, — Even though I, the Son of God, bear record of Myself, My record is 
true : for I have a true and perfect knowledge concerning My own mysterious na- 
ture and origin, My present mission, and My everlasting purposes, — a knowledge 
not liable to error, as all human evidence is. "But ye know not" (for so the words 

(q) Rom. viii. 33, 34. ('•) See the notes on St. John iii. 10. 

(«) Eph. v. 13. Consider verses 8 to 14. [t) St. John v. 31. 



VIII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 727 



should be translated) " whence I come and whither I go." " Take notice that 
Christ says He must go hack to the place from whence He declares that He first 
came; that is, back to Heaven, from whence He had been "sent." By "coming" 
therefore from that region whence Man cannot come, He shows that He is God. ,; (w) 

15 Ye judge after the flesh ; I judge no man. 

He spoke in ver. 14 of His Testimony. Here, He speaks of His Judgment ; and 
He contrasts it with theirs, — which, He says, is, "after the flesh ;" that is, founded 
on external evidence, and the mere appearance of things. With this fallible judg- 
ment they presumed to judge even Him : and their judgment was false ; for in 
consequence of their own carnal mind, they looked upon Him as mere Man. — " I 
judge no one," our Lord proceeds : by which he seems to imply that His season of 
Judgment is yet future. (v) This will be found more fully noticed below, in the note 
on ver. 26. Is there perhaps a passing allusion in that saying to the case of the 
Woman taken in adultery whom he had neither judged nor condemned? 

16 And yet if I judge, My judgment is true : for I am not alone, 
but I and the Father that sent Me. 

Thus He gives His hearers a nearer insight into His own mysterious Nature, 
whereby he was one with the Father. The present statement recurs below in ver. 
29. (x) Compare the entire verse with St. John ver. 30. 

Our Saviour proceeds to apply this great Doctrine to the matter in hand ; and 
very surprising is the use which He makes of it. 

17 It is also written in your Law, that the testimony of two men is 
true. 

Referring to Deuteronomy xvii. 6, and xix. 15. 

18 I am One that bear witness of Myself, and the Father that sent 
Me beareth witness of Me. 

When our Lord says that the Father bears witness of Him, He means chiefly 
by the miraculous Works which the Father gave the Sox to do : as it is elsewhere 
said, — " The Works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same Works 
that I do, bear witness of Me, that the FATHER hath sent Me. y, {y) And again, 
" the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the Works." (z) The twofold testi- 
mony therefore to which our Saviour here appeals is (1st,) His own declarations 
concerning Himself: (2ndly,) His Miracles, which were a proof that the Father 
was with Him. And herein we have the witness of two Persons ; because "there 
is one Person of the Father, another of the Son." 

This will be at once felt to be a surprising method of reasoning. The enemies of 
Christ would of course deny the validity of the argument. His works (they would 
say) were inseparable from Himself: and His own witness in such a case, (as they 
had already declared,) (a) was inadmissible. — We are reminded of a remark already 
elsewhere offered, that the Divine Logic is always perplexing. It has a lofty roar- 
vellousness of its own ; and reminds Faith herself that she has many lessons yet to 
learn. Above all, it convinces her, how little she understands that Scripture for 
which she professes so great a. reverence. Christ unfolds the Book, — nay, His 
very apostles unfold it, — and straightway their remarks are unlooked for,(6) their 
reasoning improbable,(c) their comment unearthly. (d) Things little suspected are 
found to be lying on the surface of that familiar page ; and we are driven to theo- 
ries of Allusion and Accommodation in excuse and apology for the blessed speakers, 
but in reality to cover our own ignorance of the Book of Life. See what has been 
already offered on this subject in the notes on St. Mark xii. 27, and St. Luke xiv. 6. 

Concerning the place in Deuteronomy referred to, in ver. 17, we will but suggest 

(») Novatian, a.d. 250. (v) So Augustine and Chrysostom. 

fas) See also St. John x. 38 : xiv. 10, 11, 20 : xvi. 32 : xvii. 21 to 23. 

(y) St. John v. 36. Compare also x. 37, 38 and xiv. 10. 11. 

(z) St. John xiv. 10. . (a) See ahove, ver. 13. 

(6) As in St. Luke xvii. 32 : St. Matth. ii. 23, and in 2 Cor. viii. 15 : Heb. iv. 4. 

(c) As in St. Mark xii. 27, (where see the note,) and in 1 Cor. x. 1 to 6. 

(d) As in this place : St. Matth. viii. 17, and in Rom. x. 4 to 10 : Gal. iv. 21 to 31 : 1 Cor. 
ix. 9 to 11 : Heb. ii. 5 to 9. 



728 A PLAIN COMMENTAEY [CHAP. 

(in the words of a pious 'writer) " that those words of the Law respecting the two 
witnesses, do refer to the Doctrine of the Trinity, and the twofold Witness of the 
Father and the Son, before the Holy Ghost was yet given, who was the Third 
Witness. For, on referring to the passage in Deuteronomy, we find that it is said 
"two or three witnesses :"(e) and may not the words "or three" be here dropped 
in our Lord's statement for the reason assigned ; namely, that the Third Witness 
had not yefc been brought forward ?"(/) Certain it is that on the other occasion 
when our Saviour referred to the same enactment, (namely in St. Matthew xviii. 
16.) He failed not to notice the exact terms in which it was originally delivered. 
— " How" (asks the greatest of the Fathers) " must we understand the precept — 
' By the mouth of two or three witnesses, shall every word be established/ except 
as an intimation of the mystery of the Trinity, in which is perpetual stability of 
Truth V\g) 

Whatever may be thought of this suggestion, it is a plain matter of fact that our 
Lord's reasoning is such as we have described it to have been. Moreover, whether 
satisfactory to His audience or not, it was evidently meant to be conclusive. No- 
thing remains, therefore, but that we should meditate upon it humbly and reverently. 
The only rejoinder which His enemies ventured to make in reply, cannot find place 
on our lips. 

19 Then said they unto Him, Where is Thy Father ? 

Thus do they immediately afford evidence of that carnal judgment with which 
our Saviour had charged them in ver. 15. (A) They suppose he speaks of a human 
Parent ; just as, in ver 32, theys uppose that He speaks of deliverance from bodily 
servitude ; and in ver. 53, of deliverance from temporal Death. The present is, in 
fact, rather a scoff than a question ; and our Lord treats it accordingly. 

Jesus answered, Ye neither know Me, nor My Father. 

" As if He said, — Ye ask Where is My Father ? as if ye knew Me already, and 
I were nothing else but what ye see. But ye know Me not: and therefore I tell 
you nothing of My Father. Ye think Me indeed a mere Man, and therefore 
among men look for My Father. But inasmuch as I am different altogether, 
according to My seen and unseen natures, and speak of My Father in the hidden 
sense according to My hidden nature ; it is plain that ye must first know Me, and 
then ye will know my Father." (<') 

if ye had known me ye would have known My Father also. 

"Which expression, of course, implies Unity of Substance: for it cannot properly 
be said of any one, that in knowing him, you know another, unless they both are 
one. Much less can it be said that in knowing the creature, ye know the Creator. 
How striking and beautiful the change in the tone and language, when the same 
occurs with one of the Disciples in humble inquiry ! — ' If ye had known Me, ye 

should have known My Father also Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us 

the Father and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time 
with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip ? He that hath seen Me hath 
seen the Father/ "(k) 

20 These words spake Jesus in the Treasury, as He taught in the 
Temple : and no man laid hands on Him ; for His hour was not yet 
come. 

Christ spake thus, openly, in that part of the Temple which was called " the Trea- 
sury ;" " and yet no one laid hands on Him ;" and the mysterious reason is added, 
which will be found already discussed in the note on St. John vii. 6. — The Court of 
the Women was called by this name, because the gold and silver vessels of the Tem- 
ple were kept there. This had been the scene of the interview with the woman 
taken in adultery. 

And thus ends this portion of our Lord's Divine Teaching. " That Discourse of 

(c) Deut. xix. 15. (/) Williams. Consider 1 St. John v. 6 to 9. 

(cj) Augustine. (h) Augustine. (i) Augustine. 

(k) Williams, quoting St. 'John xiv. 7 to 9. 



VIII.] 



on st. John's gospel. 729 



the Light of the World/' (says Bp. Pierson,) "was in the Treasury. That which 
followeth, was not: at least, appeareth not to be so." 

21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way, and ye shall 
seek Me, and shall die in your sins : whither I go, ye cannot come. 

Under the name of " departing," (or as the word is here rendered " going His 
way/') our Saviour speaks of His approaching Death and Resurrection : thereby 
indicating that submission to Death was the act of His own free-will. This he 
said " again ;" having already said it in chap. vii. 33, 34, — where the notes may be 
consulted. Or the word " again" may have reference to the occasion on which the 
words before us were spoken ; which was perhaps subsequent to that specified in 
ver. 20. — " Ye shall die in your sins" will be found repeated below, in ver. 24, and 
explained by our Lord himself. 

22 Then said the Jews, Will He kill Himself? because He saith, 
Whither I go, ye cannot come. 

Our Saviour's announcement to His enemies that, Whither He went, they would 
find it impossible to follow Him, perplexes them now as it perplexed them before: 
but the solution which they now propose of the difficulty, is not the same which 
they before proposed. Compare this place with St. John vii. 35. 

23 And He said unto them, Ye are from beneath ; I am from above : 
ye are of this World ; I am not of this World. 

These words seem to be a continuation of the discourse which the Jews inter- 
rupted when they asked the question contained in ver. 22. Without alluding to so 
obvious a matter as His Humanity, (in respect of which, Pie was "from beneath,") 
our Saviour declares concerning Himself, as God, that He is " from above," and 
"not of this World:" contrasting thereby His Divine Nature with that of His 
carnal persecutors ; and implying that He would deliver Himself out of the hands 
of His enemies by at last transferring Himself to that region of Light and Glory 
from which He originally came, and which was in fact His proper home. Consider 
how, in chap. iii. 13, He is found to have declared, even in the days of His Humi- 
liation, that "the Son of Man is in Heaven ;" on which place, see the note. 

" Of this World" and " not of this World" are not merely words explanatory of 
being "from beneath" and "from above;" but they describe and contrast the 
character of Christ and of His assailants. They should be compared with what is 
found in St. John xv. 19, xvii. 14, and 1 St. John iv. 5 ; and will be perceived to 
supply a connecting link with what immediately follows : 

24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins : for if 
ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. 

Thus then our Saviour explains what He had said in ver. 21. It is found that 
as many as are "of the World," inasmuch as "therefore speak they of the World,"(Z) 
(in other words, inasmuch as they are " earthly and speak of the Earth ;"(m) and 
like that wisdom which is not from above, are "earthly, sensual, devilish ;"(n) — 
these men believe not in Christ, and by consequence " die in their sins." 

But our Lord's saying, in strictness, runs thus, — " If ye believe not that I am :" 
which recalls the observation already offered on St. John vi. 20. (o) 

25 Then said they unto Him, Who art Thou ? 

With that blindness which is ever the mark of the carnal mind, these sinners do 
not recognize the Divine Name, even when they hear it pronounced by Christ 
Himself. And yet they have heard all that Moses heard, when he inquired of the 
same Second Person in the Blessed Trinity concerning His Name l(p) 

And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from 
the beginning. 

(I) 1 St. John iv. 5. (m) St. John iii. 31. (n) St. James iii. 15. 

(o) See below, the note on ver. 68. { j>) See Exodus iii. 14. 



730 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The Greek properly implies "What I am saying unto you all along from the 
beginning ;" — in less classical English, "what I said at first, and what I keep on 
ever since saying unto you/' 

Take notice that our Saviour had again and again declared to the Jews His 
Divine Origin, the union of the Divine and Human Natures in His one Person, His 
Mission from the Father, and the purpose of His Coming into the World ; together 
with whatever else it can profit a man to know for his sours health. A glance over 
the fifth, sixth, and eighth chapters of the present Gospel will abundantly establish 
this. — He proceeds : 

26 I have many things to say and to judge of you : but He that sent 
Me is true ; and I speak to the World those things which I have heard 
of Hirn. 

This seems to mean that though the Divine Speaker had a heavy witness to bear 
against the men of that generation ; and a terrible judgment hereafter to pronounce 
upon them, yet, the season for Judgment had not arrived. "I judge no man," as 
our Saviour said in ver. 15. Or, as He here proceeds — " But He that sent Me is 
true ;" implying thereby that God would be faithful to fulfill his promises, and 
execute His purposes of Mercy. Now, ' God sent not His Son into the World to 
condemn the World ; but that the World through Him might be saved." (q) " The 
Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World/' (r) " If any man hear My 
words," (saith Christ,) " and believe not, I judge him not : for I came not to judge 
the World, but to save the World." (s) The Holy One speaks of His first Advent. 
At His second Coming, He will appear as the Judge of quick and dead:(/) "for the 
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son."(m) 

Concerning the concluding words of this verse, (" I spake to the World those 
things which I have heard of Him,") the reader is referred to a long note on St. 
John v. 20. It is obvious to compare the place with St. John iii. 11, 32, and 
xv. 15. 

27 They understood not that He spake to them of the Father. 

28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of 
Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of 
Myself ; but as My Father hath taught me, I speak these things. 

Our Lord here prophesies that from the period of His Crucifixion, the Jewish 
people should begin to recognize His Divinity ; and so we find they did.(x) To be 
"lifted up," was a well-known phrase for being " crucified," — as we have already 
explained elsewhere. (y) The rest of the verse has been sufficiently commented 
upon in the note on St. John v. 20, which has been more than once referred to. 

29 And He that sent Me is with Me : the Father hath not left Me 
alone ; for I do always those things that please Him. 

By such statements it seems ever to have been the intention of the Divine Speaker 
to correct any erroneous opinions which the imperfection of language might have 
caused His hearers to entertain concerning Himself. Thus, in verses 26 and 29, 
our Saviour had said that He was " sent :" and in ver. 28, that He " did nothing 
of Himself," but " spake as He was taught of the Father." It became necessary 
to add that the Father, who sent, had not thereby separated Himself from the Son, 
who was sent ; but was " with" Him. This doctrine has been -already opened in 
ver. 16, where see the note. 

And the words, " for I do always those things that please Him," express not the 
cause why the Father leaveth not the Son alone, but the consequence, or rather the 
evidence of that inseparable union of Natures. The same thing is here said, in 
effect, which is said in St. John v. 19, — namely, that " what things soever [the 

(r/) St. John iii. 17. (r) 1 St. John iv. 14. (*) St. John xii. 47. 

(t) Acts x. 42 : xvii. 31. 2 Cor. v. 10. 2 Tim. iv. 1. 1 St. Pet. iv. 5. 

(u) St. John v. 22 : and see ver. 27. 

(x) Consider such places as the following : St. Matth. xxvii. 54. St. Luke xxiii. 48. Acts 
ii. 41 : vi. 7 : xii. 24: xix. 20, &o. 

(y) See the note on St. John iii. 15. The attentive reader will perceive that our Saviour's 
words on this occasion are alluded to hy the people, in St. John xii. 34. 



VIII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 731 



Father] doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." The note on that famous 
Scripture must be again referred to. 

30 As He spake these words, many believed on Him. 

This becomes a very striking statement when it is considered that the meaning 
of our Lord's prophecy in ver. 28 was perfectly well understood by His auditory. 
See the note on St. John vii. 31 ; and for an enumeration of the places in this 
Gospel, where the Church's growth and increase is recorded, the reader is referred 
to the note on the last words of St. John ii. 11. He may also be invited to read the 
note on the last verse of chap. x. 

Bp. Pearson considered it " very probable that a new Discourse is again begun" 
at this place. 

31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye 
continue in My Word, then are ye My Disciples indeed : 

Observe how prompt He is to sustain the first beginnings of Faith ! There had 
been many Disciples before now, who " went back, and walked no more with 
Him," (2) — men whose Faith had suddenly declined and perished under the trial of 
hard doctrine. Our Lord therefore reminds " those Jews which believed on Him," 
that truly to be His Disciples, they must " abide in His Word." Consider, in con- 
nection with this, St. John xv. 4 to 7, and see the notes there. 

It may be worth the while of any Christian man to notice, as he reads the Bible, 
what amazing stress is laid throughout on Perseverance to the end. {a) Patience 
must "have her perfect work." (&) But this circumstance has been already pointed 
out in the Commentary on St. Matthew x. 22 and xxiv. 13. — The privilege which 
would result from being "Disciples indeed," follows. 

32 And ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you 
free. 

"This is Life Eternal," (saith our Lord,) "that they may know Thee the only 
true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent :"(c) to know Him, namely, who 
emphatically styles Himself "the Way, the Truth, and the Life."(Y?) 

And why is Christ called "the Truth?" Not only because His Doctrine is true; 
but because all the types and shadows of the Law point to Him as their object; 
while in Him all the promises of God, made to the ancient Fathers, find their com- 
pletion and fulfillment. 

The nature of the "freedom" which was to follow from the knowledge of the 
Truth is deserving of our best attention. The very term implies a state of slavery 
from which men are to be liberated. It is from the bondage of Sin that our 
Saviour here promises His Disciples that they shall be released. See ver. 34. 

33 They answered Him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in 
bondage to any man : how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free ? 

These men cannot rise above the letter of our Lord's Discourse, but put a carnal 
sense on every sublime truth which He delivers. Even so, however, they boast 
falsely : for had not their Fathers been in bondage, — first, in Egypt; then "by the 
waters of Babylon V Were they not themselves, even now, tributary to the Bo- 
mans ? — The echo of that boast of theirs, " We be Abraham's seed," will be found 
not to die away until the end of the present chapter. 

34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever 
committeth sin is the servant of Sin. 

" For by whom a man is overcome," writes the Apostle Peter, (discoursing of the 
" servants of corruption,") " unto the same is he also brought in bondage."(e) 
This is the only slavery of which Christ would have men ashamed ; and truly, it 

(z) St. John vi. 66. 

(«) It will be found worth while to refer to Ps. cxix. 33, 112. St. Luke xi. 28. 1 Cor. xv. 
1, 2. Col. i. 23. Heb. iii. 6, 14 : vi. 11. Rev. ii. 26, &o. 

(h) St. James i. 4. (c) St. John xvii. 3. (d) St. John xiv. 6. 

(e) 2 St. Pet. ii. 19. 



732 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

is the most terrible bondage of any. The reader will readily call to mind a mul- 
titude of passages from either Testament where, under the metaphor of enslave- 
ment, the subjection of the soul to the Law of Sin is described.(/) 

35 And the servant abideth not in the House for ever : hut the Son 
abideth ever. 

Thus Moses, however " faithful in all his House, as a servant," makes way for 
Christ " as a Son over His own House."(#) And we know that the Hebrew slave 
was dismissed at the end of seven years of servitude. (h) By this casual allusion 
therefore to the practice of His People under the Law, our Saviour glances pro- 
phetically at the destiny of the Jewish nation. " Cast out the bondwoman and her 
son," (was the language of one who lived under the ancient Covenant;) "for the 
son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman."(i) Ish- 
mael must accordingly make way for Isaac, — the Jews for ourselves ; inasmuch as 
" we, as Isaac was .... are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free."(j) 
The Holy One here seems to make a tacit allusion to the history of Isaac and 
Ishmael. 

" Yet it is not the Bondage of the Law which is here being discoursed of, but 
the Bondage of Sin. ' The Truth' is not opposed to legal shadows, but to worldly 
deceits." Christ is therefore emphatically " the SON" here spoken of, who alone 
can give us " sonship and freedom, as being Himself sinless among sinners: made 
a Slave, in order that we might become sons : 'made sin for us'f/c) to redeem us 
from the power of Sin : dying, that we might live for ever."(^) Consider Galatians 
iv. 4 to 7. It follows,— 

36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. 

" Our Lord having compared the habitual sinner to a slave, (to) here continues 
the comparison ; and intimates to His hearers that as the slave had not that right 
which the son and heir of the family had, of remaining for ever in the house where 
he dwelt, and of enjoying all its privileges, so the Jews could not have a right to 
remain in the Family of His Father, unless He, the Son, should make them free 
from Bondage, and admit them to be partakers with Him of the privileges of 
sons."(?0 Consider St. John i. 12. 

37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed ; but ye seek to kill Me, 
because My Word hath no place in you. 

Our Lord thus reverts to their boast in verse 33 ; and He is about to convict 
them of that sinfulness which He laid to their charge in verse 34. This He will do 
distinctly below, in verse 40. — In the meantime, take notice that the reason why 
these murderers were bent on destroying Christ, was because His Heavenly Doc- 
trine found no place in their hearts. He proceeds : 

38 I speak that which I have seen with My Father : and ye do 
that which ye have seen with your Father. 

Namely, the Devil, — as He will be found to explain in verse 44. All this, our 
Lord seems to have added lest they should impute to His Doctrine the blame which 
was wholly due to themselves. Accordingly, in language which has already been 
sufficiently explained, (o) He vindicates the Divine origin of the one, and denounces 
the infernal authorship of the other. 

39 They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our Father. 

" Not fully understanding, it appears, but suspecting that He spake of some one 
beside Abraham." Take notice that we have here the ancient boast of the de- 
generate sons of Abraham, — referred to by the Forerunner,(jp) and in what follows, 
solemnly refuted by Messiah Himself. 

(/) See Ps. xl. 12. Prov. v. 22. Rom. vi. 12 to the end of the chapter: viii. 21, &c. 

(g) Heb. iii. 5, 6. (M Deut. xv. 12. 

(i) Gal. iv. 30, quoting Gen. xxi. 10. (j ) Gal. iv. 28 and 31. 

(k) 2 Cor. v. 21. (0 Altered from Williams. 

(m) See above, ver. 34. (n) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(o) See above, the notes on ver. 26, 27. (p) See St. Matth. iii. 9, and St. Luke iii. 8. 



VIII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 733 



Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do 
the works of Abraham. 

" If ye were Abraham's children, so as to inherit the promise made unto Abra- 
ham :" thus, interpreting the promise which He had Himself made to that Patri- 
arch, and to his seed, almost two thousand years before ! And to the same purpose, 
the Apostle Paul : " Not as though the Word of God hath taken none effect. For 
they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because tliey are the seed of 
Abraham, are they all children: but, ' In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 7 That is, 
they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God : but the 
children of the promise are counted for the seed."(q) As the same Apostle else- 
where writes, — " they which are of Faith, the same are the children of Abraham." (r) 

In the controversy so often senselessly waged concerning Faith and Works, are 
men careful to remember that our Sayiour Himself appeals to "the Works of Abra- 
ham?" — that is, to his obedience, {s) his piety [t), his patience, (it) his resignation; 
above all, to his daily walk of Faith ? 

40 But now ye seek to kill Me, a Man that hath told you the truth 
which I have heard of God : this did not Abraham. 

Our Lord assigns the reason of their enmity. It was because He had delivered 
to them Divine Doctrine: "the truth which I have heard of GOD." And these 
last words declare more than is found in verses 26 and 28. Coupled with those 
earlier statements, here is our Saviour's express declaration that God is His 
Father. — " The condemnation of the Jews was, that they saw a Holy Man, with 
evidence that He came from God, and that God was with Him ;" but received Him 
not. If they had but received Him then, as such, the higher doctrines of the Incar- 
nation, and Atonement, of His GoDhead, and of the Spirit, would have followed." (y) 

Origen has a striking remark on this verse. " To some it might seem superflu- 
ous to say that Abraham did not seek to kill Christ ; for it was impossible, since 
Christ was not born at that time. But the Saints were never without the spiritual 
Advent of Christ. I understand then from this passage that every one who, after 
Regeneration, and other divine graces bestowed upon him, commits sin, does by his re- 
turn to evil, incur the guilt of crucifying the Son of God; which Abraham did not do." 

"Abraham sought not to kill Me ; but ye do seek." Presently^) we shall read, 
" Abraham rejoiced to see My Day ;" but (it is implied) ye rejoice not. " Ye do that 
he did not : ye do not that he did. How can these be Abraham's sons ? Those are 
his sons that do as he did l"(y) 

Now, since men are said to be the children of him whom they resemble in their 
actions, (as our Lord explained in His Sermon on the Mount,) (z) He proceeds at 
once to assign the terrible parentage of the men who sought His life. 

41 Ye do the deeds of your Father. 

" Our Lord says this with, a view to put down their vain boasting of their 
descent ; and persuade them to rest their hopes of Salvation no longer on the 
natural relationship, but on the Adoption. For this it was which prevented them 
from coming to Christ, — namely, their thinking that their relationship to Abra- 
ham was sufficient for their Salvation." (a) 

Then said they to Him, We be not born of fornication we have one 
Father, even God. 

They reply that they are not a race of idolaters, who worship many gods, and 
regarded them as fathers: but that they had one Father, even God. "(b) 

So long as they understand our Lord to speak of natural descent, ''these men claim 
to be the seed of Abraham. But when they discover that his words are to be taken 
in a spiritual sense, they straightway claim to be sons of the true God. " Not born 
of fornication," is a phrase plain enough to those who remember the constant sense 
of the same metaphor in the writings of the Prophets :(&) but the boast of the Jews 

(q) Rom. ix. 6 to 8. (r) Gal. iii. 7. (s) Heb. xi. 8. Gen. xxii. 2, 3. 

(t) Gen. xviii. 17 to 23: xxiv. 2, &c. &c. (u) Gen. xii. 4 and xvii. 1. 

(v) Williams. (x) In verse 56. (y) Bp. Andrewes. 

(z) St. Matth. v. 44, 45. (a) Chrysostom. (b) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(c) As Isaiah i. 21. Jer. iii. 8, 9, 14 : xxxi. 32. Hos. ii. 4. See Judges ii. 17, &c. &c. 



734 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

in respect of their spiritual sonship, was as vain as their reliance on their descent 
from Abraham. The evangelical Prophet had called their Fathers, "the seed of 
the adulterer and the whore ;"(d) and our Lord Himself repeatedly denounced them 
as "an adulterous generation." (e) 

" In this, (says the beloved Disciple,) "the children of God are manifest, and the 
children of the Devil; whosoever doeth not Righteousness is not of GoD-.'^jf) 
whereas " every one that doeth Righteousness is born of Him."(#) " He that com- 
mitteth sin is of the Devil." (h) 

42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love 
me : for I proceeded forth and came from God ; 

Rather, "and am come." By proceeding forth from God," our Lord, "whose 
goings forth have been from of old, from Everlasting," (i) declares his Eternal 
Generation : by " being come" He declares his Incarnation. Compare and con- 
sider that place in Hebrews, quoted from Psalm xl. 7, — "Lo, lam come to do Thy 
will, God ;" (j) which, as the Apostle remarks, is what " when He cometli into the 
World, He saith. ,, [k) The reader is also requested to refer to the two following 
places in the present Gospel, — chap. xvi. 28 and xvii. 8. 

neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me. 

The Hebrew idiom of these words need not he further remarked upon.(Z) But 
observe our Lord's ever-recurring declaration that He was " sent" by the Eternal 
Father ;(m) and consider whether the absolute need of ecclesiastical mission, by 
one duly authorized to send, is not thereby indirectly implied and enforced. As 
says the Apostle, — "How shall they preach, except they be se?it?'\n) 

43 Why do ye not understand My speech, even because ye cannot 
hear My Word. 

That is— "What is the reason that ye find My Discourse unintelligible? It is 
because ye have so hardened your hearts that ye are no longer able to receive My 
Doctrine." 

44 Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the lusts of your Father ye 
will do. 

Rather, — " ye desire to do:" "ye are bent on doing." For example, they de- 
sired to slay Christ, " as Cain, toho loas of that wicked one, slew his brother. And 
wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's 
righteous." (o) These murderers were therefore actuated by the selfsame motive 
as Cain.(j;) Here then our Saviour explains what he had only hinted at before, in 
verses 38 and 41 ; namely, that the Devil was the Father of this "generation of 
Vipers." (q) The reader should connect with the present passage such places as 
St. Matthew xiii. 38. Acts xiii. 10. 1 St. John iii. 8. — Our Lord adds a few solemn 
words concerning Satan, the chief of the fallen Angels, and the author of the ruin 
of our race, — to destroy whose works, is declared to have been the great purpose of 
our Lord's manifestation in the Flesh ;(r) and concerning whom, every syllable 
which Christ Himself hath spoken cannot but be of most awful interest to our- 
selves. 

He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the Truth, 
because there is no Truth in him. 

"A murderer," because he brought death into the World by Adam's trans- 
gression: and to this he seduced our first parents by a lie. (5) 

But those words, he "abode not in the Truth," imply far more than this. They 

(d) Isa. lvii. 3. 

\e) St. Matth. xii. 39 : xvi. 4. St. Mark viii. 38. See the note on St. John viii. 9. 

(/) 1 St. John iii. 10. (g) 1 St. John ii. 29. (h) 1 St. John iii. 8. 

(i) Micah v. 2. [j) Heb. x. 7, 9. (k) Heb. x. 5. 

(I) See the notes on St. Matth. ix. 13, and the end of the note on St. John v. 30, &o. 

(to) See the note (c) at foot of p. 668. (n) Rom. x. 15. 

(o) 1 St. John iii. 12. (p) See above the note on ver. 40. 

(?) See the note on St. Matth. xii. 34. (r) 1 St. John iii. 8. 

(s) Gen. iii. 4. 



VIII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 735 



are, in fact, a glorious vindication of God's Justice, and a formal assertion of the 
uprightness in which Satan (like the rest of his peers) was originally created by 
God.° And hereby the intricate and insoluble question of the Origin of Evil is 
opened; "on which deep subject all that we are given to know is that while to 
moral and intellectual agents freedom of choice is an inseparable attribute, ^otf 
freedom implies the possibility of an evil choice ; while an evil choice once admitted 
and uncured, leads to interminable disorder, confusion, and wrong in the spiritual 
Creation ; and intercepts those communications of Goodness from the original Source, 
by which alone the moral constitution is preserved in virtue and in happiness. 
That such was the case with Satan, Christ has Himself told us in one word ; in 
saying that he was a murderer and liar from the beginning, simply because he 
dbode°not in the Truth ; that is, in the Truth and rectitude of his original Crea- 
tion."^) He was the Leader of those " Angels which kept not their first estate." (u) 

When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own : for he is a liar and 
the father of it. 

This either means, "When he gives utterance to falsehood, he speaks from the 
dictates of his own nature ; for he is a liar and the father of lying :" or it may 
mean, " When any of you speaks falsehood, he speaks after the manner of his kin- 
dred ;' for his father also is a liar." But the former interpretation, which is the 
more obvious, probably represents the true meaning of the Evangelist, (v) 

45 And because I tell you the Truth, ye believe Me not. 

A striking argument that they were the children of the Devil, — the Father of lies. 

46 Which of you convinceth Me of sin ? And if I say the Truth, 
why do ye not believe Me ? 

" Which of you convicteth Me of such sin as would make it probable that I should 
speak falsehood 1"{x) — As our Lord said on a subsequent occasion, — "If I have 
spoken evil, bear witness of the evil : but if well, why smitest thou Me V'(y) 

47 He that is of God heareth God's Words : ye therefore hear iliem 
not, because ye are not of God. 

Our Lord's argument, put into human form, would be expressed thus : " They 
that are not of God hear not God's words :(a) ye are not of God : therefore ye hear 
not God's words." But He graciously begins with the more comfortable statement, 
that " He that is of GOD heareth God's words." . . . " And on this is founded the 
whole system of Man's Redemption through Faith in Christ : that hearing of 
Christ's Word is the proof of being of God ; not being able to hear it, is Reproba- 
tion, the proof of being not of God."(6) 

48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto Him, Say we not well 
that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil ? 

These men are nowhere recorded to have applied the former taunt to our Divine 
Lord ; but they had evidently many a time reviled Him in this manner among 
themselves. In chap. vii. 20, they are found however to say " Thou hast a devil." 
Take notice of the evidence their words afford of the enmity with which the Jews 
regarded the people of Samaria. (c) It has been pointed out that the " Good Samari- 
tan," in His reply, denies only the latter half of their accusation. 

49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil ; but I honour My Father, 
and ye do dishonour Me. 

Whereby, they dishonoured God Himself. 

(t) Dr. W. H. Mill. («) St. Jude ver. 6. (v) Rev. T. S. Green. 

(x) Lonsdale and Hale. (y) St. John xviii. 23. 

(a) This follows from. the proposition, " They that are of God, hear God's words." Comp. 
1 St. John iv. 6. Consider also St. John i. 3 : x. 26, 27. 
{b) Williams. 
(c) See the note on St. Luke x. 35. See also above, p. 659-60. 



736 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

50 And I seek not Mine own Glory : there is One that seeketh and 
judgeth. 

Rather, — "But I seek not Mine own Glory/' He who sought the Son's Glory,(d) 
and judged between Him and the Jews, was the Eternal Father,^ — who raised 
Christ from the dead and set Him at His own Right Hand, until He made His ene- 
mies His footstool. (e) This, our Lord declares below, in ver. 54. 

51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My saying, he 
shall never see death. 

Rather, "If any one keep My Word;" that is, "believe My doctrines, and obey 
My commands." " He says keep : that is," (observes Chrysostom,) "not by Faith, 
but by purity of Life." .... These words seem to have no connection with what 
immediately goes before, but they cohere closely with what was commenced in verse 
47, — at which part of his divine discourse, the Jews had interrupted our Saviour. 
And because He is now about to resume and enlarge upon a Doctrine already partly 

delivered, He begins with His well-known phrase of solemn assertion. (/) 

The declaration contained in the present verse should be compared with what is 
found in St. John v. 24, vi. 47, and xi. 26. But take notice that our Lord's Divine 
meaning is mistaken by His carnal hearers, who assume that He is speaking of 
temporal death ; whereas He speaks of " the second death,"(#) which is eternal. 

52 Then said the Jews unto Him, Now we know that Thou hast a 
devil. Abraham is dead, and the Prophets; and Thou sayest, If a 
man keep My saying, he shall never taste of death. 

"Were the Jews right," (asks Origen,) "in saying that Abraham was dead? 
For he heard the Word of Christ, and kept it ; as did also the Prophets." Consider 
St. Matthew xxii. 32. They proceed : 

53 Art Thou greater than our Father Abraham, w T hich is dead ? and 
the Prophets are dead: whom makest Thou Thyself? 

" They might have said, Art Thou greater than God, whose words tliey are dead 
who heard ? But they do not say this ; because they thought Him inferior even to 
Abraham. "(A) To their concluding question, ("Whom makest Thou Thyself ?)" 
our Saviour proceeds to direct His reply. 

54 Jesus answered, If I honour Myself, My honour is nothing : it 
is My Father that honoureth Me ; 

Rather, " If I glorify Myself, My Glory is nothing." By which words, our Lord 
meets the insinuation of His enemies that He had been guilty of vainglorious hu- 
man boasting. By the words, "It is My Father who glorifieth Me," — He further 
refers to the Eternal Father all those signs of his own GoDhead which He so freely 
manifested in the sight of the nation to which He had been sent. Adding, 

55 of whom ye say, that He is your God. Yet ye have not known 
Him ; but I know Him : and if I should say, I know Him not, I shall 
be a liar like unto you : but I know Him, and keep His saying. 

Rather, "keep His Word," — that is, "His Commandments:" as in verse 51. 
Compare St. John xv. 10. 

56 Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see My Day : and he saw it, 
and was glad. 

It is not necessary to limit the " Day" thus spoken of, to the day of the Nativity 
or the Passion of Christ, as some of our Fathers in the Faith have done. " There 
be but tAvo such eminent days," (writes good Bp. Andrewes,) "the first and the 

(d) See St. John xiii. 32. (e) Psalm ex. 1. 

(/) See the latter part of the note on St. John vi. 46. 

(g) Rev. ii. 11 : xx. 6, 14: xxi. 8. (h) Chrysostoin. 



VIII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 787 

last. The first, — of His Genesis, or coming into the world ; the last, — of His Ex- 
odus, or going out : His Nativity and His Passion/' We are unwilling however to 
explain the Day of Christ as having exclusive reference to either of these great 
events. "The acceptable Year of the Lord,"(i) in like manner, we do not restrict 
to any particular year of our Saviour's Ministry ; but we consider either phrase to 
denote the times of the Gospel generally, — and emphatically, the period of the First 
Advent, the season when our Saviour came to dwell with men. 

The original seems rather to mean, "Abraham rejoiced with desire to see My 
Day :" unlike yourselves, (it is implied,) who are grieved at beholding it, and would 
slay Me if you could. And so, Bp. Andrewes understood the place. He points out 
that joy may naturally enough be felt in actual fruition; but, that it should be felt 
" in desire, is altogether unusual. That Abraham should have rejoiced to see, may 
well be understood : that he should have rejoiced with desire to see, not so well . . . 
Judge then how great a good is the good of this Day ; that not in the enjoying, but 
even in the desiring/' did so affect our father Abraham ; " and brought from him 
this act, the act of exultation, and made him even young again. But' - ' (adds the 
same holy man,) " I will tell you yet of another as strange : for the same word, you 
shall observe, is used of the Baptist while he was yet in his Mother's womb, and 
"leaped for joy" at the voice of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So that we see both old 
and young, Abraham and John Baptist, from the eldest in years to the child un- 
born, — it concerns all ! All need it ; all are bound to be glad of it ; all is for the 
joy and honour of this Day." 

But whatever may be the meaning of the former part of the sentence, take notice 
that Abraham " saw" the Day of Christ, — as "seeing Him who is invisible :" " not 
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and been persuaded 
of them, and embraced them."(y) For "Faith is the substance of things hoped 
for ; the evidence of things not seen."(&) 

Is there perhaps an allusion in the rejoicing and gladness of Abraham, here 
noticed, to the occasion when Abraham, on receiving the promise of Isaac, " fell 
upon his face and laughed ?"(t) However this may be, such a statement as the 
present from the lips of Christ Himself, (the same who talked with faithful 
Abraham !) must be felt to be most precious. It conveys a marvellous notion of 
the vigour of the Patriarch's Faith : not feeding, (like our own,) on definite mercies 
fulfilled in Time past ; but exulting in the contemplation of designs yet future, of 
boundless extent, and only partially revealed. What else signified the mysterious 
oath which the Patriarch took of his servant, causing him to put his band under 
his thigh, (m) but that, he certainly foresaw that the Son of God was thence to take 



57 Then said the Jews unto Him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, 
and hast Thou seen Abraham ? 

The natural rejoinder would have been, — "And hath Abraham seen Thee?" 
But it is obvious that our Lord had said neither the one thing, nor the other. He 
had simply declared that Abraham had seen His Day. The carnal temper which 
at once invents a difficulty of its own, and assumes that our Lord has said that He 
and Abraham, like two ordinary mortals, were living upon earth at the same time, — 
is very striking. 

As concerning our Lord's age, it is evident that they spoke only in a general 
way. Christ was certainly "not yet fifty years old ;" and that is all his enemies 
meant to express. He was, in fact, but thirty-three. It is scarcely in point, there- 
fore, to lay any stress on those affecting words of the Evangelical Prophet, " His 
visage was so marred more than any man,"(o) as if they were specially illustrative 
of the present place of Scripture. 

Our Lord's reply shows that He was chiefly bent on removing from the minds of 
His hearers their fundamental error in regarding Him as mere man. 

58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before 
Abraham was, I am. 

{%) St. Lukeiv. 19. (i)Heb. xi. 27, 13. (k) Heb. xi. 1. 

(I) G-en. xvii. 17. Take notice that the name "Isaac" signifies Laughter, 
(m) Gen. xxiv. 2 : a sign repeated by his grandson Jacob, in Gen. xlvii. 29. See also the 
margin of 1 Chron. xxix. 24. 

(«) Notice the margin of Judges viii. 30. (o) Is. Hi. 14. 

47 



738 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [_ CHAF * 

Rather, " Before Abraham was born, I AM." So stupendous a declaration is 
introduced with the formula of solemn assertion. 

The idiom of the language, which is thus forever presenting us with the 
mysterious Name of the Second Person in the Trinity, in the discourses of our 
Saviour, has been already made the subject of remark, (p) 

Our Lord's words, (says Bp. Pearson,) "plainly signify thus much: 'Do you 
question how I could see Abraham, who am not yet fifty years old ? Verily, verily y 
I say unto you, Before ever Abraham, the person whom you speak of, was born, I 
had a real being and existence, (by which I was capable of the sight of him,) in 
which I have continued until now/ In this sense certainly the Jews understood 
our Saviour's answer, as pertinent to their question, but in their opinion blas- 
phemous ; and therefore they took up stones to cast at him." As it follows : 

59 Then took they up stones to cast at Him : but Jesus hid Himself, 
and went out of the Temple, going through the midst of them, and so 
passed by. 

Many are the recorded occasions when the Holy One was thus obliged to save 
Himself by flight from the murderous designs of the very people whom He came to 
save. (q) Wickedly charging Him with Blasphemy, and burning with impatience 
to execute against Him the sentence of their Law,(r) these sinners have armed 
themselves with such stones as the locality sets within their reach, (for the work of 
building is related to have been going on about this time in the Temple ;) but 
Christ hides Himself, and escapes out of their hands. Yet not, (as it has been 
truly pointed out,) by taking refuge in a corner. On the contrary, He passes through 
the midst of His enemies : by an effort of Divine power, (as it may reasonably be 
thought,) rendering Himself invisible to them ; for His Hour "was not yet come." 
It was the Divine act of Him who is the " hiding-place of His Saints :(s) yea, who 
"hideth them privily by His own presence from the provoking of all meii."(i) 



CHAPTER IX. 



1 The Man that ivas born blind restored to sight. 8 He is brought to the Pharisees 
13 They are offended at it, and excommunicate him : 35 but he is received of Jesus, 
and confesseth Him. 39 Who they are whom Christ enlighteneth. 

The ninth chapter of St. John's Gospel is occupied with the history of a single 
incident in the Ministry of our Blessed Lord, — the giving of sight (not its restora- 
tion, as in the heading of the chapter,) to a man who was born blind. Blind must 
he be who perceives not that the wondrous prominence thus given to a few transac- 
tions in our Lord's Life by the beloved Disciple, vindicates for those transactions 
a high degree of significancy, and entitles them to more than ordinary attention at 
our hands. "What more fitting emblem can be imagined of the declared purpose of 
our Saviour's Coming, which was to be " a Light of the Gentiles,"(a) — a Great 
Light springing up "to as many as sat in the region and shadow of Death, "(6) — 

,[p) See above, the notes on ver. 24. 

(q) See St. Luke iv. 30. St. John x. 39 : xii. 36. Consider the teaching of St. Mark xii. 7. 
(r) Lev. xxiv. 16. — The reader may also refer to the following passages : 1 Kings xxi. 10 and 
13. Acts vii. 58, 59 connected with vi. 11 ; and see St. John x. 30 to 36. 

(s) Ps. xxvii. 5. See also Ps. xvii. 8. (t) Ps. xxxi. 22, — Prayer-Book version. 

(a) Is. xlix. 6, (quoted in Acts xiii. 47,) and xlii. 6, (referred to in St. Luke ii. 32.) See 
also Is. lx. 3. 

(b) St. Matth iv. 16, quoting Is. ix. 2. 



IX.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. T39 



than this opening of the blind eyes ? How could He have more aptly shown that 
He had come to enlighten the spiritual Darkness of mankind, " to bring out the 
prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house,(c) 
than by thus bestowing the gift of Sight on a beggar, who had been blind from his 
birth? The Evangelical Prophet had foretold that "in that day shall .... the 
eyes of the blind see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall 
increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy 
One of Israel '."(d) and so it came, even literally, to pass. 

It is worth observing that more of our Saviour's miracles are recorded as 
having been wrought on blindness than on any other form of human infirmity. 
One deaf-and-dumb man(e) is related to have had the gifts of speech and hearing 
restored to hirn : one case of Palsy, (/) and one of Dropsy, (g) find special record : 
twice was Leprosy, (A) and twice was Fever, (i) expelled by the Saviour's Word. 
Three times were dead persons(j/) raised to life. But the minute and particular 
records of His cures wrought on Blindness axe four in number :(&) and the circum- 
stance cannot be without a meaning. Indeed the record may be said to extend to 
six cases in all ?(7) In like manner, the prophet Isaiah will be found to hint at the 
recovery of sight to the Blind more frequently than to any other act of Mercy 
symbolical of the Day of Christ. (m) 

The language of the original seems to connect the stupendous Miracle which fol- 
lows, in the closest manner, with the narrative which immediately precedes it. It 
will belong therefore to that Sabbath-day with which the Feast of Tabernacles con- 
cluded, (n) Our Saviour was flying from His enemies, and effecting His miraculous 
escape from their violence. He went " through the midst of them, and so passed 
by.{o) "And as Re passed by," (it follows,) He encountered the man on whom He 
wrought the miracle. All this however does but amount to a probability, — as every 
attentive student of these blessed Narratives will at once admit. It is not impossi- 
ble that all that follows, down to the 21st verse of the next chapter, took place at 
the Feast of Dedication, — namely, about two months later than the Feast of Taber- 
nacles. 

And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from Ms 
birth. 

In which last circumstance, the present case of blindness differs from every other 
one recorded in the Gospels. The act of Divine power displayed on the ensuing 
occasion was not greater indeed, in any respect, than when our Lord wrought other 
miracles on the blind: but it strikes us as more stupendous; and for the very 
reason which the sufferer himself points out in ver. 32, — namely, because it was 
never " heard of that any one opened the eyes of a man blind bom." 

He who reads the Gospel with care, learns at last that not even the commonest 
statements are made without a meaning. Thus, since the Disciples are found in 
the very next verse to ask our Saviour a question concerning this blind man, the 
suspicion arises that by saying, " He saw a man which was blind from his birth," 
St. John implies that our Saviour fastened His eyes upon the sufferer in a manner 
which arrested tbeir attention. The man probably " sat and begged,"(jp) as our 
Lord passed by : and his misfortune seems to have been a well-known circumstance 
at Jerusalem ; both from the allusion made to it by the Disciples, in the next verse, 
and from the manner in which his case is noticed by the neighbors and others, in 
verses 8 and 9. 

(c) Is. xlii. 7. (d) Is. xxix. 18, 19. See also Is. xxxii. 3 : xxxv. 5. 

(e) St. Mark vii. 31 to 37. 

(/) St. Matth. ix. 1 to 8, [St. Mark ii. 1 to 12, St. Luke v. 17 to 26.] 

((j) St. Luke xiv. 1 to 6. 

(h) St. Mattk. viii. 1 to 4, [St. Mark i. 40 to 45, St. Luke v. 12 to 16,:] and St, Luke xvii. 
11 to 19. 

(t) St. John iv. 46 to 54 : and St. Matth. viii. 14 to 17, [St. Mark i. 29 to 31, St. Luke iv. 
38 to 39.] 

{j) St. Matth. ix. 18 to 26, [St. Mark v. 22 to 43, St. Luke viii. 41 to 56,:] and St. Luke vii. 
11 to 16 : and St. John xi. 1 to 54. 

(k) St, Matth. ix. 27 to 31 : and St. Mark viii. 22 to 26 : and St. Matth. xx. 29 to 34, [St. 
Mark x. 46 to 52, St. Luke xviii. 35 to 43,:] and the present place. 

(J) See St. Matth. xii. 22, and xxi. 14. 

(m) See Isaiah xxix. 18 : xxxii. 3 : xxxv. 5 : xlii. 7. 

(n) Lev. xxiii. 39. (o) See the last words of St. John viii. 

( p) See below, ver. 8 : and consider St. Matth. xx. 30. 



740 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

That the sufferer knew something about our Blessed Lord, is quite certain. (How 
many things the Evangelist must pass over in silence ! The amount of this man's 
knowledge, it is of course impossible to define : but it may perhaps be safely as- 
sumed that he had lent a faithful ear to the reports of others concerning the Holy 
One, as well as that he had been careful to ascertain that His Name was Jesus. (q) 
How accurate were His notions oh the subject of Natural Religion, his subsequent 
discourse proves in a most remarkable manner :(r) while his intrepid spirit and 
generous nature shine out to great advantage in contrast with the crooked villany 
of his persecutors. But of this, hereafter. " As Jesxjs- passed by," He saw this 
man: 

2 And His Disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this 
man, or his Parents, that he was born blind ? 

What first here strikes us with surprise, is, to find our Lord, — who is supposed 
just before to have been flying from His enemies, — in what seems to be calm con- 
verse vrith His Disciples. But this ought perhaps to remind us of the very little we 
know of the transactions recorded in the Gospels, of which particulars have been 
withheld by the Evangelists. Thus, the dialogue related in St. John viii. 31 to 59,. 
may possibly have taken place in a corner, — where the attempted violence would 
have been perpetrated without risk of raising a tumult, or encountering molestation. 
Once abroad, our Saviour was perhaps secure. He may have transferred Himself 
to a remote quarter of the crowded City, and there regained the society of His Dis- 
ciples. Moreover, if the character of the present miracle is attentively considered,. 
it will be found to have been one in which the Divine person of our Lord absolutely 
disappears. He addresses a blind man, and at once withdraws Himself from His 
observation, — -leaving the other to bear his witness before the Sanhedrin alone ; 
and not re-appearing, except for a few moments at the close of the history, (and 
then, perhaps, after an interval of two months,} to bring the object of His former 
mercy into the better light of the Gospel, and to the knowledge of Himself. As 
already admitted, however, there is no proof that the events recorded in this chap- 
ter and the last are not severed by a wide interval of time. 

Even more surprising and singular is the question which the Disciples ask. To* 
submit their words to a process of rigid philosophical investigation, is however un- 
reasonable. We should perhaps regard those words as embodying the general be>- 
lief of the Jewish people in the immediate connection of calamity with crime ; of 
which we have other instances in the Gospel besides the present. (s) It is obvious 
also that such a belief derived no small sanction from the words which our Lord 
Himself addressed to the impotent man whom He healed at the Pool of Bethesda, 
" Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. ; '(f) The Disciples, in their ques- 
tion, simply assume that Human Suffering is always judicial. But this man was 
born blind. With whom then rested the sin, they ask: with him, or with his 
parents ? Some of the nation taught the transmigration of souls which had sinned ; 
and the Disciples may have wished to obtain from our Lord some information on 
the general subject. 

3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his Parents ; 
but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 

Rather, — " Neither did this man sin." — It is of course obvious that our Lord is 
not here asserting the sinlessness of any persons: but only that neither this man's 
Sin, nor the Sin of the authors of his being, was the cause of his having been born 
blind. 

Not to repeat what has already been offered in the Commentary on St. John v. 
14, on the various causes for which bodily sickness and suffering are found to have 
been inflicted on mankind, it shall be only observed that our Lord's reply seems 
to intimate that God's design in causing this man to be born with sightless eyes, 
was to make him a monument of His mercy, by causing a transcendent miracle of 
Love to be performed upon him ; whereby not only his own highest good in Time 
and in Eternity would be secured, but Messiah Himself would be manifested to 
the World. A glorious mission truly ! and a no less wonderful revelation of the 

(q) See below, ver. 11. (r) See below, ver. 30 to 33. 

(s) See St. Luke xiii. 1 to 5, and the notes there. 

(t) St. John v. 14 ,' where the note may be consulted. 



IX.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 741 



fruitfulness of wisdom displayed in God's purposes, — where seeming severity 
proves to be but the condition of exceeding Love. Thus the Sickness of Lazarus 
was not unto Death, but for God's Glory, that the Son of God might be glorified 
thereby. (u) Here, the blind eyes were but preparatory to spiritual as well as to 
bodily illumination : and a suffering, sightless wretch becomes transformed in a 
few hours into an Apostle and Confessor of Christ 1 .... All this is not offered 
as a complete account of the matter ; but only as some explanation of our Saviour's 
words. Sin and suffering do Indeed go together, as cause and effect, — Crime and 
the penalty of Crime ;(v) but we may not presume to interpret God's judgments 
in particular ; nor discourse about such an intricate moral problem as if we under- 
stood it. 

4 I must work the Works of Him that sent Me, while it is Day : 

Rather, — " I must needs work," &c. Consider St. John vi. 38, and the last 
words of x. 18. 

This then which was to follow, was one of the Works, like those of the Father, 
which the Son wrought continually, (x) in token of His Divine Mission: one of the 
Works which his Father had given Him to finish, {y) and which he had been sent 
into the World to perform.^) Chrysostom says that the words mean, — " I must 
manifest Myself, and show that I do the same that my Father doeth." 

the Night cometh, when no man can work. 

" Not that any night can overtake Christ ; but as Night is given to mankind to 
he an emblem of Death ; and the life of each is to the appointed day of his work ; 
our Lord adopts the same figure for His own course in the flesh. As " Man goeth 
forth unto his work, and to his labour until the evening. "(a) In like manner this 
His Day was on the wane, and verging to its close. "(6) . . . But our Lord straight- 
way adds, 

5 As long as I am in the World, I am the Light of the World. 

By which words, we are reminded of the singular manner in which our Saviour's 
sayings ever assume an unexpected meaning, and demand a breadth of applica- 
tion for which we were at first unprepared. " The Day," then, of which He spake 
before, {that Day which Abraham " saw and was glad,")(c) however protracted its 
future glories, yet in the strictest sense of the term, had the same duration as His 
own Ministry ; lasted as long as He Himself continued in the World. The Sun 
of Righteousness was now about to be withdrawn from the eyes of men ; and 
accordingly the Day of which He spake was itself now rapidly drawing to a close. 
4 'The Night cometh," (saith He,) "when no man can work:" words which, as we 
now perceive, must have a broader meaning than was assigned to them above. 
They must imply, that "the hour was at hand when men would no longer have the 
opportunity of beholding and believing in Christ, but would be overtaken by spi- 
ritual darkness. Compare ver. 4 and 5 with chap. xi. 9, 10, and xii. 35, 36. 

" I am the Light of the World," — saith our Lord. How precious a saying for 
Faith and Love to feed upon ! Yea, He " is the true Light, which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the World." {d) The Sun which glorifies Creation, — filling 
the air with brightness and the heart with joy, — is therefore but a faint type or 
shadow of Him, who is "the true Light." Christ alone is the " Light of the 
World!" 

And if He be the Light of the World, (as He repeatedly declares of Himself, ){e) 
then should men learn to rejoice in His shining, and to regard all things as dark 
and gloomy where He is not. They should try to behold everything as it must 
appear in His presence ; and let everything depend for its due place, and form, 
and colour upon Him. What safety in a path which He has not revealed ? What 
joy in a prospect which His smile does not adorn? " In Thy Light," (exclaims the 
Psalmist,) " shall we see Light !"(/) 

(u) St. John xi. 4. 

(v) See Gen. iii. 16 to 19. Also the note on St. Luke xiii. 3. 

(x) St. John v. 17: and see ver. 19. (y) St. John v. 36 : xvii. 4. 

[z) St. John iv. 34. - (a) Ps. civ. 23. (6) Williams. 

(c) St. John viii. i>6. (d) St. John i. 9. 

(e) See St. John viii. 12. Compare also iii. 19 : xiL 35, 36, and especially 46. 

(/) Ps. xxxvi. 9. 



742 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The saying thus remarked upon prepares us for the miracle which follows, in the 
manner explained in the note prefixed to the present chapter. 

6 When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made 
clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the 
clay. 

Three times is our Saviour related to have employed the moisture of His Divine 
Mouth in working miraculous cures: once, in relief of a stammering tongue, (g) — 
twice, for the cure of blindness. (h) But only on this occasion do we read of " clay" 
made with spittle being employed as an instrument of cure. The washing in the 
Pool of Siloam as a superadded condition, is without a parallel in the recorded 
miracles of our Blessed Lord. The thing to be observed however, is, that neither 
in the thick clay, nor in the sacred moisture, nor in Siloa's brook, — in no sacra- 
mental sign, did the power of vision lie ; but in the Faith of him who obediently 
availed himself of the covenanted means of Grace. Christ prescribed the means 
of illumination : the sufferer, blind from his birth, complied with those conditions; 
and the gift followed, as a matter of course Concerning the symbolical na- 
ture of the transaction, see below, the note on verse 7. 

It is a highly interesting,£ireumstance, that the ancients believed in the healing 
virtue of saliva, in the case of disorders of the eyes. Even the anointing with clay 
was a recognized method of cure. What then is to be thought of our Saviour's 
employment of such media, — utterly unavailing as they must have been in directly 
furthering His Divine purpose ? They were perhaps intended to help the Faith of 
the sufferers themselves. Neither spittle nor clay will have been needed by the 
noble pair at Jericho, whose Faith made them even clamorous for Mercy. Saliva 
alone may have sufficed (though it barely sufficed) {%) for the blind man of Beth- 
saida, who seems to have merely lost a faculty which he once possessed. But the 
man blind from his birth may have required the most help of all. He will have 
understood, as well as felt, the anointing with clay : a less palpable outward sign 
in his case, would have been, perhaps, ineffectual. 

If it be asked why then the man who had only an impediment in his speech was 
so assisted, let it be suggested that his was precisely a case where we seem to 
recognize some defect in the moral condition of the object of our Saviour's mercy. 
On the occasion of no other miracle is He said to have sighed. (k) — But, to return. 
Our Lord " spread the clay [like ointment] over the eyes of the blind man," — 

7 and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by in- 
terpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and 
came seeing. 

Take notice then that this was a double miracle. Our Lord had not only be- 
stowed upon the man the faculty of Sight, but He had given him the astounding 
power to use that newly acquired faculty as completely as if he had never known 
the lack of it. This has been already remarked upon in the Commentary on the 
latter part of St. Mark i. 31. — The implicit faith in Christ, shown by the Beggar's 
immediate obedience to directions apparently so little calculated to afford him any 
benefit, becomes even more striking when contrasted with the reluctance of Na- 
aman on a similar occasion. (I) 

Thus did He give Light to the blind eyes on the first Day of the week, (to) who 
in the beginning had called forth the Light itself on that Day. His making clay 
while engaged in this act, so highly symbolical of the New Creation, reminds us of 
the history of the Creation of Man. (n) 

That the entire transaction was symbolical, may be fairly assumed ; and the ana- 
logy of other places of Scripture, (as the History of Naaman's Leprosy, ) (o) added 
to the concurrent testimony of the Fathers, leads us to refer the concluding act of 
the miracle to that Baptismal washing, so clearly revealed in Scripture as " gen- 
erally necessary to Salvation ;" and declared to be a rite indispensable, even in the 
case of those who, by Faith, have been already brought as Catechumens or Con- 

(g) St. Mark rii. 33. (h) See St. Mark viii. 23. 

(0 See the note on St. Mark viii. 25. (k) See the notes on St. Mark vii. 34. 

(I) 2 Kings v. 1U to 14. (m) See below, ver. 14. 

(n) See Gen. ii. 7. (o) See 2 Kings v. 10 to 14. 



ix.] on st. John's gospel. 743 

fessors into the marvellous Light of the Gospel of Christ. The reader should 
examine the places referred to at foot ;(_p) and he is requested to observe that, in 
the Apostolic Age, "Illumination 7 ' or "Enlightenment" was actually a name for 
Baptism itself.(g) What has been already offered on the word " Pool," in con- 
nection with Holy Baptism, shall not be here repeated.(r) 

But the chief difficulty of the passage yet remains untouched: for it requires no 
great familiarity with Scripture to feel convinced that our Lord's injunction to 
"go, wash in the pool of Siloam," was not delivered without a deep meaning. If 
this could be for an instant doubted, the interpretation of the word, so signi- 
ficantly introduced, would be enough to establish the fact. 

It shall suffice to point out, very "briefly, the probable meaning of this interesting 
passage. — " Siloam," (says the beloved Disciple,) signifies " [a man who hath been] 
sent." That this was our Lord's own special designation, has been already suffi- 
ciently shown. (s) In requiring, therefore, as the condition of the blind man's ob- 
taining the gift of sight, that he should "go washin Siloam," it seems to be plainly 
declared that the blindness of the Jewish Church, (aptly prefigured by the weak- 
eyed Leah,) could not be healed until she betook herself to the "Sent' of God,(£) — 
even to Him who " washed us from our sins in His own blood." (u) 

It is further evident that the clay with which our Saviour had overspread the 
man's eyes, was in itself calculated only to obstruct the Light. It could only 
act as a hinderance, not as a help, to the approach of vision. In the waters of 
Siloam, however, this obstacle would disappear entirely. And what does all this 
seem to signify but that our Lord's Humanity was a hinderance to the Jews, and 
in itself only helped to blind them to "the true Light?" That form of clay, 
wherein Deity had been pleased to unite itself to the dust, and which was all 
that met the eyes of men, was a mere obstacle, until they freely betook them- 
selves to Him that had been "Sent;" when the difficulty at once vanished, and 
their eyes were opened. 

Here then was displayed, in a most lively and instructive parable, the con- 
sequences to the Jewish Nation of our Lord's Advent. Blind like this Beggar, 
though little suspecting that like him they were wretched, and miserable, and 
poor, and blind, and naked, (v)— as many as received not the "Sent" One, hence- 
forward became even more hopelessly dark. This is what our Lord will be 
found presently to declare, in those words — "For judgment am I come into this 
World, .... thai they which see," (that is, who think they see, yet reject Me their 
Saviour,) "might be made blind:" [x) and to this agree the writings of the Pro- 
phets^) and Apostles. (z) 

Lastly, by this mention of Siloam, our Saviour may have intended to direct 
attention to a well-known place in the writings of His Evangelical Prophet, and 
even to guide the Church to its true spiritual application. The threat anciently 
denounced against Israel that they should be subdued by the King of Assyria, 
"forasmuch as. this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, (a) was 
doubtless not without reference to the days of Messiah: and may well have im- 
plied that on the Jews' rejection of Him whom God had "sent," He would " send 
forth His armies, and destroy those murderers, and burn up their City."(6) 

It may be added that " the pool of Siloam " is recognized at the present day " as a 
small deep reservoir in the form of a parallelogram, into which the water flows from 
under the rocks through a long subterraneous channel." It stands at the foot of 
Mount Sion, towards the south-east of the ancient City: and has ever been remark- 
able for the irregular flow of its water,— the cause of which phenomenon does not 

(p) See Acts ii. 37 to 41 : viii. 12, 36, 38 : ix. 8 to 18 : x. 44 to 48 : xvi. 30 to 33 : xix. 1 to 
5, &c. See also the note on St. John iv. 42, p. 137-8. 

(?) See Heb. vi. 4 : x. 32. ( r ) S e s e the note on St. John v. 2. 

(s) See the note (e) on St. John iv. 34, at p. 668. 

(t) Is it possible that Gen. xlix. 10, is to be connected with this name ? We humbly suspect 
n0t " v " ^ lloh " Probably means "He whose it is,"— "He for whom it is reserved,"— or (as the 
prophet Ezekiel (xxi. 27,) explains the place,) "He whose riqht it is." Moses perhaps refers to 
this name in Exod. iv. 13. 

(u) Rev. i. 5. See also Eph. v. 2Q. 

(v) Rey.iii. 17. (x) See below, ver. 39. 

y\ j s - v !:. 10 ; (z) Rom. xi. 7 to 10, also 25. 

(a) Is. Tin. 6. The final letter of,Siloam was added by the Jews of our Saviour's time to 
the ancient form of the word — Siloa 

(b) St. Matth. xxii. 7. 



744 A PLAIN COMMENTAEY [CHAP. 

seem to be understood. The " Tower in Siloam," mentioned in St. Luke xiii. 4, is 
thought to have been close by this Pool ; which is only noticed besides in Nehe- 
miah iii. 15. It was always famous for the salubrity of its waters. 

8 The neighbors therefore, and they which before had seen him that 
he was blind, said. Is not this he that sat and begged ? 

He was therefore poor as well as blind. A blind beggar ! Such are the Gospel 
Heroes. (c) The man had now returned to the dwelling of his parents ; and the 
neighbours as was natural crowded to see him. 

9 Some said, This is he : others said, He is like him : hut he said, I 
am he. 

The thing seemed impossible ; and therefore opinion was divided as to the man's 
identity. But the Beggar's testimony settled the question. 

Nothing more alters the general expression of the face, which before presented 
an utter blank, than the addition of the organs of sight. The neighbours scarcely 
recognized the blind beggar after he had been the object of our Saviour's mercy. 
They saw merely a resemblance in the man to his former self. "But he said, I am 
he." This, it has been well observed, is the emblem of a sinner whose eyes God 
hath touched and enlightened by His Grace ; who hath, in consequence, become 
a man so altered in his views and opinions of all things, that he appears to others 
scarcely the same person : but he knows himself to have been he that was" miserable, 
and poor, and blind, and naked ;" and that through the Grace of God only he is 
other than he was.(cZ) 

10, 11 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened ? 
He answered and said, A Man that is called Jesus made clay, and 
anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and 
wash : and I went and washed, and I received sight. 

He had therefore ascertained that his great Benefactor bore the name, as well as 
exercised the office, of a Saviour ; and his language shows that he had, in the 
strictest manner, fulfilled the instructions which our Lord had given him. The 
result, he describes with the same sublime simplicity as if he were describing the 
work of the first day of Creation, — when " God said, Let there be Light : and there 
was Light." (e) 

" Mark his exactness. He does not say how the clay was made ; for he could not 
see that our Lord spat on the ground. He does not say what he does not know : 
but that our Lord had anointed his eyes, he could feel. Our Lord's words too, he 
could declare from having heard them. ;; (y) 

12 Then said they unto him, Where is He ? He said, I know not. 

Obviously. He had hitherto only heard, not seen, his Benefactor; and can have 
known nothing of the movements of One who in fact had not where to lay His 
Head." Compare the case of the impotent man, in St. John v. 12, 13. 

13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. 

" These men, when they asked Where is He? were desirous of bringing our Lord 
before the Pharisees : but as they could not find Him, they bring the blind man 
instead,(#) in order that the Pharisees might examine him the more closely." The 
pretence for this proceeding on their part, follows in the next verse. 

14 And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and 
opened his eyes. 

So, after recording the cure of the impotent man, St. John adds, — " And on the 
same day was the Sabbath." (h) 

One of the Evangelist's reasons for adding this circumstance (though by no 
means the only reason) was doubtless that assigned by Chrysostom; namely, to ex- 

(c) See St. James ii. 5. (d) Williams. 

(e) Gen. i. 3. (/) Chrysostom. 

(g) Chrysostom. (h) St. John v. 9. 



IX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 745 

pose the real design of these men in their present proceeding. This was, to accuse 
our Saviour of a breach of the Commandment, and thus to detract from the miracle. 
According to these hypocrites, the "making the clay" was a violation of the Fourth 
Commandment. 

15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his 
sight. 

They asked him the same question as "the neighbours" had asked already. 
They perhaps wished to intimidate the Beggar, and to give him an opportunity of 
denying that any cure had been wrought upon him by Christ at all. 

He said unto them, He put clay upon mine e3'es, and I washed, and 
do see. 

Mark his firmness. He had already borne his testimony before " the neighbours ;" 
but he had nothing then to fear. Here, he beholds a formidable Court arrayed be- 
fore him, and he repeats his story fearlessly, — omitting only such particulars as he 
knows to be superfluous. 

16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This Man is not of God, 
because He keepeth not the Sabbath day. 

"Some," not all: for others (like Nicodemus) were believers already; "had had 
their eyes anointed," as Augustine speaks. " Some," however, " passing over the 
miracle in silence, give all the prominence they can to the supposed transgression ; 
not charging our Saviour with healing on the Sabbath, but with not keeping the 
Sabbath." (i) They were guilty of the same malicious suppression on a former 
occasion (J) 

Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? 

Do we not here recognize the voice of him who at first " came to Jesus by night, 
and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God : for 
no man com do these miracles that Thou doest except GOD be with Him ?"(]&) — Com- 
pare chap. x. 19, 20, 21, — in which last verse, the voice of Nicodemus seems to be 
again plainly discernible. 

And there was a division among them. 

"For this was He," (says Augustine finely,) "who in the beginning divided the 
Light from the Darkness." — See the note on St. John vii. 43. 

17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of Him 
that He hath opened thine eyes ? 

This is a single question: "What doest thou say about Him for having opened/' 
or " in that He hath opened thine eyes?" — Observe how artfully these wicked men 
proceed. They attempted at first to obtain from the beggar a denial of his cure. 
Foiled in this endeavour, they seek to draw from his ignorant lips some opinion 
concerning our Lord which they' may turn to His prejudice. The beggar's reply 
reveals the amount of his belief concerning our Lord, — namely, that He was a man 
with a Divine Commission ; a man sent from God.(Z) 

He said, Pie is a Prophet. 

18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been 
blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that 
had received his sight. 

Nor then either, — according to the well-known use of the present idiom, so often 
explained already. See the places at foot.(m) 

(i) Chrysostom. (j) See St. John v. 12, and the note there. , 

(k) St. John iii. 2. (I) See below, ver. 33. 

(m) See the notes on St. Matth. i. 25 : xviii. 34 : xxviii. 20. 



746 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your Son, who ye say was 
born blind ? how then doth he now see ? 

The Beggar was removed from the Court(n), while this iniquitous attempt was 
made to extort from the lips of a humble pair something which might be wrested 
to our Lord's disadvantage. " Ye say" that your Son was born blind. Is it really 
the case ? His look is so altered, that the very neighbours are in doubt whether 
this is the man who " sat and begged/' Are ye sure that this is your son? .... 
Overawed as the poor creatures evidently were by the interrogations of such men, 
they are yet found to bear most pertinent witness to the Truth on both these points. 

20, 21 His Parents answered them and said, We know that this is our 
Son, and that he was born blind : but by what means he now seeth, we 
know not ; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not. He is of age ; 
ask him. He shall speak for himself. 

They answer in fear, as St. John mentions in the nest verse : but they bear wit- 
ness to the only points of any importance, — namely, that this teas their Son; and 
that he was born llind. That he now possessed the faculty of sight, was a plain 
fact, — to be accounted for, they cared not how. And thus, as Chrysostom truly 
observes, "the Truth becomes strengthened by the very snares which are laid 
against it. A lie is its own antagonist, and by its attempts to injure the Truth, sets 
it off to greater advantage. So was it now: for the argument which might other- 
wise have been urged that the neighbours knew nothing for certain, but spoke from 
a mere resemblance, is cut off by the introduction of the Parents, — who could of 
course testify to their own Son." 

22 These ivords spake his Parents, because they feared the Jews : 
for the Jews had agreed already that if any man did confess that He 
was Christ, he should be put out of the Synagogue. 

So sinfully had these Pharisees prejudged the case into which they pretended to 
inquire ! " Nor shall any such sentence of excommunication be void; for if pro- 
nounced with injustice, it falls back on the authors of it: never more signally than 
now, for while Christ received this man into His Church, those Jews are cut off 
from the Church unto this day. An awful instance of the serious consequence of 
using wrongly and unjustly such sacred powers. "(o) Concerning "the Jews," the 
reader is referred to the second note on St. John v. 15 ; and he should compaie ver. 
22, above, with chap. xii. 42. 

23 Therefore said His Parents, He is of age ; ask him. 

"By which words" (remarks an old writer,) "the Evangelist shows that it was 
not from ignorance, but fear, that they gave this answer." (p) The Man who had 
received his sight was now again brought in. 

24 Then again called they the Man that was blind, and said unto him, 
Give God the praise : we know that this Man is a sinner. 

Rather, "Give glory to Gob," — which does not mean "Give it to God, and not 
to this man:' 7 it is simply a solemn adjuration to the Beggar to speak the truth. — 
as when Joshua in the self-same words addressed Achan.(g) ."We, the learned 
Doctors of the Law," (say they,) "have fully satisfied ourselves that this man is a 
Sinner," — that is, a notorious offender: "do not thou persevere in thy lie !" (a 
method of argument, or rather of intimidation, which we have heard the same 
speakers employ before :)(r) and they seem to wish by this saying to confound and 
overbear the humble individual who has just been brought into their presence for 
the second time ; whom they would fain impress with the belief that they have been 
making discoveries during his absence, which prove that the whole of this miracu- 
lous transaction has been a fraud. 

(n) Consider below, ver. 24. (o) Williams. (^) Alcuin. 

(q) See the Greek version of Josh. vii. 19. The formula is found in other places,— as 1 Sam. 
vi. 5. Jer. xiii. 16. Mai. ii. 2. Rev. xi. 13 : xiv. 7 : xvi. 9. 
(>•) See St. John vii. 48, 49, and the note on ver. 47. 



IX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 747 

25 He answered and said, Whether He be a sinner or no, I know 
not : one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. 

He refuses to go into any irrelevant question with them. That the "man called 
Jesus ,; was a sinner, the Pharisees said "we know." Whether this be the fact, or 
the contrary, exclaims the Beggar, " I knoio not" . . . One thing only he chooses 
to know ; but that one thing it is which creates all the present difficulty. 

26 Then said they to him again, What did He to thee ? how opened 
He thine eyes ? 

Was this the language of utter perplexity? or of real curiosity? or did these sin- 
ners seek thus to entrap the man into some contradiction of himself? Chrysostom 
compares them to digs which, when the scent fails, go back to some old scent. 

27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: 
wherefore would ye hear it again ? will ye also be His Disciples ? 

Observe that he here makes a glorious confession of his Faith in Christ. The 
bold irony of his reply is admirable: "what is the object," (he asks,) " of all this 
tedious questioning, and rigorous investigation of so plain a matter? Do you wish 
to discover that the miracle is true, in order that you also, — you as well as myself, — 
may become the Disciples of Jesus V . . . So that his generous spirit has waxed 
bolder under the fire of persecution : every instinct of his "honest and good heart" 
being at last outraged by what he has witnessed in the World to which his eyes 
have been only newly opened. Cited at first before the Pharisees, in order to make 
him give information prejudicial to his Benefactor: a witness, next, of the shallow 
reasoning which would set aside so astounding a miracle on the frivolous pretext 
that it was wrought on the Sabbath-day : then, plied with an insidious question, 
whereby he might be brought to inculpate either our Saviour or himself: made to 
withdraw, while a mean endeavour is made to confound and intimidate his poor and 
probably aged parents ; and only recalled before the sinful Pharisees in order to be 
overawed and insulted by them ; — the Blind man evidently became warmed by a 
noble courage which made him at last spurn and defy the malice which he saw 
arrayed against him : and his taunt is found to have cut his adversaries to the 
quick. 

28, 29 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art His Disciple; but 
we are Moses' Disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses : as 
for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. 

Thus to set up Moses against Christ, and to contrast their respective claims, is 
found to have been the favourite practice of these speakers. See St. John vi. 31, 
32, and the notes there : also viii. 5 : and consider St. John v. 45 to the end. 

" Thou art a Disciple of Him" (says the Pharisees;) "but ive are Disciples of 
Moses." The words are all emphatic. "May such a malediction as the former 
saying was meant to imply, be upon us and upon our children !" piously exclaims 
Augustine. On a former occasion, we heard these men urge their knowledge of 
Christ's origin as a reason for rejecting Him. " We know this Man whence He 
is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is."(s) Here, they seem 
to profess no knowledge on the same object : but what they mean is that they know 
not the source whence Pie obtained His Commission, nor the ground of His preten- 
sions to be sent of God. 

30, 31, 32, 33 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein 
is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He 
hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners : 
but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth His will, him He 
heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened 
the eyes of one that was born blind. If this Man were not of God, he 
could do nothing. 

(s) St. John vii. 27, — where see the notes. 



748 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The exceeding wit of this prompt rejoinder is scarcely less remarkable than its 
bitter irony ; while the instincts of natural Piety which it discovers are truly admi- 
rable. "Why!" (exclaims the man,) "this is a wonderful feature of the case 
indeed. Ye, — the wise Doctors of the Law, whose office it is to try the spirits 
whether they be of God, to distinguish between false Prophets and true, — ye profess 
yourselves unable to say whether this Man be from Heaven, or not : and yet He 
hath wrought a miracle on me, without a parallel in the World's history \{f) Lis- 
ten then while I solve the problem for you. You have yourselves declared that God 
heareth not sinners :(ii) and I quite agree. It is even proverbial that God heareth 
not the hardened and the impious,(w) but only those who do His will.(x) Now God 
hath heard this Man. He is therefore not "a sinner/' in your sense of the word, 
but must be from God. If He were not, He could do nothing at all in this way ; 
much less could he have wrought such a stupendous act of power as this !".... 
The rage of such a body of persons at being so addressed, might be foreseen. (y) 
The relation between the speakers had become reversed. The Beggar was the 
teacher : the Pharisees, the taught. They stood convicted at once of folly and of 
malice ; and are found to be no longer at any pains to conceal their anger and their 
scorn. 

34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in 
sins, and dost thou teach us ? 

They allude to the man's natural defect, and taunt him with having come into 
the world with the penalty of Sin branded on his entire person, in that he was 
born blind. This seems to be the meaning of "altogether ;" for "the lamp of the 
body is the eye,"(2) as our Saviour said on another occasion ; and its office is to 
fill the whole body with light. But the wretched speakers forget that they are 



>..:.:< 



already asserting the very thing which they were lately so bent on disprov 
They forget also, that "if Blindness were indeed the sign of Sin, then, to remove 
Blindness proved a power to remove the penalty of Sin. "(a) Lastly, they seem 
regardless of the fearful truth that by such words they are reproaching their 
Maker ;{b) for "who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind f have 
not I the Lord ?"(c) — said God to his servant Moses. All is forgotten in the unbear- 
able thought that they, "the Guides of the Blind," as they vainly styled them- 
selves,^) were receiving instruction at the hands of this blind Beggar. "It was 
they themselves," (as Augustine observes,) "who had made him the teacher ; them- 
selves, who had asked him so many questions." But that " Lights of them which 
are in Darkness," "Instructors of the Foolish," "Teachers of Babes," (e) should 
be thus schooled by an illiterate person who but yesterday had " sat and begged," 
— all this was not to be endured. Accordingly, "his clear and forcible eloquence 
is met by one argument alone ; namely, thou art a sinner, but we are righteous: 
thou art ignorant, and we learned in the Law : we sit in Moses' seat,(/) thou art 
the blind follower of this Galilean deceiver. — So much then for Evidences, as a 
means of convincing men of the truth of Christianity ! Here had been a judicial 
inquiry ; and it was attended with this result \{g) A change of heart, not more 
Light, in such matters is the thing needed. The perception of Truth is a moral, 
rather than an intellectual act. But this has been often pointed out already. (li) 
It follows: 

And they cast him out. 

That is, they pass a formal sentence of Excommunication upon him,— and doubt- 
less cause him to be ejected from their presence likewise ; thereby making him the 
foremost of that glorious Army of Confessors who praise God for evermore. Take 
notice therefore how literally in him was fulfilled the blessing pronounced by our 

(0 See the note on ver. 1. (u) See above, ver. 16 and 24. 

(v) That is what is meant by " sinners" in verses 16, 24 and 31. Consider Job xxvii. 8, 9. 
Ps. lxvi. IS. Prov. i. 24 to 30 : xxviii. 9. Is. i. 15 : lix. 2. Jer. xiv. 10, 13. Micah iii. 4, &c. 
(x) See Ps. xxxiii. 18 : xxxiv. 15. 1 St. Pet. iii. 12. 
(y) Consider the character which onr Lord Himself gave of them, in St. Matth. xxiii. 

(a) St. Matth. vi. 22. («) Williams. 

(b) Consider Prov. xvii. 5 : xiv. 31. (c) Exod. iv. 11. 

( d) See Rom. ii. 19 : and the note on St. Matth. xxiii. 16, 17. 

(e) See the note on St. John iii. 10. (/) Williams. 

\g) See on St. Mark iii. 22. [h) See on St. John v. 17. 



IX.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 749 



Lord Himself on those whom men should "hate," and "separate from their com- 
pany," and " reproach," and cast out their name as evil, for the Son of Man's 
sake.(i) 

It will be seen that in the next verse, our Saviour reappears. We heard of Him 
last, in verse 7. Henceforward we do not loose sight of Him till the Feast of the 
Dedication :(A:) and He seems to have been all the while at -Jerusalem. Between 
verses 34 and 35, therefore, some weeks may possibly have elapsed; namely, from 
the latter part of October to the beginning of December, in the last half-year of our 
Lord's Ministry. 

35 Jesus heard that they had cast hiin out ; and when He had found 
him, He said unto Him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God ? 

An interval has occurred. Our compassionate Lord, who never forsakes His 
people, then proceeds, (as on a former occasion He had done,)(Z) in search of (to) 
the late object of His Mercy ; whose Faith, the experience of the interval has suf- 
ficed to ripen fully, and who is now in a condition to receive the knowledge of His 
Divinity. He who knoweth all things, knows where to find the man ; and when 
He has found him, — and, as we may suppose, further revealed Himself as the Great 
Physician who had brought him out of thick darkness into the dazzling light of an 
Eastern day, — He asks, " Dost thou believe in the Son of God ?" Nothing short of 
this is a saving Belief. The Beggar must confess with the Confession of St. Peter, 
though he cannot yet speak with the largeness of the Apostle's Faith. 

36 He answered and said, Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on 
Him? 

Rather, "Who is He, Sir?" And so in verse 38. — ■" The language of a longing 
and earnestly desirous soul."(w) Only tell me who He is, (he seems to say,) and, 
at Thy Word, I will believe on Him. 

37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He 
that talketh with thee. 

" Thou hast not only seen Him, — (by which our Saviour reminds him of his 
recent cure,) (o) — but He that is talking to thee is He." By sight and by hearing 
both, thou art making thyself acquainted with Him. So gracious a revelation, our 
Lord is only once before recorded to have made.(jp) 

" Those who suffer for the Truth's sake," observes Chrysostom, " come to 
greatest honour ; as we see in the instance of this Blind man. The Jews cast him 
out of the Temple, but the Lord of the Temple found him ; and received him as 
the Judge doth the wrestler after his labours, and crowned him." 

38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him. 

Thus adding the deed to the word, — the act of bodily adoration to the confession 
of the heart. — In one deep sentence our Saviour seems to sum up the entire 
matter ; delivering a solemn comment on all the events which we have been 
recently considering. The miracle itself does not so much as suggest the image 
which He employs, as receive its interpretation from His lips : 

39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this World, that 
they which see not might see ; and that they which see might be made 
blind. 

"Judgment" is not here used in an active sense. The "Judgment" spoken of 
is the condemnation implied by the severing of men into good and bad, which was 
the consequence, (not the purpose,) of Christ's coming into this World. He was 
" set for the fall^ and the rising of many," as holy Simeon declared; for this was 
the Stone on which some were to build and be saved, — others, to stumble and be 

(0 St. Luke vi. 22. (k) St. John x. 22. (I) St. John v. 14. 

(m) St. John xii. 14, compared with St. Matth. xxi. 1 to 7. 

(n) Chrysostom. (o) Theophylact. (p) See St. John ir. 26. 



750 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

broken. (q) He was to be " a sign which should be spoken against, that the thoughts 
of many hearts might be revealed.{r) There was no formal judgment indeed to be 
pronounced as yet. This was reserved for the end of all things. (5) But in the 
meantime he that believed not, was just as effectually condemned already ; because 
he believed not in the Name of the Only Begotten Son of God. " And this is the 
condemnation/-' (said our Saviour to Nicodemus,) "that Light is come into the 
World, and men loved Darkness rather than Light, because their works were 
evil. ; ;(0 

It is therefore in the sense which the words last quoted suggest, that our Saviour 
here says, " For judgment came I into this World." Had it not been prophesied, 
concerning His appearing, that He should be "like a refiner's fire," "purifying 
the Sons of Levi, and purging them as gold and silver?"^) Was not this He, 
" whose fan is in His Hand, and He shall throughly purge His floor ;" making a 
separation between the chaff and the wheat ?(r) But neither of these images is 
here employed. Christ is here " dividing the Light from the Darkness," — Avhich 
had also been His work on the Birthday of Creation. Men promptly showed them- 
selves to belong to the one or to the other state, (for " Darkness" is a moral state 
in the language of Scripture ;) and by thus arranging themselves in two great 
classes, the} 7 anticipated, as it were, their own final sentence ; and the Work of the 
Great and terrible Day became exhibited in emblem, even at the first Advent of 
Christ. 

The consequence was, that the blind, (that is, simple and ignorant, yet meek 
and faithful men,) saw ; while the seeing, (that is, the vain pretenders to discern- 
ment, proud and presumptuous persons,) were made blind. And this had been the 
well-known prediction of prophecy from the first. (tt?) 

40 And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these 
words, and said unto Him, are we blind also ? 

Some " which were with Him" — to show that they heard Him utter this saying, 
themselves. The expression seems also to imply that certain of the Pharisees 
maliciously followed our Saviour about. Their question seems to be asked in 
anger. They fully apprehended the sense of His words ; perceived that He spoke 
of spiritual blindness, (although with an allusion to His recent miracle ; and indig- 
nantly inquire whether He means to insinuate that they labour under the infirmity 
of which He speaks ? 

41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin : 
but now ye say, We see ; therefore your sin remaineth. 

A terrible sentence truly ! Our Saviour says, — " If ye were indeed in a 
benighted condition, there would be excuse for you : or if, being blind, ye were 
eager to " anoint your eyes with eye-salve, that ye might see, (a;) — if ye were ready 
to confess your blindness, and to pray for its removal, — it should be removed. But 
whereas ye make a boast of living in the full blaze of Light, — behold, your sin 
remaineth." 



CHAPTER X 



1 Christ is the Door, and the Good Shepherd. 19 Divers opinions of Him. 24 He 
proveth by His Works that He is Christ the Sox of God : 39 escapeth the Jews : 
40 and went again beyond Jordan, where many believed on Him. 

It is reasonable to presume that the present Discourse should be regarded as 

(?) See 1 St. Pet. ii. 6 to 8, and 2 Cor. ii. 16. Is. viii. U, and also Rom. ix. 33. 

(>•) St. Luke ii. 34, 35. (s) See the note on St. John viii. 26. 

(t) St. John iii. 18, 19, — where see the note. 

(u) Mai. iii. 2, 3. {v) St. Matth. iii. 12. 

(w) See Is. vi. 10 : also Rom. xi. 7 to 10. (x) Rev. iii. 18. 



X.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 751 

having immediate connection with the short dialogue with which chapter ix. con- 
cludes. Indeed, were it not for the division into chapters, no break would probably 
have ever been suspected. If there was any truth, therefore, in the suggestion 
hazarded at the end of the note on chap. ix. 34, our Saviour will have already 
arrived at Jerusalem in order to keep the Feast of Dedication, which obtains 
special notice below, in verse 22. But it is impossible to pronounce with any 
degree of certainty on this subject ; and a very careful reader is able to form as 
trustworthy an opinion as his guide. Learned men are not agreed whether the 
Healing of the Blind Man, recorded in chapter ix., took place at the Feast of 
Tabernacles, or afterwards ;(«) and till this is decided, the arrangement of the rest 
of the narrative must perforce be uncertain. It is a satisfaction to reflect, on all 
such occasions, that if it were at all needful that we should enjoy the sense of 
certainty, the witness of the Spirit would have been express. An instructive 
inference may surely be drawn from the very silence and seeming indifference of 
the Evangelists in such matters. The subject, (they seem to say,) is of no real 
importance. Give heed to what thy Lord tells thee, rather than trouble thyself 

about discovering wlien He said it It would be easy to expand these remarks ; 

but the subject shall be left for the thoughtful reader to pursue for himself. 

The formula by which the parable of the Door of the Sheep is prefaced in verse 
1, and proceeded with in verse 7, sufficiently proclaims its solemnity and impor- 
tance : (see the last words of the note on St. John vi. 46 :) while a little attention 
to the Discourse itself is enough to convince any one of its extreme difficulty like- 
wise. In its progressive character, it reminds us of our Lord's discourses recorded 
in the fifth and sixth chapters of the present Gospel. See the latter part of the 
commentary on St. John vi. 35. 

1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the 
door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a 
thief and a robber. But He that entereth in by the door is the Shep- 
herd of the sheep. 

Bather "a Shepherd of the sheep." Christ alone is "t7ie Shepherd:" and He 
will be found presently, (namely, in verse 11.) to reveal Himself by that name. 
At first, (namely, from verses 1 to 10 of the present chapter,) He discourses of 
Himself as " the Boor" of the sheep: and the shepherds spoken of are all those 
to whom He gives a commission to "feed His sheep."(6) That the attributes of a 
good Shepherd which our Lord proceeds to indicate, (and this one among the rest,) 
are fully exhibited in His own person alone, is true ; but this does not affect our 
interpretation of the Parable. Every expression in it has a marked reference to 
Christ. His language, in order to be fully understood, must be interpreted of 
Himself. But still, it is plain that it is not of Himself that He is primarily 
speaking. 

What then maybe the connection between the present Discourse and that which 
went before? Our Lord's intention seems to have been to pass a sentence of 
utter condemnation on the sinful individuals who had recently excommunicated(c) 
the Man born blind, and denounced Himself as a sinner. (d) So far from allow- 
ing them to be faithful Pastors who had thus ejected from Church-membership one 
whose offence had been that he believed in Him, our Saviour informs them, first, 
that admission to the Ministry can only be procured through Himself: and that as 
many as obtain the pastoral commission in any other way except by Faith in Him, 
are but " thieves and robbers." — Next, whereas the Pharisees had excluded the 
Man born blind from the Fold of the Church, our Lord gives them to understand 
what a terrible mistake they labour under. In the exercise of the power of the 
keys with which they were entrusted, they had thought themselves at liberty to 
close the door against this man.(e) But, — " I am the Door," saith our Saviour 
Christ ! " By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." Thus, the first part 
of the parable, (down to verse 6,) refers chiefly to the Pharisees : the latter part, 
(verses 7 to 10,) chiefly to the object of their recent cruelty. 

What is it then for a Shepherd to enter the sheepfold "by the Door," that is, 

(a) See the conclusion of the note prefixed to St. John is. 

(b) Alluding to St. John xxi. 16, &c. 

(c) See St. John ix. 34. (d) St. John ix. 24, 25, 29, 30. 
(e) Consider St. John xvi. 2. 



752 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Christ ? Doubtless, it is above all things to be called lawfully, — that is, accord- 
ing to CHRIST'S Institution. "And when our Lord, as Man, took upon Himself 
the care of the flock, He set a perfect example of conformity to the laws of enter- 
ing upon and bearing that office." He " glorified not Himself to be made an High 
Priest ; but He that said unto Him. Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten 
Tliee."(y) "Accordingly, in setting forth those laws which regulate man's life 
in the Fold of God, and the order and government of it, He does not omit to speak 
of His own lawful entrance, and faithful endurance; and to make these the 
living and visible rule for all Pastors to follow."(#) 

But, (it will be asked,) had not the men then whom Christ addressed, been law- 
fully called? As far as external vocation goes, they had, doubtless. They sat in 
Moses' seat,(7i) and were armed with God's authority to dispense His Word and 
Sacraments. But something more than external vocation is necessary in God's 
sight, without which the highest privileges may be forfeited. Thus, when these 
pastors were for thrusting Christ aside, — Christ, "the end of the Law,"(7) by and 
through whom they held their very commission, — 10I10 sees not that they were vir- 
tually undoing the work of their Ordination, and rejecting the Rock on which they 
were themselves built ? Christ therefore denounces them by the appellation which 
belongs to as many as, neglecting the door, climb up into the sheepfold "some 
other way." He calls them " thieves and robbers ;" that is, men who to acts of 
secret fraud are prepared to add deeds of open violence. As a proof how richly 
they deserved the former appellation, the reader has but to consider the villany 
hinted at in St. Matthew xxiii. 14 and 17; also in St. Mark vii. 13; on all of 
which three places he is requested to read the notes. (k) In illustration of the 
latter term of reproach, it may be enough to refer to the conduct of the Pharisees 
described in the former chapter, and lower down in verses 31 and 39 ; as well as 
elsewhere in the Gospel. (I) And take notice how both classes of offenders receive 
their sentence in those words of God's ancient prophet, — "Woe be to the shepherds 
of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye 
eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed : but ye feed 
not the flock .... With force and with cruelty have ye ruled them."(m) What a 
contrast is afforded by the conduct of Jacob, — an eminent type of Christ ! "The 
rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts, I brought not 
unto thee; I bare the loss of it. Of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen 
by day, or stolen by night. Thus I was : in the day the drought consumed me, 
and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes."(??) "Which 
things are an allegory." 

We may not doubt too that in the case of many who boast of Apostolic Or- 
dination, there may have been no effectual entering " by the Door" into the sheep- 
fold. The line of succession may be unbroken : every condition of a lawful Call to 
the Ministry may have been observed ;(o) but if Faith and Humility, Love and 
Self-denial, be wholly wanting, there has been no effectual entering by Christ. In 
the words of a pious living writer :(jp) " No self-confident Deacon; no ambitious, or 
covetous, or ease-loving Priest; no proud Prelate; none of these, though in right 
lineal descent from the Twelve or the Seventy, enter the sheepfold by Christ the 
Door." 

Another excellent Divine has said, — " Christ may well be understood to mean 
that all who should be pastors under Him must enter by the door of his Com- 
mission, and perchance of imitation too. awful thought for one who is entering 
into the sacred ministry of Christ's Church, and into the charge of His flock ! The 
outward transactions, and the ceremonies of Ordination, solemn though they be in 
themselves, do but veil Christ. Under the lintel of His Cross and His extended 
Hands, do they pass to the sheep which He has purchased with His Blood. 

" Surely it is one part of a right entrance into the fold to comply with the 
example of our Lord ; and again, earnestly to seek the personal inward grace, as 
well as duly to receive the external commission and grace of authority. What- 
soever conformity to Christ can be obtained by humility and zeal, whatsoever can 

(/) Heb. v. 5. (g) Rev. C. Marriott. (7t) St. Matth. xxiii. 2. 

(?) Rorn. x. 4. (k) See also St. Luke xvi. 14. 

(I) St. John vii. 1, 30, 45 : viii. 59 : ix. 22 to 34. See below, ver. 31, 39, &c. &c. And take 
notice that St. Matth. xxi. 13 should be translated " a den of robbers.'' 
(»») Ezek. xxxiv. 2, 3, 4. (») Gen xxxi. 38 to 40. 

(o) Heb. v. 4. (p) Williams. 



X.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 753 



be won by prayer and fasting, whatsoever by patient endurance, all will go to- 
wards the blessed result of being known by His sheep for His, and feeding them 
safely in His Narne."(g) Accordingly, it follows : 

3 To Him the Porter openeth ; 

This mention of "the Porter" shows that a very different kind of "sheepfold" is 
intended from those with which we are best acquainted. Consider Numbers xxxii. 
16, 24 and 36. 

By "the Porter" is intended the Holt Spirit, — who, at Ordination, conveys 
spiritual powers to the candidate for the Pastoral Office, and is ready to confer 
spiritual gifts upon him likewise. But he must strive to show himself a " shep- 
herd of the sheep ;"(r) that is, one who " takes the oversight of the flock" for the 
sake of the flock, and not "for filthy lucre's sake. "(5) — To such, (our Lord says,) 
the Porter openeth : 

and the sheep hear His voice : and He calleth His own sheep by 
name, and leadeth them out. 

Consider what intimate knowledge, as well as what particular care of every 
member of the flock, is implied in this characteristic of a faithful shepherd. 
To understand the full import of the language of the text, refer to Exodus xxxiii. 
12 and 17 : also to Isaiah xliii. 1, and xlv. 4. The " Great Shepherd of the 
sheep, "(t) in like manner, "calleth them all by their names,"(w) having first 
bestowed on every member of His flock a name at his Baptism. 

He "leadeth them out" beside the still waters, and into green pastures : [x) that 
is, He procures for them spiritual refreshment, and guides them into the paths of 
Peace. But " the Great Shepherd of the sheep" doeth even more for "the people 
of His pasture and the sheep of His Hand."(?/) That the sheep " hear His voice," 
is more fully dwelt upon below, in verses 4 and 5. For the present, it shall suf- 
fice to draw therefrom the obvious inference that the shepherd must not be silent 
while he is among his sheep. The language of verse 27 will be found to supply a 
clue to our Saviour's sacred meaning in dwelling thus remarkably on the know- 
ledge enjoyed by the sheep of their Shepherd's voice. 

4 And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, 
and the sheep follow Him ; for they know His voice. 

Not only in the East, and in the south of Europe, but in many parts of England, 
(on the Berkshire Downs for instance,) shepherds walk before their sheep ; — an ex- 
quisite type of the duty which attaches to the Pastd'alOiSce, of being not only 
guides, but also " ensamples to the flock :"(z) making " ourselves an ensample unto 
you to follow us," — as St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians.(a) Our Saviour is 
related more than once literally to have walked in advance of His Disciples ;(b) and 
it is worth observing that on one occasion He is found to have gone first expressly 
in order to encounter danger, and to protect His Disciples from it.(c) 

The sheep follow their Shepherd, therefore, because "they know his voice." 
They are familiar with its loving accents, and they recognize it instantly. The 
experience of past years has convinced them that he desires nothing so much as 
their own greatest good ; they are ready therefore to follow his footsteps witherso- 
ever he may lead the way. 

5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him : for 
they know not the voice of strangers. 

By the same instinct which enables them to recognize the voice of their own 

(q) Rev. C. Marriott. (r) Consider Heb, xiii. 20. 

(«) 1 St. Pet. v. 2. (*) Heb. xiii. 20. 

[u) Ps. cxlvii. 4. Compare 1 Cor. xv. 41 : and consider St. Luke xix. 5, St. John i. 48 : 
xi. 43, &g. 

(x) Ps. xxiii. 2. (y\ See below, the note on ver. 28. 

(») 1 St. Pet. v. 3. 

la) 2 Thess. iii. 9. See also Phil. iii. 17. 1 Tim. iv. 12. Tit. ii. 7. 

(6) See St. Mark x. 32. Also St. Matth. xxvi. 32. 

(c) St. John xviii. 4, 8. 

48 



754 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Shepherd, they at once discern the voice of a stranger. They flee from his guid- 
ance, and are regardless of his call. And hereby, that spiritual discernment seems 
alluded to, which causes "the people of God's pasture and sheep of His care' 7 to 
shrink away from and refuse to follow false teachers. 

6 This parable spake Jesus unto them : but they understood not 
what things they were which He spake unto them. 

The parable, or figurative language, here employed is indeed dark, even to us ; 
but it must have been hopelessly obscure to them. Our Lord proceeds, in the next 
four verses, partially to explain Himself. 

7 Then said Jesus unto them again. Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
I am the Door of the sheep. 

"We have been compelled, in a manner, to anticipate the great announcement 
which is here made for the first time ; namely, that Christ is Himself "the Door." 
It is introduced by the formula of solemn assertion, " Verily, verily," — which, by 
the way, our Saviour's auditory much needed ; for, in their estimation, to be of 
the seed of Israel "was the fold, and the door, and all things."(d) Here then be- 
gins the interpretation of the Parable. The Divine Speaker's meaning is felt to be 
difficult : wherefore by the Door Himself is the door unfolded. 

Take notice that He says not " the Door of the Sheep/old," but " the Door— -of 
the sheep." That is, He is our " Door ;" for through Him we offer up our prayers, 
and by Him have access to the Father, (e) By Him alone we enter the Church, 
and through Him we look for Salvation. Thus, the largeness of our Saviour's 
meaning begins to appear. He has already begun to divert our attention from the 
shepherd to the sheep: but He will be found to do so more fully below, in verse 9. 

8 All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers : but the 
sheep di^cl not hear them. 

The first words are said with manifest reference to verse 1 of the present chapter : 
and, " Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture ! 
saith the Lord."^) Literally, "All, as many as came." But the expression 
" all" requires interpretation ; for of course " the goodly fellowship of the Pro- 
phets," who came before Christ, are not here intended. Nay, all these had duly 
entered the sheepfold by Christ, the Door, and were the authorized heralds of His 
approach. But allusion is made to those false Christs, those pretenders to be them- 
selves " the Door," (such as Judas of Galilee, Theudas,(#) and the rest,) whom " the 
sheep did not hear ;" and yet more, as it seems, are those shepherds alluded to, whose 
shameful spoiling of the flock Christ had been sternly denounced by His prophets 
Ezekiel and Zechariah ;(h) a race which it is evident were not yet without living 
representatives. For w r hat else but "thieves" were the men who "devoured 
widows' houses," (i) and had transformed the Temple of God not only into "a house 
of merchandise,"^') but even into a very "den of thieves."(/f) Their violence 
made them as robbers ; and when they drew away disciples, what did they else but 
rob God? Nay, "in tithes and offerings," like their fathers, had they robbed 
Him ;(7) and that, shamelessly. See above, the note on ver. 1. 

9 I am the Door : by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and 
shall go in and out, and find pasture. 

And thus, the interest which all men have in Christ, is plainly proclaimed : for 
He is declared to be the entrance not for shepherds only, (that is, for those in the 
Ministry :) but for the sheep likewise, that is, " any man," — as our Lord Himself 
explains. By this door, (says the holy martyr Ignatius,) " Abraham and Isaac and 
Jacob enter : the Prophets also, and the Apostles, and the Church." The prevent- 
ing Grace of the Holy Spirit, (the Porter,) opens this Door to those who knock in 
Faith ; and Salvation is freely promised to as many as shall enter the sheepfold, 

(d) Lightfoot. (e) St. John xiv. 6. Eph. ii. 16. (/) Jer. xxiii. 1. 

[g) Acts v. 36, 37. {h) See Ezek. xxxiv. and Zech. xi. 

(i) St. Matth. xxiii. 14. St. Mark xii. 40. St. Luke xx. 47. 
(j) St. John ii. 16. (/c) St. Matth. xxi. 13. 

'(I) Malachi iii. 8, 9, &c. 



X.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 755 

(that is, the Church,) by Him.(m) "For through Him/' (as it is written,) "we 
both," (that is, Gentiles as well as Jews,) "have access by one Spirit unto the 
Father, "(n) 

The concluding words describe the security and enjoyment which thereupon en- 
sue, and which are the privileges of God's people. To "go in and out," is to trans- 
act the business of each day's life, its rest and its labor, the beginning and the end 
of every work. The Hebrew phrase denotes a man's whole life and conversation, 
as in Acts i. 21, and elsewhere :(o) while the promise closely connected therewith, 
of " finding pasture," seems to imply that in that daily walk, (it may be in the 
World's " dusky lane and crowded mart,"(^>) the people of God will find spiritual 
support and consolation ; even meat for their souls which the World knows not 
of.(q) Elsewhere, indeed, the phrase will be found almost invariably to be, — "go 
out and come in." Here, (not without meaning doubtless,) the expressions are 
transposed. The former is, in fact, the order of Nature : the latter the order of 
Grace. 

" In considering Christ as ' the door of the sheep/ much will appear that is im- 
portant to all shepherds of His flock. For by him must be their going out and 
coming in, if they are to go in and out before His sheep, and to find the pasture 
that is provided for them."(r) 

10 The thief coraeth not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy : 
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more 
abundantly. 

Rather, "in abundance." — Our Lord says, "The false teacher comes only to 
gratify his evil desires, by the plunder and destruction of the flock. I am come, 
on the contrary, that they who follow Me may have life ; and that they may have 
it in the fullest measure, even Life Eternal." (s) 

This verse, in which the Blessed Speaker contrasts the purpose of His own com- 
ing with that of the pretenders who had assumed His Name and laid claim to His 
office, forms an easy transition to the parable of the Good Shepherd, which follows ; 
wherein our Lord not only comes before us under a most engaging image, but 
explains His right to a title which, from the very beginning, by type, (t) and para- 
ble,(w) by psalms, (x) and prophecies, (y) He had made particularly His own. (z) 
"What is all History," (asks a thoughtful writer,) " but the traces of His iron rod, 
or His shepherd's staff?"(a) 

Still better worthy of our notice is the fact, that by claiming this character of 
"Shepherd," He was claiming a well-known title of Messiah. Whence the ques- 
tion recorded below, in verse 24, — Where see the note. 

11 I am the Good Shepherd : the Good Shepherd giveth His life 
for the sheep. 

Rather, "layetli down His life;" as in verses 15, 17, 18. — Observethe] expression, 
"The Good Shepherd ;" as elsewhere, "the True Light," (6) and"the True Bread," (c) 
and "the True Vine."(cZ) All others, it is implied, are but vague shadows, and 
imperfect resemblances of Him. . . . And thus, in a single sentence, our Saviour 
distinctly claims the title which we have hitherto only inferred to be rightfully His. 
He called Himself, in the first instance, "the Door," but He was also the Shepherd. 
Here, He calls Himself " the Shepherd ;" but He is still the Door. Nor let any 
one presume to say that there is any confusion in this ; or that any perplexity is 

(m) Compare Acts xvi. 31. St. John iii. 16, 36 : vi. 47. 

(n) Eph. ii. 18. 

(o) See Deut. xxviii. 6. Ps. cxxi 8. 1 Sam xxix. 6. 2 Sam. iii. 25. 2 Chron. i. 10. 

(p) Keble. (q) Consider St. John iv. 32. 

(r) Rev. C. Marriott. (s) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(0 Gen. iv. 2 : xxxi. 38 to 40 : xxxvii. 2. Exod. iii. 1. 1 Sam. xvii. 15, 34 to 36, Ac. 

(u) St. Luke xv. 3 to 7, with the notes. 

(x) Ps. lxxvii. 20 : lxxviii. 52 : lxxix. 13 : lxxx. 1, Ac. Consider Ps. xxiii. 

{y) Isaiah xl. 11 : lxiii. 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 23 : xxxvii. 24. Jerem. xxxi. 10. St. Matth. xxv. 

32, 33, Ac. 
(z) See the note on the latter part of St. Luke v. 10. 

(a) Rev. C. Marriott; alluding to Ps. xxiii. 4. See Ps. ii. 9. Micah vii. 14. Rev. ii. 27, Ac. 
(6) St. John i. 9. (c) St. John vi. 32. (d) St. John xv. 1. 



756 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAF, 

hereby occasioned. Christ is all things at once to all men. Every duty, every office, 
every relation, has its true exhibition and entire fulfillment in His sacred person. 
Thus, besides being our Door, and our Shepherd, in Him are we as in a Fold : To 
us He opens, as the Porter : yea, and in Him, (in His "Word and in His sacra- 
ments,) we find the food of our souls likewise. Lastly, is not this the Lamb that 
was " slain from the foundation of the world ?"(e) 

To this announcement concerning Himself, He adds a solemn prophecy, (the first 
of four successive prophecies,) of His own Death • as well as explains the purpose 
of it: namely, that He might prove a ransom for all.(y) "Hereby perceive we 
the Love of God," (says the Beloved Disciple,) "because He laid down His life for 
us ; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."^) In solemn contrast 
with this, our Saviour Christ declares the conduct of one who " takes the over- 
sight" of the flock " for filthy lucre :"(h} seeking not them, but theirs. (i) The prone- 
ness of man's unassisted nature to render such a mercenary service, appears suffi- 
ciently from the many warnings against it contained in the Apostolical Epistles. 

12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the 
sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth : 
and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 

"When the wolf cometh is the trial;" for, (as Gregory the Great says,) "Whe- 
ther a man be a shepherd or a hireling, cannot be told for certain, except then. In 
tranquil times, the hireling generally stands on watch like the shepherd." — He flees, 
(as the same writer and Augustine explain the saying,) "not by change of place, 
but by shrinking from duty." (A;) 

Take notice that Christ Himself, "the Good Shepherd," acted not thus in the 
hour of the greatest danger :(Z) but suffered himself to be smitten, in order that 
the sheep might go their way.(m) Jacob also, and Moses and David, those three 
eminent types of Christ, are found to have typically exhibited the same devotion 
of themselves on behalf of their respective flocks, (n) — Consider the language of 
St. Paul, (himself a faithful shepherd,) (o) to the Elders of Ephesus, concerning 
the heretics and others who should hereafter ravage "the flock over the which the 
Holy Ghost had made them overseers ;"(_p) taking notice however that all the 
agents of Satan are " wolves" in God's sight, — whether open persecutors, as Pha- 
raoh, or secret instigators, to sin, as Balaam. 

13 The hireling fleeth, "because he is an hireling, and careth not for 
the sheep. 

What is here meant by " an hireling," has been already sufficiently explained at 
the end of the comment on verse 11. As many as look chiefly to their earthly 
recompense, are " hirelings :" and they flee from danger, simply because the sheep 
over whom they are set, are nothing to them. 

14 I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and I am known 
of Mine. 

He claims for the second time "the appellation of the Good Shepherd,"(#) as 
He had twice claimed to be " the Door."(r) — And because " the foundation of God 
standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His,"(s) He 
further declares His particular knowledge of every member of His flock. — While 
noticing the mysterious intimacy which thus subsists between Himself, and "the 
sheep of His pasture," He traces the origin and progress of that mutual sentiment. 
" I know My sheep, — and am known of Mine." " We love Him," (as it is else- 
where written,) " because He first loved us. (2) See below, on ver. 27. — But the 
words which follow are wrongly translated. 

(e) Rev. xiii. 8. (/) 1 Tim. ii. 6. (g) 1 St. John iii. 16* 

(ft) 1 St. Pet. v. 2. (i) 2 Cor. xh\ 14. 

(k) Williams. (Z) St. John xviii. 4, 8, 9. 

(m) Consider Zech. xiii. 7, quoted by St. Matth. xxvi. 31. 

(n) Gen. xxxi. 38 to 40. Exodus xxxii. 32. 1 Sam. xvii. 34 to 36. 

(o) See 2 Cor. xii. 15. (p) Acts xx. 28, 29. 

(<?) See verse 11. (r) See verses 7 and 9. (s) 2 Tim. ii. 19. 

(0 1 St. John iv. 19. 



X.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL, 757 

15 As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father : 

This should be, — " even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father ;" 
the sentence being a continuation of that which precedes, and as it were an expla- 
nation of it. The mutual knowledge which subsists between the Father and the 
Son, (it is hinted,) is the source and cause of the corresponding knowledge between 
Christ and His people, (u) 

A profoundly intimate knowledge does indeed here seem to be hinted at, as well 
on the side of Man towards God, (as) as of God towards Man, Holy persons are 
accordingly found to discourse with amazing fervour of their blessed experiences 
in this behalf; so that, to such as we are, their words may sometimes even seem 
extravagant and unreal. (y) .... But who shall pretend to describe the depth of 
His knowledge, (or rather the measure of His Love,) who said, "I know My sheep?" 
Adding, 

and I lay down My life for the sheep. 

Now, what is " laid down" may be " taken up again ; M so that these words are a 
prophecy of our Lord's Kesurrection. Obvious is it to remark that He thus, for 
the second time foretells His Death, together with the purpose of it, as we'll as ex- 
plains that it was a voluntary act. But this last circumstance is declared more fully 
in verse 18. — Take notice, by the way, that these words (" and I lay down My life 
for the sheep") are to be read in connection with verse 14; the clause which has 
come between being only explanatory. So that the whole is equivalent to saying 
that Christ so entirely loves His sheep that He is ready to die for their sake. This 
momentous matter is repeated in verses 11, 17, and 18. 

" And after laying down my life for them, {it is implied,) when God shall ' bring 
again from the dead .... that Great Shepherd of the sheep/ "(z) — then will it be 
found that other sheep I have : (as it follows :) 

16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I 
must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one Fold, 
and One Shepherd. 

Bather, "And it shall become one Flock, one Shepherd : v as if in allusion to 
those words of Ezekiel, — " I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed 
them, even My servant David ; he shall feed them and he shall be their shep- 
herd."^) The "other sheep," which our blessed Lord speaks of, were not "the 
lost sheep of the House of Israel," but those heathen nations which were about to 
be evangelized by His Apostles. For "the Lord God which gathereth the outcasts 
of Israel, saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto 
him. "(b) And to this St. Peter bears witness in writing to the Gentiles, — " Ye were 
as sheep going astray ; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of 3 r our 
souls."(c) — They were as yet enclosed within an inanimate Fold; but henceforth, 
they were to become members of a living Flock. — "All these sheep," He says, "J 
have ;" because with Him is neither Past nor Future. (d) — And "they shall hear 
My Voice," because the success which was to attend the preaching of the Word, 
was to Him fully known before — " Them also I must needs bring," He declares ; 
because the Apostles of Christ "ivent forth and preached everywhere, the LORD 
working with them:"{e) as how should the Heathen "believe in Him of whom they 
they had not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" (/) Nay, St. 
Paul in a certain place hesitates not to assert that this was the act of Christ Him- 

(u) Consider further such places as the following : St. John vi. 57 : xvii. 11 : xx. 21. 

(at) See Phil. iii. 8. 2 St. Peter i. 8 : iii. 18. 

(y) For instance, pious Hooker, when speaking of the comforts of Holy Communion : "They 
are things wonderful which he feeleth, great which he seeth, and unheard of which he uttereth, 
whose soul is possessed of this Paschal Lamb, and made joyful in the strength of this new 
wine." — " There is an intimate communion with God" (says a living writer,) "the joy of which 
is unutterable ; and which those who have it can suppose to be in others, but cannot see in 
them, or know in them by description. They have it to themselves." — Marriott. 

(z) Williams, quoting Heb. xiii. 20. (a) Ezekiel xxxiv. 23. 

(6) Is. lvi. 8, quoted by Williams. (c) 1 St. Pet. ii. 25. 

(d) Consider Acts xviii. 10, and St. John iv. 35. 

(e) St. Mark xvi. 20. (/) Rom. x. 14. 



758 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

self.(^) — -He " must needs "bring ;" because to gather together in one the children of 
God that were scattered abroad,"(7i) was a part of the "commandment" which He 
had "received of the Father ;"(i) and was "necessary, in order to the fulfillment of 
those divine purposes respecting the Gentiles, which were declared in the prophe- 
cies of the Old Testament." (J) Consider Hebrews xi. 40. — "It shall become one 
Flock" our Lord finally foretells ; because, (in the words of His Apostle,) "He 
hath made both [Jews and Gentiles] one, and hath broken down the middle wall 
of partition" between them . {k) There was therefore henceforth to be but one Church 
collected out of Jews and Gentiles alike; — " One Body and one Spirit," (as St. 
Paul says ;) "one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. "(Z) 

In the Old Testament, consider what an interesting commentary on this verse is 
supplied by the xxxvii th - chapter of Ezekiel, verses 21 to 28 : also by xxxiv. 13 ; and 
Jeremiah xxiii. 3 and xxxii. 37. In the New Testament, Ephesians ii., iii., and the first 
six verses of chapter iv. will be also studied with advantage in connection with this 
subject. 

The Blessed Speaker before concluding His Discourse, recurs prophetically to 
the subject of His own Death. 

17 Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My 
Life, that I might take it again. 

Literally, "On this account doth the Father love Me, [namely,] because,"(m) 
&c. — Lest His hearers should overlook the Divinity of Him who spake, this He adds 
concerning His own Death, — which was to be His own free choice, and a glorious 
portion, though, (as far as the authors of the crime were concerned,) an unspeakable 
indignity offered to "the Lord of Glory."(n) Because He thus submitted Himself 
to the will of the Eternal Father, and became " obedient unto Death, even the 
Death of the Cross, God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him the Name 
which is above every Name."(o) 

The last clause, ("that I might again resume it,") whereby our Lord alludes to 
His Resurrection from the grave, is not vainly added. If He was " delivered for our 
offences," He was "raised again for our Justification." (p) " If Christ be not raised, 
your faith is vain," (writes St. Paul;) "ye are yet in your sins."(g) — Take notice 
also that this short sentence, (''I lay down My life that I may take it again,") 
"is the essential principle of all martyrdom."(r) 

18 No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. 

Rather, " No [one] taketh it." — Our Saviour says this, not, of course, as deny- 
ing the bitterness of the portion which awaited Him, and from which all the blame- 
less instincts of His Humanity recoiled, — (as witness His Agony in the Garden, 
His Prayer to the Father, (s) His sufferings on the bitter Cross ;) still less as 
acquitting His murderers of the horrible sin of compassing His Death. (t) But He 
asserts His own Almighty power and GoDhead. His enemies could have done 
nothing against Him, except He had suffered them. Until His "Hour had come," 
their murderous attempts proved fruitless,(«) and when they were in the very act 
of apprehending Him, " Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father," 
(He asked,) " and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of Angels V'(v) 
" For it was in His power whether He would come into the hands of His enemies : 
it was in His power to suffer or not to suffer the sentence of Pilate, and the nailing 
to the Cross : it was in His power to have come down from the Cross, when He was 
nailed to \t.'\x) .... Take notice that " the loud cry" with which our Blessed 
Saviour expired, was a plain witness that by his own free will He so " gave up the 
Ghost :" that He " had power" to resign, or to retain it. All this has been already 
explained in the note on St. Mark xv. 39. — He adds : 

(g) Eph. ii. 17. (A) St. John xi. 52. 

(i) See below, the end of ver. 18 ; where see the note. 

lj) Lonsdale and Hale. (k) Eph. ii. 14. 

[1) Eph. iv. 4, 5. (m) See the note (m) on St. John vii. 22, p. 714. 

(n) 1 Cor. ii. 8. (o) Phil. ii. 8, 9. 

(p) Rom. iv. 25. (q) 1 Cor. xv. 17. 

(/•) Williams. (s) St. Matth. xxvi. 39, 42, 44. 

(t) Consider St. Luke xxiii. 34, and St. Matth. xxvi. 24. 

(u) See the notes on St. John vii. 30, 44, and viii. 59. 

(v) St. Matth. xxvi. 53. (a;) Bp. Pearson. 



X.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 759 

I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. 

Very Man, "to lay it down" by Death; very God, "to take it again by Besur- 
rection : whereby our Saviour declares the union of the two natures in His One 
Person. For, "by that power which He had within Himself, He did take His life 
again which He had laid down; did reunite His Soul unto his Body, from which 
He separated it when He gave up the Ghost ; and so did quicken and revive Him- 
self. Therefore it is a certain truth, not only that God the Father raised the 
SoN,(y) but also that God the Son raised Himself.(;s) 

This commandment have I received of My Father. 

By these few words, repelling the possible insinuation that He was unduly assum- 
ing to Himself the Mediatorial character. His Death and Passion. His Descent 
into Hell and subsequent Resurrection from the dead, — the whole of the sufferings 
which he was about to undergo, He encountered in submission to the Father's 
Will. (a) He "proved obedient," (as the Apostle says,) "unto Death ;"(b) that is, 
" submissive to the Father's will unto the extremity of suffering Death." For in 
the very notion of Obedience is implied an external Will.(c) — And thus, for the 
hundredth time, " Humiliation and Greatness unspeakable are found expressed at 
the same time. Union with the Father, combined with the laying down of life :" 
the power of Resurrection, with the receiving of commandment. As GoDhead and 
Manhood are inseparably united, so is every attribute of both." (d) — And this is the 
end of our Lord's Discourse. 

19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these 
sayings. 

" Again," as there had been before, among the Pharisees ; namely in St. John 
ix. 16. The present seems to have been another visit to Jerusalem ; and the beloved 
Disciple remarks that it was the occasion of another "division among the Jews." 

20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad ; why hear 
ye Him ? 

Take notice that when our Lord either gave evidence of supernatural know- 
ledge, (e) or delivered Doctrines of extraordinary sublimity^/) the resource of His 
sinful hearers was to ascribe His words to demoniacal possession. On this occasion 
they call Him "mad." It was the charge which Festus brought against St. 
Paul ;(g) the charge which the World is ever bringing against those who act on 
unearthly motives. (A) — No reply is vouchsafed to His present calumniators by 
Christ Himself. He leaves to others the privilege of repelling so blasphemous an 
insinuation. 

21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. 
Can a devil open the eyes of the blind ? 

Alluding to the miracle described in the last chapter, (i) and which again obtains 
notice in chapter xi. 37. — Seethe note on St. John xi. 36. 

Surely it was Nicodemus in particular who said this ! as well as what we met 
with in chap. ix. 16, where see the note. Take notice that he has already taken 
our Saviour's part, — "being one of them ;(j) and that the argument used both 
here, and in chap. ix. 16, is the very same which, in his first interview with our 
Lord, Nicodemus urged in explanation of his own belief. This was the considera- 
tion which had wrought conviction in himself.(A') Then, he was overcome by the 
sight of our Saviour's Works; to which is now added the evidence of His spoken 
Words. 

(y) Gal. i. 1. Acts v. 30. Eph. i. 20. 

(z) Bp. Pearson. Consider St. John ii. 19. 

(a) Heb. x. 7. (b) Phil. ii. 8. 

(c) See above, in the note on ver. 16. See also in St. John vi. 38, xiv. 31, and xv. 10. Also 
Isaiah liii. 10, 12. 

(d) Williams. (e) St. John vii. 20. 
(/) St. John viii. 48, 52, and here. (g) Acts xxvi. 24. 

(/i) Consider St. John vii. 7 and xv. 19. (i) St. John ix. 7, &c. 
(j ) St. John vii. 50 to 53. (&) See St. John iii. 2. 



760 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

22 And it was at Jerusalem the Feast of the Dedication, and it was 
winter. 

St. John, as Lis manner is beyond the other Evangelists, thus fixes a definite 
period in the Sacred Year ; but whether only in order to mark the occasion of the 
Discourse, which follows, or for the further purpose of indicating when much that 
goes before was spoken, it is impossible to pronounce with certainty. The allusions 
in verse 26 to 29, certainly favour the latter view. A short interval is perhaps all 
that intervened between what immediately goes before and what follows. 

The Feast of Dedication began in the middle of December, and lasted for eight 
days. It had been instituted about 165 years before the Birth of Christ, and was 
intended to commemorate the Purification of the Temple after its profanation by 
Antiochus Epiphanes. Take notice that here was a religious Festival not of Divine 
institution, and yet our Saviour is found to keep it, like the rest of His nation. 
Judas Maccabseus was its author.(Z) 

This Feast was kept with a general Lighting of Candles ; and, (unlike the three 
great Festivals which could be celebrated only in Jerusalem,) it was observed 
everywhere throughout the whole Land, — whence it was not superfluous, in the 
present instance, for the Evangelist to say, "It ivas at Jerusalem." 

But why does St. John inform us that " it was Winter?" Was it simply to pre- 
pare us for the statement which follows, — namely, that our Saviour "was walking" 
in a covered part of the Temple ? Nothing of the kind, we suspect: and the reader 

is warned against this kind of plausible, yet very shallow criticism The 

question is asked in the profound conviction that many of these trivial, and seem- 
ingly unimportant particulars of time and season, age and place, are the strong 
hinges on which the gates of eternal Truth will often be found to turn. 

23, 24 And Jesus walked in the Temple in Solomon's porch. Then 
came the Jews round about Him, and said unto Him, How long dost 
Thou make us to doubt ? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. 

That the scene of the ensuing dialogue was an ordinary place of resort and con- 
course, appears from Acts iii. 11 and v. 12. If it be the same structure which is 
described in 1 Kings vi. 3, (a kind of cloister, or covered colonnade,) it will have 
been a portion of the edifice which escaped destruction when Solomon's Temple 
was burned by Nebuchadnezzar. 

" The Jews" hem our Blessed Saviour round, (to) as He " is walking" in me 
Porch of the Temple, and under pretence of being actuated by nothing but an 
earnest desire to behold the Messiah in His person, request Him to keep their 
souls no longer in suspense and anxiety ; but to tell them plainly, if He be the 
Christ ? In reality, they seek nothing else but a ground of accusation against 
Him. — By "plainly," is meant without dark speech or parable, — as when, dropping 
the metaphor of Sleep, He "said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead."(?i) 

And here it is necessary to point out what was the occasion of this inquiry. By 
styling Himself "the Good Shepherd," our Lord was claiming a well-known title 
of Messiah. The reader should refer to Ezekiel xxxiv. 7 to 16; especially verse 
23 ; also to Isaiah xl. 11 : and he is invited to read the note above, which precedes 
verse 11. A similar remark was offered on our Lord's Declaration that He is "the 
Light of the World."(o) His learned auditory perceived clearly enough the import 
of these titles; and were impatient to hear Him speak of Himself "plainly," with- 
out a figure. 

25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not : 

Rather, " and ye believe not." 

the works that I do in My Father's Name, they bear witness of Me. 

" In the name of My Father," — He says : " ever expressing with infinite care 
that He, in all His works and words, is in no way different from the Father."(^) 

(I) See 1 Mace iv. 36 to 59. Compare 2 Mace. x. 5 to 8. 

(?«) Consider Ps. xxii. 16 : cxviii. 12. 

(n) St. John xi. 14. Compare xvi. 25, 29. 

(o) See the note on St. John viii. 12. (p) Williams. 



X.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 761 

Our Saviour's Works, then, were a sufficient evidence of His Divine Mission ; 
proving Him to be " He that should come ;" — as His reply to the Disciples of John 
Baptist fully shows. (q) More will be found on this subject below, on verses 37 
and 38. See also St. John v. 36, and the note there. 

He had told them in St. John v. 36, and again in viii. 42, that He was "the 
Sent" of God, — and that His Works bore witness to His Heavenly Mission. Again, 
in chapter viii., it is evident that His enemies understood that He claimed to be 
the Christ, for they objected to His testimony as invalid : and He in reply referred 
them once more to the evidence of His Works. (r) Of what conviction were men 
capable who ascribed His miracles to fraud, and His Divine Wisdom to Satanic 
possession ? Our Saviour has already told them that their unbelief does not result 
from insufficient evidence. He proceeds, in the next verse, to tell them what is its 
true cause. 

26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep, as I said 
unto you. 

That is, — not because I am not your Shepherd, but because ye are not My 
sheep. (,9) — The nearest approach to this which our Lord is related to have said to 
them was, " He that is of God heareth God's words : ye therefore hear them not, 
because ye are not of God."(z?) " Not of My sheep," clearly denotes the unioilling- 
ness of the men He addressed to follow Him as their Shepherd, and acknowledge 
Him as their Guide. Hence, our Saviour adds : 

27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow 
Mer- 
it is implied, — "But ye hear not my Voice ; therefore are ye not My sheep." 

Compare this with what was said above of the sheep and their Shepherd, in verses 

4, 5 and 6 Surely, every word here is full of momentous import ! For what 

is this but a revelation of the Divine method, — a history of the way of Salvation, — 
declared in a parable by Christ Himself? " My sheep hear my voice, — and I know 
them, — and they follow Me." — The reader is referred to verse 14, and the note 
upon it. 

28 and I give unto them Eternal Life ; and they shall never perish, 
neither shall any man pluck them out of My Hand. 

'" Eternal Life," therefore, is that green pasture to which the Good Shepherd 
" leadeth out" His flock. (w) — He says " My Hand," because it is with this 
member that we retain, cherish, and protect, whatever is committed to our care. 
Hence, "I have graven thee" (saith He,) "upon the palms of My Hands." [x) And 
His departing saints, because they know that "the souls of the righteous are in 
the Hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them,"(?/) commend to Him 
their spirits, even with their dying breath ;(z) saying, after the example of their 
Lord, "Into Thy Hands I commend my spirit" 

The sayings in verse 28 do not apply to the elect only, but to all. Our Saviour 
Christ, when He had " overcome the sharpness of Death," opened " the Kingdom 
of Heaven to all Believers." The gift of Eternal Life He offers freely to as many 
as believe in Him, and persevere steadfastly to the end ; nor can any forcibly snatch 
them out of His Hand: no, "neither Death," (nor Satan, who "had the power of 
Death,"(a) and who is emphatically "the wolf" alluded to in verse 12 ; who, more- 
over, seems to be the "being" specially alluded to in this and the next verse ;) (6) 
" neither Death, nor Life, .... nor things present, nor things to come, nor Height, 
nor Depth, nor any other creature."(c) Yet are men left free to withdraw them- 
selves from the inner circle of God's providential care ; and even hopelessly to fall 
away from Him. All this, St. Paul has clearly pointed out from the writings of 

(q) See St. Matth. xi. 2, 3, and the note on verses 4, 5. 

(r) St. John viii. 13 and 18. (s) Chrysostom. 

(t) St. John viii. 47. (u) See above ver. 3, and the note. 

(as) Is. xlix. 16. ( y ) Wisdom iii. 1. 

(z) Acts vii. 59 : compare St. Luke xxiii. 46. 

(a) Hebrews ii. 14. 

(6) There is no word answering to "man" in the original; either here, or in ver. 18. 

(c) Rom. viii. 38. 



762 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

the prophet Habakkuk ;(tf) though pains have been sometimes taken to obscure 
the important truth. 

29 My Father which gave them Me, is greater than all ; and no 
man is able to pluck them out of My Father's Hand. 

Here, as elsewhere, the Eternal Son speaks of the Eternal Father as supreme. 
In what sense He is greater than the SoN,(e) " greater than all," has been already 
partly treated of in the commentary on St. John v. 20, and will be found more fully 
explained on St. John xiv. 28. — Having thus plainly declared the distinction of the 
Persons of the Father and the Son, our Saviour proceeds to assert their Oneness 
of Nature : adding a sentence which does in fact explain how it comes to pass that 
no man can pluck the sheep of Christ out of Christ's Hand. Namely, 

30 I and My Father are One. 

Rather, " I and the Father are One." One, that is, in Essence. The " Hand" 
of Christ is therefore the " Hand" of the Father : for " our God is One, or rather 
very Oneness, and mere Unity, having nothing but Itself in Itself, and not consist- 
ing, (as all things do besides God,) of many things. In which essential Unity of 
God, a Trinity personal nevertheless subsisteth, after a manner far exceeding the 
possibility of man's conceit."(y) And that it was in this lofty sense that our 
Blessed Lord spake of Himself as One with the Eternal Father, and not after any 
lower method of Unity, the Jews saw clearly enough, as their conduct described in 
the next verse plainly shows. 

31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 

" Again," in allusion to the last occasion when they had attempted the same act 
of violence ; namely at the Feast of Tabernacles. (g) See above, the note on ver. 19. 

32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from 
My Father ; for which of those works do ye stone Me ? 

33 The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good work we stone Thee 
not ; but for blasphemy ; and because that Thou, being a man, makest 
Thyself God. 

Rather, — " even because Thou." — Take notice how exactly our Blessed Lord's 
true meaning was apprehended by these sinful men ; namely, that He is of one 
Substance with the FATHER. Clear-sighted enough were they to see in His words 
the assertion of that sublime truth which modern unbelievers have professed them- 
selves unable to discover there Against those unbelievers, surely " the very 

stones" in these men's hands " cry out l"(h) 

We shall be told (in verse 36) that our Saviour had said concerning Himself, "I 
am the Son of God :" and that He had done so, in effect, is plain from His repeated 
mention of God as His Father, joined to His recent assertion that He and the 
FATHER are One. This then was the explicit answer to the request of His 
enemies that "if He were the Christ, He would tell them plainly ;"(£) for it is 
quite evident, as well from the adjuration of the High Priest recorded in St. 
Matthew xxvi. 63, (k) as from many other places in the Gospel, (I) that it was the 
established belief of the nation that " the Christ" might be also called " the Son of 
God." What then must be thought of the wickedness of persons who no sooner 
obtain a plain answer to their inquiry, than they take up stones- in order to effect 
the destruction of " the poor helpless Man,(m) whom, a moment before, they had 
so insidiously approached with a seemingly friendly question ! They accuse Him 
of blasphemy ; but (on their own showing) there had been no blasphemy at all, if 
our Saviour were indeed the Christ. 

(d) See Hab. ii. 4, quoted in Hebr. x. 38 ; where be careful to observe that instead of " any 
man," in italics, it should be " he," in roman letters. 

(e) St. John xiv. 28. if) Hooker. 
(g) See Chap. viii. 59, and the note. (h) Maldonatus. 

(i) See above, ver. 24. (&) As well as in St. Mark xiv. 61. 

(I) Consider the terms of St. Peter's confession, in St. Matth. xvi. 16 : also in St. John vi. 69. 
See also St. John xi. 27. Acts viii. 37, and in ix. 20. 
(m) Ps. cix. 15. 



X.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 763 

Our attention is now invited to a circumstance of unusual interest. The Holy- 
One proceeds to repel the charge of blasphemy which His enemies have brought 
against Him : and He does so by a citation of Scripture, on which He makes an 
important remark, and from the terms of which He proceeds to draw a striking 
inference. Need it be observed that every passage by Him cited from the Book 
which is inspired by His Spirit, and emphatically styled His own, is entitled to 
special reverence and attention at our hands ? 

34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your Law, " I said, 
Ye are gods ?" 

"Law," here denotes the whole body of the Jewish Scriptures. (?i) — Our Lord 
quotes from Psalm lxxxii. — which begins with the awful announcement, that God 
standeth in the assembly of the Magistrates, and that He judges among the 
Judges, (or "the gods" as they are called in the Law ;) (o) the entire psalm being 
an exhortation to the Judges of Israel, and a reproof of their negligence. Our 
Lord, having thus referred to the 6th verse of this psalm, where it is written, " I 
have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High/ 7 — proceeds 
to make the following striking comment upon it : 

35 If he called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came, (and 
the Scripture cannot be broken;) 

Literally, "be loosened," or " undone :'■* implying that Holy Scripture is binding. 
— Before passing on, it is well worthy of observation that our Saviour here 
assigns the reason why Magistrates and Judges are called " gods." It is because 
to them the Word of GOD came: that is, because, besides being endowed with the 
godlike gift of Reason, and being blessed with the knowledge of His Law, (so 
that they might, if they would, conform their will to God's Will, and work with 
Him;) they had received authority from God; and were by Him commissioned to 
exercise portions of His Power in the World : (" for there is no Power but of God ; 
the powers that be are ordained of God :") (p) and were therefore, in a manner, 
" gods," each in the place which God had assigned them. " Take heed what ye 
do," (it was said to them anciently,) "for ye judge not for man, but for the 
Lord, who is with you in the judgment." (q) 

So dignified and important a statement from the lips of Him who is the source 
of all authority and power will be felt to supply matter for solemn and profitable 
meditation. Let the whole psalm be studied, and it will be felt that "when God 
had spoken to men, and called their spirit (which was made in His image) to 
awake and work with Him, then He said " Ye are gods," that He might put 
strongly before them the truth that they were made in His image, and must not 
think to live a mere carnal life without being judged for it. That life they 
were choosing indeed, and living according to it, and not according to God ; and 
so they are warned that they are forfeiting their best portion and true honour: 
"Ye shall die like men, ye shall fall like one of the princes." Truly, a sad 
end for those who had a calling from God, and a spiritual life which they might 
live in His glory for ever, if they would but use the powers He gave them ac- 
cording to His will !"(r) 

To return, however, to the Divine argument. — If (says our Saviour) Holy 
Scripture calleth certain men "gods," for no other reason than because unto 
them God's commission came, — (and the authority of every statement contained in 
the Law is undeniable, nor may it on any account be made light of and dis- 
regarded,) — 

36 say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into 
the World, Thou blasphemest ; because I said, I am the Son of God ? 

" Him" should be in italics. It is rather, " Say ye of MeJ\s) That is, Do ye 
presume^ to charge Me with blasphemy, whom the Father hath consecrated, and 
commissioned to the most eminent and extraordinary office, because I said I am the 

(n) So in St. John xii. 34 : xv. 25 ; and Rom. iii. 19. 

(o) Exod. xxii. 8, 9, 28, though the word is translated "gods" only in the 28th verse. 
(p) Rom. xiii. 1. (?) 2 Chron. xix. 6. (r) Rev. C. Marriott. 

(*) The same mistake occurs in the translation of St. John xix. 37,— where see the note. 



764 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Son of God ? — See above, the note on verse 33. — And take notice that although it 
"be true that the Holy Ghost "was bestowed without measure on the Incarnate 
Son, whose Humanity He sanctified from the beginning, and continued progress- 
ively to sanctify to the end,"(0 — .Y et > by the phrase " whom the Father hath sanc- 
tified," is meant not this ; but rather, that act of special Sanctification of the 
Manhood of Christ which consisted in the union of GoDhead therewith. The ex- 
pression is therefore equivalent to what we met with in St. John vi. 27, — 
namely, " for Him," (that is, the Son of Man,) " hath God the Father sealed." 

The argument will therefore be of the following kind : — If mere men, because 
they enjoy God's delegated power and authority, may without blame be styled 
"gods/' with how much better right may I, — declared as I am to be God's own 
Son, by the evidence which My works afford that the GoDhead is united to the 

Manhood in My person, — lay claim to the same title ! In which words, 

Bishop Bull directs attention to a peculiar nicety of expression. Our Saviour 
speaks not of Himself as One "whom GOB hath sanctified;" but, "whom the 
FA TITER hath sanctified:" thereby giving His hearers to understand that God 
began not then to be His Father when He sanctified Him, and sent Him into the 
World ; but on the contrary, that being already His Father, God sanctified and 
sent Him. And this great truth is further marked by the expression " sent into 
the World;" which implies that Christ had first been the Son of God in Heaven.(u) 

Lastly, — it will be perceived that our Lord's words do not by any means imply 
(as at first sight might appear) that He claimed to be "God," in no other sense 
than that in which the Judges of Israel are styled "gods" in the Law. His 
words, on the contrary, altogether exclude such a supposition ; for He speaks of 
Himself expressly as One "whom the FATHER hath sanctified and sent into the 
World." The purport of His remonstrance is therefore simply this: <'How can 
God's own Son, being very God, be guilty of blasphemy for saying, I am the Son 
of God, if there be no blasphemy in calling those persons "gods," and " sons of 
God," (a;) to whom merely the Word of God came ?".... In the words of an ex- 
cellent writer, — " He who had such a witness as St. John, and who could do 
such works Himself, in proof of His being from God, had a right to call upon 
them to hear Him, as being the person " whom God the Father had sanctified, 
and sent into the world." The words of such a person they were not lightly to 
charge with blasphemy. They ought rather to have heard them with reverence ; 
and if any thing struck them as strange and different from what they had ex- 
pected, they ought to have supposed they did not quite rightly understand it, 
and asked the meaning of it humbly, instead of setting themselves up for His 
judges, "(y) 

It is not of course denied that, in point of fact, our Saviour was really 
making Himself equal with God, whereas the Psalmist never meant to say that 
those he spoke of were really gods. Purposely however did He use words which 
might not at once show the whole truth, in order to lead His hearers on by de- 
grees, (if they would hear,) to the fuller knowledge of Himself. 

But in the meantime, the obvious answer to His entire remonstrance would have 
been a denial that the Father had so sanctified Him, and sent Him into the World. 
Accordingly, in the very next verse, He proceeds to establish this, — to assert the 
GoDhead which He had in common with the Father, — by an argument derived 
from His own miracles. As it follows : 

37, 38 If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But 
if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works : that ye may 
know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him. 

That is, — Because I styled Myself emphatically the Son of God, and said that"I 
and the Father are One," ye charged Me with blasphemy. In which proceeding 
of yours, there would perhaps have been some reason if I had sought to establish 
My Divinity by My words only, and not by My acts as well. Inasmuch however 
as ye see Me perform the self-same almighty works with My Father, wherefore do 
ye not believe Me to be of the self-same Nature with him ? I require not of you 

(0 Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(«) Consider St. John xvi. 28, — where see the note. 
(a ) " Children of the Most High." Ps. lxxxii. 6. 
(y) Rev. C. Marriott. 



X.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 765 



that ye should believe My testimony concerning Myself, but only that ye would be 
persuaded by My works that the Father is in Me, and I in Him : in other words, 
that, (as I said,) " I and the Father are One."0) 

In all this, the attention which our Saviour emphatically calls to His Works, and 
the great stress which He lays upon these as the special evidence of His Divine 
Nature and Commission, is much to be noticed ; and should be studied in connec- 
tion with the other places referred to at foot.(a) For " in almost every expression 
throughout this Gospel," (as a pious writer remarks,) "there is the building up of 
a higher doctrine, like a solemn Creed, set to the music which is in Heaven ; with 
the same cadences ever and again returning."^) 

39 Therefore they sought again to take Him : but He escaped out 
of their hand, 

"Again," — as they had doubtless done before, in verse 31 ; when, having armed 
themselves with stones, they must have intended to drag our Lord out of the 
Temple,(c) in order to put Him to death. " But He escaped out of their hand," — 
miraculously preserving His life, as on a former occasion. See chapter viii. 59, and 
the note there. " They apprehended Him not," (says Augustine,) "because they 
had not the hands of Faith : (by which, God grant that ive may apprehend Him, 
and not let Him go !") To be near to God, without Faith, is to be of all the furthest 
from Him. For Him to come near unto us in Love, and not to be loved in return 
by us, by some inscrutable mystery of our nature, engenders deepest hate of Good- 
ness. No death is so hopeless as his who dies near the very source of life 1(d) 

Our Saviour therefore, fleeing from the murderous designs of His enemies, now 
left Jerusalem ; agreeably to the precept which He had delivered to His Disciples 
on a former occasion :(e) 

40 and went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John 
at first baptized ; and there He abode. 

" Again," — as He may have done after the Feast of Tabernacles. (/) He abode 
at the place where the Forerunner "at first baptized," namely, "Bethabara beyond 
Jordan." See St. John i. 28, 29. 

It is interesting to reflect on what must have been the joy and wonder of many a 
humble believer, on beholding our Saviour's return to the scene of His Baptism; 
the locality where the miraculous manifestation which had attended that great 
event(g) must still have been well remembered ; and where the witness of John 
must have at once recurred to the memory of all. Full three years had elapsed 
since then. The statements which follow, do not in the least surprise us: namely, — 

41 And many resorted unto Him, and said John did no miracle : but 
all things that John spake of this Man were true. 

This is one of those highly suggestive places, which, in addition to all they tell 
us, leave us to infer so many things besides. Thus we learn, first, that many of the 
people of the place "came" to our Lord, when He went to live among them. Next, 
while we obtain the striking information that John Baptist " did no miracle ;" and 
are left to infer how mightily the Grace of God must have wrought with him, that, 
unaided by that particular species of evidence which the Jews were so prone to 
require, (A) (but which it was nevertheless reserved for Messiah to exhibit,) he 
should have succeeded in drawing multitudes to his Baptism ;(i) the present place 
further suggests that our Saviour, during His residence at Bethabara, wrought 

(z) From Bp. Bull. 

(a) See above, ver. 25, and the note there. Also, St. John v. 36 : xiv. 10, 11 : xr. 24. Con- 
sider also St. Matth. xi. 2 to 6. St. Luke vii. 19 to 23. 

(b) Williams. (c) See above, ver. 23. 

(d) Williams. 

(e) See St. Matthew x. 23, and the places referred to in the margin. 
(/) St. John ix. 7. 

(g) See St. Matthew iii. 16, 17, and St. John i. 32, 33. 

(h) See St. Matthew xii. 38 : xvi. 1. St. John ii. 18 : vi. 30 : — on any of which places, see 
the commentary. 

(i) St. Matthew iii. 5 : St. Mark i. 5 : St. Luke iii. 7. 



766 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

many miracles; the sight of which produced the testimony of contrast, here recorded 
by the Evangelist. 

Then further, if the known sayings of the Baptist are attentively examined, it will 
perhaps he felt that to none of them can these words of the men of Bethabara "be 
thought to apply. Those sayings do but amount to a declaration that Christ was 
to be a greater One than the Baptist himself,(&) even the Son of God,(Z) but there 
will have been several more minute predictions concerning Messiah, certain infal- 
lible notes Avhich John will have taught them to look for ; all of which our Saviour 
will have displayed during His present residence among them. 

The saying recorded in the text amounts therefore to this : — How safely and 
wisely shall we yield to Him our hearty and entire belief; who by so many miracu- 
lous signs supports His claim to be the Messiah ! If all things which John spake 
concerning Him be true, why should we except the Baptist's plain declaration that 
this is indeed the Christ ? . . . . Accordingly it follows : 

42 And many believed on Him there. 

A brief, but emphatic notice; reminding us of the many places where the Church's 
progressive increase is incidentally alluded to; and which will be found enumerated 
in the note on the last words of St. John ii. 11. 

Delightful and refreshing is it, amid the many examples of the "contradiction of 
sinners" (m) which distress us in the Gospel, to meet with these brief notices of the 
Church's early increase. Silently and calmly in the despised Galilee, in the hated 
Samaria, in the parts beyond Jordan, at Bethany, in the hostile capital itself, — 
silently and secretly are the living stones found to have been wrought into beauty 
by the Hand of the Divine Artist ; whereby that came to pass in respect of God's 
spiritual Temple which had been exhibited in type in the construction of His ma- 
terial Shrine ; — " the House, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready 
before it was brought thither : so that there was neither hammer nor axe, nor any 
tool of iron heard in the House while it was in building. ;; (w) 



CHAPTER XL 



1 Christ raisetli Lazarus, four days buried. 45 Many Jews believe. 47 The High- 
priests and Pharisees gather a council against Christ. 49 Caiaphas prophesieth. 
54 Jesus hid Himself. 55 At the Passover they inquire after Him, and lay wait 
for Him. 

It is a remarkable feature in the present Gospel that each chapter seems to 
contain some one great subject, — the narrative chiefly of a single incident : so that 
we are able by a short phrase to bring the whole of each chapter before the 
memory. Thus, the Word, Cana, Nicodemus, the Woman of Samaria, the Pool 
of Bethesda, the Miracle of the Loaves, the Woman taken in Adultery, the Man 
born blind, the Good Shepherd, — these few words seem to set before us, with 
sufficient exactness, the ten chapters of St. John which have gone before. The 
present chapter, in like manner, is entirely devoted to the Raising of Lazarus; 
which, as Augustine truly remarks, is more spoken of than any of our Lord's 
miracles. 

The circumstance is certainly worthy of attention that so stupendous an event 
should be not only unrecorded, but not even alluded to, either by St. Matthew, 

(k) St. John i. 26, 27. Take notice that the longest recorded discourse of the Baptist, (St. 
John iii. 27 to 36,) was pronounced at "iEnon near to Salim," — St. John iii. 23. 
(0 St. John i. 34. (m) Hebrews xii. 3. (n) 1 Kings vi. 7. 



XI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 767 

St. Mark, or St. Luke. The same thing may be said, however, with almost equal 
truth, of the whole contents of St. John's Gospel. And the reason of it seems 
hardly a legitimate subject of inquiry. The silence of St. Matthew concerning 
our Lord's Ascension into Heaven might perhaps surprise us; for it is an Article 
of the Creed. Not so the last of the three miracles of Raising the Dead; however 
surpassing the other two in wonder, as things seem wonderful to us. 

What may be the correct inference, however, to be derived from the silence of 
the other Evangelists on this great subject, seems to be highly deserving our atten- 
tion : nor is it hard to discover it. How sublime a comment does it afford on that 
statement of the beloved Disciple, — that "there are also many other things which 
Jesus did ; the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the 
World itself could not contain the books that should be written \"(a) 

Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town 
of Mary and her sister Martha. 

We are indebted to St. John's Gospel for our knowledge of the family of Bethany, 
■ — that brother, and that pair of holy sisters, whom the Son of Man " loved ;"(&) 
and who seems to have enjoyed the amazing privilege of furnishing Him with a 
shelter during His residences at Jerusalem. Those departures from the capital 
during the last days of His Ministry, when He is said to have gone out to Beth- 
any, (c) may well indicate His withdrawal for the night to the house of Martha, — 
for we find it spoken of in a certain place, (<i) as if she were actually the mistress 
of the house. — St. Luke indeed just mentions the two sisters, as well as St. John: 
but the present Evangelist alone mentions Lazarus; whose name occurs for the first 
time in the passage before us. A name divinely significant, truly! for Lazarus, 
or rather Eleazar,{e) which is the same word, denotes one "whom GOD aids" .... 
When our Lord heard that this man " was sick," He was Himself residing with His 
Disciples at Bethabara, on the eastern side of the Jordan, as recorded at the close 
of chapter x.(f) 

2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and 
wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 

This incidental remark, whereby the blessed writer identifies the Mary of whom 
he is about to speak, and distinguishes her from all the other Marys who are 
named in the Gospel, suggests two observations : the first, critical, — namely, that 
St. John is here alluding to a transaction which took place after the raising of 
Lazarus. The entire history having long since elapsed, at the time when the 
Evangelist wrote his Gospel, he very naturally speaks of the anointing in the past 
tense, though it was yet future when our Saviour heard of the sickness of Lazarus. 

The other observation has been already offered in connection with the first words 
of St. John iv. 46 : namely, that it is altogether in the manner of the beloved 
Disciple to identify persons and places by some one incident which rendered them 
for ever famous. His allusion to Cana of Galilee, and Bethabara beyond Jordan, 
will occur to the reader at once.(g) His method of identifying Nicodemus,(/i) 
Lazarus, (i) the sister of Lazarus,^"), Caiaphas,(&) and himself, (I) are even more 
striking. 

The act of Mary which unassisted human judgment would probably have rather 
pitched upon as characteristic, would have been her sitting at the feet of Jesus, re- 
corded in St. Luke x. 38 to 42, — where the notes may be referred to. 

3 Therefore his sisters sent unto Him, saying, Lord, behold, - he 
whom Thou lovest is sick. 

Erom which it appears that they knew, at Bethany, the place of our Saviour's 

(a) St. John xxi. 25. (b) See below, ver. 5. 

(c) St. Mark xi. 12, [St. Matth. xxi. 18.] 19. St. Luke xxi. 37. 

(d) St. Luke x. 38. 

(e) The name occurs twenty or thirty times in the Old Testament; first, in Exod. vi. 25. 
(/•) St. John x. 40, — where see the note. 

[g) St. John iv. 46 and x. 40. (A) St. John vii. 50 : xix. 39. 

(i) St. John xii. 1. (j) Alluding to the present place. 

\k) See St. John xviii. 14, alluding to xi. 50. (I) St. John xxi. 20. 



768 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

sojourn; which is somewhat remarkable. It is evident however from St. John x. 
41, 42, that He was not living in any privacy at Bethabara. — Unlearned readers 
may like to be told that what St. John actually says is, — " The sisters then sent 
unto Him :" but all may be invited to take notice that these holy women send no 
direct petition to our Saviour. They neither say "Come down ere he die;(m) nor 
"Come and lay Thy hands on him, and he shall live;(?i) nor even "Speak the word 
only, and he shall be healed." (o) They do but remind Him of His love for their 
dying brother, and are content with having urged that tender plea. After thus, 
without request, "making their requests known unto God," it seems as if they 
sought to be " careful for nothing." (p) Consider St. John ii. 3. 

4 When Jesus heard that, He said, This sickness is not unto death, 
but for the Glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified 
thereby. 

The saying of One who seeth the end from the beginning ! These words may be 
supposed to have been addressed to the messengers of Martha and Mary. The 
meaning is sufficiently obvious; namely, that the design of God in sending this 
sickness, (of which our Lord shows Himself to be perfectly well aware,) was not 
with a view to the present dissolution of Lazarus, but to convert his Death into an 
occasion of His own Glory. In this respect, the present place deserves to be com- 
pared with St. John ix. 3, — on which passage the reader is invited to read what has 
been already offered. Both the present miracle and that just now alluded to pro- 
moted God's Glory in a singular manner by affording such transcendent evidence 
of His Divinity; and, as a necessary consequence, by convincing so many of the 
Divinity of Christ. (q) 

"Inseparable," (says Hilary;) " is God's honour from the honour of Christ. 
How altogether one and the same they are, may be shown from this very passage. 
Lazarus dies for the Glory of God, that the SON of GOD may be glorified. What 
doubt can there be that the Glory of God consists in the Glory of God's Son, since 
the death of Lazarus, which was conducive to God's Glory, was designed to bring 
Glory also to the Son of God ?" 

Take notice that by such words, our Lord prepared the minds of His hearers 
"beforehand, as He often did, for some miraculous interposition."(r) 

Truly has it been remarked that " the Son of God, who was glorified through 
the death of Lazarus, will have His Glory, some how or other, in the death of each 
of ourselves."(s) .... We, in the meantime, be it observed, have learnt the meaning 
of language to which even such saints as Martha and her sister were as yet 
strangers. When their messengers returned to Bethany, as doubtless they did at 
once, with these words on their lips, — how enigmatical must the message have 
sounded in the ears of the sisters! "This sickness not unto death:" nay, but 
Lazarus has been already dead for one whole day ! And what can their mighty 
Friend mean by the event being intended "for the Glory of God: that the Son of 

God might be glorified thereby ?" It will be found suggested below, (in the 

note on verse 40, ) that Martha asked concerning this matter, as soon as she came 
into our Saviour's presence. 

5 Now Jesus loved Martha," and her sister, and Lazarus. 

" I love those that love Me," (saith the Spirit ;) "and those that seek Me early 
shall find Me."(0 

Well may such a statement be exhibited by itself, and occupy a separate verse ! 
What a world of blessedness is implied in those few words ! How many acts of un- 
utterable condescension on the part of Him whose ways, at the birthday of Crea- 
tion, caused the very morning-stars to sing together, and the sons of God to shout 
for joy !(w) On the part of the little family of Bethany, how much of reverence and 
gratitude, as well as singleness and purity of heart ! . . . . Let those who have 

(m) St. John iv. 49. (») St. Matth. ix. 18. 

(o) St. Matth. viii. 8. (p) Phil. iv. 6. 

(q) See St. John ix. 16 : x. 21 : xi. 37.— See also below, ver. 45, 48 : xii. 11, 17 to 19 and 42. 

(r) Williams. 

(s) From a MS. Sermon by the Rev. E. Hobhouse. 

it) Prov. viii. 17. («) Job xxxviii. 7. 

Iv) See the note on St. Mark xii. 44. 



XI.] 



on st. John's gospel. 769 



presumed to think of Martha as of one engrossed with domestic cares, to the neglect 
of her spiritual condition, consider what is implied by the statement, " Jesus loved 
Martha." We make wonderous free with God's saints. It is "unbelieving 
Thomas/' (!) and "busy Martha," (!) More complaisant to ourselves, we do not 
hesitate to assert that we have given our " mite," when we have cast into the offer- 
ings of God so paltry a sum that we are literally ashamed to say how small it 
was.(y) 

Take notice, by the way, that though our Saviour loved these two sisters and 
their brother Lazarus, yet the first were at this time drowned in sorrow ; the last, 
sick nigh unto death. " Whom the Lord loveth," therefore, " He chasteneth :"(x) and 
of this we are careful to remind our sick, when we visit them with the consolations 
of our Holy Religion. (y) To remind us of it, may have been one of the Evange- 
list's reasons for mentioning the Saviour's love for the little family of Bethany. 

6 When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days 
still in the same place where He was. 

As already explained, at Bethabara, on the eastern side of the Jordan. We can 
but entreat attention to the progress of the sacred narrative. Here was no want of 
Love towards the sick man, or his relations : on the contrary, "Jesus loved Martha, 
and her sister, and Lazarus." We are not left to draw inferences : the fact is ex- 
pressly stated. Neither was Prayer wanting : for the messengers of Martha and 
Mary, though they asked nothing, showed clearly enough what was the longing de- 
sire of their souls. Notwithstanding all this our Saviour is found to remain " two 
days still in the same place where He was." In the meantime, Lazarus, from be- 
ing ill, actually dies, and is buried ! . . . . Now all these things " were written for 
our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have 
Hope."(z) 

A pious writer remarks : "To faithful suppliants, there is no better sign than for 
their prayers not to be soon answered, for it is a pledge of greater good in store. 
The conduct of our Lord is the sensible embodying to our sight of what we expe- 
rience in the ways of His Providence. In the family which Jesus loved, one is dying 
the other two in distress. They omit no means of obtaining the Divine aid. They 
are heard by Him who is as if He heard not : He waits, and for two days moves 
not, nor deigns them any consoling reply. And this, not for want of Love, but 
from the greatness of His Love towards them. This, as it is a matter of familiar 
occurrence, so is it often alluded to throughout the Scriptures. " Shall not God 
avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long 
with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily."(a) And yet from be- 
neath the Altar, they cry "How long?"(5) 

The reader is invited to refer to what has been already offered on the subject of 
Divine delays, in the notes on St. John iv. 47, St. Mark v. 24 and 35, and St. Luke 
v. 17. Those remarks here suggest themselves again, but may not be repeated. 

Our Saviour " abode two days still in the same place where He was," and then 
set out for Bethany. On arriving, He found that Lazarus had been four days dead 
and buried. (c) Now, from Bethany to Bethabara is found to have been about a 
single day's journey. Lazarus must therefore have been at his last extremity 
when the Sisters sent to Christ. The very same thing was observed in the case of 
the Nobleman's son,(cZ) and the daughter of Jairus.(e) Is it not a type of what we 
see happening around us, of what happens to ourselves, every day ? When all be- 
side is hopeless, when help from every other quarter is excluded, we bethink our- 
selves of Him ! . . Does not He also often reserve His aid until all earthly means 
have failed ; as if to remind us that man's extremity is God's opportunity ? 

7 Then after that saith He to His Disciples, Let us go into Judaea 
again. 

(v) See the note on St. Mark xii. 44. 

(x) Heb. xii. 6. (y\ See the Communion of the Sick. 

(z) Rom. xv. 4. (o) St. Luke xviii. 7, 8. 

(6) Williams, quoting Rev. vi. 10. 

(c) See verses 17 and 39. (d) St. John iv. 47 and 49. 

(e) St. Mark v. 24 and 25, where see the notes. 

49 



770 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

So spake He concerning whom it is said, — " After two days will He revive us ; 
in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight." (/) 

8 His Disciples say unto Him, Master, the Jews of late sought to 
stone Thee ; and goest Thou thither again ? 

They allude evidently to the transaction recorded in chapter x. 31 to 39. Take 
notice that the word translated " of late," (literally " [but] now," "[just] now,") (g) 
indicates that the attempt to stone our Lord had been of very recent occurrence. 
But we know that the Feast of Dedication, about which time it happened, was in 
December. It will have been at our Epiphany Season therefore that our Lord will 
have manifested forth His Glory by the raising of Lazarus. (Ji) 

9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day ? If any 
man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of 
this world. 

Mysterious words ! which recall His sayings immediately before He bestowed 
sight on the man born blind ;(i) and which require to be interpreted in somewhat 
the same manner as those sayings. Indeed the two places singularly resemble and 
illustrate one another. When He mentions " The Light of this World," the Sun 
of Righteousness is speaking of His visible emblem in the Heavens. 

The words before us may perhaps be paraphrased somewhat as follows : — " Are 
there not in the Day twelve hours of Light V(k) (for the Jews divided the period 
between sunrise and sunset into twelve equal parts, — whatever the season of the 
year :) " and until the last of those twelve hours has run out, is it not certain that 
Darkness cannot overtake a man ? None can stumble for want of Light, so long 
as any part of the appointed period of sunshine remains. — Just so is it with respect 
to Myself. The period fixed in the counsels of God, for the duration of the Ministry 
of the Son of Man, hath not yet expired. " Mine hour is not yet come." It is 
" the eleventh hour" with Me, indeed, but there yet remains to Me one full hour 
more. Learn therefore that your present fears for My personal safety are ground- 
less." .... The place may be usefully compared with St. Luke xiii. 32, 33, — 
where the fixed period of our Saviour's Ministry is in like manner indicated by 
the mention of " to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following." 

Such seems the literal sense of what was spoken : but it is obvious that a spiritual 
meaning lies beneath the surface of the letter. Hence, the parabolical character of 
the language employed: — "the Day," "twelve hours," "walking," stumbling," 
" the light of this World." Could any one indeed desire a better commentary on 
our Lord's hidden meaning than what He Himself supplies by His words on a 
subsequent occasion, in reply to the inquiry of the people, " Who is this Son of 
Man?" Hear His answer :-4-" Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is 
the Light with you. Walk while ye have THE LIGHT, lest Darkness come upon 
you : for he that walketh in Darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye 
have the Light, believe in the Light, that ye may be the children of Light." (I) 
" I, Light, came into the World that every one ivho believeth in Me, should not abide 
in Darkness "{m) " As long as I am in the World, I am the Light of the World " [n) 
These sayings are enough to vindicate for our Lord's present Discourse the same 
breadth of meaning which was claimed for St. John ix. 4, 5, in the note on the 
latter of those two verses. They prepare us in fact for the turn which the thought 
immediately takes. 

10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no 
light in him. 

By which words, attention is directed from the Speaker to His Disciples, and to 

(/) Hosea vi. 2. See the last paragraph of the notes on the first half of St. John iv. 50. 
Consider also the following places, — Gen. xxii. 4 : xl. 20 : xli. 1 : xlii. 17, 18. St. Luke ii. 46. 
Acts ix. 9. 

(g) As in St. John xxi. 10. (h) Consider St. John ii. 11 : xi. 4, 40. 

(i) See St. John ix. 4, 5, and the notes there. 

Ik) Our Version gives the exact meaning of the original here, though it does not appear to 
o so. The same, of verses 25, 26. 

(I) Compare St. Luke xvi. 8. (m) St. John xii. 35, 36, 46. 

(n) St. John ix. 5. 



XI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 771 

the Jewish nation generally. It is not so much a new thought which is here 
brought forward, as the practical application to our Lord's hearers of the Divine 
saying which went before ; which is here brought out and applied. The beloved 
Disciple will be found to refer to these words of his Lord in 1 St. John ii. 10, 11 : 
while many a passage in the writings of the Apostles of Christ explain the spiritual 
force of the expression " to stumble."(o) Concerning the phrase " there is no Light 
in him/' it may suffice to refer the reader to St. Matthew vi. 22, 23. 

Before passing on to another subject, the reader is invited to consider the fearful 
significance which the present sayings of our Lord give to that well-known expres- 
sion of His, — " This is your hour and the Power of Darkness," (p) spoken at the 
time of His apprehension in the garden : also, to the Evangelist's remark, on occa- 
sion of the departure of Judas, — " Now, it ivas night :"(q) and, not least of all, to 
the darkness which covered " all the Land"(r) at the eclipse of " the True Light" 
upon the Cross. 

11 These things said He : and after that He saith unto them, Our 
friend Lazarus sleepeth ; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. 

Take notice how He includes them all with Himself, as friends of Lazarus : 
" Our friend Lazarus." Yet more, take notice that death is in God's sight but a 
sleep. Now, from all sleeping there must be a waking ; so that in this very term 
is contained the doctrine of the Resurrection. The same remarks were suggested 
by our Saviour's declaration concerning the daughter of Jairus, " The maiden is 
not dead, but sleepeth." (s) 

This way of regarding Death is not peculiar to the Gospel, as some have thought. 
See the references at the end of the note on St. Mark v. 39. It is true, however, 
that what was only the language of exalted Faith under the Old Covenant, is the 
ordinary speech of believers under the New.(tf) 

12 Then said His Disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. 

As much as to say, "If it be indeed merely a state of lethargy into which our 
friend has fallen, he is safe, and will get well ; nor can it be needful that Thou 
shouldst go down to the scene of danger, in person." Or they may have meant 
that the sleep of Lazarus was a sign that he was on the road to recovery. Either 
way, their speech is dissuasive : and recalls what we meet with in St. Matthew xvi. 
22. It reveals also a thing which the Evangelist has not yet mentioned, — namely, 
that our Lord's Disciples knew that Lazarus was ill. 

13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death : but they thought that He 
had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 

On this, (as on so many other occasions,) we are struck by the childlike manner 
in which these holy men are found to receive the sayings of their Lord. They 
evidently interpreted them in the most literal manner possible. Consider their 
remarks on His injunction to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the 
Sadducees,"(x) — on His declaration "I have meat to eat, that ye know not of," (y) — 
on His admonition that he that had no sword should sell his garment and buy 
one."(s) * J 

14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 

Compare St. John x. 24: xvi. 29. He does not add, — "But I go that I may 
raise Him from death !" 

15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent 
ye may believe ; 

(o) See St. Matthew xviii. 7, 8, (compare v. 29 &c.) Romans ix. 32 : xiv. 21. 1 St. Pet. ii. 
8. Consider likewise St. Luke ii. 34, and 1 Cor. i. 23. 

(p) St. Luke xxii. 53. (q) St. John xiii. 30. 

(r) St. Matth. xxvii. 45. 

(s) See the notes on St. Matth. ix. 24 and St. Mark v. 39. 

(0 See St. Matthew xxvii. 52. Acts vii. 60 : xiii. 36. 1 Cor. xi. 30 : xv. 6, 18, 20, 51. 1 
Thess. iv. 13, 14, 15. 2 St. Pet. iii. 4. 

(x) St. Matth. xvi. 6 to 12, &c. (y) St, John iv. 32 to 34. 

GO St. Luke xxii. 36, 38. 



772 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Clearly implying, (as will be found explained in the note on ver. 32,) that Lazarus 
would not, — could not have died, — had the Lord of Life been present. 

"Instead of raising up Lazarus from sickness, as they whom He loved had 
desired, they are all by this miracle to be raised up together with Lazarus unto the 
life of Faith, which will never die. "(a) And here the progressive nature of Faith, 
— its several degrees, and the accessions of which it is capable, — is much to be 
noticed. After the water made wine, at Cana of Galilee, " His Disciples believed 
on Him '/'(b) and after the stilling of the storm on the Lake, all worshipped Him, 
with the confession " Thou art the Son of God."(c) Simon Peter twice confessed 
Him as the " Christ, the SON of the living GOB :"(cl) and we have already heard 
Matthew say, " I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should 
come into the world." [e) Yet, because of their unbelief it was that nine of the 
Apostles were unable to heal the lunatic boy: they had not "faith as a grain of 
mustard-seed." (f) "0 thou of little faith!" exclaimed our Saviour to Simon 
Peter, (g) Save faith in God, (h) was His word to the Twelve after cursing the 
Fig-tree : and Lazarus is now to be raised from the dead to the intent they " may 
believe." .... Our Saviour adds, — 

nevertheless let us go unto him. 

16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow-disci- 
ples, Let us also go, that we may die with Him. 

We know very little about the Apostle Thomas, (i) (who as St. John thrice re- 
marks,) was called " Didymus" by the Greeks as he was called "Thomas" by the He- 
brews, (j ) He comes prominently before us on only three occasions, of which this 
is the first: (A;) but from the very expressive indications which the Gospels supply, 
we have sufficient materials to enable us to conceive his character. He appears to 
have been a man of earnest mind, capable of strong and disinterested attachments; 
but of that temperament which looks habitually to the darker side of things ; which, 
out of several future events equally possible, is ever disposed to consider the least 
welcome as the most probable, and to distrust extraordinary good news all the more 
from the circumstance of its being good. This habit of mind we find strongly 
exemplified on the present occasion. The Twelve, with one accord, deprecate our 
Lord's self-exposure to the powerful enemies in the capital who had so lately 
threatened Him with stoning : and doubtless those of the number who shared in 
any degree the sanguine temper of their chief member, — his willing disbelief of 
the possibility of the Lord's subjection to shame and death, — must have remon- 
strated in the hope either that their dissuasions would be effectual : or that their 
Lord, if He choose to brave the danger, would by His experienced power surmount 
it. But not so thinks Thomas. He is the first to recognize the adverse determina- 
tion of his Master, and while perceiving, despairingly to acquiesce in it ; and he 
says immediately to his fellow-disciples, — " Let us also go, that we may die with 
Him ;" thus uniting with a feeling of entire self-devotion, the anticipation that the 
worst must follow ; that in the death of their beloved Master, all hope was gone ; 
and that it was well for them who had contentedly shared His fortunes hitherto, to 
perish also contentedly with Him by the hands of His triumphant enemies."(Z) 

Chrysostom points out that he who now scarcely dared to go to Bethany in com- 
pany with his Lord, afterwards fearlessly traversed the whole East, without Him, 
in the midst of those who sought his death. St. Thomas is the Apostle of India. 

17 Then when Jesus came, He found that He had Iain in the grave 
four days already. 

Of this, we are twice reminded. (m) Four days! a hopeless period: one day 
more than the third day, which is the third day of Resurrection ! The appointed 

(a) Williams. (6) St. John ii. 11. 

(c) St. Matth. xiv. 33. (d) St. Matth. xvi. 16. 

(e) See below, verse 27. (/) St. Matth. xvii. 19, 20. 

{rj) St. Matth. xiv. 31. (h) St. Mark xi. 22. 

(i) See a short notice of him in the commentary on St. Mark iii. 18. 

(_/) Namely, in St. John xi. 16: xx. 24: xxi. 2: for the Evangelist is not here translating 
the Hebrew word, and explaining that it means " Twin." 
(k) The other two being St. John xiv. 5, and xx. 24 to 29. 
(I) Dr. W. H. Mill. (ro) See verse 39. 



XI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 773 

days of " weeping" were ended : those of lamentation had begun ! Dying on the 
very clay when the sisters had sent to our Saviour, (who was distant about one 
day's journey from Bethany,) in consequence of the two days still spent at Betha- 
bara, Lazarus, will now have been dead four days ; and since it "was usual with the 
Jews to inter their dead on the day of death, (n) he will have " been four days in 
the grave" also. From this verse would it not seem as if our Saviour on reaching 
the outskirts of the village, had been told by some one of what had befallen His 
friend ? 

18, 19 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs 
off: and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them 
concerning their brother. 

Rather, "had come to Martha and Mary:" yet chiefly to comfort Mary. Con- 
sider verses 31 and 45. — The nature of the errand thus alluded to, will be found 
noticed below, in the latter part of the note on verse 46. The office of the com- 
forters, (like that of the mourners)(o) on such occasions, had grown a miserable 
piece of lifeless formalism. The days of grief were fixed at thirty ; of which it 
was prescribed that the three first should be for weeping, the next seven for lamen- 
tation, and so forth. More than one Jewish treatise is extant on this subject. 
Happily for the sisters, a better Comforter was already on the way to their 
dwelling ! 

By stating that the village of Bethany was scarcely two miles distant from the 
capital, St. John (who writes for strangers, as already often pointed out,)(p) seems 
to explain how it happened that "many of the Jews" were enabled to come on the 
pious errand here described. . . . "So entirely was it a scene of mourning ! as in 
a family where death and the funeral are passed."(g) 

20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went 
and met Him : but Mary sat still in the house. 

Some one seems to have come in advance, in order to warn the sisters of the 
approach of their Divine Friend. Martha, (probably because the tidings were first 
conveyed to herself,) hastens to receive Him; and meets Him, (as we learn from 
ver. 30,) outside the village. There the ensuing dialogue takes place. Mary in 
the meantime, with characteristic calmness, is sitting still in the house. Surely 
the act of either sister is equally lovely ! If the repose and sanctity of Mary's 
course affects the heart most, who does not feel the blessedness of Martha in thus 
going forth to meet her Lord and ours ! "To meet a friend coming to us in our 
affliction, is something," (says the pious writer last quoted:) "but this meeting 
was with such feeling as none can know but they who beheld in the flesh Him who 
raised the dead." 

21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, 
my brother had not died. 

And so presently said Mary, — as will be found in ver. 32, where see the note. 
It is striking to observe that our Saviour also, in effect, had said the same thing, 
when His friend's sickness was first reported to Him : for what was implied by 
the words, " I am glad for your sakes that I was not there," — if not the admission 
that in that case, " Lazarus had not died ?" . . . Martha proceeds: 

22 But I know that even now, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, 
God will give it Thee. 

What may the pious woman have meant? That Christ could give her back her 
brother even now ? It does not indeed seem that she meant nothing less. But 
faith itself breaks down when the trial of faith comes on ; for consider her words 
inverse 39. . . . Observe however that even yet she perseveres in the lowly course 
which we recognized both the sisters at first as pursuing : namely, she makes no 
request. 

(») Acts v. 6 to 10. (o) See the note on St. Mark v. 38. 

(p) See the notes on St. John ii. 6 and vi. 1. 
(q) Williams. 



774 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Meantime, the weak point in her confession clearly is that she does not recognize 
Christ as G OD. Whatever He might ask of God, she was sure that God ivould 
give Him: but this is no more than is promised to every one of ourselves. (r) She 
does not know that He and the Father "are One:" that whosoever seeth Him, 
hath seen the Father. And yet, had He not declared as much by His message to 
the sisters in verse 4 ? 

Even that faithful saying, — " Lord, if Thou hadst been here," — discovers a want 
of Faith. Is Christ therefore " mighty to save ,; only -when, present? 

23 Jesus saitli unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 

By which words, He begins to prepare her, (as His Divine manner ever was,) for 
the miracle which was to follow. The afflicted woman, however, regards His Divine 
words as merely conveying the usual language of consolation,— like that which St. 
Paul addressed to the Thessalonians.(s) 

24 Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the 
Resurrection at the Last Day. 

Whereby she seems to imply that she had dared to hope for something more. 
" In the Resurrection, at the Last Day, all must rise. I know that he will rise 
then !" . . . Are we perhaps at liberty to suspect that our Lord Himself had been 
her Teacher here? or may we presume, (on the strength of Job xix. 25,) that the 
same hope was confidently entertained by the best informed of the Jewish nation 
in general ? 

25 Jesus said unto her, I am the Resurrection and the Life : 

Blessed words ! and rightly chosen to be the first which shall greet the mourner's 
ear when he enters the place of graves ! Shall we ever listen to them, without 
considering the occasion on which they were first spoken, and calling to mind the 
largeness of the bliss of which they were the solemn, aye, the immediate precursors ? 

"lam the Resurrection and the Life," saith our Lord : and by taking again the 
life which He had already laid down, He proved His right to that title. (t) He is 
"the Resurrection," because He is the sole cause of Resurrection to us. "As in 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."(zi) " For since by man 
came Death, by man came also the Resurrection of the dead."(w) "Doth any man 
doubt," (asks Hooker,) "but that even from the flesh of Christ our very bodies do 
receive that life which shall make them glorious at the latter day ?" . . . He also 
is " the Life" because our only true life is derived from Him, — of whom it is said, 
"in Him was Life:"{w) and "as the Father hath Life in Himself, so hath He 
given to the Son to have Life in Himself" [x] Hence, in another place, our Lord 
says, — "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;" (y) St. Peter calls Him "the 
Prince," (or "Author,") " of Life ;"(z) and the Apostle Paul declares, "When 
Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." (a) 
... It was implied, therefore, on the present occasion, — What need to wait for "the 
Last Day," when He stands before thee who is more than the cause of Resurrection 
to others : yea, who is the very Resurrection and the Life itself? 

Martha had said, " I know that whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give 
it Thee." Our Lord makes answer : 

26 He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : 
and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. 

The first clause was evidently designed to bear a twofold meaning. The believer 
in Christ, though he suffer dissolution, yet shall surely rise again from^ Death, 
and live with Christ for ever. Even so, "God, who is rich in mercy, for His great 
love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us 
together with Christ,"(6) Of the Prodigal son it is declared in like manner that 
" he was dead, and is alive again." (c) 

(r) St. Matth.xxi. 22. St. John xiv. 13, 14 : xv. 7, 16 : xvi. 23, 24. 

(«) 1 Thess. iv. 13 to 18. {t) So Bp. Pearson. 

(«) 1 Cor. xv. 22. (v) 1 Cor. xv. 21. 

H St. John i. 4. (x) St. John v. 26. (y) St. John xiv. 6. 

(a) Acts iii. 15. (a) Coloss. iii. 4. (6) Eph. li. 45. 

(c) St. Luke xv. 24, — where see note. 



XI.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 775 



The second clause of the sentence, however, claims for itself nothing "but a spi- 
ritual interpretation. Whosoever lives that Life which alone in God's sight deserves 
the name of living, — (the Life of Faith in the Incarnate Son,) — this man shall 
never die : that is, he shall know nothing of that " second Death," (cZ) which alone 
deserves the name of dying. These two sayings are therefore an expansion of the 
declaration which went before, — " I am the Resurrection and the Life." 

And here, we may not fail to remind the reader how " exceedingly little is said 
in the New Testament about Death. Christ is declared to have " abolished" it ;(e) 
and accordingly, it almost disappears from the Christian scheme : the Coming of 
CHRIST being the topic which takes its place. " The two natural eras of our 
being, — our Birth and our Death, — are not the Christian eras. All things are 
become new to us. Our span is different ; our points are different. We begin with, 
the Sacrament of our New Birth, when Christ gives us His grace : we end with, 
that hour, when He shall come" to take unto Him His elect, and to reign. (f) .... 
" Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him 
that sent Me, hath everlasting Life, and shall not come into condemnation ; but is 
passed from Death unto Life."(g) How glorious an intimation from the very 

" Prince of Life l"(h) See the beginning of the note on St. Luke xvi. 9 To 

each one of us, as well as to Martha, He addresses the solemn question which 
follows : — 

Believest thou this ? 

For this sublime doctrine was more than Martha had yet professed her belief in. 

Take notice that our Saviour, who can do nothing where there is not Faith, (A:) 
requires a confession from Martha before He raises Lazarus from the grave ; as He 
required a confession from the Twelve before He suffered three of their number to 
behold His Transfiguration. (Z) ..." Believe ye that I am able to do this ?" — He 
asked of the two blind men who followed Him crying for mercy. (m) "If thou 
canst believe," — was his saying to the father of the lunatic child,(?i) before He 
proceeded to cast out the dumb and deaf spirit. 

27 She saith unto Him, Yea, Lord : I believe that Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of Goo, which should come into the World. 

A marvellous confession, truly ; and, implicitly, all that could be wished for ; 
yet does it not appear to have been the explicit confession which our Saviour had 
required of her. So thought Chrysostom ; who remarks, — " She seems not to 
have understood His words. She saw that He meant something great, but did not 
see what it was. She is asked one thing and answers another." Yet observe her 
language, "Yea, Lord," she begins, " IJiave believed:" thereby, as it would seem, 
expressing what had long been the abiding conviction of her soul ; and she pro- 
ceeds to declare her full belief in our Lord's Divinity. Augustine, accordingly, 
understands her to imply, — "When I believed that thou wert the Son of God, I 
believed also that Thou wert the Resurrection, and that Thou wert the Life :" and 
that " he that believeth in Thee, though he die, yet shall he live." ..." The 
Anointed," — " the Son of God," — " He that should come,"(o) — she names Him by 
three of His great Names. Yet have we heard her, in ver. 22, ascribe to Him the 
conduct of a created being ! 

It will, in fact, have struck every intelligent reader of the Gospel with some 
surprise that persons capable of such magnificent confessions as we sometimes 
meet with, should practically have shown that they entertained very erroneous, or 
very unworthy notions of our Lord. This circumstance, however, need not cause 
perplexity. Assisted by the Creeds and Confessions of the Church Catholic, the 
meanest among us (blessed be God for it !) are now enabled to reason aright con- 
cerning our Saviour : but in the days of Messiah, it was not so. The Incarnation, 

(d) Rev. ii. 11 : xx. 6, 14: xxi. 8; and consider xxi. 4. 

(e) 2 Tim. i. 10. 

(/) From a MS. sermon by the Rev. C. P. Eden (17th Dec. 1854.) 

(g) St. John v. 24. (h) Acts iii. 15. (7c) St. Matth. xiii. 58. 

(I) Consider St. Matth. xvi. 15, 16, and xvii. 1, 2. 

(to) St. Matth. ix. 28. (n) St. Mark ix. 23. 

(o) The reader is referred to the note on St. Matth. xi. 3. 



776 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

— that great " mystery of godliness/ ; (j?) — as it was the fruitful parent of most of 
the^ early heresy, so might it well prove a difficulty in the way of every individual 
believer ; leaving Keason far behind, and tasking Faith itself beyond its utmost 
unassisted powers. 

28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary 
her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. 

Is it not perhaps rather, — "secretly saying?" Martha seems to have retraced 
her steps ; called her sister Mary aside ; and privately to have poured the blissful 
message into her ear. Martha found her sitting among those members of her own 
nation who had come to comfort the sisters, — as may be gathered from verses 19, 
29 and 31, where see the note. The prescribed rule on such occasions was, that 
the " comforters" sat in silence upon the floor, till the mourner spoke. 

Ths word here, and generally elsewhere, translated " Master/ 7 rather implies a 
" Teacher." But it is in fact the nearest Greek equivalent to the Hebrew " Rabbi," 
as St. John informs us in chapter i. 38. By this name, the little family at Bethany 
are found to have designated our Lord in conversation with one another. 

Take notice that it is not actually recorded that our Saviour asked for Mary. 
That He " called her," we learn from these words of her sister. In this way, many 
little circumstances, perhaps unsuspected by careless readers, are revealed both in 
the Old and New Testaments. A few examples of this are set down at foot of the 
page ; which it may be found worthwhile to refer to.(g) Indeed, one other saying 
of our blessed Lord, on this same occasion, though not recorded in its historical 
place, is discoverable from a subsequent part of the present chapter ; and is so 
related there, as even to suggest a further portion of Martha's dialogue with our 
Saviour. See below, the note on ver. 40. 

But to return to the narrative. Mary is told that our Lord has asked for 
her: — 

29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto 
Him. 

The Evangelist will be found twice to notice the promptness with which Mary 
obeyed our Lord's summons. Such a circumstance may be thought to make the 
supposition the more probable, that she had not before been aware of His approach. 
It has been thought that Martha's more active habits had put her in the way of 
hearing the rumor of that event before her sister. The objection to this supposi- 
tion is, that it seems unlikely that Martha would have kept our Lord's arrival a 
secret from her sister : while His summons would fully explain the alacrity with 
which Mary at last went forth to meet Him. 

30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, hut was in that 
place where Martha met Him. 

This is divinely contrived. (What is not divinely contrived which Christ con- 
trives ?) By remaining without, somewhere near the burial-ground we may sup- 
pose, (which Avas always outside the town,) (r) the Avhole company of Mary's 
comforters, in following her, are brought to Him. As it follows : 

31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted 

(p) 1 Tim. iii. 16. 

(q) e. g. in the Old Testament: — G-en. xxxi. 30, (of which "sore longing" we had no hint 
given us between xxix. 20 and xxx. 43.) Gen. xliii. 21, (which "anguish" and "beseeching'' 
was not even alluded to in xxxvii. 21 to 28.) Gen. xliii. 7, (which earnest inquiries on the part 
of Joseph, concerning his father and brother, were passed over in perfect silence between xlii. 
7 and 26.) Gen. xliv. 19 to 23, (where a few more particulars of the same interview are 
revealed.) Gen. xliv. 27 to 29, (where more of Jacob's words are related than in Gen. xliii. 7.) 
Hosea xii. 4, (which "weeping" and "supplication" is not mentioned in Gen. xxxii. 24 to 26.) 
Deut. iii. 25, 26, (which prayer, together with its rejection, is nowhere else even alluded to.) — 
In the New Testament : — St. John i. 20 reveals that the unrecorded inquiry of the "Priests and 
Levites from Jerusalem" was "Art Thou the Christ?" St. John vi. 36 mentions a thing as 
said before, yet not recorded. Hebrews v. 7 relates a circumstance of our Lord's Passion 
which none of the Evangelists had particularly mentioned. 

(>•) Compare St. Luke vii. 12. 



XI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 777 

her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, 
followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to w T eep there. 

They attribute to a sudden pang of grief, Mary's sudden rising ; and, as might 
be expected, rise and follow her, weeping like herself.(s) .... Such was the 
mournful company which the Apostles must have beheld approaching them, as 
they stood with our Saviour at the entrance of Bethany, outside the village. And 
thus had the providence of God overruled it, that a multitude from the capital should 
witness the great wonder which was to follow : while yet the publicity which would 

have attended the miracle, if wrought within the capital itself, was avoided 

For the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a yet greater miracle was in store. Christ will 
raise Himself horn, death, at the end of two or three months from this time. 

32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw Him, she 
fell down at His feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst been 
here, my brother had not died. 

" And saio Him." How numerous and delicate are the touches in these divine 
Narratives ! 

Martha, it may be, had fallen at His feet likewise : but it is not so stated. 
Whatever the actions of the two sisters may have been, their words on coming into 
our Saviour's presence are found to be identical, — clearly revealing what had been 
a constant saying between them ever since their brother's death: " If the Master 
had but been here, Lazarus had not died!" .... Is it not promised, "If two of 
you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done 
for them of My Father which is in Heaven V'(£) 

As already hinted, our Lord's saying before He set out for Bethany, ("I am 
glad for your sakes that I was not there,") (u) is a proof that Mary and her sister 
were right when they expressed their belief that Lazarus would not have died had 
He been with them : and what a striking revelation does this afford as to what was 
usual where our Lord was ! What a blissful experience do the sisters seem to 
have enjoyed of the consequence of Christ's presence ! They say, — " Lord, while 
Thou wast with us, no sickness dared show itself in a family with which the Life 
deigned to take up His abode. "(v) .... None can have ever applied to Him in 
faith for the relief of disease, and have been refused. He had come into the world 
"that through Death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, 
the Devil."(x) " In Him was Life :"(y) and, by consequence, where He was, there 
Death could not enter ! 

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also 
weeping which came with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was 
troubled, 

Literally, " and troubled Himself." This was when He "saw" their tears. See 
above, on verse 32. — The word in the original for " groaning," (here and in verse 
38,) is a term of large and portentous meaning, and of rather rare occurrence. It 
conveys the notion of exceeding wrath, which breaks forth into threatening ; but it 
is difficult at first sight to find scope for such notions here, — unless we suppose the 
Holy One to be thus deeply stirred at the sight of the usurped empire of His great 
enemy, the Devil. Truly, the thoughts of the Creator while He dwelt in the flesh 
among His creatures must have been of a nature which we may not hope to fathom. 
We can but avail ourselves of every hint ; and with dutifulness and gratitude 
follow it out into its lawful consequences. Thus, when we read that, at the sight 
of bereavement and sorrow, — tears and groans, — the Incarnate Son was agitated 
with a mighty anger, — an indignation which threatened to break out into some 
external manifestation of its intensity, — it seems impossible to resist the suspicion 
that it was the sight of the fair work of Creation so shamefully marred and dis- 
figured, which stirred up the awful wrath of the Most High. " An enemy hath 
done this !"(z) — He seems to say. And indeed, what is every scene of suffering but 
the work of Sin, — the remote consequences of the Fall, — signs of an usurped 

(s) This appears from ver. 33. (*) St. Matthew xviii. 19. 

(?<) See above, ver. 15. \v) Aleuin. (x) Heb. ii. 14. 

\y) St. John i. 4. \ z ) St. Matth. xiii. 28. 



778 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

dominion over beings destined for happiness, and innocence, and immortality? . . . 
The Evangelist further declares that our Lord " was troubled," — 

34 and said, Where have ye laid him ? 

Do we not seem to feel that these words are spoken in all the consciousness of 
superhuman power, — spoken by One who is about to snatch the prey from the jaws 
of the spoiler, and vindicate His own empire over Death itself; a solemn earnest of 
His intended destruction, in the end, of that enemy also?(a) 

He asked therefore, (as on so many other occasions), (b) not as needing to be 
informed ; but as desiring to arrest the attention of the by-standers, and to direct 
special notice to what He was about to do. Thus, before converting Moses' wand 
into a serpent, He is found to have inquired, — "What is that in thy hand?"(c) 

Athanasius has some good remarks on this subject. "Ignorance," (he says,) "is 
proper to Humanity: in Gonhead. it can have no place. Take notice that our Lord, 
though He asked ' where they had laid Lazarus V had already declared, while a 
long way off, the death of Lazarus. Nay, this is He who knew beforehand the 
thoughts of His disciples, and who read what was in the heart of each, and knew 
what was in Man.(cZ) Above all, He alone knoweth the Father ;(e) and saith of 
Himself, ' I am in the Father, and the Father in Me/ "(f) 

They said unto Him, Lord, come and see. 

They who are able to repress the outward display of their grief, while suffered to 
be silent, are often observed to break forth passionately when spoken to, and con- 
strained to make answer. So may it have been the case now : for it is observable 
that it was after He had drawn from the sorrowful company the invitation to "come 
and see" the place where they had laid Lazarus, that something occurred which 
moved the Son of Man to tears. 

35 Jesus wept. 

" Himself borne along with, and not seeking to resist, this great tide of sorrow."(<7) 
He weeps with those that weep, (7^)— our pattern in all things ! weeps, "because He 
is the Fountain of Pity."(i) Thus hath He sanctified our sorrows, and sanctioned 
on such occasions our very tears ! For the word here is " Jesus shed tears" — an 
expression confined to this single place in the Gospel. 

Amazing proof of the perfection of either nature, the Divine and human, in the 
One Person of our Lord, that He should have shed tears of human sympathy even 
when He was about to assert His empire over Death and Hell! (j) His "suffering 
humanity is as marked throughout this occasion as the power of his GoDhead." 
Indeed, Chrysostom observes that " St. John, who enters into higher statements 
respecting our Lord's Nature than the other Evangelists, descends also lower than 
any other in describing His bodily affections. "(Jc) But this may be doubted. (I) 

Thrice is our Saviour related to have " wept."(w) It is not once said of Him 
that He smiled. And take notice that His tears, recorded in the Gospels, were 
called forth by the contemplation of human grief. This sign of the compassion of 
Him who in His unspeakable condescension calls Himself our Brother, (at the same 
time that He is our God!) cannot but proye a source of deepest solace to every 
afflicted member of the great human family. Our Lord may seem to deal harshly 
with us, at times : but Love is ever present in all His dispensations. When Joseph, 
(that most eminent type of Christ,) " took from them Simeon, and bound him be- 
fore their eyes," is it not expressly declared that he first " turned himself about 
from them, and wept?"(n) 

(a) See 1 Cor. xv. 26. 

(b) e. g. St. Matth. xvi. 13. St. Mark ix. 21 : vi. 38. St. Luke viii. 30, 45. St. John vi. 
6. &c. 

(c) Exod. iv. 2. (d) St. John ii. 25. 
(e) St. Matth. xi. 27. (/) St. John xiv. 11. 

(g) Trench. (h) Rom. xii. 15. (i) Alcuin. 

(jf ) See the first note on St. Matth. viii. 10 : St. Luke viii. 23. Also the notes on St. Luke 
vii. 13 : St. Mark iii. 5 : viii. 3, &c. 

(k) Williams. (I) Consider St. Luke xxii. 44. 

(m) Besides the present place, St. Luke xix. 41, and Heb. v. 7. 
\n) Gen. xlii. 24. 



XI.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 779 



The name of Joseph indeed suggests the further remark that the saints of God 
are all described, (and Joseph in particular,) as men of tears. It is believed that 
the passages specified at foot will be found worth referring to, in connection with 
this mention of the tears of the Son of Man. (o) 

36 Then said the Jews, Behold how He loved him. 

So said certain of them. "But some," it follows, (not "And some :") as if mark- 
ing the different dispositions of those present; and intimating, (as is very plainly 
done a little farther on),(p) that the present miracle was beheld by two distinct 
classes of persons, whose respective characters were thereby prominently brought 
out. And this, be it observed, is one of the effects constantly found to attend every 
greater manifestation of the Son of Man. He had come into the World that the 
thoughts of many hearts might be revealed :(q) instances of which, well worthy of 
thoughtful attention, will be found in the following places of the present Gospel, — 
chap. vii. 12, also 40 to 43 ; ix. 16 ; and x. 19 to 21. See also the note on chapter 
ix. 39, and the concluding note on chapter vi. He was for ever separating the Light 
from the Darkness. Accordingly, what next follows sounds like a murmur on the 
part of some. 

37 And some of them said, Could not this Man, which opened the 
eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died ? 

" There is a depth of truth in these words which they who asked the question 
little knew of. True it was that Jesus could have stayed the hand of Death as 
easily as He made the blind to see. But He heeded not to answer in words : He 
was about to answer in deeds, by undoing the work of Death, and calling forth the 
dead from the grave. None will have doubted that He could have caused that that 
man should not die, if He could bring him back again from the dead. And all this 
was done that He might appear to be the Lord of the issues of Life and Death." (r) 

Take notice, by the way, how deep an impression had been made by the miracle 
performed on the man born blind, as well as how general the knowledge of it had 
become, that thus, for the second time,(.s) it should be put prominently forward by 
the Jews on a public occasion. Compare our Lord's allusion (in St. John vii. 21,) 
to His healing of the man at the Pool of Bethesda. 

38 Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself cometh to the grave. 

Thus our Saviour's human sorrow is for the third time noticed. (t) The occasion 
was indeed stupendous, and the scene must have been awfully impressive beyond 
all words. Are we not to look a little onwards, however, and to discover in verses 
46 to 53 the main cause of that portentous anguish which now oppressed the Son 
of Man? . . Concerning the sepulchre of Lazarus, St. John adds : 

It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 

Take notice, reader, that this little graphic touch, (like so many in the Gospels !) 
is clearly from the pencil of an eye-witness. The " cave" may have been a natural 
formation ;(u) but it was more probably a sepulchral chamber hewn out of the 
rock.(y) The "stone," (as in the case of our Saviour's Sepulchre,) served the pur- 
pose of a door. Still blending the human with the Divine, He who inquired where 
they had laid Lazarus, and wept on His way to the place, now requires the by- 
standers to take away the stone which closed the entrance of the sepulchre. As it 
follows : 

39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. 

One design of this injunction, (as of that in verse 44,) may have been to exclude 

(o) Thus Jacob, Gen. xxix. 11 : xxxiii. 4: xxxvii. 35. — Joseph, Gen. xlii. 24: xliii. 30: xlv. 
2, 14, 15 : xlvi. 29 : 1. 1, 17.— David, 1 Sam. xx. 41 : 2 Sam. iii. 32 : xii. 21, 22 : xv. 30 : xviii. 
33 : xix. 1 —St. Paul, Acts xx. 19 and 31. 2 Cor. ii. 4.— St. John, Rev. v. 4, 5. 

(p) See below, ver. 45 and 46. Take notice that ver. 46 begins in the same way as ver. 37. 

(q) St. Luke ii. 35. 

(r) From a MS. sermon by the Rev. Edw. Hobhouse. 

(s) See St. John x. 21 j the reference in both places being to St. John ix. 7. 

{t) Verses 33, 35, 38. („) As Gen. xxiii. 9. 

(v) Compare Is. xxii. 16, or St. Matth. xxvii. 60. 



780 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

doubt and unbelief, at every avenue. The Jews are commanded to remove the 
stone and convince themselves that the body of Lazarus is yet lying within the 
sepulchre. Presently, they will see him come forth ; and then they will be required, 
with their own hands, to divest him of his grave-clothes, and to let him. go. They 
shall not be able to pretend, as they would fain have done in the case of the man 
born blind, (w) that there is no doubt as to the identity of the person raised from death 
with him who died and was buried. The Jews from Jerusalem, the mourners, the 
comforters, all shall see this miracle ; all shall be convinced of its reality in all its 
parts. The tender sister herself shall remonstrate, and give her terrible reason. 
As it follows : 

Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, Lord, by 
this time he stinketh : for he hath been dead four days. 

Rather " [buried] four days." The circumstance is thus mentioned for the second 
time. (a:) She speaks, as knowing what must of necessity have been the case. Her 
notion of the Divine powers of Christ did not extend so far as to suppose that His 
mighty word could undo at once the work of the Grave, and the work of Death: 
annihilate Corruption, as well as repair Dissolution. 

It may perhaps strike an attentive reader as a strange addition to the name of 
Martha, that she should be described as " the sister of him that was dead ;" a thing 
already made so plain by all that has gone before. The truth is, St. John expresses 
himself somewhat differently. At the command to remove the stone, his words 
are ; — " Saith to Him the sister of the dead." Then, as if to make it clear which of 
the two sisters he is speaking of, he adds, — "Martha." 

40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest 
believe, thou shouldest see the Glory of God ? 

An unrecorded saying, — as already pointed out in the note on ver. 28; but it 
sends the reader's eye back to the earlier part of the chapter, to ascertain if any 
trace of it be discoverable there. Nor is the search altogether fruitless. It will be 
remembered that our Lord's words to the messengers who brought tidings of His 
friend's sickness, were, — "This sickness is not unto death, but for the Glory of 
GOD."(y) This became, in fact, the message which those envoys will have carried 
back to Bethany. Is it not natural then to suppose that, on our Lord's arrival, 
Martha will have timidly inquired the meaning of that comfortable, yet most enig- 
matical saying; and drawn from Him the assurance that if she had Faith, her eyes 
should behold that "Glory of God" of which He had spoken? .... The reader 
must forgive such speculations, if they offend him. They are but submitted to his 
judgment. 

It is to be noticed that Martha's very remonstrance was a mark of failing Faith ; 
showing that she required the timely succour thus mercifully supplied her by our 
Lord : and which is as when He stretched forth His hand to save His sinking 
Apostle on the troubled sea. [z) .... In the meantime Christ's order has been 
obeyed : — 

41 Then they took away the stone from the place, where the dead 
was laid. And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, 

The same gesture of our Divine Lord will be found noticed on other occasions, — 
as St. Mark vii. 34, and St. John xvii. 1. By directing His eyes to Heaven, He in- 
dicated that His Father, to whom He addressed His mysterious thanksgiving, was 
in Heaven. He said, " Father," 

I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. 

Words which marvellously indicate the union of the Divine and human nature in 
the One Person of Christ. " He was heard before He prayed," (remarks Origen ;) 
" and therefore He begins with giving thanks : 'Father, I thank Thee that Thou 
hast heard Me.' " " Before they call, I will anstver," saith the Lord concerning His 

(w) St. John ix. 9, 19, 20. (x) See above, ver. 17. 

(y) See above, ver. 4. 

(z) St. Mattb. xiv. 31. See also tbe note on St. Mark v. 36. > 



XL] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 781 



saints. (a) "That is," (proceeds Chrysostom,) "there is no difference of will be- 
tween Me and Thee." " Thou hast heard Me," does not show any lack of power 
in Him, or that He is inferior to the Father. That the prayer is not really neces- 
sary, appears from the words that follow, — 

42 And I knew that Thou hearest Me always : but because of the 
people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast 
sent Me. 

Rather, " on account of the multitude which stand around." See above, the note 
on ver. 31.— As if He said, " I need not prayer to persuade Thee ; for Ours is one 
Will." He hides His meaning on account of the weak faith of His hearers : for 
God regards not so much His own dignity as our Salvation : and therefore seldom 
speaks loftily of Himself. Even when He does, He speaks in an obscure way ; 
whereas humble expressions abound in His discourses." (6) Hilary adds, — "He 
did not therefore need to pray. He prayed for our sakes, that we might know Him 
to be the Son. His prayer did not benefit Himself, but it benefited our faith. He 
did not want help, but we want instruction." 

" I know that Thou hearest Me always" Thus the Divine Speaker precludes the 
derogatory suspicion which the bystanders might have else conceived that He knew 
not till now that He had been "heard ;" or again, that sometimes He was " heard ;" 
sometimes not. The intent of all was that " the people which stood by" might be 
convinced that "the Father had sent Him;" that is, that they " might see that He 
was from God, and that the miracle which He was about to perform was in accord- 
ance with God's Will.(c) " The sense is," (remarks a living commentator,) " I say 
not this as though I had doubted whether Thou wouldest hear Me, or not ; for " I 
know that Thou hearest Me always :" for I have thus thanked Thee openly for the 
sake of the many witnesses who are present : that they, hearing Me thus address 
Thee, and seeing the work which I am about to do, "may believe that Thou hast 
sent Me," and that all My works are done according to Thy will."(cZ) 

On this great subject, Bp. Pearson writes as follows: — "Whatsoever miracle 
Moses wrought, he either obtained by his prayers, or else consulting with God, re- 
ceived it by commandment from Him ; so that the power of miracles cannot be con- 
ceived as inhering in him. Whereas this power must of necessity be in Jesus, 'in 
whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily/ (e) and to whom the Father had 
given 'to have life in Himself/ (y') This He sufficiently showed by working with 
a word, by commanding the winds to be still, the devils to fly, and the dead to rise. 
... Once indeed Christ seemeth to have prayed, befere He raised Lazarus from 
the Grave ; but even that was done ' because of the people which stood by/ Not 
that He had not power within Himself to raise up Lazarus, who was afterwards to raise 
Himself; but ' that they might believe the Father had sent Him/ Chrysostom, 
in the same spirit, bids us remark that He does not say 'In my Father's Name, 
come forth / or ' Father, raise him / but, throwing off the whole appearance of 
one praying, He proceeds to show His power by acts. This is His general way. 
His words show humility ; His acts power." 

A living writer, whose piety is always edifying, remarks, — " God created Man 
by a word, without effort : but recalls him to life not without many groans, and 
tears, and intercessions ; amid all around weeping, — samples as it were of the whole 
Creation groaning and travailing together with pain, waiting for the Redemption." (g) 

43 And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, 
Lazarus, come forth. 

He " cried," that all might notice Him as the Author of this mighty miracle. — \ 
His " loud Voice" was like the Voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God, 
whereat "the dead in Christ shall rise,"(A) at the last Day. — It is by name that 
He calls Lazarus, (says Augustine strikingly,) lest He should bring out all the dead. 
And indeed, He who called, hath a personal knowledge of each. As in life, so in 
death, " He calleth them all by their names."(i) 

(a) Is. lxv. 24. See Ps. x. 17. (b) Chrysostom. 

(c) Chrysostom. (d) Lonsdale and Hale. (e) Col. ii. 9. 

(/) St. John v. 26. (g) Williams. (h) 1 Thess. iv. 16. 

(i) See the note on the latter part of St. John x. 3. 



782 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Chrysostoni points out that our Lord does not say "Arise," (as He said to the 
daughter of Jairus,(j) and to the Widow of Nam's son;(&) "but "Come forth;" 
"speaking to the dead as if he were a living person." — Consider Romans iv. 17. 

44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with 
grave-clothes ; and his face was bound about with a napkin. 

The summons to Lazarus was literally, "Come out." It was a cave ; and from 
its dark recess, at the command of Him who, in the beginning, " said Let there be 
light and there was light/' — "he that was dead came out." How fitting an emblem 
of the hour which "is coming, .... when the Dead shall hear the Voice of the Son 
of God ; and they that hear shall live ;" yea, " the hour .... in the which all that 
are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth ?"(Z) . . . . " Christ 
raised the dead in the chamber and in the street, from the bed and from the bier," 
(remarks Bp. Pearson;) "and not content with these smaller demonstrations, pro- 
ceedeth to the grave. These three evangelical resuscitations are so many pream- 
bulary proofs of the last and general Resurrection." 

miracle of miracles ! How is it possible to dwell in thought upon the incident 
thus simply yet strikingly narrated, without a growing sense of the unspeakable 
majesty of the entire transaction? . . . On the one side our Saviour is standing, 
attended by his Apostles, and doubtless a multitude which has followed the blessed 
company from beyond the Jordan : on the other are the sisters, the Jews, and the 
people of Bethany. The entire assembly have met in the place of graves, outside 
the town, and form a mighty circle round the tomb of Lazarus. (m) The vault in 
which his dead body had been deposited, is uncovered at the command of Him who, 
as it is well remembered, has lately " opened the eyes of the blind." Expectation is 
raised to the highest pitch ; and the gaze of all is directed towards our Saviour ; 
whom, with uplifted eyes, still exhibiting traces of His human sorrow, they behold 
engaged in mysterious intercourse with His Father. Then, with a loud voice which 
rings awfully through the silent air, and rivets the attention of every bystander, He 
cries, " Lazarus, come out !" Attention is drawn straightway to the darksome 
chamber of death, to observe what will follow : and lo, to the amazement and con- 
sternation of all present, the figure of the dead man comes to view! Lazarus comes 
forth, — moving as a shrouded corpse may be imagined (but as it was never, except 
on this oue occasion, seen) to move, — not only blinded by the napkin which veiled 
the face, (ft) but completely swathed about with linen bandages also ;(o) or, as it is 
here expressed, "bound hand and foot with grave-clothes ;" obedient to the sum- 
mons of Him whose powerful Voice had penetrated into the very abode of departed 
spirits, had shaken the powers of the unseen world, and already for the third time 
burst the bars and broken the gates of the Grave ! 

The reader will notice that every word here affords evidence of a most attentive 
eye-witness. 

Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go. 

He who rose before the stone was rolled away from the door of His own Sepulchre, 
could have dispensed with the removal of the stone from the Sepulchre of Lazarus. 
He who could first break the cords of Death which bound him, could have also un- 
done the grave-clothes which confined his body. But the Holy One thus provided 
that as many as chose, should handle Lazarus at once, and see that it was he 
indeed, (p) By commanding the bystanders not only to "loose him" from the band- 
ages of the grave, but also to " let him go," (literally, to "let him depart") it was 
further provided that all should behold Lazarus moving before them, — alive, and at 
liberty to withdraw whithersoever he pleased. 

The description of the raising of Lazarus, strictly speaking, ends here. Over how 
much of wonder, how much of interest which must inevitably have followed, does 
the sacred writer draw a veil! 

Can it be necessary in taking leave of this great transaction, to point out that it 
was clearly symbolical throughout, — emblematic, that is, of the restoration of a soul, 
" tied and bound with the chain of sins," and to all human appearance irrecoverably 

(y) St. Mark v. 41. (7c) St. Luke vii. 14. (I) St. John v. 28, 29. 

(m) See the first words of the note on verse 42. 

(n) Compare St. John xx. 7. (o) See St. John xix. 40, and Acts v. 6. 

\p) Alluding to the language of St. Luke xxiv. 39. See above, the note on ver. 39. 



XI.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 783 



lost ? Christ must speak powerfully to the heart of such an one ; who thereupon 
comes forth from the darkness of his former corrupt life, is endued with new powers, 
and asks but external loosing by the hands of Christ's servants, in order that he 
may go perfectly free. — The reader is invited to refer to what has been already 
offered on the subject of the three cases of raising the dead, recorded in the Gospels, 
in the notes on St. Matthew ix. 25th. — Gregory the Great observes: "The maiden 
is restored to life in the house ; the young man outside the gate ; Lazarus, in his 
grave. She that lies dead in the house, is the sinner lying in sin : he that is carried 
out by the gate, is the openly and notoriously wicked : and one there is who lies 
dead in his grave, weighed down by habits of Sin. But the Divine Grace has 
regard even unto such, and enlightens them." .... "We do not," says Augustine, 
(after insisting, as all the ancient writers do on the allegorical character of the fore- 
going miracle,) — "We do not, because we trace an allegorical or mystical meaning 
in facts, forfeit our belief in them as literal occurrences." God forbid ! 

Of Lazarus himself it is impossible to think without feelings of the deepest awe, 
wonder, and curiosity. Here was one who for four days had been gathered to the 
world of Spirits ; and was afterwards recalled to the world of sense. Was he per- 
haps engaged in converse with some departed soul, when the "loud Voice" of the 
Incarnate Jehovah summoned him back to earth, — leaving the other amazed and 
confounded at the all but unparalleled strangeness of his withdrawal ? There had 
been three such cases in three years ; but not one so strange as this ! The tradi- 
tional account of the subsequent duration of his earthly life, (thirty years,) and 
of his demeanour, (how that he never smiled again,) cannot be entitled to serious 
attention. In the words of the poet, — 

"The rest remaineth unreveaFd. 
He told it not; or something seal'd 
The lips of the Evangelist." 

45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the 
things which Jesus did, believed on Him. 

Whereby that came to pass which our Saviour had foretold, namely, that this sick- 
ness was " not unto death, but for the Glory of GoD."(g) The reader is requested to 
read the last note on chapter x. 

46 But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them 
what things Jesus had done. 

Doubtless with an evil intent: and thus, (as was pointed out at some length above, 
in the note on ver. 36,) our Lord's words and actions were for ever revealing what 
was in the hearts of men ; and throwing them into two opposite classes. So truly, 
of some, had it been foreseen and foretold by our Saviour that if "they heard not 
Moses and the prophets, neither would they be persuaded though one rose from the 
dead /"(r) The grand exhibition of the truth of that saying was indeed future ; 
being reserved for our Lord's Resurrection on the third day ; yet was the present 
even a more palpaple sign of the GoDhead of Him who wrought. What is strange, 
here was one raised from Death, bearing the very name of the individual mentioned 
in the parable, — as if purposely to remind them of our Saviour's former teaching, 
and to render their unbelief without excuse. 

If it should appear strange to any, (as indeed at first sight it may well appear 
somewhat strange,) that persons who were capable of coming on so pious an errand 
as the consolation of the bereaved sisters, should have been also capable of the 
malignity here ascribed to certain of their body, — the real character of the act 
described in verses 19 and 31,(5) requires to be further explained. The same 
wretched formalism which had corrupted the sacred Oracles, and reduced the spirit 
of the Divine law to the lifelessness of its letter, — is found to have obtruded itself also 
into the house of mourning ; reducing sorrow to a ceremony of thirty days' duration, 
during which, every observance was a matter of routine, to be performed by rule and 
number. It is obvious that, dwelling among a people where the very chamber of 
Death was not exempt from intrusions of this sort, it may easily have come to pass 

(q) See above, ver. 4. (r) St. Luke xvi. 31. 

(s) And alluded to in ver. 45. 



784 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

that the sisters of Bethany were followed to the grave of their "brother "by some 
"mourners" little disposed to rejoice in the presence of their great Benefactor. 

47 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and 
said, What do we ? for this Man doeth many miracles. 

Rather, " What must we do V or "What are we to do V (as in chap. vi. 28:) the 
meaning of which words will he found more fully explained "below, in the note on 
verse 49. Thus the Court of Sanhedrin, — (for take notice that the word here trans- 
lated " CouncM" is the Greek word which the Jews pronounced Sanhedrin,)— this 
Court admit the truth of the Miracles ; but for political reasons, are apprehensive 
of their results. As it follows : 

48 If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe in Him : and the 
Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. 

They apprehended the jealousy of the Roman Emperor, whom they knew would 
he incensed if tidings should reach the imperial City that One claiming to he the 
Messiah, (and therefore a King, was drawing away large bodies of the people after 
Him. A true specimen, this, of the worthless reasoning of the wicked ! We 
know that the very reverse of what they anticipated would have taken place. Je- 
rusalem would, on the contrary, have been standing to this day ! 

In the meantime, the very thing they desired to guard against, actually occurred. 
This miracle procured for our Saviour many Disciples ;{t) while the catastrophe 
which they apprehended, they brought about, though in a different manner from 
what they anticipated, by the sinful measures they were adopting in order to pre- 
vent it. . . . Those who " seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness" 
have all other things added unto thern.(«) Those on the contrary who seek not God, 
not only lose Him, but they lose the World besides. 

49 And one of them named Caiaphas, being the High-priest that 
same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all : 

An expression as it seems, of displeasure and impatience with the Council. He 
had heard the rest deliver their sentiments, and now comes forward to offer his 
own. — " What are we to do ?" the others had said : implying thereby, plainly 
enough, that they were at a loss how to act, in consequence of their conviction of 
our Blessed Lord's innocence. If the barest pretext for charging Him with any 
crime had occurred to them, they would have known full well what to do. His 
innocence it was which created all their difficulty. Caiaphas therefore puts down 
their scruples, and delivers his own opinion, which he declares roundly is based 
altogether on his view of political expediency. " Ye know nothing at all," (he 
begins,) — 

50 nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die 
for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. 

" One Man." The expression which is marked in the original, did not escape the 
ancients. " It was as Man that Christ died for the people," observes Origen ; " in 
so far as He is the image of the invisible God, He is incapable of Death/' The 
word seems used as it were contemptuously, as in ver. 47 ; also in chap. v. 12. 

Little can the speaker have suspected the Divine fullness of meaning which his 
angry and murderous words contained! On this subject, see below, the note on ver. 
52. Very well worthy of our attention is the Evangelist's comment, which follows ; 
and the reason which he twice assigns for the prophetic character which belonged 
to the words of Caiaphas, — namely, that he was the High Priest of God's chosen 
people. An important inference from this statement will be offered presently. (x) 
For the moment, it shall suffice to call attention to the peculiar phrase employed by 
the Evangelist ; the precise force of which has never been explained. He says 
that Caiaphas was " High-priest that year." The office was indeed no longer held 
for life, according to the Divine appointment ; but had been lately conferred on 
many individuals in succession; and it had been held for only one year, by some. 

(t) See St. John xii. 10, 11, 17 to 19. («) St. Math. vi. 33. 

(x) See the end of the note on ver. 52. 



XI.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 785 



Caiaphas, on the other hand, seems to have been High-priest for several years. 
The Evangelist's allusion is perhaps to some circumstance in the history of the 
priestly office about this period which is nowhere expressly recorded. 

This prophecy, which the evangelist proceeds to explain, is so far characteristic 
of the man, as to be referred to in a subsequent chapter, as the most fitting circum- 
stance whereby to identify him. Consider St. John xviii. 14. 

51, 52 And this spake he not of himself: but being High-priest that 
year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation ; and not for 
that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the 
children of God that were scattered abroad. 

A divine interpretation truly of that evil man's unsuspected prophecy! "The 
meaning of Caiaphas was insincere, mean, and timid : the meaning of the Holy 
Ghost in his words was awful, mysterious, and divine." (y) All that Caiaphas 
intended to say clearly amounted to this, —that our Saviour's destruction must any 
how be effected, and that speedily. His argument was, that the Death of One 
would thus be productive of general good, — by diverting from the nation the wrath 
of their Roman masters. 

But his speech was overruled by a higher power, and the words which fell from 
his lips proved susceptible of a double meaning: the Holy Ghost deigning to 
employ even this sinful organ, (as He had already spoken by the mouth of Balaam,) 
to convey nothing less than a wondrous prophecy concerning the propitiatory 
nature of the approaching sacrifice of Christ's Death, and its marvellous result to 
" the Israel of God"(z) scattered throughout the world ; not only, (that is,) to the 
Jewish nation, but to the Gentiles as well. (a) A far-sighted prophecy truly! ex- 
tending infinitely beyond the anticipations, as yet, of any even of the Apostles 
themselves. Our Saviour alone has hitherto mentioned " other sheep" " not of this 
fold" which must yet be brought, and made "one flock under one Shepherd. "(6) 
The blessed result of His Cross and Passion, thus darkly hinted at, St. John 
describes in language formed upon Deut. xxx. 3. It will be found also to resemble 
Isaiah lvi. 8.(c) 

Irenaeus, (the disciple of Polycarp, who was the disciple of St. John.) records it 
as a saying of "one of the elders," that " by the extension of His Divine Hands," 
our Crucified Lord " gathered to One God the two people scattered to the ends of 
the earth." This thought which is full of pious beauty, found great favour with 
the ancient Church. It recurs perpetually in the primitive fathers. 

The reason why the Holy Ghost saw fit to prophesy by the mouth of Caiaphas, 
deserves to be noticed. It was because that individual happened to fill the place of 
High-priest. But he was an unauthorized intruder into the sacred office ; having 
no other title to it than the will of the Roman Procurator, and the power of the 
Roman legions. Let us not therefore overlook the intimation thus conveyed that 
the unworthiness of the individual does not affect the sanctity of his office. This 
remains unimpaired. A solemn thought both for clergy and people ; rulers and 
subjects! Chrysostom draws a double inference: "Seethe great virtue of the 
Holy Spirit," (he says,) "in drawing forth a prophecy from a wicked man. And 
see too the virtue of the pontifical office ; which made him, though an unworthy 
High-priest, unconsciously prophesy. Divine grace used only his mouth : it touched 
not his corrupt heart." 

53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put 
Him to death. 

"Many indeed had been the designs against His life: but from this time the 
purpose was formal, deliberate, and determined ; under the usual plea by which 
Martyrs and Kings are slain, — that of public expediency."^) 

54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews : but 

(y) Williams. («) Gal. vi. 16. 

(a) Compare 1 St. John ii. 2. Consider also the Divine comment on the place, supplied by 
Ephes. ii. 13 to 22. 

(b) St. John x. 16. ~ 

(c) See also Ps. cxlvii. 2 : Jer. xxxii. 37 : Ezek. xxxiv. 13. 

(d) Williams. 

50 



786 A PLAIN COMMENTAEY [CHAP. 

went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called 
Ephraim, and there continued with His Disciples. 

The city thus mentioned is thought to have been situate "between Jericho and 
Bethel. Thither our Saviour now retires, and passes the season preparatory to 
His Crucifixion, in mysterious privacy with His disciples. But first, "He puts 
forth this most astonishing of all miracles to speak aloud of itself to Jerusalem. His 
goodness had contended with their malice. They would have stoned Him for de- 
claring Himself God : He retires from them, and in retiring leaves this miracle to 
tell them who He is ; and leaves them to consider it awhile, — then coming Himself 
to die for them. . . . Lazarus had thus come from the grave to warn his brethren. 
Living at Bethany, in the very neighbourhood of Jerusalem, he continued after he 
had been raised from the dead to be a living witness for a time unto those who 
would not ' hear Moses and the prophets/ So much was this the case, that at the 
concourse of the festival, (described in the next chapter,) many went from Jerusa- 
lem to Bethany, ' not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, 
whom He had raised from the dead/ "(e) 

Why does St. John mention the name of the present place of our Lord's retreat ? 
... It follows : 

55 And the Jews' Passover was nigh at hand : 

The last year of our Blessed Lord's ministry had now very nearly come to a close. 
In the seventh chapter of the present Gospel, we were reminded of the events of 
October ; in the tenth chapter, a Festival kept in December obtained notice. (f) 
The Passover season, (belonging to March or April,) is now approaching. To the 
month of January or of February therefore, the raising of Lazarus, which has 
hitherto occupied our attention, maybe loosely referred; and the intervening weeks, 
according to the statement in verse 54, will have been spent at Ephraim. If the 
suggestion hazarded in the note on verse 8 be correct, the period of sojourn at Eph- 
raim will have commenced some weeks earlier. 

and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Pass- 
over, to purify themselves. 

For cleanness, according to the Law of Moses, was required of all persons (g) who 
would keep the Feast of the Passover at the time appointed. (Ji) The "many,'* 
therefore, who are here spoken of, were such as had contracted some legal defile- 
ment, from which they could not be purified without the performance of certain 
rites in the Temple. (i) 

A thoughtful writer observes, — "They who went up to purify themselves in order 
to keep the Feast, were nevertheless desirous to embrue their hands in innocent 
blood ! It was to this, therefore, that the Holy Spirit had particularly called their 
attention throughout the Prophets : pointing out this ' spot in their Feasts' by the 
finger of reproof, and one also of prophetic warning. It was to this circumstance 
also that our Lord had always directed His teaching of the Pharisees, as knowing 
what was in the heart of man ; and foreseeing this consummation of hypocrisy to 
which they were tending. And even now, had they been at all desirous to ' purify 
themselves' in reality, by that cleansing of the heart by repentance which the Law 
signified, as well as by the external rites which it ordained, they would have been 
preserved from that great wickedness ; they would have received the Christ ; they 
would have laid aside their own corrupt leaven, and kept the Feast "in sincerity 
and truth "(7c) 

"This purification required by the Law," (continues the same pious writer,) 
"was like that call to Repentance which preceded the coming in of the Kingdom ; 
for without Repentance the eyes of flesh could not "see the salvation of God."(Z) 
It is like the Lent which precedes Easter, in order to give us eyes to discern Christ 
crucified. Nay, it is so with the Gospel itself; for we must purify ourselves lest 
we should not behold Christ therein, even though He sitteth in His own Temple." 

(e) Williams, quoting St. John xii. 9. (/) St. John x. 22. 
(g) Numb. ix. 6 to 13 : 2 Chron. xxx. 17 to 19. 

(h) Exod. xii. 3 to 6. (i) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(k) Williams, quoting 1 Cor. v. 8. (1) Is. Hi. 10. 



XII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 787 

56 Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they 
stood in the Temple, What think ye, that He will not come to the Feast ? 

57 Now both the chief Priests and the Pharisees had given a com- 
mandment, that, if any man knew where He were, he should show it, 
that they might take Him. 

"Well therefore did our Lord say unto them hy His own Evangelical Prophet, 
when He began more distinctly to prefigure to them the coming in of this dispen- 
sation, — ' Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth : they are a 
trouble unto Me ; I am weary to bear them/ ' Wash you, make you clean/ ' Your 
hands are full of blood. 1 '(m) More, indeed, than they meant did they say in the 
Temple when they spoke of His coming to the Feast, and apprehended that they 
should not find Him there \"(n) 



It is somewhat affecting to read such an account as the following, of the aspect 
which Bethany now presents. Let us remember that we are hearing about the 
frequent and favourite resort of our adorable Redeemer : let us call to mind how 
often He withdrew from the murderous capital to sanctify that quiet abode of loving 
hearts, — treading with "beautiful feet"(°) the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, 
in quest of a friendly roof beneath which He might lay His weary head.(p) This, 
and His miracles of Love, and His words of Eternal Truth, — all the unspeakable 
blessedness and beauty which must have attended His "going out and coming 
in,"(g) must be considered; after which, it seems impossible to read the following 
words of an American traveller(r) without painful emotion : — " Bethany is a poor 
village of some twenty families ; its inhabitants are apparently without thrift or 
industry. In the walls of a few of the houses there are marks of antiquity, — large 
hewn stones, some of them beveled ; but they have all obviously belonged to more 
ancient edifices, and been employed again and again in the construction of succes- 
sive dwellings, or other buildings. The monks, as a matter of course, show the 
house of Mary and Martha, that of Simon the Leper, and the sepulchre of Lazarus. 
The latter is a deep vault, like a cellar, excavated in the limestone rock in the mid- 
dle of the village ; to which there is a descent by twenty-six steps. It is hardly 
necessary to remark, that there is not the slightest probability of its ever having 
been the tomb of Lazarus. The form is not that of the ancient sepulchres ; nor 
does its position accord with the narrative of the New Testament, which implies 
that the tomb was not in the town." 

But this writer's concluding statement is of real value. " The Arab name of the 
village," (he says,) "is el-Aziriyeh, from el-Azir, the Arabic form of 'Lazarus/ 
The name Bethany is unknown among the native inhabitants." Thus the celebrity 
of the miracle we have been considering proves to have been so great, that, at the 
end of eighteen hundred years, the very stones have learnt to cry out; and the name 
of "Lazarus" will cleave to the locality to the end of Time ! 



CHAPTER XII. 



1 Jesus excuseth Mary anointing His feet. 9 TJie people flock to see Lazarus. 
10 The high priests considt to kill Him. 12 Christ rideth into Jerusalem. 
20 Greeks desire to see Jesus. 23 He foretelleth His death. 37 The Jews are 
generally blinded : 42 yet many chief riders believe, but do not confess Him : 
44 therefore Jesus calleth earnestly for confession of faith. 

Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where 
Lazarus was which had been dead, whom He raised from the dead. 

(m) Isaiah i. 14, 16, 15. (n) Williams. 

(o) Isaiah lii. 7. ( p ) St. Matth. viii. 20. 

{q) See the note on St. John x. 9. (r) Dr. Robinson. 



788 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 



"As the time approached at which our Lord had resolved to suffer, He 
approached the place which He had chosen for the scene of His suffering." (a) 

St. John proceeds to describe the Supper at Bethany ; restoring that incident to 
its actual historical place, namely, the Sabbath before the Passover ; from which 
St. Matthew, (6) (and St. Mark(c) after him,) had displaced it. They did so for an 
excellent reason, which has been pointed out in the note immediately preceding St. 
Matth. xxvi. C ; but which, as the attentive reader will perceive, would not have 
been discoverable, but for the statement of the present Evangelist below, in ver. 4. 
From this period, the sacred Writers do not suffer us to lose sight of our Lord, 
until the dawning of the first Easter-Day. — He had now come to Bethany ; and it 
follows, — 

2 There they made Him a supper; and Martha served ; but Lazarus 
■was one of them that sat at the table with Him. 

Take notice, that to eat and drink proves the reality of a corporeal, as distin- 
guished from a merely spiritual presence. Thus St. Peter, to demonstrate the 
truth of our Lord's Resurrection from the dead, appeals to having, (with the 
Twelve,) "ate and drank with Him" (d) after that event. Our Saviour, in like 
manner, on the evening of the first Easter-Day, to convince the Apostles that they 
beheld no spectral appearance, partook of food in their presence. "While they 
yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here anything 
which may be eaten ? And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and some honey- 
comb. And He took it, and did eat before them. "(e) 

The incident here recorded took place "in the house of Simon the leper/'C./) — 
who is mentioned only on this occasion, aud about whom nothing else whatever is 
known. . . . Both sisters serve the Lord faithfully and well. Martha, (like Simon 
Peter's mother-in-law, at the beginning of our Lord's Ministry,) (g) waits upon 
Him, as He reclines at the table ; which had also been her chosen office on a former 
occasion. (A) Mary does Him honour in the way next described. 

3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, 
and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair : 

The two first Evangelists omit the name of the author of this famous, and, (as 
our Saviour Himself testified,) mysterious action : famous, — for it enjoyed the 
immediate prophecy that it should be spoken of throughout the World ; mysterious, 
— for Mary was declared to have, unconsciously, " came beforehand to anoint" the 
Lord's " Body to the burying."^') They relate, however, that she poured the 
ointment on His Head ; and St. Mark relates that, in the impatience of her love, 
Mary " brake the box :"(j) brake it, — " so that nothing should be spared, and that 
nothing should remain behind for any other purpose. "(&) .... Can we wonder at 
her Love? Lazarus was at the table ! 

Refer back to chapter xi. 2, and see the note there. — It need not, surely, be 
remarked that this transaction is not to be confounded with that recorded in St. 
Luke vii. 36 to 38, — however strikingly like it. ... St. John adds, 

and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 

Not that " house only, but the universal Church of Christ, has been filled with 
the fragrance of her action. See the beautiful allusion of Ignatius to it, quoted in 
the note on St. Matthew xxvi. 7. The Fathers often point out that the House at 
Bethany was a type of the Church, — wherein the Name of Christ "is as ointment 
poured forth. "(Z) 

A modern writer remarks, in an ancient spirit, — "Here then was Christ sitting 
at supper with the Leper who was cleansed, and with the dead man whom He had 
raised to life : and what is this but a figure of His Church, where he who is 
cleansed, and he who is raised from the death of sin, sit with Christ, and eat and 
drink in His Kingdom, which is filled with the odour of His Death V\m) 



(a) Alcuin. 

(c) St. Mark xiv. 3 to 9. 

(e) St. Luke xxiv. 41 to 43. 

(g) St. Matth. Tin. 15. 

(i) St. Mark xiv. 8. 

(/c) Williams. 

(m) Altered from Williams. 



(b) St. Matth. xxvi. 6 to 13. 

(d) Acts x. 41. 

(/) St. Matth. xxvi. 6 : St. Mark xiv. 

\h) See St, Luke x. 38 to 42. 

(j) See the note on St. Mark xiv. 3. 

{I) Song of Solomon i. 3. 



XII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 789 

The fragrance of the precious ointment proved an offence to Judas. As it 
follows : — 

4, 5 Then saith one of His Disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, 
which should betray Him, Why was not this ointment sold for three 
hundred pence, and given to the poor ? 

Take notice that St. John, by that short clause, — "wMc7i should betray Him" — 
guides us to connect the crime of Judas with the present transaction. St. Matthew 
and St. Mark, as we have seen, even place the Supper at Bethany, and the Betrayal 
of our Saviour, side by side, in their Gospels. (n) What now took place seems to 
have provoked the traitor to his accursed crime. 

Pliny has a remark which is very much in point here, on the extravagant price 
which used to be paid for certain ointments. He informs us with indignation that 
" there were some ointments in the shops, made of such costly ingredients, that 
every pound weight was sold at four hundred Roman pence ; which by computa- 
tion," (remarks Bishop Sanderson,) "allowing to the Roman penny sevenpence- 
halfpenny of our coin, cometh to above twenty-two pounds English." This Roman 
writer thus, without intending it, bears witness to a fact which we might have 
suspected indeed, but which we could not else have certainly known ; namely, that 
the sister of Lazarus, when she was intent on showing honour to her Lord and ours, 
purchased the most expensive offering she could procure. Let it be remarked without 
offence, that our Saviour's emphatic commendation of her action becomes the 
abiding warrant for munificence on every similar occasion ; and the perpetual rebuke 
of those who seem to think that anything is good enough for the House of God, 
while they yet deny themselves in no single luxury at home. The same lesson is 
unmistakably conveyed by the words which fell from the same gracious lips in 
commendation of the Widow's mite. See the note on St. Luke xxi. 4. Surely, the 
faithful service of God must have a wonderful tendency thus to unlock the heart, 
and make it liberal. Consider the language of David, (o) and of Zacchaeus.(^) In 
the meanwhile, take notice that " the evil eye of the wicked serves only to do honour 
to God's servants ; for had it not been for the reproof of Judas, the costliness of 
Mary's offering had not been thus known and honoured." (q) It is ever thus. 
The malice of Man is always overruled to the glory of God. 

Judas Iscariot it was, who presumed to assail this pious woman with the reproach 
of wasteful extravagance ; in which, it seems certain from St. Matthew's language, 
that others of the Disciples inadvertently joined. (r) It has been suggested, indeed, 
that the plural is here used by St. Matthew for the singular, according to a known 
idiom of the language ; but observe that he records the Divine reply as addressed 
to many also, (s) — Judas affects to lament the loss of such an opportunity of showing 
kindness to the poor: but, (as St. John proceeds to declare,) — 

6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor ; but because he was a 
thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. 

Judas thus becomes the type of those who make Religion a cloak for Covetous- 
ness. Christ yet suffered this man to retain his place among the Apostles; there- 
by teaching us not to look for a Church where all shall be Saints. (t) 

Awful discovery of motives the vilest, for words which must have seemed to all 
who heard, brimful of sweetest Charity! . . . "Not that he cared for the poor !" 
—though all the Disciples, to the very last, thought that the poor were uppermost 
in his regard :(u) " but because he was a thief; and had in his keeping the money- 
box;{x) and ivas in the habit of pilfering from the moneys which from time to time 
were cast into it." . . . And thus we are, as it seems, let into the secret of what 
led to this man's final downfall. mystery of iniquity, too little attended to ! 
Ought not the terrible history of Judas Iscariot to be more in our thoughts, and 

(n) See the note on St. Matth. xxvi. 5. 
(o) 2 Sam. xxiv. 24. See also 1 Chron. xxix. 14. 
( p) See St. Luke xix. 8, and the note there. 

[q) Williams. (,•) See St. Matth. xxvi. 8. 

(s) St. Matth. xxvi. 10, and St. Mark xiv. 6. 

(*) Grotius. („) Consider St. John xiii. 29. 

(x) The word is uncommon. It is the translation of " a chest," in the Septuagint version of 
2 Chron. xxiv. 8, 11. 






790 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

on our lips, than it is to be feared is the case ? If he had fallen by the commission 
of some splendid crime, men would have put his history away, as something which 
was altogether above and beyond them. Is he then beneath us also, because he 
sinned on so petty a scale, and lost his soul for a bribe so exceedingly paltry ? 

Take notice that there is reason for supposing that the " bag," or " money-box," 
which held the common fund of the Twelve and their Lord, (and which we are 
twice told was entrusted to the keeping of Judas, ){y) did not generally contain so 
large a sum of money as this single offering was supposed to be worth. Consider 
St. Mark vi. 37, and the note there. — Observe also, how large a sum this must have 
seemed to the Traitor, who could perhaps betray his Master for perhaps one-eighth 
of the amount! Since, at the time when the Gospel was written, " a penny a day" 
was the hire of a labouring man, (z) we cannot be far wrong in regarding three 
hundred pence as equivalent to about 25Z. of our money. 

7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone : against the day of My Burying 
hath she kept this. 

Not that Mary need have known what she did. It cannot be supposed that she 
had been preserving this precious offering against the day of our Saviour's Bury- 
ing ; or that she suspected that she was now "anticipating," (to use St. Mark's 
expression, (a) an act which it was usual to perform immediately after death. But 
" the humble actions of good Christians, done for God, and with a kind of instinc- 
tive sense of what may be pleasing to Him, bear onward to the future with some 
significancy ; and because they are reproved by the World, are magnified and 
honoured by Christ."(6) It was not fitting that our Saviour's "precious Death 
and Burial" should have wanted this mark of reverence and honour : and pious 
Mary was allowed the life-long satisfaction of reflecting that her hands had be- 
stowed in this marvellous and unexpected manner, what others, seven days later, 
sought to bestow upon the sacred Body of our Lord, in vain.(e) — He adds, 

8 For the poor always ye have with you; but Me ye have not 
always. 

"The poor shall never cease out of the land,"(e£) saith Almighty God in either 
Testament. They will be with the Church of Christ to the end, — in order that 
His people may show them kindness for His sake.(e) — " The Day of My Burying," 
— " Me ye have not always:" — by such allusions, prophetic of His near departure, 
did the Holy One seek to move and soften Judas ; even while His words must have 
melted every other person whom He addressed. For who ever entertained a 
grudging thought under such a prospect ? Nay, what mourner's heart has not 
ached through sorrow that he had not himself a timely warning given him, in 
order that he might have done more ! 

St. John will be found to exhibit our Lord's rebuke, and very memorable reply 
to the assailants of this holy woman, more briefly than the two first Evangelists. 
He also omits the striking prophecy which followed, and which has already found, 
(as we ourselves are witnesses,) such ample fulfillment in the Church of Christ ; 
namely, that the fame of this act should become as widely spread as the very Gos- 
pel itself. (y) That it was published among " those who inhabit the British Isles/ 7 
was remarked even in the days of Chrysostom. In this prophetic announcement, 
then, on the part of our Lord, was there not abundant comfort provided for Mary, 
under the rebuke of Judas, and a consideration suggested which might well have 
roused the Traitor's fears ? 

A transaction of this very remarkable nature should not be lightly dismissed. 
" Let us observe what the nature of the action is which our Lord selects as the one 
of all others that shall receive an earthly memorial. It is one done as it were in 
secret, in a private room : an expression, not of want, nor of personal need ; but a 
free and spontaneous act of thanksgiving. It has no purpose but that of doing 
honour to our Lord ; being not only not done to please men, but even done in 

(y) Also at St. John xiii. 29. («) St. Matth. xx. 2. 

(a) St. Mark xiv. 8. See St. Matth. xxvi. 12. 

(h) Williams. (<0 St. Mark xvi. 1, 2 : St. Luke xxiv. 1. 

(d) Deut. xv. 11. (c) St. Matth. xxv. 40, 45. 

(/) Compare verses 7 and 8 with St. Matth. xxvi. 10 to 13, and St. Mark xiv. 6 to 9. 



XII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 791 

spite of their reproof, — the free-will offering of deep, reverential love. It seeks not 
human fame, and therefere shall receive it." fa) 

In the meantime, the news that our Saviour had returned from Ephraim, the 
scene of His retirement, (h) and had reappeared at Bethany, quickly spread to the 
Capital ; and the consequence might have been foreseen. As it follows : — 

9 Much, people of the Jews therefore knew that He was there : and 
they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus 
also, whom He had raised from the dead. 

These were from Jerusalem. (i) " Curiosity brought them, not Love •" curiosity 
to see the Physician and His Patient together. " The news of this great miracle 
had therefore spread everywhere ; and was supported by such clear evidence, that 
the Rulers could neither suppress nor deny the fact."(j) The reader is invited to 
refer to the latter part of the Commentary on verses 17, 18. 

10 But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also 
to death ; 

Rather, — " But the chief priests determined to put" &c. — " Lazarus also," as 
well as Christ ; against whom the Sanhedrin had conspired ever since the day 
when he raised Lazarus from the dead.(&) Notice the rapid growth of Sin. Apt 
disciples these in the school of Caiaphas 1(1) — " blind rage !" (exclaims Augus- 
tine ;) " as if the Lord who raised the dead, could not raise the slain. Lo, He did 
both. He raised Lazarus, and He raised Himself." .... They conspired against 
Lazarus then, 

11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, 
and believed on Jesus. 

" Went away from their former teachers, the Scribes and Pharisees. The word 
is the same as that used in chap. vi. 67, where our Lord asks His Disciples if they 
were inclined to 'go away' from Him." . . . The reader is requested to refer to 
the note on St. John xi. 54. — "No other miracle," (says Chrysostom,) "excited 
such rage as this. It was so public, and so wonderful, to see a man walking and 
talking after he had been dead four days. And the fact was so undeniable. In 
the case of other miracles, they had charged Him with breaking the Sabbath ; but 
here there was nothing to find fault with, and therefore they vent their anger upon 
Lazarus." 

The event which follows belongs to " Palm-Sunday," — as the Sunday next before 
Easter was anciently, and is sometimes still, called. " It was a precept of the Law 
that on the tenth day of the first month, the lamb or kid was shut up in the house 
until the fourteenth day of the same month, when it was slain in the evening.(m) 
Wherefore also the True Lamb, chosen without spot out of all the flock to be slain 
for the sanctification of the people, five days before, that is on the tenth day, goeth 
up to Jerusalem."(n) 

12, 13 On the next day much people that were come to the Feast, 
when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of 
palm-trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed 
is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Loed. 

i Thus was prefigured the time, of which St. John speaks in the Book of Revela- 
tion, when lo, a great multitude, which no man can number, will stand " before 
the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their 
hands;" and will cry "with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sit- 
teth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb."(o) 

All this is related in a manner somewhat explanatory of the same incident as de- 

(g) Williams. (h) See St. John xi. 54. 

(0 See St. John xi. 18, 19, and the notes there. 
(j) Augustine. (k) See St. John xi. 53. 

(1) See St. John xi. 49, 50. (»?.) Exodus xii. 3. 

(n) Chrysostom. (o) Rev. vii. 9, 10. 



792 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

scribed by St. Matthew xxi. 8, 9, and St. Mark xi. 8, 9, — to both of which places 
the reader is requested to refer, as well as to the Commentary thereon. 

It is observable that our Saviour now approached Jerusalem in a manner differ- 
ent from any former occasion. Hitherto, His coming had been " as it were in se- 
cret:" but His hour had at length come ; and He does all things openly, and with- 
out reserve. See the note on St. Mark x. 32. The news of the Saviour's intended 
approach to the Capital seems to have spread rapidly ; and it brings forth a multi- 
tude, at once, to meet Him. Very royal, surely, even in its lowliness, is the myste- 
rious pageant thus set before us ! 

14 And Jesus, when He had found a young ass, sat thereon ; 

This is very concisely related by St. John. The curious and careful search which 
our Lord ordered two of His Disciples to make for the colt on which He was to en- 
ter Jerusalem in triumph, is recorded by the three first Evangelists in the places 
mentioned at foot,(_p) where the notes on St. Matthew and St. Mark may be con- 
sulted. " When He had found" this creature, " He sat thereon :" 

15 As it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion : behold, thy King 
cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. 

These are not precisely the words of Zechariah ix. 9 ; but they exhibit the mean- 
ing of the prophecy referred to, and preserve its substance. Let us be on our guard 
against the flagrant absurdity which, on occasions like the present, can suggest 
that St. John "quoted from memory!" Such a suggestion, if it proceeds from a 
Teacher of Divinity, must make the Angels weep. Let us be well assured that St. 
John's memory was perfectly trustworthy as often as he saw fit to trust it. But, 
in truth, these blessed writers " neither spake nor wrote any word of their own, but 
uttered syllable by syllable as the Spirit put it into their mouths. "(q) The sup- 
pression, in two of the Gospels, of the language of exultation with which the ancient 
prophecy commences, is probably a circumstance full of mysterious meaning. See 
St. Matthew xxi. 5, and the note there. The present Evangelist, — because he is 
silent about the "ass," which we know that our Saviour commanded the Disciples 
to bring Him, as well as the foal on which He was to ride, — omits that clause of 
Zechariah's prophecy which notices the elder animal, whereby the Jewish nation 
was typified, (r) 

16 These things understood not His disciples at first : but when Jesus 
was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of 
Him, and that they had done these things unto Him. 

Take notice, therefore, that there is something to be "understood" in all this; (5) 
something which the Disciples themselves did not understand until the Day of Pen- 
tecost. Then, according to their Lord's true prediction, " the Holy Ghost taught 
them all things, and brought everything which Christ had spoken to their remem- 
brance." (t) Consider in illustration of that statement, St. John ii. 17 and 22 : viii. 
28 : xiii. 7 : xvi. 12, 13; and St. Luke xxiv. 8 and 45 ; on each of which places the 
notes should be read. " The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was 
not yet glorified :" on which expression, as well as on the doctrine involved by what 
precedes, the reader is referred to the Commentary on the latter part of St. John 
vii. 39 : also, on xiii. 7. 

Besides that, hereby, the words of Zechariah found their accomplishment, may 
not the Disciples have perhaps afterwards "understood" that, when our Lord thus 
entered Jerusalem, that " binding" of " his foal unto the Vine, and his ass's colt 
unto the choice Vine,"( M ) took place, of which dying Jacob spoke, when he foretold 
what should befall Judah " in the last days ?" Now, of a truth, was Christ bind- 
ing the Gentiles, (the colt,) unto Himself, " the True Vine;"(y) and, (singular to 
relate,) an ancient Jewish Commentary on the words of the Patriarch last referred 
to, declares that Jacob thereby " showeth us that when the Christ shall come to 

(p) St. Matth. xxi. 1 to 7 : St. Mark xi. 1 to 7 : St. Luke xix. 29 to 35. 

(q) Hooker. (r) See St. Matth. xxi. 2, and the note there. 

(*) Consider St. Matth. xvi. 9 : St. Mark viii. 17. 

(t) St. John xiv. 26. («) Gen. xlix. 11. 

(v) St. John xv. 1. 



XII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 793 

save Israel, He shall make ready His ass, and ride upon him, and come unto Israel 
with poverty." (x) 

"But we may well ask," (observes Williams,) " How could a sensation so great 
as this be at this time occasioned ? And St. John himself proceeds to explain it. 
It was from that great type of the Resurrection which had occurred among them so 
lately: the great miracle which our Lord had reserved for the last of all, as so 
divinely suited to the dispensation which was now to follow." 

17, 18 The people therefore that was with Him when He called La- 
zarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record. For 
this cause the people also met Him, for that they heard that He had 
done this miracle. 

Two distinct multitudes are here spoken of. " The people that was with Him 
when He called Lazarus out of his grave," is the multitude whose presence is noticed 
in St. John xi. 31, (where see the note,) 42, and 45. The people who " met Him," 
(and who are the multitude also mentioned above, in verses 12, 13,) knew of the 
miracle only by hearsay from the others. The former are said to have " borne 
record ; ,; that is, they bare renewed witness to the truth of the miracle which they 
had witnessed with their own eyes. (The reader is invited to refer back to the 
remarks which were offered in the Commentary on St. John xi. 31, 42.) It is 
evident that the raising of Lazarus was felt to be one of those stupendous acts of 
Divine Power which admitted not of suspicion, much less of denial. The miracle 
had been wrought in broad daylight, — before a crowd, — with evident care to pre- 
clude all doubt as to its reality. (tj) Moreover, Lazarus was before them, alive, — 
whom they knew to have been four days dead ! Their amazement may be inferred 
from a well-known assertion of the elder Pliny: "It is some consolation to poor 
human nature," (he remarks,) "that God cannot do all things. He cannot bestow 
upon mortals the gift of Immortality, nor recall the dead to life." 

19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how 
ye prevail nothing ? behold, the world is gone after Him. 

The endeavors of the Pharisees, already noticed, (z) to prevent the people from 
following Christ, had proved an utter failure, and they were compelled to confess 
it. More than is here set down, these hypocrites said, — as may be seen in St. Luke 
xix. 39, 40 ; where the memorable rebuke which our Lord addressed to them on 
this same occasion, is also recorded. 

And thus, St. John takes leave of our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem ; 
concerning which, it is necessary to refer to the three earlier Gospels, if we would 
knoAv more. (a) At this place, indeed, the present Evangelist suspends his History 
of Holy Week altogether, with the memorable exception of the incident which im- 
mediately follows, (the Greeks brought to Christ ;) not resuming that History, until 
he describes the washing of the Disciples' feet, which took place at the Last Sup- 
per. This will be found more fully pointed out in the note at the end of the pre- 
sent chapter. 

An incident of the highest interest follows : as it were the first streak of dawn: 
announcing the coming Day of the Gentiles. Certain Greeks are brought to Christ, 
proselytes, as it seems, who had come up to Jerusalem to worship :(&) — 

20, 21 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to 
worship at the Feast: the same came therefore to Philip, which was 
of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see 

Jesus. 

Rather, " We wish to see." — What may have been the object of these men in thus 
desiring to be brought to Christ ? for it is certain that they desired to do more than 
" see" Him. Had they perhaps heard of the acclamations with which He had 

(x) Bereshith Rabba. 

{y) See the notes on St. John xi. 39, and on ver. 44. 

(z) See St. John ix. 22 : xi. 47, 48 : xii. 42. 

(a) St. Luke xix. 41 to 44: St. Matth. xxi. 10, 11 : and St. Mark xi. 11. 

(b) Consider Acts xvii. 4. Also Acts viii.27. The case was contemplated at the Dedication 
of the Temple : see 1 Kings viii. 41 to 43. 



794 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

"been lately greeted on entering the Capital ; and of the waving branches of palm 

which, as Greeks, they well understood to be emblematic of royal rank ? 

They were destined to be strangely disappointed when they were brought into the 
presence of Jesus of Nazareth, and heard, (as it is reasonable to suppose they did,) 
the tenor of His wondrous Discourse, which follows. 

The name " Philip/ 7 is of Greek origin. Does this perhaps explain why these 
Greeks addressed themselves to him? Or were they perhaps Syro-Phcenicians,(c) 
and therefore not unlikely to know an inhabitant of Bethsaida of Galilee ? 

22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew : and again Andrew and 
Philip tell Jesus. 

Take notice, here, of the respectful conduct of these lowly men, in their ap- 
proaches to Christ : the deference, and form, with which they proceeded on an 
occasion like the present. This circumstance has been already pointed out, in the 
note on St. John iv. 27. It is obvious hoAvever to suspect, as well from the formal 
request of the strangers, as from the hesitation of the two Apostles, that the de- 
sired interview was of no ordinary kind. Our Lord's prohibition, in St. Matthew 
x. 5, affords no sufficient clue to the conduct of His servants here recorded. 

Philip singles out Andrew, — perhaps because Andrew was his fellow-towns- 
man ;((Z) and it may have been in order to suggest this inference, that St. John 
states, in ver. 21, that Philip " was of Bethsaida of Galilee." The names of these 
two Disciples are found connected also in St. John vi. 5 and 8 ; and they are doubt- 
less the " two," which are omitted in chap. xxi. 2. 

It has been pointed out that "as there were two Apostles sent for the colt which 
represented the Gentiles, so there are two who now tell Jesus of the approach of 

the first-fruits of the Gentiles Our Blessed Lord sees therein the sign of 

His own approaching Death ; for the calling in of the Gentiles could not take place 
until the Jews had rejected and crucified Him." — " Listen we to the voice of the 
Corner-stone :"(<?) — 

23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the 
Son of Man should be glorified. 

" Glorified," — as above, in verse 16 ; where the reader is requested to read the 
note. — "Did He think Himself glorified, because the Gentiles wished to see Him? 
No. But He saw that after His Passion and Resurrection the Gentiles in all lands 
would believe on Him ; And He took occasion from this request of some Gentiles 
to see Him, to announce the approaching fullness of the Gentiles : for that the hour 
of His being glorified was now at hand, and that after he was glorified in the 
Heavens, the Gentiles would believe. (f) It is certain that this reply was made in 
the presence of a large assemblage of persons ;"{g) and it is reasonable to sup- 
pose that the "Greeks" themselves heard it. The object of the Divine Speaker 
"appears to have been to correct the wrong notions as to the glories of His King- 
dom, which His triumphant entry into Jerusalem had led these Greeks, in common 
with many others, to entertain. "(A) 

That "hour," therefore, so often mysteriously spoken of as "not yet come,"(i) 
had at length arrived. Consider the following places, where the same announce- 
ment is repeated : — St. John xiii. 1 : xvii. 1 : St. Mark xiv. 41 : St. Luke xxii. 53. 

"But it was necessary that His Exaltation and Glory should be preceded by His 
Humiliation and Passion : wherefore He says," — 

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into 
the ground and die, it abideth alone : but if it die, it bringeth forth 
much fruit. 

" Christ Himself, of the seed of the Patriarchs, was sown in the field of the 
World ; that, by dying, He might rise again with increase. He died alone : He 

(c) Consider St. Mark vii. 26. So Grotius. 

(d) See St. John i. 4. (e) Augustine. 

if ) Augustine. (g) See below, verses 29 and 34. 

(h) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(i) For instance, in St. John ii. 4 : vii. 30, and viii. 20. 



XII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 795 

rose again with many/'O') "In the ears of those who heard Him, however, His 
words contained a simple intimation that although the time had arrived when He 
should "be glorified, ,; yet must He first die before He could "enter into His 
glorj.'Xk) And He proceeds, in the two next verses, to declare that they who 
would share that glory with Him,(Z) must show themselves His servants by follow- 
ing Him in His sufferings, and giving up " life in this world" for "Life Eter- 
nal, "(m) 

" Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die/' How do such words on the 
lips of the Creator serve to remind us that the whole World is but one mighty Para- 
ble, to which the Gospel supplies the clue ! Compare with the present place, the 
process described in St. Luke xiii. 19 ; and take notice that St. Paul, when dis- 
coursing of the mystery of Death and Resurrection, derives his language from the 
decay, and subsequent growth of seeds; as "bare grain, — it may chance of wheat." 
The body, "raised in power/ 7 is " sown," (he says,) "in weakness."(w) 

The lesson derived from seeds in the present place, however, is not the change 
from dishonour to glory, which takes place when they are sown into the earth ; nor 
the change of body with which the plant at last appears. The prodigious increase 
which follows upon their decay, is the one circumstance to which attention is 
directed. A seed, unless it dies, " abideth alone" our Lord says : it continues 
"bare grain ;"(o) "but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." The figure may have 
been suggested by the circumstance that these Greeks were the " first-fruits." 
" Christ Himself, on His rising on Easter-Day, was the offering of the first sheaf 
on the morrow after the Sabbath ;{p) and the coming in of the Gentiles, on the 
Day of Pentecost, was the gathering in of the harvest."^) — It follows : 

25 He that loveth his life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life in 
this World shall keep it unto Eternal Life. 

"He loves his life in this world, who indulges its inordinate desires: lie hates it, 
who resists them."(r) " It were harsh to say that a man should hate his life ; so 
our Lord adds "in this World;" that is, for a particular time, not for ever. And 
we shall gain in the end by so doing ; for we shall thereby enter into Life Eter- 
nal." (s) 

This is one of those almost proverbial sayings which are of most frequent recur- 
rence on our Lord's lips. It is repeated, with small varieties, no less than four dis- 
tinct times :{t) and, on the two first, it is found connected, (as here,) with the "fol- 
lowing of Christ." 

26 If any man serve Me, let him follow Me ; and where I am, there 
shall also My servant be : if any man serve Me, him will My Father 
honour. 

^ This, then, is the Christian's great reward ; to be, throughout the Ages of Eter- 
nity, in that blissful region where his Master is ! After Death, will come the Glo- 
rious Resurrection to Eternal Life, of as many as have been faithful followers of 
Christ in this World. By making them partakers thereof, the Father will 
"honour" them : "for what greater honour can God's adopted sons receive than to 
be where the Only Son is?"(w) 

27 Now is My Soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, 
save Me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. 

" Thus did our Lord draw us near to Himself by showing how deeply He partook 
of our human fears and sorrows; as if thereby to lead us on to something better."(?/) 
Take notice, that in these sayings, (which are a kind of foretaste of the scene in the 

(/) Bede.— Consider St. Matth. xxxii. 52, 53. 

(k) St. Luke xxiv. 26. (I) St. John xvii. 24. 

(m) Lonsdale and Hale. ( w ) 1 Cor. xv. 36, 37, 42, 43. 

(o) 1 Cor. xv. 37. l p ) Levit. xxiii. 11. 

(q) Williams. (V) Ckrysostom. 
(s) Theophylact. 

(t) St. Matth. x. 39 : St. Matth. xvi. 25, (which is St. Mark viii. 35, and St. Luke ix. 24:) St. 
Luke xvii. 33 ; and the present place. 

(u) Chrysostom. (y) Williams. 



796 A PLAIN COMMENTAKT [_CHAP. 

Garden of Gethsemane,(z) we have a striking evidence of the reality of His Human 
Nature ; which shrank, (as our Nature ever must shrink,) from Pain and Death. 
The Humanity of our Lord, — Soul as well as Body,(a) — becomes more and more 
apparent, as His Cross draws nearer in sight. But, besides partaking all our natu- 
ral instincts and infirmities, (not one of which is in itself sinful,) the present trouble 
of our Saviour's Soul may well be thought to have mainly arisen from the prospect 
of the terrible conflict with the Power of Darkness which was now close at hand. 
Consider all that follows, down to verse 32,(6) inclusive: and interpret the last 
words of ver. 27, by comparing them with 1 St. John iii. 8. 

Having exhorted His Disciples to endurance, and the patient treading in His own 
footsteps, He straightway reveals Himself as "a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted 
with grief."(c) His sou l is full °f a g° n y a t the prospect of all that awaited Him ; 
and His affecting language in the text is that reasoning whereby He calms His 
troubled soul, setting us thereby an example. . . . On this, Augustine exclaims: — 
" Thou biddest my soul follow Thee ; but I see Thy soul troubled. What founda- 
tion shall I seek, if the Rock gives way ? Lord, I acknowledge Thy mercy. Thou, 
of Thy love, wast troubled, to console those who are troubled through the infirmity 
of nature ; that the members of Thy Body perish not in despair. The Head took 
upon Himself the affections of His members." 

" It is as if our Lord had said, — I cannot say why I should ask to be saved from 
this hour ; for, for this cause came I unto this hour. . . I am troubled, yet I ask 
not to be spared. I do not say, " Save Me from this hour ;" but, — 

28 Father, glorify thy Name. 

'•'To die for the Truth was to glorify God, as the event showed: for, after His 
Crucifixion, the World was to be converted to the knowledge of God."(cZ) 

Then came there a Voice from Heaven, saying, I have both glorified 
It, and will glorify It again. 

" ' I have glorified it/ — that is, when Thou wast born of a Virgin ; didst work 
miracles ; wast made manifest by the Holy Ghost descending in the shape of a 
dove : ' and I will glorify it again/ — that is, when Thou shalt rise from the Dead ; 
and, as God, be exalted above the Heavens, and thy Glory above all the Earth." (e) 
Supremely was the Father "glorified" by the proofs which the Son gave of His 
Divinity, as He hung upon the Cross ; as well as by the stupendous miracles which 
followed upon His Ascension. See the notes on St. John xiii. 31. . . Chrysostom 
points out that our Lord's announcement in verse 31, "fits on to the preceding 
words ; as showing the mode in which God was glorified." The remark seems just; 
and reminds us that as God had been already glorified by the issue of the Tempta- 
tion in the Wilderness, so was He now about to be glorified again by the entire and 
final conquest over the same Enemy, which our Lord obtained on the Cross. (/) 
For " through Death," (as we know,) He destroyed "him that had the power of 
Death, that is, the Devil."(#) 

Thrice was the Divine Voice heard from Heaven: first, at our Lord's Baptism, (h) 
when He seems to have been specially designated to His Priestly Office : next, at 
His Transfiguration, (i) when, by the departure of Moses and Elijah, He was dis- 
covered as the great Prophet of His People ; lastly, on the present occasion, when 
He is not only revealed to Sion, as her King; and beholds the first fruits of those 
Gentiles who should hereafter press so largely into His Kingdom : but is invested, 
although in mockery, with all the insignia of Royalty; and wears His title ("the 
King of the Jews,") upon the very Cross. 

29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it 
thundered : others said, An Angel spake to Him. 

Take notice that when God speaks, His voice is now, loud as the sound of many 

(z) Consider St. Luke xxii. 42, &c. (a) See the note on St. John xiii. 21. 

(b) See especially the note on verse 31. (c) Is. liii. 3. 

(d) Chrysostom. (e) Augustine. 

( /') See below, the note on ver. 31. {g) Heb. ii. 14. 

(*) St. Mark i. 11. {i) St. Matth. xvii. 5. 



XII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 797 



waters ;{j) and terrible, as the thunder :(k) now, it is "a still small voice/'(Z) like 
that of Infancy, or Age.(m) And to some, it is but a confused sound ;(n) while, to 
others, it is distinctly audible, and articulate. 

30 Jesus answered and said, This Voice came not because of Me, 
but for your sakes. 

"As He had said, at the Grave of Lazarus, that for the sake of others He spake 
aloud unto the Father, (o) so now also, for their sakes, " (not for His own, who 
needed no such testimony,) "did the Father speak aloud to Hini."(j?) And Au- 
gustine points out that " as that Voice did not come for His sake, but for theirs, so 
was His Soul troubled for their sake, not for His own." . . . We look narrowly at 
the next words which our Sayiour is recorded to have spoken, in order to discover 
whether they supply any clue to this supernatural manifestation ; nor are we dis- 
appointed. 

31 Now is the judgment of this World : now shall the Prince of this 
World be cast out. 

Is it possible to read such an announcement,— (duly considering by whom, and of 
whom, and when it was spoken,) — without the deepest awe, curiosity, and wonder? 
The miraculous Voice which had been just heard, is declared to have marked the 
juncture at which "the Prince of this World" ivas about to be "cast out." The ex- 
pression " Prince of this World,'* — (which derives singular illustration from the 
boastful, and certainly not altogether vain, language of St. Luke iv. 6,) — is found 
in two other places, and denotes unmistakably the arch-fiend Satan ; who is else- 
where called "the god of this World,"(<z) and "the Prince of the Power of the 
air. ; '(r) Thus, in St. John xiv. 30, our Saviour speaks of "the Prince of this "World" 
as coming, and finding nothing in Him. But the most remarkable place, in con- 
nection with the present, is chap. xvi. 11, — to which the reader is requested to refer. 
By that expulsion of the Prince of Evil, therefore, God was about to "glorify His 
Name." Was not this, in fact, the fulfillment of the first great prophecy, that the 
promised Seed should "bruise" the Serpent's "head? ,, {s) 

The Cross of Christ, now full in view, was doubtless the scene of the mighty 
Triumph here proclaimed beforehand. The Enemy repulsed in his threefold assault 
in the Wilderness, had departed from the Holy One, (as we there read,) " until a 
[future] season/' (i) — which season had now at length arrived. The attack was 
therefore about to be renewed, with all the violence which the desperation of Devils 
can suggest, and which infernal malice can call to its aid. As then, through every 
avenue of Pleasure, so now, through every avenue of Pain, the Devil will seek to 
shake the Almighty One from His steadfastness, and gain some advantage over 
Him. With what chance of success, — he may have heard our Lord declare before- 
hand. Yet will he persevere, and at least do his worst. By the contradiction of 
sinners ; by the blasphemy of the multitude ; by the blindness of the Jewish Rulers, 
wilfully persevered in to the very last ; by the treachery of Judas ;(u) by the Agony 
in the Garden, resulting it may be in part from a conflict with the Power of Dark- 
ness ; by the desertion of the Apostles ; by the multiplied cruelties, and prolonged 
tortures of His Passion ; finally, by His sufferings on the bitter Cross ; — by all 
these means, the enemy will seek to avert his own threatened doom, and to defeat 
God. But he is destined to be hopelessly foiled in every endeavor. He falls, as 
Lightning falls from Heaven :(v) and the Cross, which was to have been the instru- 
ment of his victory, proves, (as we have elsewhere shown,) the very means of his 
own discomfiture and downfall. "All the Fathers, from Ignatius to Bernard, repre- 
sent Satan as snared by his own success ; and by taking away the life of the One 
Immaculate human subject, losing for ever that proprietary right over the lives of 
all the rest, which had been his through the penal consequence of the first sin."(a;) 

(,/) Rev. i. 15. 

(l) 1 Kings xix. 12. 

(n) As here, and in Acts ix. 1 : xxii. 9. 

(p) Williams. 

(?) Ephes. ii. 2. 

(t) See the note on SL Luke iv. 13. 

(u) See the note on St. John xiii. 20. 

(v) See St. Luke x. 18, and the note there. 

(x) Dr. W. H. Mill. 



(*) Ps. xxix. 2 to 9. 


(to) 1 Sam. iii. 5. 


(o) St. John xi. 42. 


[q) 2 Cor. iv. 4. 


(s) Gen. iii. 15. 



798 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

He will henceforth cease to be " the Prince of this World," except in an inferior 
sense. He is about to be dethroned, and " cast out." Our Race had indeed sold 
themselves to him : (and although we had no right to do so, seeing that we are 
not our own, yet was the contract binding, as far as men were concerned :) " our 
act then barreth us. And yet it cannot bar the right Owner from challenging His 
own wheresoever He finds it. And therefore we may be well assured that God will 
not suffer the Devil, who is but an intruder and cheater, quietly to enjoy what is 
God's, and not his; but He will eject him, and recover out of his possession that 
which he hath no right at all to hold. ;; (?/) — On this great subject, the reader is re- 
quested to read the notes on St. Matthew xxvii. 35, 38, and 40: St. Luke xxii. 43, 
44; xxiii. 25. He is also invited to refer to the observations prefixed to St. Mat- 
thew iv. It must be almost superfluous to point out that the Parable of " the 
Strong man armed keeping his goods" should be considered in connection with all 
that goes before. See the note on St. Luke xi. 22. 

This mighty transaction, then, is called by our Lord, "the Judgment of this 
"World ;'" words which seem to imply that a sentence of condemnation was now 
virtually passed on Sin and Satan : the evidence whereof was that the Evil One and 
his wicked Angels, the "Rulers of the Darkness of this World," as they are termed 
by St. Paul, [z) — (and these "Devils, or Princes of the Air," are all one with the 
"Princes of this World,"(a) — no longer reigned over the bodies of men as they had 
done in times past. For "we learn from repeated divine testimonies, that before 
the price of our Redemption was paid, the World and its Kingdom were suffered by 
God to remain under diabolical control to a degree which we cannot now readily 
conceive/' (6) The Disciples had power given them to tread under foot " all the 
Power of the Enemy ;"(d) and this casting out of the Devils became a part of their 
abiding Commission." (e) The reader is requested to read the note on St. Luke x. 

18 Enough has been said, in the course of the present note, to show the 

close, yet secret connection of the words which immediately follow with those which 
precede. Not only is there an allusion to the Cross, as the instrument whereby 
Messiah was to do such wonders for His people, but it seems to be also implied t}iat 
men, — from his empire over whom, Satan was about to be expelled, — would be the 
more easily drawn to Himself, when released from the tyranny of such an usurper. 

32 And I, if I be lifted up from the Earth, will draw all men unto 
Me. 

Rather, — <: w7ien I am lifted up :" for the meaning of which phrase, see the note 
on the next verse. — It will be perceived that our Saviour blends some intimation 
of His Greatness and GoDhead with almost every allusion to His coming Humilia- 
tion. Thus even while He indicates the ignominious death by which He will soon 
see fit to die, He delivers a glorious hint concerning the consequences to mankind 
of that act of self-abasement: namely, that He will thereby "draw all men" unto 
Himself; cause men of all nations to become subjects of His Kingdom. (f) And 
what is this but looking beyond His own Resurrection from Death, and Ascension 
into Heaven, to the gift of the Holy Ghost which was to follow ? What is it but 
to claim to Himself, as God, that marvellous operation of Divine Power whereby 
the hearts of men must first be effectually drawn, before they can come to God ? 
Consider St. John vi. 44, — where this " draAving" is ascribed solely to the Father. 
.... The reader is requested to refer to the third paragraph of the note on St. 
John xi. 52. He will be reminded by the place of Scripture thus referred to, 
that the great purpose of our Saviour's Advent upon Earth, was to die not for His 
own nation only, but to "gather together in one the Children of God that were 
scattered abroad." 

" When I am lifted up from the Earth, I will draw all men unto Me," saith our 
Saviour : and if those words were true of His Crucifixion, how powerful ought they 
to be in reference to His Ascension! "When the Lord would take up Elijah into 
Heaven, Elisha said unto him, ' As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not 
leave thee :'(g) when Christ is ascended up on high, we must follow Him with the 

(y) Bp. Sanderson. (z) Eph. vi. 12. (a) Bp. Pearson. Consider 1 Cor. ii. 6, 8. 

(b) Dr. W. H. Mill. — Not that Satan ever claims more than a delegated power: See St. 
Luke iv. 6. 

(e?) St. Luke x. 19. (e) St. Mark xvi. 17. 

(/) Consider Colossians i. 13. (g) 2 Kings ii. 1, 2. 



XII.'J 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 799 



wings of our meditations, and with the chariots of our affections." So far, Bishop 
Pearson. — The Evangelist remarks on the words of his Lord. — 

33 This He said, signifying what death He should die. 

And those who heard, understood this signification of His words perfectly well ; 
as appears from what follows. The reader is requested to refer to the note on 
St. John viii. 28. 

34 The people answered Him, "We have heard out of the Law that 
Christ abideth for ever : 

Observe the perversity and malice of this rejoinder. Our Lord had not denied 
that "the Christ abideth for ever." The ancient Scriptures are full of it. His 
throne was to be " as the Sun/' and " established for ever as the Moon." (7*) He was 
to be " a Priest" and a " Prince for ever."(i) " Of the increase of His Government" 
there was to be no end.' ; (&) His Dominion was to be "an everlasting Dominion 
which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. "(I) 
He was Himself to "reign over them in Mount Sion from henceforth, even for 
ever."(m) What therefore they had "heard out of the Law," Christ had not 
denied. He had merely declared the chief previous article of His Passion, — 
namely, the bitter Cross. Could they say that they had heard out of the Law that 
Christ doth not suffer f The very reverse was notoriously the case. It is worth 
referring to such places as St. Luke xxiv. 26, and 44 to 46 : 1 St. Peter i. 11. — 
They proceed : 

and how sayest Thou, The Son of Man must be lifted up ? who is 
this Son of Man? 

"What kind of a Messiah is this, who, Thou sayest, must be 'lifted up?' How 
can He be the Messiah of whom the Prophets speak?"(w) But it is worth remark 
that our Saviour had not said " The Son of Man must be lifted up," on the present 
occasion. Unless indeed this be another example of what was pointed out above, 
in the note on St. John xi. 28. He will be found to have so prophesied of His 
Crucifixion, at the Feast of Tabernacles, about six months before. (o) The actual 
words, (strange to relate,) are found only in His Discourse to Nicodemus, — 
recorded in St. John iii. 14. 

The title " Son of Man" occurs in Daniel vii. 13, — and is thence quoted by our 
Lord in St. Matthew xxiv. 30, and xxvi. 64. — To the inquiry proposed to Him by 
the people concerning His language, the meaning of which must have been abund- 
antly plain, our Saviour vouchsafes no direct reply. The Discourse which follows, 
and which, (broken only by some precious remarks of the Evangelist himself,) ex- 
tends to the end of the present Chapter, appears to have been the last of our Lord's 
public Discourses; and it has all the solemnity which might have been expected in 
such a leave-taking of His hard-hearted Countrymen. His very language is of 
Twilight, and turns on the approach of Night, — as implying that the Day of Grace 
was now rapidly on the wane, if it had not indeed already expired. Truly has it 
been remarked, however, that, in what follows, our Lord speaks "as if His Death 
were but the going away for a time; as the Sun's light only sets to rise again." (p) 

35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the Light with 
you. Walk while ye have the Light, lest Darkness come upon you : 
for he that walketh in Darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. 

Thus, — and for the last time! — does "the Light of the World" discourse of Him- 
self under this favorite and most instructive image; concerning which it must suf- 
fice to refer the reader to what has been already offered on the notes on St. John 
i. 9: viii. 12, and ix. 5. But the passage most in point is St. John xi. 9 & 10, 

which should be attentively considered. See also below, on verse 46 The 

attentive student of St. John's writings will recognize a reference to these sayings 

(70 Ps. lxxxix. 36, 37. (*) Ps. ex. 4 : Ezek. xxxni. 25. 

\k) Is. ix. 7. (1) 1 Dan. vii. 14. 

(m) Mic. iv. 7. (n) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(o) See St. John viii. 28. \p) Chrysostom. 



800 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

of our Saviour, (or to St. John viii. 12,) in St. John's first Epistle, — i. 5 to 7, and 
ii. 11. May it be thought that His words were intended to recall the exhortation 
of His ancient prophet Jeremiah? — "Give glory to the Lord your God before He 
cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while 
ye look for Light, He turn it into the shadow of Death, and make it gross dark- 
ness V'(q) In language not dissimilar, at least, does our Lord warn the Jews, for 
the last time, of the spiritual Darkness which had already all but entirely over- 
taken them; and which, if they refused to walk in His Light, would effectually 
"blind their eyes, and cause them terribly to err from the right way. And so it 
came to pass(r) when they had "crucified the Lord of Glory/-' Quite benighted 
were they at the time of the siege of their city. 

Such solemn words, from Him who is our light, on the subject of "Darkness," 
seem to call for special comment. "What then is Darkness? In God there is none, 
that is, none to Him, for the Darkness is no Darkness with Him.(tf) All Darkness, 
then, is in the creature; in Satan, and in his evil Angels, and in Man. Men walk 
in Darkness "because the god of this World hath blinded their minds. "{u) The 
Light is around them, and the Eye of God pierces through them : the Darkness is 
to them, and within them. The Light that is in them is Darkness, and how great 
is that Darkness \{v) They shut their eyes to the Light of God, and make to them- 
selves a false Light ; referring everything to self instead of to Him : so that all 
things take false proportions and false relations. 

" Nor is there anything in Nature that can fully represent the perversion which 
takes place in the mind when it chooses to regard everything in relation to itself, 
and its own will. Nothing short of Blindness can express it ; but in the case of 
Blindness, we have no false Light to put in the place of the true. Dreaming comes 
nearer to the image required ; yet, even in Dreaming, we are usually protected by 
the half-conscious recollection of objects, or the unseen care of Angels, from the 
wreck we should work if we really acted upon the view that is in our eye. Mad- 
ness does not commonly go the length of the folly and contradiction of a wicked 
man's Life. It is not often that madmen so grossly mistake the nature and appear- 
ances of sensible objects, as ordinary men do daily mistake the real nature and 
relations of things that concern them far more nearly. Madness, Dreaming, Dark- 
ness, all combined, make but a shadow of that "darkness which may be felt/ ; (x) 
— an ungodly Will."{y) .... Our Lord concludes : 

36 While ye have Light, believe in the Light, that ye may be the 
children of Light. 

Rather, — "While ye have the Light." No better Commentary can be desired 
on the rest of the verse, than is supplied by ver. 46. The phrase " children of 
Light" recalls the language of St. Luke xvi. 8. 

These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide Himself from 
them. 

He " hid Himself from them," as He had done on so many former occasions; 
some of which will be found specified at foot. (z) The phrase here employed is met 
with also in Psalm lv. 12. — It may well have been the Evening of the Day, when 
our Lord addressed these solemn words to His enemies ; hiding Himself at last 
from their gaze, as His visible emblem in the Heavens(a) sunk behind the western 

hills The Evangelist proceeds to make some weighty remarks on the unbelief 

of the Jews with respect to the transactions he has been describing. — And first, he 
shows that however strange, and even inexplicable to Human" Reason, may have 
been the reception which our Lord's Miracles met with at the hands of His own 
chosen people, that result had been clearly foreseen in the Divine Counsels, from 
the very beginning. 

(q) Jer. xiii. 16. (r) Rom. xi. 7 to 10, and 25. 2 Cor. iii. 14, 15. 

(0 Ps. cxxxix. 12. [u) 2 Cor. iv. 4. 

(») St. Matth. vi. 23. (x) Ex. x. 21. 

{y) Rev. C. Marriott. 

\z) See St. Luke iv. 30. St. John viii. 59, (where the same expression occurs :) and x. 39. 

(a) It would be interesting to collect the occasions when our Lord's discourse may be thought 
to have been suggested by external phenomena. Consider St. John iv. 35 : vii. 37 : xv. i. St. 
Luke xiv. 1, 7, 12, 15, 16 : xxi. 29, 30, Ac. &c. 



XII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 801 

37, 38 But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet 
they believed not on Him : that the saying of Esaias the prophet might 
be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report ? and 
to whom hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed ? 

By the first clause in this prophetic saying, the Spirit intended to imply the 
rejection of the Gospel. Hence, St. Paul says, — " They have not all obeyed the 
Gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report V'(b) .... In the 
latter part of the sentence, Augustine saw a plain reference to the Saviour. "It 
is evident," (he says,) that " the Arm of the Lord" is here the Son of God Him- 
self :(c) who is so called, because all things were made by Him."(<:7) The reader 
is invited to read what has been offered in another place on the kindred expres- 
sion, — "The finger of God. "(e) Isaiah's words have thus been paraphrased: — 
"Lord, who will believe the testimony of us Thy prophets respecting Christ ? and 
to whom will Thy power, put forth in Him, be so revealed that they will see and 
acknowledge it to be Thine ?"(/) 

A few words will perhaps be expected on the very difficult subject which is 
opened by the form of speech employed by the Evangelist, in this and so many 
other places. (g) It must suffice to point out that, as far as the usage of the original 
language goes, the expression in verse 38, (" that the saying of the prophet might be 
fulfilled,") need not mean anything more than, " So that the saying of the prophet 
was fulfilled." Utterly absurd, of course, would be the supposition that an inspired 
writer could wish to imply that a spirit of unbelief had been forced upon the nation 
of the Jews in order to save the credit of one of God's ancient Prophets. The am- 
biguity of the original expression, when received into "an honest and good heart," 
will perhaps occasion no real difficulty. Doubtless, (it will be felt,) when God hath 
spoken, the thing must come to pass. On the other hand, unless the thing had been 
certainly destined to come to pass, God would never have spoken. The prophecy 
depended on the event : it did not make it. Where this truth is borne in mind, and 
God's perfect Justice together with Man's Free-will is fully admitted, more words 
on this confessedly difficult subject, will not perhaps be wished for. 

Having thus brought forward the well-known beginning of the forty-third of 
Isaiah, the Evangelist proceeds to quote from the sixth chapter of the same prophet ; 
not setting down the words exactly, but rather giving their sense and substance. 

39, 40 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said 
again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart ; that they 
should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be 
converted, and I should heal them. 

" The Evangelist says " could not," to show that it was impossible that the Pro- 
phet should lie; not that it was impossible that they should believe. "(A) " If any 
ask why " they could not believe," I answer, Because they would not"{i) See on St. 
Matt. xiii. 15. 

Terse 40 should not begin " He hath blinded their eyes," &c, — but " They have 
blinded:" as when our Saviour, (&) and St. Paul,(Z) quote the same place. An 

aspirate makes all the difference \{m) The few words of explanation thus 

offered will be felt to remove the apparent harshness of the expression. At the 
same time, it is not meant that never does God blind the eyes, and harden the hearts 
of men. If men resist the motions of His Good Spirit, He will certainly withdraw 
that blessed influence ; and, (as in the case of Pharaoh,) will harden the heart at 
last. (n) " For He does not leave us, except we wish Him to do so. . . . It is plain 
that we begin to forsake first, and are the cause of our own perdition." (o) 

(b) Rom. x. 16. (e) Compare Is. li. 9: also Acts xiii. 17. 

(d) Consider St. John i. 3 and the note there. 

(e) See the note on St. Luke xi. 20. (/) Lonsdale and Hale. 
(g) For instance,— St. Matth. ii. 15 : iv. 14 : xxi. 4, 5 : xxvii. 35, &c. 
(h) Chrysostom. (i) Augustine. 

Ik) St. Matth. xiii. 15. \l) Acts xxviii. 27. 

(m) The learned reader Will perceive that " This people/' (not " God,") is the nominative to 
the verb. 

(n) Exodus ix. 12 : x. 20, 27 : xi. 10. (o) Chrysostom, — quoting Hos. iv. 6. 

51 



802 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

St. Mark, instead of, " And I should heal them," — gives (from the Chaldee Par- 
aphrase) " And their sins should be forgiven them."(jj) 

41 These things said Esaias, when he saw His Glory, and spake of 
Him. 

" He saw His Glory," not Him. The Eternal Son is " equal to the Father, as 
touching His GoDhead," and therefore invisible. Not until He took our nature 
upon Him, was it possible that He should be " seen of Angels,"(g;) or °f Men. 
When He appeared to the Patriarchs of old, it was in the person of a created 
An gel. (r) 

Take notice, in the meantime, that Isaiah declares that his eyes had " seen the 
King, Jehovah Sabaoth," — that is, " the Lord of Hosts."(s) But St. John declares 
that it was the Glory of CHRIST which the prophet Isaiah saw, and that he 
"spake of Him." Christ is therefore Jehovah. (f) .... The entire chapter of 
Isaiah should be here referred to ; exhibiting, as it does, a magnificent picture of 
that Glory which He, of whose humiliation we are reading, had with the Father be- 
fore the World was.(?t) To Christ, therefore, do the Seraphim cry " Holy, Holy, 
Holy!" .... The Evangelist proceeds: 

42 Nevertheless among the chief Rulers also many believed on Him ; 

The warning conveyed in so many other parts of Scripture is not wanting on the 
present occasion, — when, from the sweeping condemnation which went before, it 
might be supposed that there was no exception to the general rule of Unbelief which 
the Evangelist has been noticing. Even " among the Rulers," (a;) that is, in the 
very Sanhedrin itself, there were " many" who believed in Christ. Nicodemus 
and Joseph of Arimathoea are not here specially intended; for these men boldly 
confessed Christ. St. John speaks of others ; who believed indeed, — 

43 But because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they 
should be put out of the synagogue : for they loved the praise of men 
more than the praise of God. 

Concerning the love of human Praise, as a hinderance to Faith, consider our 
Lord's saying recorded in St. John v. 41 and 44. On the form of enmity here 
alluded to, see chap. ix. 22 and 34. 

The Evangelist proceeds with what we suspect to have been part of tlie same 
Discourse which was interrupted above, at ver. 36. — Take notice that Jesus is said 
to have " cried," when He spake the words which follow. This was probably for 
the reason assigned in the commentary on St. John vii. 37 ; namely, because it was 
" the last time ;"(z) and because " the time was short."(a) See the second para- 
graph of the note referred to. 

44, 45 Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on Me, believeth not 
on Me, but on Him that sent Me. And He that seeth Me, seeth 
Him that sent Me. 

" So little difference is there between Me, and Him that sent Me, that he that 

beholdeth Me, beholdeth Him He does not hereby withdraw the believer's 

faith from Himself, but gives him a higher object for that faith, than the form of a 
servant." (6) This is one of the places of Scripture from which the ancients proved 
the Son's Divinity; since to believe in Him, is to believe in the Father. Notice here 
the difference between "believing" a person, and "believing in" a person. The 
former is said of men: the latter of GOD Chrysostom remarks that, " It is 

(2>) St. Mark iv. 12. Consider St. Luke v. 17 : and compare the 20th verse of the same 
chapter with the 23rd and 24th. 
(q) 1 Tim. iii. 16. 

(r) See the note (k) on St. Matth. xv. 27. 
(s) Is. vi. 5. 

(0 So Pearson, following Athanasius, and the ancients generally. 
(?<) St. John xvii. 5. (x) Not "the chief rulers," in the original. 

(z) 1 St. John ii. 18. (a) 1 Cor. vii. 29. 

lb) Augustine. 



XII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 803 



as if our Saviour had said, He that taketli water from a stream, taketh the water 
not of the stream, but of the Fountain." Then, to place the matter out of all doubt, 
and to show that the Nature of the Father and the Son is strictly one and the 
same, our Saviour adds that to behold the Son is to behold the Father. Compare 
this with St. John xiv. 9. ..." I and My Father are One" — said our Lord on a 
former occasion, (c) 

It can scarcely be necessary, with reference to the mode of expression in ver. 44, 
to do more than request attention to the note on St. John vii. 16. 

46 I am come a Light into the World, that whosoever believeth on 
Me should not abide in Darkness. 

"Whereby it is evidently implied that He found all the World in Darkness." 
Consider Genesis i. 2. " In which Darkness if men wish not to remain, they must 
believe in the Light which was come into the World," and was now so near its 
setting. " He once said to His Disciples, ' Ye are the Light of the World :\d) but 
He did not say, ' Ye are come a Light into the World, that whosoever believeth on 
you should not abide in Darkness/ All Saints are lights; but they are so by Faith, 
— because they are enlightened by Him, from whom to withdraw is Darkness. "(e) 
... On this great subject, the reader is referred to the note on verse 35. He will 
also profitably call to mind St. Paul's striking declaration, that God " hath de- 
livered us from the Power of Darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom 
of His dear Son :"(./) called us out of Darkness into His marvellous Light." \g) 

Take notice that the very form of the expression, (" I am come a Light into the 
World,") shows, 1st, that Christ existed before His Incarnation ;(h) even as the 
Sun exists before it appears above the Eastern hills. 2ndly, It is implied that He 
was the one Saviour of the World, as there is but one Sun. Lastly, that He came 
not to one nation only, but to all ;{i) even as the Sun's " going forth is from the 
end of the Heaven, and his circuit unto the end of it : and there is nothing hid 
from the heat thereof."(&) 

47 And if any man hear My Words, and believe not, I judge him 

not : 

" That is, I judge him not now. He does not say, I judge him not at the Last 
Day, for that would be contrary to what is elsewhere written.(m) The reason fol- 
lows, why He does not judge now :" 

For I came not to judge the World, but to save the World. 

"Now is the time of Mercy: afterward will be the time of Judgment." (n) 
Compare St. John iii. 17. 

48 He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My Words, hath one 
that judgeth him : the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge 
him in the Last Day. 

That is, — A Judge will nevertheless not be wanting, at the Last Day, who shall 
condemn those unbelieving ones whom yet Christ did not condemn. The Word, 
namely, which the Jews had heard spoken by His own Divine Lips, and which 
they had refused to believe, will rise up in judgment against them, (our Lord 
says,) and declare them to be deserving of everlasting punishment. For, (as it is 
elsewhere written,) — " If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had 
sin : but now they have no cloak for their sin."(o) ..." They could not but know 
that that Word was true, confirmed as it was by the evidence of so many mighty 
Works : wherefore that Word shall judge them, and accuse them, and condemn 
them. Where then will be the tribunal of such a Judge ? From what judgment- 
seat will he pass his awful sentence? He will be very nigh the culprits. His 
throne will be within each guilty breast. He will speak fearfully to the conscience 

(c) St. John x. 30. (d) St. Matth. v. 14. (e) Augustine. 

If) Coloss. i. 13. (g) 1 St. Pet. ii. 9. Consider 1 Thess. v. 4, 5. 

(h) See the second paragraph of the note on St. John x. 36. 
(i) Consider St. John i. 9. (k) Ps. xix. 6. 

(m) St. John v. 22, and 27 to 29. (n) Augustine, 

(o) St. John xv. 22. 



804 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

of each terror-stricken unbeliever."^) .... This prophecy is therefore more 
alarming than that in chap. v. 45 ; where Moses is declared to be the great accuser 
of the nation. 

It is striking to notice in how many respects the attributes of Christ Himself 
are ascribed to His word also. It is declared to be " a discerner of the thoughts 
and intents of the heart :"{q) it is eternal, and "will never pass away:"(r) it is 
" the Power of God unto Salvation :"(s) it shall "judge'' mankind. (t) — Pursuing 
the train of thought thus opened, it is well worthy of observation how strictly 
the Gospel of Christ resembles its Author, — in its nature, (at once Human and 
Divine;) in its unattractive aspect ;(u) in its hidden sweetness ;(v) and in the 
reception which it daily meets with at the hands of men. It bears the very name 
of its Object and Author, — " The Word."(w>) No fanciful statement therefore, is 
it, but a simple fact, that, in that Word, Christ is forever truly present with Man- 
kind. St. Paul surely implied no less, when he reproached the Galatians with 
inconstancy, — "before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, 
crucified among you/' (Gal. iii. 1.) ,.. . If this be a digression, the reader will for- 
give it. — Our Lord proceeds : 

49 For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent 
Me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I 
should speak. 

Thus, then, the reason is assigned why Christ's Word should judge those who 
did not believe ; — namely, because He spoke not from Himself, but from the 
Father. By which saying, our Lord adapts His argument to the powers of His 
hearers. It is as if He had said, — " Supposing even that I were a mere man, as ye 
suppose ; yet, even thus, ye ought to believe My Word ; since it is not Mine, but 
the Father's who sent Me." ... By which words however, take notice that it is 
by no means to be assumed that our Saviour speaks of Himself as He loas the Son 
of Man. Whether as God, or as Man, the eternal Son would refer all His Wisdom 
to the Eternal Father. This has been already explained in the commentary on 
St. John vii. 16, to which the reader is requested to refer. Compare also, and con- 
sider the following places : — St. John iii. 32 : v. 19, 30 : vii. 16 : viii. 38 : xii. 50 : 
xiv. 10,24: xvii. 8. 

"What I should say, or what I should speak," seems intended to comprehend 
every class of Discourse, — as well the words of familiar intercourse, as the grave 
and solemn addresses of the Saviour. The entire sayings in the two last verses 
seem clearly intended to recall the famous prophecy concerning Messiah in Deutero- 
nomy xviii. 18, 19. 

50 And I know that His Commandment is Life Everlasting : what- 
soever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak. 

"This is Life Eternal," (saith our Lord in another place:) "that they might 
know Thee, the only True God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." (a:) The 
sense, in both cases, is evidently the same: namely, that the keeping of God's 
Commandment, is the path which leads to Life. This, our Saviour declared that 
He " knew," with all the fullness of Divine knowledge : and He probably said it, 
in order yet further to arouse, and attract the sluggish hearts of His auditory. . . . 
"I know, (He says,) that the end for which I received this authority from My 
Father is, that Life Everlasting may be given to as many as believe My 
words."(?/) 



It will be perceived by those who read the Gospel with any degree of attention, 
that with the exception of a single incident of uncertain date, viz. that recorded 
above, (ver. 20 to the end,) St. John proceeds at once from Palm-Sunday, to the 
evening of Thursday in Holy Week; beginning his next chapter (the thirteenth,) with 
the washing of the Disciples' feet, which took place at the Last Supper. The pre- 

(p) Rupertus. (?) Hebr. iv. 12. 

(r) St. Matth. xxiv. 35. 

(s) Rom. i. 16. See also 1 Cor. i. 18, compared with 24. 

\t) St. John xii. 48. («) Is. liii. 2, and 1 Cor. i. 18, 21, 23. 

[v) St. John vi. 68, and Ps. cxix. 103. («b) Rev. xix. 13. 

(x) St. John xvii. 3. (y) Lonsdale and Hale. 



XIII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 805 

sent Evangelist, therefore, is silent with respect to a period of the Ministry concern- 
ing which the three 'first Evangelists are singularly full and particular. Especially 
may it be thought deserving of notice, that the prophetic discourse delivered on the 
Mount of Olives, so elaborately recorded by St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, 
is not even alluded to by St. John. " It has been said that these prophecies are 
recorded by the three first Evangelists, because they concerned an event which had 
not taken place when they wrote ; viz. the taking of Jerusalem : but that St. John 
abstains from recording those prophecies because he composed his Gospel after the 
destruction of the City." This however is shallow criticism indeed ; for it would 
imply that the scope of our Lord's Discourse on the Mount of Olives was limited by 
the events of the Siege of Jerusalem ; whereas, His far-sighted words are found to 
reach on even to the end of the World. 

" May it not be suggested that the true reasons why St. John abstained from 
recording these prophecies, were, (1st) because they were sufficiently recorded by 
the other three Evangelists ; and, (2ndly) because he himself, in another Canonical 
Book, had very fully declared all that it was needful for the Church to know of her 
own future condition, even to the Second Advent, viz. in the Apocalypse ? ... If 
any thing more had been necessary to be known on this matter, St. John (we may 
reverently suppose) would have added it in his Gospel, as supplementary to the 
prophecies in the other three Gospels, and in the Apocalypse. His silence pro- 
claims, I conceive, the completeness of what his three predecessors, and he himself, 
had written: it consummates and canonizes it."(z) 



CHAPTER XIII. 



1 Jesus ivasheth the Disciples' feet : exhorteth them to Humility and Charity. 18 
He foretelleth and discoveretli to John by a token, that Judas shoidd betray Him : 
31 commandeth them to love one another, 36 and foreicameth Peter of Ids denial. 

The reader should not enter upon the present chapter of St. John's Gospel, with- 
out taking notice of the remarks which were offered at the conclusion of the Com- 
mentary on the preceding chapter. Not a word is here found about any of those 
august events, so numerous and so significant, — those discourses, so prolonged and 
so portentous, — which mark the days of Holy Week, and which the three earlier 
Evangelists have described with such unusual minuteness of detail. St. John passes 
on at once to the Last Supper ; which, however, he does not describe ; but contents 
himself with narrating an occurrence which the other three Evangelists had omitted 
to narrate. He alone further subjoins the heavenly Discourses of our Saviour 
when the solemnity of the Last Supper was ended. 

Let us beware, however, how we speak of these Divine Writings. Let not refer- 
ence be made to the structure of the Gospels as if they were ordinary narratives. 
We may not say that one supplies what the other omits, as if we thought that there 
had been incompleteness in that other. Still less may it be supposed that the sup- 
plementary parts of St. John's Gospel impart to his entire narrative a fragmentary 
character, — as if the study of another Evangelist were required for the complete- 
ness of St. John. It is not so. Each of the Gospels is complete in itself. St. John 
was divinely guided to begin, at this place, Ms history of Our Saviour's Cross and 
Passion ; and he enters upon it, by describing one highly symbolical transaction, — 
of which, hereafter : and the date of it, he solemnly fixes to the eve of the feast of 
the Passover. 

It may be pointed out however, in passing, that " the Disciple whom Jesus 
loved," by his silence concerning the Institution of the Lord's iSupper, sets his seal 

(z) For these valuable remarks the writer is indebted to a MS. communication from the Rev. 
Christopher Wordsworth, D.D. 



806 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

in the most emphatic manner to the accounts thereof, given by St. Matthew, St. 
Mark, and St. Luke. And it may further be suggested, concerning his silence, that 
just as he has supplied in the Book of Revelation what may very well be regarded 
as an equivalent to the prophecy delivered by our Lord on the Mount of Olives, (a) 
so did he furnish in his sixth chapter, a full equivalent to his silence concerning 
the Holy Eucharist, now. 

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His 
hour was come that He should depart out of this World unto the 
Father, 

The last of the four Passovers within which the Ministry of our Blessed Lord was 
contained, had at last arrived ; a Feast which derived its name from God's promise 
that when He saw the blood of the Paschal Lamb " on the two side-posts and on 
the upper door-post of the houses" of the Israelites, He would pass over them and 
spare them. (b) " All was now to take place in reality, of which the Jewish Pass- 
over was the type. Christ was led as a Lamb to the slaughter ; whose blood, 
sprinkled upon our door-posts, (that is, the sign of whose Cross marked upon our 
foreheads,) redeems us from the dominion of this "World, as from Egyptian bond- 
age ;"(c) at once cleansing us from all sin, and delivering us from the Divine 
wrath. (d) St. John says "before the Feast of the Passover," because he relates 
what happened on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month ; at which time 
the Passover was eaten: but, (as it is expressly mentioned in the Law,) " the Feast" 
was " on the fifteenth day."(e) 

Here, then, every word is full of great and awful interest. We seem at first to 
be reading of an ordinary transaction, in that Washing of the Disciples' feet which 
follows; but, on closer inspection, it is found that it cannot have been such. Neither, 
in fact, may any of our Lord's sayings be passed by as if they were ordinary. He, 
probably, explains those words and actions best, who sees in either the greatest 
depth of meaning. 

The "hour," so often mysteriously alluded to by our Saviour//*) and described 
by Himself in the former chapter as the hour when "the Son of Man should be 
glorified, "(</) had now at length arrived. The holy Evangelist speaks of it in terms 
different indeed, but in terms of quite the same import ; namely, as the hour when 
Jesus " should depart out of this World unto the Father." Take notice therefore 
that, in the view of the Spirit, Death is but a "departure;" and remember what 
has been already offered on this head in the note on St. John si. 26, and St. Luke 
xvi. 9. The Evangelist may have used this particular expression, in order to recall 
the signification of the Chaldee word " Pascha" (Passover) which precedes. We 
noticed a specimen of the same method in St. John's first chapter ;(h) and a yet 
more apposite example is supplied by St. Luke ix. 31, — where our Saviour's Death 
is called His "Exodus" . . . St. John here declares that our Lord " knew" that 
His hour was come, to remind us of His Divinity. From all Eternity, He knew 
that the present hour awaited Him : by His Divine Knowledge, He knew that His 
hour was at last come. Hence, it is added, — 

having loved His own which were in the World, He loved them unto 
the end. 

"His own — which were in the World." The Apostles of Christ are here called 
"His own," partly on account of the love He bare them, whereby they became 
His " brethren :"(i) partly because of the intimate(&) relation in which the true 
Disciple stands to his Lord, — which was noticed at some length in the commentary 
on St. John x. 3, 14, 15. And the clause "which were in the World," is added in 
order to explain and account for the unbounded condescension and love which our 
Saviour displayed towards His Disciples on the present occasion. He Himself, 
indeed, was about to exchange "this troublesome World" for the immediate pre- 

(a) See the note on the last verse of St. John xii. 

(b) Exod. xii. 7, 13. (c) Augustine. 

(d) 1 St. John i. 7, and 1 Thess. i. 10. (e) Lev. xxiii. 6: Numb, xxviii. 11, Ac. 

(/) St. John ii. 4: vii. 30: viii. 20 : xii. 23, Ac. 

\g) St, John xii. 23. 

(h) See the note on St. John i. 14. 

(i) See the note on St. Matth. xxviii. 10. (k) So far, Chrysostom. 



XIII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 807 



sence of the Father. All Peace and Joy, therefore, awaited Himself. But they, — 
the men whom He had chosen out of the World, yet now was about to leave behind 
Him "in the World," — could He fail at such a moment to pity them? They, on 
the eve of orphanhood, were objects for His compassion indeed ! 

The Evangelist says therefore, that Jesus, who had all along so fondly loved 
" His own," now that the hour of His departure was at hand, still loved them on, 
to the very last ; leaving nothing undone which might witness to them the bound- 
less extent of His Love. One great example follows, — namely the unspeakable act 
of condescension which the Evangelist proceeds to describe ; and which was only 
preliminary to another crowning act of Love, — namely, the Communion of His 
Body and Blood. 

2 And supper being ended, 

Rather, "And at Supper-time ;" or, "And during supper," — 

3, 4 the Devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, 
Simon's son, to betray Him ; Jesus knowing that the Father had given 
all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went 
to God ; He riseth from Supper, 

The " Supper," here spoken of, from which our Lord now arose, was not that 
sacred thing which we have learned (after St. Paul's example,)(7) to call "the 
Lord's Supper ;" but that part of the Paschal Feast which consisted in the eating 
of the Lamb. . . . The Solemn Washing which follows was doubtless symbolical 
of that cleansing of the heart which is required by all men before they present 
themselves at the Table of the Lord, — as the prayer for Purity, at the beginning of 
our Communion service sufficiently bears witness. 

The lofty meaning of the entire passage under consideration will perhaps be 
best shown by a somewhat lengthy paraphrase. St. John seems to say, that, — At a 
certain period of the Paschal Supper, when the Hour of our Saviour's Passion was 
so near at hand that Satan had already filled the soul of Judas with the intention 
of betraying his Lord : at that period, notwithstanding, that the familiar friend, 
whom He trusted, was even now sitting at the table with Him, entertaining the 
infernal design of compassing His Death : — even then it was that the Holy Jesus, 
fully conscious, (''knowing," as it is said for the second time,) that the hour was 
at last arrived when " all things," were to be freely given into His Hands by the 
Father ; all things, that is, appertaining to the Redemption and Salvation of Man- 
kind; for that is what seems here to be especially meant :(m) — that inasmuch as 
He is now about to "go to God ;" and therefore, about to receive the fullness of 
that Power and authority over " all things"(?i) which He had begun to receive 
when first He " came from God :" — the last evening, therefore, of His earthly Life 
having now arrived ; the last occasion on which the Saviour would be able to dis- 
play the largeness of His Divine Love towards " His own ;" the season, moreover, 
when He was about to return to the Father who loved Him, — the Father whom 
He loved, — with a perfect Love; and when He must be able to say " It is finished;" 
" I have finished the work which Thou Gavest Me to do :" He, therefore knowing 
that this period had arrived, — " riseth from supper." 

Hear Bishop Pearson on the . latter part of this very mysterious place. "The 
dominion given unto Christ, in His Human Nature, was a direct and plenary 
Power over all things, but was not actually given Him at once : but part, while 
He lived on Earth ; part, after His Death and Resurrection. For though it be 
true that Jesus knew before His Death, ' that the Father had given all things 
into His hands ;' yet it is observable that in the same place it is written that He 
likewise knew ' that He was come from God, and went to GodV and part of that 
Power He received when He came from God ; with part He was invested when He 
went to God : the first, to enable Him ; the second not only so, but also to reward 
Him." t J 

The Evangelist is therefore here declaring, partly, the circumstances under 
which the Holy One performed the two great acts of Love which followed ; partly, 

(I) See 1 Cor. xi. 20. 

(m) Consider St. John xvii. 2 : iii. 35 : v. 21, 22. Also St. Matth. xi. 27 or St. Luke x. 22. 

(n) Consider St. Matth. xxviii. 18. 



808 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP* 

he is setting forth the considerations which moved Him to perform them. — Christ, 
then, " riseth from Supper/ — 

and laid aside His garments ; and took a towel and girded Himself. 

Concerning all that follows, it is surely needless to dwell at any length on the 
fact, (adverted to by our Lord Himself in verses 14, 15,) that He here sets before 
us a wondrous lesson of Humility. This, (which would seem to be sufficiently 
obvious,) is much dwelt upon by the commentators. " The Father/' (says The- 
ophylact,) " having given up all things into His hands, (that is, having given up 
to Him the Salvation of the faithful,) He deemed it right to show them all things 
that pertained to their Salvation ; and gave them a lesson of Humility by washing 
the Disciples' feet." .... Let us beware how we rest in this view; as if it really 
embodied all that is to be said about one of the most clearly symbolical transac- 
tions in the Bible. See below, on verses 5, 7, 8, and 15. 

The first thing which here strikes us, is the Evangelist's minuteness ; and 
he is so minute, doubtless, only because everything here is big with mysteri- 
ous meaning. He has already dwelt upon the circumstances under which the 
washing of the Disciples' feet took place : he now dwells upon each particular 
of that memorable transaction : and every feature of his description helps to im- 
press us more and more deeply with the immense condescension of Him who could 
so act. Take notice that He rose "from Supper" to do this lowly thing ; — the 
most uncongenial moment, perhaps, which could be imagined for such a service. 
Was it not a true representation of the Love of Him, who, " being in the form of 
God/' was content to come down from the highest Heaven, in order to become like 
one of ourselves ? He next " laid aside His outer garment," — even as already, in 
order to be "made Man," He Had emptied Himself of His Glory.(o) He "took 
a towel, and girded Himself;" and had He not already, as in the first step towards 
the work of Redemption, " made Himself of no reputation, and taken upon Him- 
self the form of a Servant ?" Doubtless it was our Saviour's express intention, 
by His gesture on the present occasion, — not only, observe, by performing a ser- 
vile act, but by even assuming a Servant's attire(j?) as a preparation thereto, — to 
exhibit in emblem the character which He had seen fit, in the fullness of His Di- 
vine condescension, to assume. (a) " I am with you," (He declared openly,) " as 
He that se?^veth. , '{r) He seems to have wished to sliow them that " the Son of Man 
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." Did He not also, by the act 
which follows, set forth in a figure that He came "to give His Life a ransom for 
many ?"(s) For we read : 

5 After that He ponreth water into a bason, and he began to wash 
the Disciples' feet, and to wipe them with a towel wherewith He was 
girded. 

And what was this but the act of " Him that loved us, and washed us from our 
sins in His own Blood?" (if) of Him who by His own precious blood-sheclding was 
even now about to wash away the defilement of His Disciples ; and with the flesh 
wherewith He was clothed, to make them clean? Thus, in our "prayer of hum- 
ble access," we are taught to pray " that our sinful bodies may be made clean by 
His Body, and our souls washed through His most precious Blood." ... If such 
a commentary on the text strikes any one as fanciful, and far-fetched, let him pon- 
der well the meaning of verses 6 to 11 ; and he will probably see the reason to 
reverse his judgment. 

Many of the ancient writers point out that our attention is here evidently called 
to the fact that our Saviour performed the present servile office alone; suffering 
no one to help Him, even so far as to pour the water for Him into the bason. 
Hence, they bid us derive a lesson of strenuous personal exertion in whatsoever 
labor we undertake ; the lesson, in fact, which is conveyed by that precept of the 
Preacher, — "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." (it) But 
surely, far loftier teaching than this, awaits us here ! " Wherefore art Thou red 
in Thine apparel," (asks the Prophet,) " and Thy garments like him that treadeth 

(o) Philippic-ins ii. 7. (j?) See St. Luke xii. 35, 37. 

(q) Consider Isaiah xlii. 1, &c. (r) St. Luke xxii. 27. 

(s) St. Matth. xx. 28. (0 Rev. i. 5. 
(u) Eccles. ix. 10. 



XIII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 809 

in the wine-fat ?" Our Saviour makes answer: — "I have trodden the wine-press 
alone: and of the people there was none with Me."(z) 

6 Then cometh He to Simon Peter : and Peter saith unto Him, 
Lord, dost Thou wash my feet ? 

Many have thought from this that our Lord began first with Judas, or some 
other, and came last to Simon Peter. Would it not rather seem, on the contrary, 
that Simon was the first whom the Son of Man approached on the present myste- 
rious occasion? (Take notice that "began to wash," in verse 5, merely signifies 
"washed.") Amazed at the intended act of condescension, the Disciple exclaims, 
"Lord, art Thou about to wash my feet?" .... But the language of the original 
is far more striking ; for, first, there is a marked contrast between " Thou" and 
" my ;" (the words come close together, and we are left to infer the emphasis with 
which the Apostle will have pronounced them:) nest, all by itself, comes the ques- 
tion about the washing of the feet. Was such an act possible, on the part of "the 
Christ, the Son of the living GOD,"(y) towards one who knew himself to be "a 
sinful man?"(z) 

7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not 
now ; but thou shalt know hereafter. 

There was therefore more than met the eye in the lowly act which we have been 
hitherto considering. What it signified, our Saviour will be found Himself partly 
to explain in verse 8: but the full understanding of it, we learn, was reserved until 
"hereafter:" a saying which reminds us of the many intimations in the Gospel 
that after our Lord's Ascension, it would be the office of the Holy Spirit to bring 
"all things" to the remembrance of the Apostles, — both the sayings and the actions 
of their Divine Master : as well as to discover the wondrous, and wholly unsus- 
pected, meaning of either. See the note on St. John xii. 16, and the places there 
referred to. 

St. Peter seems to have been too much confounded by the largeness of the 
intended condescension to attend to our Lord's hint that this was no common ser- 
vice. Accordingly, — 

8 Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus 
answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me. 

Far more therefore, than a pattern of Humility, did our Saviour set forth when He 
performed this lowly office for the Twelve. Far more also was thereby intended than 
the display of His Love for "His own," when he was about to depart out of the 
World, and to leave them behind Him. Simon Peter hath "no part with" Christ, 
if Christ doth not wash Him ! Further on, (a) we shall find the present washing 
connected with the cleanness which all but one possessed. " There is therefore a 
deeper meaning here than the mere relief of suffering Humanity." " Let those who 
refuse to allegorize(6) these, and the like passages," (says Origen,) "explain how it 
is probable that he who out of reverence for Jesus said, "Thou shalt never wash 
my feet," would have had no part with the Son of God ; as if not having his feet 
washed were a deadly wickedness." By this symbolic action, it was doubtless in- 
tended, (as we have already hinted above on ver. 5,) to set forth the cleansing 
power of Christ's Blood ; which, sacramentally conveyed to the souls of Christ's 
people, washes away the guilt of their souls, and renews to purest life. In the 
person of Simon, our Saviour therefore addresses the whole Human Race, and 
teaches that no one can have any part with Him who is not first washed by Him. 

9, 10 Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also 
my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth 
not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit : 

Terrified at the prospect of having no part with Christ, but still at a loss to 

(x) Is. lxiii. 2, 3. ( y ) St. Matth. xvi. 16. 

(z) St. Luke v. 8. See St. Matth. iii. 14. (a) In verses 10, 11. 

(b) The reader, it is hoped, will not require to be reminded that the word is used in St. Paul's 
sense. — Gal. iv. 24. 



810 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

understand his Master's meaning, — Simon, with characteristic eagerness, professes 
his desire for the completest possible washing, if only thereby he may obtain the 
largest possible interest in Christ. Our Lord's answer is full of sacramental im- 
port. He that hath once been washed all over, — (for so it is implied by our Lord's 
words, in the original ; whereby, doubtless, He alluded to that " one Baptism for 
the remission of sins," which may never be repeated,) — "needeth not save to wash 
his feet." "From which, (as Augustine observes,) "we understand that Peter was 
already baptized." The meaning of the words has been thus given by the same 
commentator: — " The whole of a man is washed in Baptism; not excepting his feet. 
Inasmuch however as we have to live in the World afterwards, we are compelled 
to tread upon the ground. Those human affections therefore, without which we 
cannot live in this world, are, as it were our feet, which connect us with human 
things ; and so connect us, that " if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves ; 
and the Truth is not in us." Daily therefore does He wash our feet who " maketh 
intercession for us:"(c) and that we need this daily washing of our feet, (that is, 
the cleansing of our ways,) we confess in the Lord's Prayer, when we say " Forgive 
us our debts, as we forgive our debtors ;"(cZ) for "if we confess our sins," (as it is 
written,) then most assuredly will He, who washed His Disciples' feet, prove faithful 
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness :"(e) that 
is to say, He will cleanse us down to the very feet wherewith we hold our converse 
with Earth :"{/) the defilement which we contract in our daily intercourse with the 
World will be daily done away. 

" He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." 
"Does not this warn us," (asks a zealous parish priest,) "that in every soul to 
whom we minister within the Kingdom of God, we should remember the Baptism 
of earlier years ? We should never forget that they may have been, even as we, re- 
cipients of His grace : nay, we may believe, (what we shall seldom fail to find,) that 
in every man, beneath the most rugged manner and coarsest spirit, there is some, 
if it be but one, remaining element of good."Q/) — The Blessed Speaker adds, 

and ye are clean, but not all. 

May these last words have been added by our Saviour after He had completed 
His lowly task? It seems very probable. "And now, ye are clean," (He says,) 
" but not all of you." The Traitor, though washed by the Hands of Christ Him- 
self, was "filthy still."(7i) Compare chap. xv. 3. 

Note here the progressive character of our Lord's Discourse. (i) At first, it 
might have been thought that an external washing with water, and the removal of 
bodily defilement, was all that He wished to display on this occasion ; and that He 
intended thereby to set before His followers an example of Humility. He gives a 
hint that His act contained a higher meaning in verse 7 : He declares plainly that 
it had a higher meaning, in verse 8. — So, in the former part of the present verse, 
He darkly intimates that it is not mere bodily impurity to which He seeks to direct 
the attention of His Disciples: and here, at the close of the verse, He declares that 
His words actually point to sjnritual defilement. These few last words are there- 
fore the key to all that went before. They declare our Saviour's act to have been 
symbolical throughout: the washing, — a symbolical cleansing; the uncleanness, — a 
symbolical impurity. 

11 For He knew who should betray Hiin ; therefore said He, Ye are 
not all clean. 

"Bather 'him that ivas betraying Him;' that is, the Disciple who was meditating 
to do so."{j) 

12 So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments 
and was set down again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done 
to you? 

(c) Rom-viii. 34. (d) St. Matth. vi. 12. 

(e) 1 St. John i. 9. (/) Augustine. 

(g) From an Ordination Sermon, by the Rev. T. T. Carter, of Clewer; preached at Christ- 
Church, Oxford, Dec. 23, 1849. 

(7t) Rev. xxii. 11. (i) See the end of note on St. John vi. 34. 
(j) Burton. 



XIII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 811 



He had now gone the circuit of that upper chamber : He had bowed Himself 
down before each one of His Disciples, — had washed the feet of each, — had dried 
them with the towel wherewith He was girded. Even Judas had been washed, 
Hereafter, of each of the Eleven it will be said, "How beautiful are the feet of him 
that bringeth good tidings !" (k) Christ then resumed His place at the Paschal 
Supper; and while the rest of the Disciples proceeded with their meal,(Z) — " Know 
ye what I have done unto you ?" He asks : 

13, 14 Ye call Me Master and Lord : and ye say well, for so I am. 
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought 
to wash one another's feet. 

This is one of the Blessed Speaker's most usual methods of reasoning, (m) " If 
I, who am your Lord and your Master, have not disdained to perform this servile 
office towards yourselves, who are My creatures and my servants, — how much more 
should ye, who are all brethren, (n) do the like towards one another V 

Take notice, here, with how much delicacy and gentleness our Lord introduces 
the Divine precept which follows. He does not begin " I am your Lord and 
Master ;" but from the confession of their own lips, He instructs them : so that His 
manner on this occasion becomes a sublime kind of illustration of the precept found 
in Prov. xxvii. 2. The place of Scripture, however, to which the reader's thought- 
ful attention should be especially directed, in connection with verse 13, is St. 
Matthew xxiii. 8 and 10. — Let it further be observed, that when our Saviour might 
have drawn a very different inference as to the duty of the Disciples, as servants 
He is content to exact nothing more than conformity to His own example, though 
He is their Lord. As it follows : 

15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have 
done to you. 

An example of Humility and Love ; the special act which had been singled out as 
a pattern of those graces, being the servile act(o) of Washing of the feet : just as, 
in the Decalogue, when the graces of Purity and Temperance, Honesty and Liber- 
ality, are enjoined, special mention is made of Adultery and Theft. "But it is not 
necessary for any one who wishes to obey all the commandments of Jesus, literally 
to perform the act of washing feet. This is merely a matter of custom ; and the 
custom is now generally dropped," — says one who wrote in the beginning of the 
third century.(£>) " The washing of the feet is rather a symbol of the relief that 
should be given amidst the evils which settle upon man in his continual struggle 
with the World. All mercies centre in the Apostolic Commission."^) And "learn of 
Me;" (saith our Blessed Lord ;) " for I am meek and lowly of heart : and ye shall 
find rest unto your souls." (r) — How much these lowly followers of the Lamb needed 
such a precept, the events of this very Paschal Supper very quickly showed. St. Luke 
relates that, soon after the Institution of the Lord's Supper, "there was a strife 
among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest." (s) 

There was a deeper purpose, however, as we have seen,(tf) in this act of our 
Redeemer, than the example of lowly Love which He thereby set to His Disciples. 
He designed, symbolically, to prepare them for the blessed rite which was to follow ; 
and bodily ablution had been the well-known typical means, under the Law, of 
attaining the purity which is requisite on similar occasions. (u) By such remarks 
we are naturally guided to the loftier intention of the present precept. "What 
else can be our Lord's meaning therein," (asks Augustine,) "than what St. Paul 
plainly rejoins, — " Forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: 
even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."(w) Let us then forgive one another, 

(k) Is. lii. 7. (I) Consider St. Matth. xxvi. 26. 

bm) Consider St. Luke xiii. 16 : xiv. 5. (n) St. Matth. xxiii. 8. 

(o) To know what this act implies, consider 1 Sam. xxv. 41, and St. Luke vii. 36. Observe 
also our Lord's comment upon it, — St. Luke xxii. 27. 

(p) Origen. This ceremony, however, was observed by the Church of Milan, until the time 
of Ambrose. — Consider 1 Tim. v. 10. 

(q) Rev. T. T. Carter. (r) St, Matth. xi. 29. 

(s) St. Luke xxii. 24. Consider the place, and all that follows. 

(t) See above, the notes on verses 5, 7, 8. 

(w) Consider Exodus xxx. 19, 20. Ps. xxvi. 6 : Ixxiii. 13. Also Ps. li. 2. 

(ic) Col. iii. 13. 



812 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

and pray for one another ; and thus, in a certain sense, let us wash one another's 
feet. God hath Himself committed to us a Ministry of Humility and Love : pro- 
mising that He will Himself hear us ; that through Christ, and in Christ, He will 
cleanse us from all our sins ; and that whatsoever, by acts of forgiveness, we loosen 
here on Earth, shall by Him be loosened also in Heaven." 

16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Servant is not greater than 
his Lord ; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. 

A proverbial saying very like the present, (namely, " The Disciple is not above 
his Master/') is found on our Saviour's lips on two occasions :(x) being conjoined, 
on the second time of its occurrence, with the present saying, — " The Servant is 
not greater than his Lord." Words full of solemn meaning, doubtless ; for our 
Saviour recurs to them in St. John xv. 20. Their purpose, in this place, seems to 
be, to convey to the Apostles a general lesson of warning and guidance ; " as if to 
say, if J do it, much more ought you."(y) "This was a necessary admonition to 
the Apostles, some of whom were about to rise to higher, others to lower, degrees 
of eminence. That none might exult over another, He changes the hearts of 
all. "(2) — Take notice that these words are introduced with the formula of solemn 
assertion :(a) and see below, on ver. 19. 

The latter clause of this sentence inevitably loses half its point in our language, 
which has not a word, (like "Apostle,") formed from the verb "to send," to indi- 
cate " one that is sent." 

17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. 

" These words immediately refer to the lesson which our Blessed Saviour had 
given to His Disciples, that they should do to one another as He had done unto 
them, in washing their feet. But they are the words of Him who spake as never 
man spake ; and we must not confine their meaning to the single case which called 
them forth. They declare a principle applicable to every part of a Christian's 
life ;"(&) even this, that the knowledge of Religion is worthless apart from the 
practice of it. 

The mere mention of the "happy," (or, as the word is rendered in the Sermon 
on the Mount, the " blessed,") seems to have suggested thoughts so wholly foreign 
to the case of Judas, that our Saviour at once adds : 

18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen : 

" Chosen," that is, to worthy Apostleship. Our Lord does not seem to be here 
speaking of those whom God "hath chosen in Christ out of mankind," and hath 
decreed "to bring by Christ to everlasting Salvation."(c) He speaks rather of 
those whom He had chosen to be of the number of the Twelve, — as in chap. vi. 
70 ;(d) chosen, doubtless, with a view to their Eternal Blessedness. Yet, foras- 
much as one of them "was a devil," our Lord, (who saw the end from the begin- 
ning, and " from whom no secrets are hid,") — speaks of that one as never having 
been the object of His choice. Hence, "I speak not of you all," He says: "I 
speak not as if ye were all about to be thus happy in practising the lesson which I 
have taught you ;"(e) 

but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with 
Me hath lifted up his heel against Me. 

As if He said, — " But it was foreseen from the beginning that all things would 
thus fall out. "Words darkly descriptive of the event were divinely suggested to 
the author of the forty-first Psalm ; and Judas is the individual man, concerning 
whom, that sure word of prophecy was written." . . . How precious a circum- 
stance is it that we should be thus informed, by the very lips of Christ, that the 
forty-first Psalm has direct reference to Himself! 

(x) St. Luke vi. 40 : and St. Matthew x. 24. 

(y) Chrysostom. (a) Tkeophylact. 

(a) See latter part of note on St. John vi. 46. 

(b) From a sermon by Rev. Rob. Scott, D.D., Master of Balliol. . 

(c) Article of Predestination and Election. 

(d) Compare St. Luke vi. 13. (e) Lonsdale and Hale. 



XIII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 813 

The phrase, " lifting up the heel," seems most probably to imply the attempt of 
a wrestler, or racer, to trip up his antagonist ; (in which sense Jacob was called a 
" supplanter ;") (f) whence it comes to signify behaving treacherously ; plotting 
again tt another so as to procure his fall. — The circumstance that Judas "did eat 
of Christ's bread," is noticed as a peculiar aggravation at once of the Traitor's 
cruelty, and of his guilt. Cruelty, — for if he had been an open enemy, his conduct 
would have been bearable : if his hatred had been a known thing, then might it 
have been avoided ; " but it was even thou; My companion, My guide, and Mine 
own familiar friend."(#) Guilt, — for it was the consecrated Bread of the Holy 
Eucharist of which he was now about to be made a partaker.(7i) . . . The reader 
is referred below to the note on ver. 30, for some remarks on the character of Judas, 
and the loving treatment which he was at this time obtaining at the hands of his 
Divine Master. Chrysostom points out that, "if injured ever by our servants or 
inferiors, we should not be offended. Judas had received infinite benefits, and yet 
thus requited his Benefactor." 

It has been already elsewhere admitted, (i) that the expression — "that the Scrip- 
ture might be fulfilled," occasions a difficulty: but the most simple-hearted and 
honest-minded man will probably be the least conscious of it. None can doubt that 
Judas, when he was called to the Apostleship, was, (like Saul,) full of fairest pro- 
mise : but freedom of action was not taken from him because he was chosen to 
follow Christ. God constrains the will of none. Adam was even created upright : 
yet he fell ; and it was by his own choice that he fell. 

But if Judas was not constrained to continue holy, still less was he constrained 
to become wicked. The very thought would be blasphemous, if it were not so 
absurd. In the meantime, the all-seeing God clearly foresaw his fall; and David, 
moved by the Holy Ghost, predicted it plainly :{j) the intention of the Holy 
Ghost, thereby, being the same which now induced our Lord to allude to the cir- 
cumstance, — an intention which He will be found to declare in the very next 
verse. 

19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye 
may believe that 1 am He. 

The treachery of Judas, thus foretold by our Lord, and therefore clearly foreseen 
by Him: foreshadowed, a thousand years before, in the Psalms of David, and now 
shown by the same Lord to be there foreshadowed, — His finger indicating the very 
place of the Prophet where His own inspiring Spirit(/v) had caused him to describe 
the Traitor's great wickedness : — this would be a convincing proof to the Disciples, 
hereafter, that He who now spake to them was none other than the Eternal God. 
Compare, for the expression, St. John viii. 28. Accordingly, St. Peter's very first 
ivords, after the Ascension, are found to be an appeal to the fulfillment of prophecy, 
as exhibited in the person of Judas. Consider Acts i. 15 to 20. — The saying which 
follows, is introduced by the formula of solemn assertion : — 

20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I 
send receiveth Me ; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent 
Me. 

At first, the connection of this verse with what goes before, is not obvious. The 
truth is, verses 18 and 19 are of the nature of a digression, occasioned by the lan- 
guage of verse 17. " Verily, verily," here, (as in verse 16,) indicates that the 
Divine Speaker is about to resume the subject which He had already treated of 
from ver. 13 to ver. 17 ; namely, the relation in which His Disciples stood towards 
Himself, — the duties which they should be prepared to discharge towards one 
another, — and the consideration in which they were to be held by the World. To 
the Clergy, then, belongs a Ministry of unfeigned Humility, Charity, Forgiveness: 
but, lest the World should presume on this to set at nought God's ambassadors, 
and to refuse their message, our Lord spreads over their ministrations the awful 
sanction of His own special presence ; declaring that the favour which they expe- 
rience He will graciously accept as offered to Himself. Woe to those who forget 

(/) Gen. xxvii. 36. (g) Ps. Iv. 12 to 14. 

(h) See 1 Cor. xi. 27 to 31. (i) See the note on St. John xii. 38. 

(j ) Consider Acts i. 16. (k) Consider 1 St. Pet. i. 11. 



814 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

that the reverence thus shown them "by the "World is in reality shown to their 
Master ! 

Judas, in the meantime, was reclining beside the Holy One, unmoved. With a 
heart full of murderous thoughts against His Benefactor, (I) he had beheld that 
Benefactor, like some "poor helpless Man,"(m) kneel before him, — ^as if to abandon 
his wicked purpose ; and, while yet it was in his power, to repent of his sin. He 
had felt those loving Hands wash his feet, "swift to shed blood ;"(n) had heard 
Simon Peter's conscience-stricken cry, " Thou, my King and God, shaft never wash 
the feet of such a wretch as I! Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord I" 
He had been made aware, next, that the act was symbolical ; and he must have 
known that it was symbolical of that very inward cleansing which he needed so 
much more than all the rest. He had heard our Lord, while yet engaged in His 
lowly task, say — "Ye are clean, but not all."{o) On resuming His place at the 
table, the same Divine lips had said, — " I speak not of you all. I know whom I 
have chosen ;"(p) an d the rest - Our Saviour, therefore, had now brought His 
Discourse to a close ; and can we wonder at what we read in the next verse 
concerning His demeanor on this most affecting occasion ? 

21 When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in Spirit, and 
testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you 
shall betray Me. 

Thus bringing home to each breast the warning which had hitherto been only 
general. It follows : 

22 Then the Disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom 
He spake. 

Notice their sweet charity ! We do not read that all eyes were turned towards 
Judas. They suspected no one in particular. They "looked one on another ;" 
each one of the Eleven dreading, lest it might prove to be himself! " And they 
were exceeding sorrowful," (we read ;) " and began every one of them to say unto 
Him, Lord, is it IV'(q) "And another said, Is it I ?"(»')•. . . If the reader desires 
for more information concerning this solemn scene, he will find it in the notes on 
St. Matthew xxvi. 21 to 25 : indeed, he is invited to refer thither. 

The Christian Passover was next instituted. Our Lord proceeded at this junc- 
ture, to deliver to His Disciples, — (and to Judas among the rest,) — " the most 
comfortable Sacrament of His Body and Blood." Several remarks on that stu- 
pendous transaction will be found in the notes on St. Matth. xxvi. 26 to 29 : St. 
Mark xiv. 21 to 25 : St. Luke xxii. 15 to 20 : to which it is hoped that the reader 
will find it worth his while, in this place, to refer. 

" But behold," (said our Saviour, at the end of this, the last Paschal Supper,) 
" the hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me on the table. And truly the Son 
of Man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom He is 
betrayed ! And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it was 
that should do this thing." (s) 

23 Now there was leaning on Jesus' Bosom one of His Disciples, 
whom Jesus loved. 

What a head must his have been, to have found such a pillow ! ... St. John 
here describes himself for the first time, as " the Disciple whom Jesus loved." Our 
Saviour Christ did indeed "love" all His Disciples :{t) but it was the unspeakable 
joy of St. John, to deserve this mode of designation beyond all the rest ; to be able 
truly to describe himself as " the Disciple whom Jesus loved" (u) with strong human 
Love, as His friend. . . . The only other persons, by the way, whom our Saviour 
is expressly stated to have loved, are Lazarus and his sisters.(^) 

(I) St. John xiii. 2. (to) Ps. cix. 26. 

(n) Rom. iii. 15, quoting Prov. i. 16. (o) Ver. 10. 

(p) Ver. 18. (q) St. Matth. xxvi. 22. 

(?•) St. Mark xiv. 19. (s) St. Luke xxii. 21 to 23. 

(t) St. John xiii. 34: xv. 9, 12, &c. 

(u) The expression recurs in St. John xix. 26 : xx. 2 : xxi. 7 and 20. 

(v) St. John xi. 5. St. Mark x. 21 is not, of course, in point. 



XIII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 815 



It is found from this verse, and what follows, that St. John reclined at the table 
next to our Saviour ; while St. Peter was so far off as to be obliged to explain by 
signs the question which he wished " the other Disciple" to put to their Divine 
Master. One can easily picture the gesture, slight but expressive, which would 
have conveyed the inquiry which follows : — 

24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who 
it should be of whom He spake. 

Bather, " who it was" — Take notice of the respect of the Twelve, (of which we 
have already noticed so many examples,) in their approaches to our Lord.(x) 

25 He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto Him, Lord, who 
is it? 

Or, perhaps he said, — " Lord, which is he that betrayeth Thee ?" . . . This 
passage in the life of the beloved Disciple appeared to himself important enough 
to become the act by which, in his old age, he wished the Church of Christ ever- 
more to identify him. Consider St. John xxi. 20. 

He seems to have leaned forward, and sunk upon His Master's breast ; and so 
whispered this question. In a very soft whisper also, it is quite certain, (for no 
one present heard the words, except St. John,) did our Lord return answer. 

26 Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I 
have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, He gave it to 
Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. 

These words were whispered, then, into the ear of St. John alone ; and it is plain 
from what we read in verses 28 and 29, that St. Peter himself was not permitted to 
know what answer the Lord had returned to his inquiry. 

Does it not almost follow, from the portion of narrative before us, that while St. 
John was reclining on one side of our Lord, Judas Iscariot must have been reclining 
on the other ? Take notice, that no one present either heard what our Lord had 
said, or seems to have noticed what He had done. If He had had to reach across 
the Table, or beyond any one sitting next to Him, the act would have infallibly 
attracted attention. But if St. John and Judas, — (the first in purity, and the last 
in defilement!) — occupied the two extremities of the line of Disciples which met 
and centered in their Lord ; so that one loas on His Right Hand, and the other on 
His Left, all becomes quite plain. And thus will have been exhibited at the 
Paschal Supper, what was exhibited afterwards on the Cross ; namely, the Saviour 
immediately between two men who " bore in a manner the image of those who 
should stand at His Bight, and His Left, in Judgment, — the elect of God, and the 
reprobate." (a) St. John, at all events, was now at our LORD'S, Right Hand; 
for it was customary, at meals, to lean on the left elbow; and he "was reclining 
on Jesus' bosom." 

Christ, therefore, " when He had dipped the sop," (or rather " the morsel of 
bread,") "gave it to Judas Iscariot." 

27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. 

Which becomes evermore the warning of the unworthy Communicant, — as the 
Church faithfully reminds us, in her first Exhortation. 

The attentive student of the Gospel will remember, that St. Luke mentions in 
connection with the history of the previous day (namely, Wednesday,) that " Satan 
entered into Judas Iscariot:"(6) and in our note on that passage it was suggested 
that the Enemy had obtained a footing in this sinful man's soul at a yet earlier 
period; namely, immediately after the supper at Bethany. Doubtless, Satan gets 
possession of a man by degrees; and yet, (as in taking a town,) the final assaidt 
must come at last. Now this is just what seems to be here indicated by the blessed 
Evangelist, in the case of the Traitor. Two years before our Saviour spoke of him 
as being " a devil."(c) Above, in verse 2, it was said that the Enemy had "now 
put it into the heart of Judas" to betray his Lord. Here, finally, Satan " enters 

(x) See the notes on St. John iv. 27, and xii. 22. 

(a) See the note on St. Luke xxiii. 38. (6) St. Luke xxii. 3. 

(c) St. John vi. 70, where see the note. 



816 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

into" Judas. Compare the language of Acts v. 3. He finds the "house" " swept 
and garnished ; " enters in, and dwells there." " And the last state of that man is 
worse than the first l"(d) 

The following remarks on the terrible statement before us, seem deserving of 
attention: — "When it is said that ' Satan entered into' Judas, we are not to under- 
stand that the man became transformed into a demoniac ; or that he was now for 
the first time inflamed with wicked designs. He had in fact already yielded him- 
self to the suggestions of the Tempter. But, roused and exasperated by the suspi- 
cion that he was being marked out as the intended betrayer of Christ, he opened 
all his soul to the instigations of the Evil One : and, while he resolved on the act 
of wickedness, determined in his own heart to carry it into immediate execution 
likewise. Satan therefore is said to enter into him because he obtains a firm foot- 
ing within him, and gets him quite into his power ; for Judas, in renouncing Dis- 
cipleship, separated himself from Christ. And the receiving of the sop at our 
Saviour's Hands, marked the instant at which this separation took place. Hitherto, 
while Judas remained of the number of the Twelve, Satan had not dared to enter 
into him ; but had been merely assailing him from without. From this instant, 
however, he boldly made him his own. Accordingly, Judas may no longer even 
remain in the society of the Apostles but goes out."(e) 

Need it be added that " the sop" was not the efficient cause of Satan's victory 
over Judas ? It was a good gift : a sign of tender Love : a pledge, (it may be,) that 
forgiveness was yet in store, if Judas would repent. But despised blessings become 
the occasion of our severest downfalls. 

And it is not at all unlikely that because Judas supposed himself on the very eve 
of detection, — when, with the quick eye of conscious guilt, he noticed St. Peter 
making signs to St. John, and St. John whispering to our Lord, and lastly our 
Lord guiding His hand to him, — he became hardened and reckless. The mask, (as 
he thought,) was all but torn from his face. It was useless therefore to maintain 
appearances any longer. 

Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. 

Proving to the Traitor, by those few words, that the foul intentions of one whom, 
by so many fruitless endeavors, He had sought to reveal to himself, were at least 
all fully known to Him. Christ does not bid Judas go on his accursed errand. 
He does but permit his departure: as indeed nothing can take place without God's 
permission. The words also contain a reproof: "convey an intimation that the 
Blessed Speaker would offer no hinderance to the intended wickedness :"{/) and 
lastly, they are words of sad dismissal. 

28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent He spake this 
unto him. 

St. John proceeds to show how very wide of the Truth were their conjectures. 
a ]? or » (h e says,) — 

29 For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus 
had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the 
feast : or, that he should give something to the poor. 

By this time, then, it is found that the eyes of the Apostles began to be attracted 
towards Judas. They all perceived that our Saviour had whispered something 
into his ear ; for it is expressly said that " no man at the table knew for what intent" 
Christ had spoken. Some, again, are declared to have speculated as to what might 
have been the nature of our Lord's communication ; and since their thoughts are 
here set down, it is to be supposed that they mentioned them afterwards to St. John. 
But it does not seem clear that a single person present heard the actual words which 
our Saviour uttered. What is quite certain, even St. John himself, if he heard 
them, did not understand their import. 

Every thing here is suggestive. Every word, almost, is a homily. And well may it 
be so : for we have reached a part of the narrative, from which, wherever we turn, we 
are met by new combinations of past incidents, and obtain a fresh view of the en- 
tire subject. The custody of " the bag," or money-chest, which rested with Judas, 

(d) St. Luke xi. 25, 26. (e) Toletus. (/) Chrysostom. 



XIII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 817 

here noticed for the second time,(<7) is a circumstance full of tremendous warning. 
The two supposed errands of the Traitor have both to do with money : and by 
coupling them with the statement that "Judas had the bag," St. John seems to im- 
ply that the Traitor, impatient for his bribe, on rising to leave the table, was ob- 
served to grasp the intended receptacle of the silver pieces. What things a pious 
Israelite was likely to procure overnight, on the 14th of Nisan, "against the Feast," 
we will not here conjecture. But who can read without emotion the hint as to our 
Redeemer's practice with respect to " the poor?" Judas was therefore the Almoner 
of Christ : and surely, if his office of Treasurer exposed him to fiery temptation, 
the insight which he must have obtained, in his other capacity, into the depth of 
Human Misery, and the height of Divine Love, should have sufficed to quench the 
flame ! Here was the antidote side by side with the poison. 

From this point, we seem to have the clue supplied us to our Saviour's many 
warnings against Covetousness :{li) His repeated exhortations to His Disciples to 
" watch :"(i) His many hints that "the first should be last:"(&) that of the many 
" called" few would be " chosen :"(7) that there was danger lest, out of many, one 
should prove a castaway,(ra) — a subject which has been already alluded to, in the 
notes on St. Mark xiv. 25. Here, also, we are reminded of the many direct hints 
and warnings which Judas is related to have received, from first to last, at our 
Lord's hands; concerning which, see the note on St. John vi. 70 ; and above, on 
verses 20, 21. Indeed, the present chapter is full of them. It is alike awful and 
instructive to discover, that, as if to give the Traitor no excuse, — in order to leave, 
nothing, either in the way of warning or of kindness, untried, — our Saviour twice 
before Judas rose and left that upper-chamber, said openly — "The Son of Man 
goeth, as it is written of Him : but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is 
betrayed ! It had been good for that m,an if he had not been born."(n) 

Finally, the reader is requested to refer to what has been offered on the character 
of Judas, and the temper of the Twelve, in the commentary on St. Matthew xxvi. 
22: St. Mark xiv. 25 : St. Luke xxii. 23. The amazing contrast between the Trai- 
tor's outer and inner life ; as well as the success with which he kept his wickedness 
a secret from the rest of the Apostles to the very last ; are perhaps among the most 
astonishing and instructive warnings in the Gospel. Equally does the largeness of 
the charity displayed by all the rest, on this occasion, become our bright example. 

It shall only further be pointed out, (and to fail to do so, would be an omission 
indeed,) that the Ministers of Christ, "following their Divine Master in their 
earnest search for souls, are to leave none, no, not even the most abandoned, un- 
tried by their hand. Even Judas was washed. The Lord was seeking even then 
to awaken his darkened soul, before Satan finally " entered in," and possessed him. 
So surely would a Pastor fail to fulfill the Commission of his Master, if he passed 
one house as too degraded for his foot, or left one: soul as beyond hope."(o) The 
Traitor received so many warnings, in the course of the Last Supper, only that he 
might profit by one. 

The transaction however which has called forth these remarks, was but the work 
of a few silent moments. Simon Peter motioned, — St. John whispered, — our Divine 
Lord breathed His inaudible reply. A morsel of bread was in His hand. He clip- 
ped it ; and, turning to the most guilty as well as the most miserable of mankind, 
presented it to him. In the dark recesses of the Traitor's soul a horrible thing was 
wrought ; and the Saviour let fall a few words which sealed his fate. We read 
that the result was immediate ; — 

30 He then having received the sop went immediately out : and it 
was Night. 

Judas went "immediately" on his accursed errand. Satan hurried him on, lest 
he should consider, — and repent. Such violence* and promptness are observed ever 
to characterize the acts of the Evil One.. Consider Job. i. 16, 17, 18 ; St. Matthew 

(g) See St. John xii. 6, and the note there. 

(h) As St. Matth. vi. 19 to 24: St. Luke xii. 15, &c. 

(i) St. Matth. xxiv. 42 : xxv. 13, &c. 

(k) See St. Matth. xix. 30, St. Mark x. 31, and the notes there. 

(I) See St. Matth. xx. 16 : xxii. 14. 

(to) See the note on St. Matth. xxii. 11, 12 : xxv. 28 : and on St. Luke xix. 13. 

(n) St. Matth. xxvii. 24 and St. Mark xiv. 21 are distinct from St. Luke xxii. 22. 

(o) Rev. T. T. Carter. 

52 



818 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

viii. 31, 32. " The sop," or rather "the morsel of bread," is thus mentioned for 
the fourth time-.(jp) perhaps to remind us of the literal fulfillment of the Prophecy- 
quoted in ver. 18. 

" It was Night" when this happened. There is doubtless the deepest significance 
in the announcement. Dark Night was it, when Judas was led captive by the 
Power of Darkness(g) — made subject to the "Ruler of the Darkness of thisWorld."(r) 
The reader is invited to refer to what was offered on St. John xii. 35.(5) So also 
is the statement, (twice repeated,) that Judas "went out," full of awful meaning. 
In departing from that upper-chamber, Judas, like Cain, "went out from the pre- 
sence of the Lord:"(£) cast himself forth from what was a type of "the Marriage 
Supper of the Lamb," — a scene of Light and Joy, — into the image of that " outer 
Darkness" which is spoken of in the Gospel as the portion of the damned. Con- 
sider St. Matthew viii. 11 and 12, and the notes there. (u) "He went out indeed," 
(remarks Origen,) "not only from the house in which he was, but from Jesus alto- 
gether." 

31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of 
Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. 

Up to this period, the Discourse of our Lord had the Traitor for its especial 
object. It seems to have been altogether intended to reclaim Judas from his in- 
tended crime. The Good Shepherd had left His eleven sheep in the Wilderness, 
and gone in search of that which was lost.(z) (Take notice, by the way, that if 
even He did not succeed in bringing back the object of His Love and Pity, " on His 
shoulders, rejoicing," — the minister of Christ may be permitted to find comfort 
under failures, also.) But, "when Judas was gone out," the Redeemer's words of 
counsel and consolation could flow forth freely; and His address to the Eleven is 
found to fill three entire chapters, — besides the conclusion of the present chapter ; 
being followed by His Prayer to the Eternal Father, which occupies the seven- 
teenth of St. John. 

" Now is the Son of Man glorified," saith our Lord. Instead of speaking of His 
Death, He speaks of His " glorification ;" in order thereby to raise the spirits, and 
comfort the failing hearts of His Disciples; describing His Crucifixion by this name, 
because of the glory which was to follow ;(y) and because of the evidence which 
would then be afforded to the World that " the Son of Man" was also " the Son of 
God."(z) "Is glorified," as if the transaction were already over: because it was 
so very close at hand ; so very certain ; and because, when Judas "went out" to 
betray Him into the hands of His murderers, surely, some of the bitterness of Death 
itself was already past.(a) This first terrible earnest of what was coming did indeed 
bring our Saviour's Cross and Passion so clearly to view, that He is able to say, 
" Now is the Son of Man glorified." True it is that He had been frequently glori- 
fied already, (that is, the GoDhead had been frequently revealed by His miracles; (b) 
but those manifestations had been as nothing, compared to the evidence which was 
in store, and which was to come abroad only after our Saviour had trod the avenue 
of Pain and Death. (c) It may also be thought that the triumph over the Powers of 
Hell, which was achieved by the Son of Man while He hung upon the Cross, (d) — 
a triumph not witnessed by human eyes indeed, but gazed on doubtless with awe 
and admiration by every member of God's spiritual Creation ; and which is hinted 
at, in no obscure language by our Saviour Christ Himself ;(e) that triumphant 
display of Incarnate Deity, (may we not presume ?) will have formed no incon- 
siderable part of the " glorification" here alluded to.(/) 

The entire passage, ("Now is the Son of Man glorified, and GOD is glorified in 
Him,") appears to have reference to the incident recorded in chap. xii. 28. {g) 
"Father, glorify Thy Name," our Lord had there said. "I have both glorified 

(p) Verses 26, 27. (?) St. Luke xxii. 53. (r) Ephes. vi. 12. 

(s) Origen further reminds us of 1 Thess. v. 5 to 7. 

(t) Gen. iv. 16. Consider St. Matthew xviii. 28; and the note on St. Matthew xviii. 30. 

(m) See also St. Matth. xxii. 13 and xxv. 30. 

(x) St, Luke xv. 4. (y) 1 St. Pet. i. 11. 

(z) St. Matth. xxvii. 54. (a) Alluding to 1 Sam. xv. 32. 

(6) Consider St. John ii. 11. (c) Consider Phil. ii. 9, 10. 

(d) Consider by all means Coloss. ii. 15, and Ephes. iv. 8. 

(e) See St. John xii. 31. (/) See the notes on St. John xii. 28. 
(g) Where see the notes. 



XIII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 819 



it, and will glorify it again/' was answered by " a Voice from Heaven." Accord- 
ingly, the moment has arrived, when, by the Son of Man's glorification, God is to 
be " glorified in Him." In other words, God is about again to glorify that Name 
which He had already glorified so abundantly : for the honour of the Son, is the 
honour of the Father ; and the glorification of the One implies the glorification of 
the Other in Him, also. Some light is thrown on the Father's being " glorified" 
by the Death of the Son of Man," by what we read in St. John xxi. 19, concerning 
the death of St. Peter ; and in xi. 29, 30, concerning the death of Lazarus. See the 
note on St. John xi. 4 ; and consider St. John vii. 18. Our Lord proceeds : 

32 If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Him- 
self, and shall straightway glorify Him. 

" If," does not imply uncertainty in this place. (h) The meaning appears to be, 
that the Father, being thus glorified in the Son, will Himself glorify the Son ; (for 
"ijn Himself would seem here to mean " by Himself ;") and will do so forthwith. 
That is, — "not at any distant time, but immediately, while He is yet on the very 
Cross," the Father will cause " His glory to appear. For the Sun was darkened, 
the rocks were rent, and many bodies of those that slept arose,"(i) at the moment 
when Christ expired. Lastly, His dying cry was a miracle ;(k) and miraculous 
was the fountain which flowed from His wounded side:(£) all which things, we 
read, led to the conversion of many.(m) It may further, even chiefly, be meant 
that the Father would speedily raise the Son of Man from Death ;(n) would highly 
exalt Him;(o) and "set Him at His own Right Hand in the heavenly places, far 
above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that 
is named, not only in this World, but also in that which is to come."(p) 

33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek 
Me : and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come ; so 
now I say to you. 

He calls His Disciples on this one occasion His "little children," to indicate the 
exceeding tenderness of His fatherly love towards them. Moreover, they were as 
yet but "babes in Christ ;"(q) and He was now to be withdrawn from the World, 

and from them So sweet did this appellation sound in the ears of one of 

those who heard it, that, in his old age, he often addressed his own disciples, in 
turn, by this very namc.(r) — " Yet a little while," (or, "Only a little longer,) our 
Blessed Saviour says ; (alluding to His Death rather than to His Ascension ;(s) 
because in less than twenty-four hours from the time when He spake, they will 
become orphans.(tf) How must it have melted the hearts of the Disciples to hear 
their Divine Master thus speak! Consider, however, St. John viii. 33, and read 
the note on the place. 

The rest of the verse presents no difficulty. Our Lord foretells that, in their 
adversity, the Disciples will " seek" Him ; that is, long for Him back ; " desire to 
see one of the days of the Son of Man;"(w) But in vain! Pass forty days, and 

He will have withdrawn from their eyes entirely, and for ever He reminds 

the Disciples, therefore, of what He had said to the Jews six months ago, at the 
Feast of Tabernacles ; words which, in a certain sense, (He says,) are as applicable 
to themselves, as to their unbelieving countrymen. A striking difference however 
is discoverable between what was spoken on the two occasions. Our Lord begins 
by calling the Disciples, His "little children." Next, He does not now declare as 
He did then, " Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find Me;" still less does He say that 
they shall die in their sins."(y) To the Jews, He had predicted that their repent- 

(h) Compare St. Matth. xxii. 45. 
(i) Chrysostom, — quoting St. Matth. xxvii. 51 to 53. 

(k) See the note on St. Mark xv. 39. (I) See the note on St. John xix. 34 

(w) St. Matth. xxvii. 54. 

(n) Phil. ii. 9. Acts ii. 24, 32 : iii. 15 : iv. 10 : x. 40 : xiii. 30 : xvii. 31. See the places 
enumerated in the margin of Acts ii. 24. 

(o) Acts ii. 33 : v. 31. Heb. ii. 9, &c. (p) Eph. i. 20, 21. 

(q) 1 Cor. iii. 1. 

(r) See 1 St. John ii. 1, 12, 28 : iii. 7, 18 : iv. 4 : v. 21. 

(s) Consider St. Luke xxiv. 44. (t) St. John xiv. 18. 

(m) St. Luke xvii. 22. 

(v) St. John vii. 34, where the note should be read ; also, viii. 21. 



820 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

ance would be fruitless ; so that they would never attain to the knowledge of Him 
whom they had once deliberately rejected. To the Disciples, He merely announces 
that until the laborious years of their earthly pilgrimage have fully expired, they 
will not be permitted to follow Him; and He adds the prophetic warning that they 
will ere long find themselves severed from His presence entirely. . . The intention 
of all this seems to have been, partly, to show them that this hour had been all 
along very present to His mind ; and partly, to prepare their hearts for the trials 
which must soon befall them. — He adds a few words of precious counsel ; gather- 
ing up the substance of many commands into a single precept, — which must hence- 
forth be the Disciples' great Rule of life ; and which, (because men are observed 
ever to heed most what is spoken with dying lips,) He is found to have put off 
until now. This legacy of Love follows : 

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another ; 
as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 

Being now on the point of departure, our Saviour gives His Disciples a parting 
charge. Countless precepts He had already given them: but this, of mutual Love, 
He had reserved till the last ; and the chord thus clearly struck by the Master's 
Hand, never ceases to vibrate, until the close of the inspired Canon. Our Lord 
repeats His "new Commandment" in chap. xv. 12. St. John alludes to it very 
distinctly, in the many places of his first and second Epistles, indicated at foot of 
the page.(w) St. Peter possibly, (a;) St. Paul without a doubt, [y) allude to this 
place of Scripture. Long after the last page of the New Testament was written, 
St. John, surviving the Eleven, is related to have had the words, "Little children, 
love one another !" for ever on his lips. 

But, in what sense was this " a new Commandment?" and, wherein did it differ 
from that ancient precept of the Law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- 
self?"^) — It differed from the requirement of universal Charity, because the love 
which it inculcates is that which Christian men ought to show towards one another 
because they are Christians. As members of Christ's mystical Body, we are com- 
manded to love one another with a peculiar love. " Whether one member suffer," 
(it is written,) "all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all 
the members are honoured with it."(a) " Let us do good unto all men," (says the 
same Apostle;) "especially unto them who are of the Household of Faith." (b) 
Consider, again, St. Paul's reference to these words of our Lord, in 1 Thess. iv. 
9 ;(c) noticing how clearly it is implied by all that follows, down to ver. 12, inclu- 
sive, that he is speaking of the love which Christians ought to bear towards one 
another as such.(d) This appears even more plainly by what is added below, in 
ver. 35 ; namely, that this mutual Love of Christians was to be the very token of 
their Discipleship. 

It will be perceived that our Saviour sets before His Disciples, for their imita- 
tion, His own Divine example, in those words, — " As I have loved you, that ye also 
love one another." This recalls the many places of Holy Scripture in which the 
same lofty pattern is held up to view. "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father 
also is merciful."(e) " As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all 
manner of conversation." (/') "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 
which is in Heaven is perfect." (g) These are true "counsels of Perfection." It 
is not meant that the Love, the Mercy, the Holiness, the purity, (h) of the Eternal 
God can be exhibited by us, His fallen creatures. All that is required of us, is, 
that we should act up to the perfection of our nature. We may show Love towards 
one another, as truly as Christ showed Love towards us. But the affection will 
differ infinitely in degree, and almost in kind. 

Ancient commentators on the present passage, with general consent, find the 

(w) Especially 1 St. John ii. 7 taken along with iii. 11 and 16 : also 2 St. John ver. 5. Next, 
1 St. John iii. 23 : iv. 21. Next 1 St. John iii. 14 : iv. 7, 10, 11. 
(x) 1 St. Pet. i. 22 : ii. 17. {y) 1 Thess. iv. 9. 

(z) Levit. xix. 18, quoted St. Matth. xxii. 39 : also, in xix. 19. 
(a) 1 Cor. xii. 26 : consider ver. 12 to ver. 27. 
(6) Gal. vi. 10. 

(c) He seems to allude hither again in Ephes. v. 2. 

(d) Consider, in like manner, what is implied by the verse which follows 1 St. Pet, i. 22. 

(e) St. Luke vi. 36. (/) 1 St. Peter i. 15. 
(g) St. Matth. v. 48. . (h) See 1 St. John iii. 3. 



XIII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 821 



reason why our Saviour called this " a new Commandment," in the concluding 
clause of it, — "as I have loved you that ye also love one another/' This is more 
than to love one's neighbour as one's self, (they say:) it is to prefer another's good 
to one's own. . . But it will be felt that although this is a true picture of Christ's 
love towards Man ; and although His love towards Man is, in this very respect, 
again and again set before us as a pattern ;(i) yet this does not seem to supply a 
sufficient reason why Christ should have called His Commandment a "new" one. 
Indeed, its concluding clause is sometimes not alluded to by St. John when he 
afterwards quotes the precept in question. (&) 

If therefore we were called upon to assign a reason, besides tliat already offered, 
(in the second paragraph of the present note,) why this is called " a new Com- 
mandment," we would numbly suggest that it was put forth at the moment when 
He, by whom, "in the beginning," "all things were made."(Z) — was about to reno- 
vate the World. (in) He was Himself the beginning of "a new Creation." (n) By 
becoming a partaker of His Nature, Man was henceforth to become " a new Crea- 
ture "(o) "A new Covenant" was now on the point of being ratified ;(p) and the 
Law was to be written anew, after a more heavenly manner. (q) There was to be 
a "new Heaven and a new Earth. "(r) Old things were passing fast away ; and 
behold, even in that upper chamber where the Eleven Disciples were assembled 
with their Lord, all things were already becoming neic.(s) It was declared that 
the very " fruit of the Vine," when next partaken of by that Blessed Company, 
would be drank " new" in the Kingdom of God." (f) — The Commandment under 
discussion is therefore called " new," because it was destined to become the great 
Law of the New Creation ; and because the Love which it enjoined was a higher 
and a purer sentiment than anything with which the World had, as yet, been ac- 
quainted : a Love growing out of a lofty, and hitherto unheard-of relationship ; 
namely, our common Brotherhood in Christ, — "the second Man," "the last 
Adam."(w) For, " as in Adam and Christ are the two roots of Mankind, so there is 
a twofold Brotherhood amongst men, correspondent thereunto: first, a brotherhood 
of Nature ; secondly, a brotherhood of Grace. As men, we are members of that 
great body, the World. As Christians, we are members of that mystical Body, the 
Church. And, as the Moral Law bindeth us to love all men as our brethren, and 
partakers with us of the same common nature in Adam ; so, the Evangelical 
Law bindeth us to love all Christians as our brethren, and partakers with us of 
the same common Faith in Christ." [x) Accordingly, St. Peter after bidding us 
" Honour all men," requires us to " Love the Brotherhood." (y) . . . If these should 
seem to be many words about a small matter, let it be asked, What then is great, 
if the Dying command of our Saviour Christ is not great ? — He continues : 

35 By this shall all men know that ye are My Disciples, if ye have 
love one to another. 

This has been already in part explained above, at page 820. Take notice that 
it is not said that the Disciples of Christ should be known by their power of 'working 
Miracles. The greatest miracle of all would be their oneness of heart and soul :(z) 
and thereby, they would be fitly recognized as the Disciples of " Him that loved 
us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,"(a) "and gave Himself for" 
us:(6) of Him, in short, who "is Love" itself. (c) . . . Our Lord's precept was 
faithfully obeyed by the early Christians ; and the result was exactly that which 

(i) Rom. xv. 2, 3. 2 Cor. viii. 9. Eph. v. 2. Phil. ii. 3 to 8, <fcc. 

(k) e. g. in 1 St. John iii. 23 : iv. 21. Also, 2 St. John ver. 5. — On the other hand, it will 
perhaps be thought that, in the following places, St. John alludes to the whole of the precept : 
1 St. John ii. 7, taken along with iii. 11, and especially 16 : also iv. 7, taken along with 10, 11. 
— St. Paul's reference to the whole of St. John xiii. 34, or xv. 12, (in Ephes. v. 2,) is very- 
striking. 

(I) St. John i. 3. Read the noble passage Coloss. i. 15 to 18. 

(m) Rev. xxi. 5. (n) Rev. iii. 14. 

(o) 2 Cor. v. 17. (p) Heb. vii. 22 : viii. 6 : ix. 15 : xii. 24. 

(q) Heb. viii. 10 : x. 16 : — quoting Jer. xxxi. 31 to 33. 

(»•) 2 St. Pet. iii. 13. Rev. xxi. 1. (s) See 2 Cor. v. 17. 

(t) See St. Mark xiv. 25 : also St. Matth. xxvi. 29, — where the note should be referred to. 

(u) 1 Cor. xv. 45, 47. (a.-) Abridged from Bp. Sanderson. 

(y) 1 St. Pet. ii. 17. (a) Acts iv. 32. 

(«) Rev. i. 5. (6) Gal. ii. 20. 

(c) 1 St. John iv. 8, 16. 



822 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

the Blessed Speaker here, in a manner, predicts. The sight was deemed extraor- 
dinary, and attracted attention. " See," (it was said,) "how these Christians love 
one another l"(d) 

36 Simon Peter said unto Him, Lord, whither goest Thou ? Jesus 
answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now ; hut thou 
shalt follow Me afterwards. 

Simon Peter, passing over what our Lord had said in the last two verses con- 
cerning the Christian duty of mutual Love, inquires, (with reference to our Lord's 
sayings in ver. 33,) " Whither goest Thou ?" Bent on nothing so much as following 
the Master whom he loved, he asks this question in the fullness of his earnest zeal ; 
supposing perhaps that when Christ said, "Whither I go, ye cannot come" He 
alluded only to difficulties which must be surmounted, or to dangers which must 
be faced, by those who would follow Him. As yet, St. Peter understood nothing 
of that mystery of the Cross, which was now so very near at hand. 

Our Saviour, in reply, does not refuse to Simon the privilege of following Him. 
He only warns him that he cannot follow Him now. In a very different sense from 
that which the Apostle intended were these words spoken ; as well as the promise 
given that he should follow Christ afterwards. Our Lord meant that a life of 
hardship first awaited St. Peter ; that he had not yet the spiritual courage which 
he would require in order to face death boldly ; but that, finally, he should follow 
his Divine Master, even in the very manner of his suffering ; namely, by being 
crucified. (e) 

37 Peter said unto Him, Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now ? I 
will lay down my life for Thy sake. 

He suspects that our Saviour doubts either his courage, or his zeal : he there- 
fore professes himself ready to die for Christ's sake. As in the case of St. Thomas, 
the risk of perishing is the worst alternative which presents itself to his imagination. 
See St. John xi. 16. 

38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake ? 
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast 
denied Me thrice. 

This was a humiliating assurance indeed ! The Disciple, thinking of nothing 
but temporal danger, had professed his readiness to forfeit his life for Christ's 
sake ; but even this poor sacrifice, his Lord informs him, will be found to surpass 
his powers. Nay ; so far from " laying down his life" for Christ's sake, he will 
even deny that he knows Christ at all : not once will he disclaim all knowledge of 
the Saviour, but three times in succession : not hereafter, when his faith has begun 
to wax cool, will he do this ; but now, even before the cock crow I — The reader is 
referred on this subject to the notes on St. Matthew xxvi. 34; but it is St. Luke, 
(not St. Matthew,) who relates the present mournful prediction. See St. Luke 
xxii. 34. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



1 Christ comforteth His Disciples with the hope of Heaven: 6 professeth Himself 
the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and One with the Father : 13 assureth their 
prayers in His name to be effectual : 15 requesteth love and obedience : 16 promiseth 
the Holy Ghost the Comforter: 27 and leaveth His peace with them. 

The connection of the present chapter with that which precedes, is of the closest 
(d) Tertullian. (e) Consider St. John xxi. 18, 19, and compare 2 St. Pet. i. 14. 



XIV.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 823 



kind. The Discourse which was begun in the thirty-first verse of the former 
chapter would have flowed on unbroken, until the end of chap, xvii., — but for the 
interruptions, first, of St. Peter ;(a) next, of St. Thomas ;(&) lastly, of St. Philip. (c) 
Our Saviour graciously replied to each of His distressed Disciples, in turn ; and 
straightway proceeded with His Discourse, — which is " like an Eucharistic sermon ; 
more than human in sympathy, more than angelic in sweetness, most Divine in 
Doctrine."((2) Thus, His first words in chapter xiv. will be found to be a continua- 
tion of what He was saying in chap. xiii. 35, or rather 33 ; and in order to under- 
stand these opening words, reference should be made to what immediately went 
before St. Peter's inquiry, — namely, to St. John xiii. 36. 

Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also 
in Me. 

That is, — " Let not your heart be troubled at hearing that whither I go ye cannot 
come.(e) As ye believe in God, a very present help in trouble, so believe also in 
Me !" . . . Thereby implying that He was God ; and inviting His Disciples to 
repose the same absolute confidence in Himself, which they were accustomed to 
repose in God, " the Father Almighty." 

But besides the general trouble which had overtaken the Eleven Apostles ever 
since the announcement that their Divine Master was about to leave them, ten of 
their body were as yet without the comfortable assurance that they should follow 
Christ at some future time. He therefore proceeds to inform them, in the next 
place, that He had been making no special exception in favour of Simon Peter : 
but that, 

2 In my Father's House are many mansions : 

Rather " abodes," — as in ver. 23, where the word is the same : a word happily 
expressive, in this place, of that perpetuity which distinguishes the heavenly from 
the earthly home of God's people. There is, therefore, " a place" for all, where 
the " mansions" are " many." 

This is one of the texts from which it was anciently, (/) (and is still,) argued that 
there will be different degrees of bliss in Heaven. " The multitude of mansions in 
Heaven seems hardly intelligible, without admitting a difference of degrees in the 
Heavenly Glory. For if all the Saints should be placed in one and the same degree 
or station of bliss, they would have one and the same mansion in Heaven ; but in 
our Heavenly Father's House there are " many" mansions ; some higher, some 
lower, according to the measure of proficiency in virtue which men have attained 
to in this life."(<?) Not that it will result from this that any will feel lack. All 
will have received "a penny;" that is, one and the same joy, arising from the 
vision of their Maker. (/*) — Our Lord continues : 

if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place 
for you. 

That is, — I would have told you at once, and not suffered you to cherish a false 
hope, were it otherwise. ... It might be asked, — Since there were those " many 
mansions," why did Christ " go to prepare a place" for His Disciples ? — It was 
because the Kingdom of Heaven could not be "opened to all believers," until He 
had first " overcome the sharpness of Death." By His precious blood-shedding, (i) 
He led the way into the Land of Everlasting Rest ;(j) and " prepared a place" for 
those who before could not come thither :(k) whence He is called " the Forerunner ;" 
and is declared to have " entered in on our behalf." (I) Christ then entered into 
the Heavenly Sanctuary, (the true Holy of Holies ;) as St. Paul in his t Epistle to 

(a) St. John xiii. 36. (6) See below, ver. 5. 

(e) See below, ver. 8. (d) Williams, 

(e) St. John xiii. 33. Consider, xvi. 6, 22. 

(/) By Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, &c. — The same doctrine is 
gathered from 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42. 
(fir) Bp. Bull. 

(h) Gregory the Great. See the note on St. Matth. xx. 16. 
{i) Heb. ix. 12, 24. (/) Heb. iv. 14. 

(k) Consider Heb. xi. 39, 40. (I) Heb. vi. 20. 



824 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

the Hebrews explains : " the Holy Ghost, [by those two Tabernacles, and the 
High-priest's necessary entrance into the first, before he entered the second,] this 
signifying, — that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while 
as the first Tabernacle was yet standing." (ira) But at Christ's Passion, the Veil 
was rent, (both the Veil of the Temple, (ri) and that which it typified, "that is to 
say, His Flesh ;") (o) and our Great High-priest straightway entered into "the 
Holiest of all :"(_p) the gracious purpose thereof, as He here assures us, being, "to 
prepare a place" for those who love Him ! .... It may yet be true that in the 
text, He employs the language of those who, when they travel, are preceded by one 
of their party, who prepares a place for the reception of all the rest when they shall 
come to the end of their day's pilgrimage :(q) but we much prefer the analogy sug- 
gested by what we read of the Ark of the Covenant : namely, that it went before 
the Israelites " in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for thern."(r) 
— Christ continues, 

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and 
receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 

Literally, — "take you with Me to Myself;" that is, " to where I dwell."(s) He 
foretells His Second Advent ; and promises that He will then " receive" those who 
might not follow Him now. There was therefore no room for trouble or grief at 
this delay. The place was not yet prepared for them ; the path which they must 
tread was not yet made smooth ; the gate was yet unopened by which they must 
hereafter be admitted. 

Full well did the Blessed Speaker know how much the Disciples desired to be 
told whither their Lord was going. To lead them, therefore, to ask Him this ques- 
tion, as well as to afford Himself an opportunity of affording them Heavenly instruc- 
tion, our Saviour adds : 

4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 

He thus administers strong consolation : for, at the departure of one deeply be- 
loved, what greater joy is there than to know whither he goes, and the way by 
which we may come where he is?(tf) 

Because the Disciples knew the Father, whom Christ had so often declared 
unto them, they are said to know "whither" Christ went; for it was to the Father 
that He went. Again: because they knew CHRIST, they are said to "know the 
Way" to the Father; for Christ is Himself "the Way." (it) This, however, they 
did not as yet know.(w) Accordingly, it follows : 

5 Thomas saith unto Him, Lord, we know not whither Thou goest ; 
and how can we know the way ? 

Since we know not so much as the place to which Thou goest, how can we possi- 
bly know the way thither ? . . . . This is the mournful language of complaining 
love ; corresponding entirely with the view we have already taken of the character 
of St. Thomas. See the note on St. John xi. 1G. Take notice of what is implied 
by our Lord's answer ; which follows. 

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life : no 
man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. 

The teaching implied by the form which our Lord's reply assumes is remarkable. 
" Thou sayest that ye know not 'the Way/ because ye know not 'whither' I 
go : but I tell thee that ye know not ' whither' I go, because ye know not ' the 
Way.' " " The Way" is not to be discovered by knowing the "whither :" but, on 
the contrary, the "whither" is to be discovered by knowing "the Way." That 

is, Only by knowing Me, can ye know the Father, — to whom I go Christ 

intimates, therefore, His approaching departure to the Father ; and explains that 

(m) Heb. ix. 8. (») St. Matth. xxvii. 51. 

(o) Heb. x. 20. \p) Heb. ix. 3. 

(q) Grotius. Consider St. Mark xiv. 12 to 16, and Philemon 22. 
\r) Numb. x. 33. (s) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(t) Toletus. (u) See below, ver. 6. 

(to) Consider the method in St. John ix. 35 to 37. 



XIV.] 



on st. John's gospel. 825 



He calls Himself " the Way," because "no man cometh to the Father" but by 

Him The title further reminds every follower of Christ that he must, with 

hearty Faith, steadily fasten his eyes on his Divine Master ; must, with dutiful obe- 
dience, tread in His footsteps ; taking up the Cross daily, (if need be,) and follow- 
ing Him. Such an " Imitation of Christ" is a true walking in " the Way" whereby 
a man " cometh unto the Father." 

But doubtless it is because our " Faith in His Name" is the foundation of all our 
Christian Hope, that our Saviour here calls Himself " the Way." All our prayers 
to the Throne of Grace are offered up "through Jesus Christ our Lord." Thus, 
we draw near to God "by a new and living Way :"(x) " for through Him, we . . . 
have access . . . unto the Father,"(?/) as St. Paul speaks. He is "the Door of the 
sheep :"(z) "neither is there Salvation in any other," (as St. Peter testifies ;) "for 
there is none other Name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be 
saved. "(a) " Man's way to God," (says Augustine,) " is through Him who is at 
once God and Man ; that is, Jesus Christ." ... Is there not an allusion here to 
Isaiah xxxv. 8 ? 

But the very largeness of our Saviour's reply occasions a little embarrassment. 
He not only explains that He is Himself "the Way ;" but declares that He is " the 
Truth, and the Life," as well. The words have been thus paraphrased: (b) — " 'I 
am the Truth/ who not only cannot lie, nor deceive, but who will faithfully per- 
form whatsoever I promise. Doubt not therefore, that I will come to you, and take 
you to Myself. Believe Me, and believe in Me, for I am ' the Way ;' and look con- 
fidently for the due fulfillment of that which I promise, for I am 'the Truth/ 
Further, lest at any time your hearts should be troubled at the prospect of Death 
for My sake, learn too that ' I am the Life ; ; who will raise you from Death, and 
will take you to Myself. Death itself will not separate you from Me, for I am none 
other than the ' Prince of Life.' "(c) Concerning this last title, see also the note 
on St. John xi. 25. 

7 If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also: and 
from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him. 

The first words are almost a repetition of the latter part of St. John viii. 19, where 
see the note.(d) Thus then, the Blessed Speaker explains how it happened that St. 
Thomas, in the name of the rest, was able to declare with truth that he knew not 
whither our Lord was going. It arose out of their imperfect knowledge of Himself. 
For, as the GoDhead of the Father and of the Son is one and indivisible, so does 
the knowledge which has the Second for its Object, involve the knowledge of the 
Former also. This is made clearer in verse 9. 

8 Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth 
us. 

A saying which reveals the limited knowledge of Divine things to which the 
Apostles themselves had as yet attained. St. Philip thinks that he may with his 
bodil}* eyes behold the Father, as he already beholds Christ : forgetting that no 
man may " see Him and live !"(e) So to know the Father, as he thinks he already 
knows the Son, is all that he requires. " It sufficeth us," he says. Our Saviour 
proceeds at once to- show him the largeness of his error. 

9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet 
hast thou not known Me, Philip ? 

Take notice that instead of saying, — " and yet hast thou not seen the FATHER, 
Philip?" our Lord says, — "and yet hast thou not known Me?" implying (1st,) 
that, hitherto, Philip and the other Apostles not only did not know the Father, but 
knew not Himself; whom they beheld with their eyes, and fancied they knew full 

well His words (2ndly, ) guided those who heard Him to this higher truth, 

that the Divine Nature is to be "known," not " seen:" or, if "seen," — (and our 
Saviour Himself employs the metaphor of Sight in what immediately follows, in 

(x) Heb. x. 20. ( y ) Eph. ii. 18. 

(z) St, John x. 7. (a) Acts iv. 12. 

(b) By Toletus. (c) Acts iii. 15. 

(d) Consider Heb. i. 3. (e) Exod. xxxiii. 20. 



826 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

order to adapt His answer to Philip's request,) — it is the eye of the heart and mind, 
not the bodily organ, which must be employed. It follows : 

he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father ; and how sayest thou 
then, Show us the Father ? 

Philip therefore, though he had been for three years living with Christ, had not 
hitherto " seen" Him ! The Apostles had seen His Manhood, indeed. His God- 
head, as yet they had not seen ! 

Take notice, here, how plainly the great fundamental Doctrines of our most Holy 
Faith are laid down. So indivisible is the GoDhead of the Persons in the ever- 
Blessed and Glorious Trinity, — so inseparable is the Father from the Son in Es- 
sence, though distinct from Him in Person, — that when the Eternal Word was 
"made Man,"(/) whosoever beheld Him, beheld the FATHER also! . . The same 
great Doctrine is further declared in what next follows: concerning which, our 
words are not more numerous, only because the statements themselves are so em- 
phatic and plain. 

The statements are plain, and their meaning is not to be mistaken ; but the Doc- 
trine which they embody, is confessedly above us. Such a mighty Mystery is it, 
that, (in the words of Bishop Bull,) "instead of curiously scrutinizing, our part 
must rather be devoutly to adore. No comparison which can possibly be devised 
for the illustration of it, is altogether inadequate: no method of speech can set it 
forth with sufficient dignity. The union spoken of towers over every other union 
that is known. In the darkness of our present being, we think and talk of this, 
and other Divine mysteries, like very children : yea rather, we talk with stammering 
tongues. So long as we are here below, we behold our God "as in a glass darkly." (<jr) 
The time will come, however, when we shall behold Him face to face. The beatific 
Vision of God will then chase away all shadows from our minds. He, of His infinite 
Mercy, make us capable thereof! Day and Night let this be our earnest prayer."(7*) 
.... See a few words more on this subject, in the note on verse 11. — Our Saviour 



10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in 

Me? 

Let us beware how we pass these glorious passages by. Most fruitful are they ; 
and each, a very " sword of the Spirit," wherewith to repel heresy and sever Truth 
from Falsehood. We would rather feed upon them, however, than discuss them 
polemically. . . The Father, we discover, "is in the Son, and the Son in Him; 
they both in the Spirit, and the Spirit in both them. So that the Father's Off- 
spring, which is the Son, remaineth eternally in the Father ; the Father eternally 
also in the Son, no way severed or divided, by reason of the sole and single Unity 
of their Substance. The Son in the Father, as Light in that Light out of which it 
floweth without separation : the Father in the Son, as Light in that Light which 
it causeth and leaveth not."(i) — The statement before us is repeated in the next 
verse, (where see the note,) and is also found in St John x. 38, and xvii. 21. Con- 
sider further St. John x. 14, 15. See also below, on verse 20. 

the words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the 
Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. 

This according to the idiom of our own language, would perhaps have been ex- 
pressed thus : — " The words which I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself; and the 
works which I do, I do not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He 
speaketh the words, and He doeth the works.". . . As one common Nature belongs 
to the Father and the Son, so are the words and the works of the One, declared to 
be the words and works of the Other also. 

It must suffice to refer the reader to the note on St. John v. 19, 20, where 
these mysterious sayings will be found commented on. — Our Saviour implies that 
His Discourses were in themselves sufficient to show that He was not mere Man ;(l) 

(/) St. John i. ] 4,— literally "made flesh." {g) 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 

(h) End of Bp. Bull's Defence of the Nicene Creed. 

(i) Hooker. (0 Compare St. John vii. 17. 



XIV.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 827 



as indeed His very enemies had confessed already, (m) His Discourses declared Him 
to be none other than the Son of God. (n) His Works, in like manner, proclaimed 
the indwelling of the Father, (o) as our Lord further states. This latter evidence, 
indeed, might not be overlooked or denied ;(p) and accordingly, the Blessed Speaker 
proceeds to lay great stress upon it, as He had already done on a former occa- 
sion, (q) 

In what follows, the Discourse is turned to the other Ten Apostles. It has been 
hitherto specially addressed to St. Philip, — on whose Festival, this portion of the 
Gospel is duly read. The reader will call to mind with advantage what was offered 
in the notes on St. John vi. 6, in explanation of the probable reason why our 
Saviour directed an inquiry to Philip before the miraculous Feeding of the Five 
thousand. It may perhaps be regarded as indicative of a peculiar slowness of heart 
in this Disciple to recognize the GoDhead of the Incarnate Son, that the request to 
be shown the Father should have proceeded from his lips on the present occasion. 

11 Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me : or 
else believe Me for the very works' sake. 

After what has been offered above on verse 10, it must suffice to refer the reader, 
concerning these words, to St. John x. 38. "We worship one God in Trinity, and 
Trinity in Unity ; neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the Substance :" 
and these passages are our instructors, and our warrant for so doing. This inti- 
mate and mutual inhabitation of the three Divine Persons, the ancients described 
by a peculiar term ; expressive of the inscrutable mystery, indeed, yet no ways ex- 
planatory of it. Kather is it a thing to be reverently adored, than curiously 
scanned, says Bishop Bull, (whose words will be found quoted above, in the note 
on the latter part of verse 9 :) for, " what the Oneness of the Son with the Father, 
is ; what the Fellowship of the Father with the Son ; what the Spirit ; what the 
union of these Three Divine Persons, and what the distinction of them, so united, 
— the Spirit the Son, and the Father :"(t) — this, during the days of our pilgrimage, 
we desire, rather than are able, to attain to the knowledge of."^) 

The present verse, then, though addressed to all the Eleven, terminates the reply 
to St. Philip's inquiry in verse 8. Our Lord continues : 

12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the 
works that I do shall he do also : and greater works than these shall he 
do : because I go unto My Father. 

Take notice that Faith in CHRIST is the strong root out of which all these 
wonders were to spring. When our Divine Lord says — " he that believeth on Me," 
He refers the wonder-working power of which he speaks, to its true and only 
source, — namely, to Himself [v) Without such an explanation, the words before 
us would be unintelligible indeed. Accordingly, — " I can do all things," (saith 
the great Apostle,) " through CUEIST which strengthened me :"(w) and, on another 
occasion, — " I laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the Grace of 
GOD which was with me."(x) 

But what "greater works" were to be wrought by the Apostles, than those 
which as yet Christ Himself had wrought ? (For take notice, it is not said that 
believers should do greater works than CHRIST Himself would do. The works to be 
done by them were His, not theirs. He was still to work by them, His instruments.) 
What then are the works alluded to ? They are probably such as that recorded in 
Acts ii. 41 ; when three thousand souls were gathered into the Church's fold, after a 
single sermon. And, when the rapid progress of the Gospel in the World during 
the first ages is considered, how many unrecorded marvels of the same nature must 
have occurred ! . . . Our Fathers in the faith pointed besides confidently to Acts 

(m) St. John vii. 46. 

(n) Consider the following places : St. John iii. 11 : vii. 16 : viii. 28 : xii. 49. 
(o) See St. John v. 19 and viii. 28. (p) See St. John iii. 2. 

\q) See St. John v. 36, and x. 25, 38. Consider also xv. 24. 
h) Athenagoras, who flourished a.d. 177. (w) Bp. Bull. 

(v) Observe how to His Name, and to Faith in His Name, the Apostles ascribed all their 
powers : — Acts iii. 6, 16 : iv. 10, 30 : ix. 34, &c. 

(to) Phil. iv. 13. (x) 1 Cor. xv. 10. 



823 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

v. 12 to 16, (laying special stress on verse 15,) as the fulfillment of our Lord's pre- 
diction. But we feel disposed to question their wisdom in this particular. No 
miracles of healing recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, are so surprising as what 
we meet with in St. Mark vi. 56 :(?/) the effect however, of the healing of JEneas,(2) 
is perhaps without a parallel in the Gospels. Can we be wrong, at all events, in 
asserting, that the marvellous result described in Acts ii. 43 to 45, and iv. 32 to 35, 
was something wholly unknown, at least on so large a scale, during the days of the 
Son of Man ? Contrast with it, what we meet with in St. Matthew xix. 21, 22. . . 
Thus then will our Saviour's prophecy in the text, have found fulfillment ! Christ's 
greatest miracles, ("wrought by the hands of the Apostles," (a) indeed, yet still 
CHRIST 7 8 miracles, not theirs ;) were reserved until after His ascension into 
Heaven ; as indeed they were the direct consequence of that event. Hence, it is here 
added, — "Because I go to My Father." The Holy Ghost was then poured out in 
full measure on the Church :(b) and it was by the Divine aid thus liberally vouch- 
safed, that the Apostles were enabled to " do" so " wondrously."(c) 

It seems likely, then, that in this last clause the reason is assigned not so much 
why believers in Christ should do " greater works than these" which Christ had 
done, but why they should " do also" the works which Christ did. If He reserved 
His greatest works until after His Ascension, it was because those works would not 
have furthered the purpose of His Ministry, nor have been suited to the period of 
His humiliation. He had been constrained, till now, to keep the rays of His God- 
head from shining forth too brightly .(d) He had found it needful to curtain His 
Divinity very closely round with the Veil of His human Flesh. (e) Not until He 
was lifted up from the Earth, would He draw all men unto Himself.(y ) Not until 
He was " by the Eight Hand of God exalted," and had "received of the Father 
the promise of the Holy Ghost," would He shed forth that which, on the first 
Christian Pentecost, was seen and heard, (g) 

Our Lord's entire argument will therefore have been of the following nature : — 
By the works He had Himself wrought, the Apostles might have known that He 
was in the Father, and the Father in Him. Much more, however, would they 
be convinced of this by those greater works which they were about themselves to 
perform by His Power and authority; and which would therefore come home to 
them so much more nearly. These assurances, it will be felt, were consolation of 
a very high order. — Take notice that the last words of verse 12, (" Because I go to 
My Father,") cohere closely with the words which follow. 

13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that 
the Father may be glorified in the Son. 

" In My Name." Not, as hitherto, were the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 
to be pleaded at the Throne of Grace. From henceforward, all petitions were to 
be offered up " through Jesus Christ." The command is repeated in verse 14, and 
in xv. 16 : xvi. 23, 24, 26 ; and must have been at once obeyed. See Romans i. 8. 

Our Lord says not, — " that will the Father do ;" nor, " that will I pray the 
Father to do ;" but, — " that will / do :" showing thereby that He is very God : 
the God who, by His own authority, answers prayer. The Father would thereby 
" be glorified in the Son," because the GoDhead of the Father would be shown to 
be in Him. The Son would be shown to be of one Substance with the Father. 

Moreover, by thus coming forward as the Agent, (" that will I do,") our Saviour 
explains that the " greater works" promised to believers, will be still His own, — 
wrought, as much as ever, by Himself; but graciously reserved until now, to be 
put forth from time to time in answer to the prayer of Faith, — Consider, in illus- 
tration of all this, our Blessed Lord's words to the Twelve, recorded in St. Matthew 
xvii. 19, 20, and xxi. 20 to 22.— It follows : 

14 If ye shall ask anything in My Name, I will do it. 

Why did our Saviour repeat this a second time ? Is the saying " doubled," 

(y) See the note on St. John xv. 24. (z) Acts ix. 33, 34. Consider ver. 35. 

(a) Acts v. 12. 

(b) Consider St. John vii. 39, and the note. 

(c) Judges xiii. 19. (d) St. John vi. 15. St. Mark vii. 24, Ac. 
(e) St. Matth. ix. 30 : xvii. 9. St. Mark i. 43 to 44. St. Luke v. 14 to 16, &c. 

(/) St. John xii. 32. (?) Acts ii. 33. 



XIV.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 829 

" because the thing is established by God V'(7i) and was it repeated, simply in order 
to impress it more deeply upon His hearers ? Or, may it be supposed that the 
words which, in verse 13, are to be taken in connection with the promise of 
"greater works" than Christ's to be done in Christ's Name, are here designed 
for the consolation of believers in general ; and, quite apart from the context, are 
simply intended to convey an abiding encouragement to Prayer ? They do indeed 
contain a most large, as well as a most blessed promise ; and it is a comfort to the 
distressed soul to find that the words were spoken not once, or twice ; but again 
and again by our Divine Lord. See St. John xv. 16, and especially xvi. 23, 24, — 
where the notes may be referred to. 

But besides Faith, in order that Prayer may be availing, there must be Obedi- 
ence ; wherefore our Lord continues : — 

15 If ye love Me, keep My commandments. 

On which word (" If") pious Bp. Andrewes discourses with beautiful indigna- 
tion. . . . Our Lord thus reminds us that Obedience is ever the Divine test of Love. 
Compare below, verse 23, where the doctrine is repeated ; verse 21, where its con- 
verse is stated ; and verse 24, where the negative statement is found, of what is 
here stated affirmatively. — See also 1 St. John v. 3 ; where " the Apostle of His 
bosom, "(i) evidently alluding to the present place, says, — " This is the Love of 
God, that we keep His Commandments." (.;') It is obvious to suspect that the "new 
Commandment/' already so largely commented on, [k) is that to which our Lord 
here chiefly refers. 

16 And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another 
Comforter, that He may abide with you forever ; 

Accordingly, it was while the Apostles "were all with one accord in one place" (I) 
that the Holy Ghost was bestowed. — " His promise is in the manner of a Deed ; 
not absolute, but as it were with articles on both parts. A Covenant on His part : 
a condition on theirs. He covenants two things : the one supposed, — Love ; ' If 
ye love Me •/ the other imposed, — then ' Keep My Commandments/ These two on 
their part well and truly performed and kept, He stands bound to ' pray,' and 
praying to procure them a ' Comforter ;' another in His stead. . . . Those articles 
were here drawn from them ; but he that liketh the same conditions may have title 
to the same Covenant to the World's end/'(w) "If we love Him and keep His 
Commandments, we have a right to expect a secret and inward working of His 
Holy Spirit, such as may be in some measure known to ourselves, though hidden 
from the ungodly World. Not that we first love Him ; but that He, in exceeding 
love to us, hath begun the work ; and that, if our will is with Him, we are promised 
the continuance of it."(n) 

" I will pray," — (or rather, " I will ask ;") — to imply that " the Comforter, which 
is the Holy Ghost,"(o) was sent in consequence of Christ's all-sufficient merits, 
and at His prevailing intercession, as the Son of Man : sent, however, by Him- 
self, (_p) no less than by the Father.^) ... "A special high benefit it is, we may 
be sure," (observes Bp. Andrewes.) " An Angel served to annunciate Christ's 
Coming : no Angel would serve for this Coming. Christ Himself did it." 

" Another Comforter," — besides Christ : whereby the difference of persons is 
established. Indeed, the mystery of the Blessed Trinity is revealed to us here : 
"the Son praying: the Father granting: the Holy Ghost comforting. A plain 
distinction." (r) 

It should be pointed out, however, that the term which our Saviour actually 
employed on this occasion, (s) was "Paraclete," — a Greek word which had passed 
into the Syriac language, and signifies an "Advocate ;" or rather an Intercessor ; 

(7t) Gen. xli. 32. (i) Pearson. 

(j) See also 2 St. John 6. (k) See St. John xiii. 34, and the note there. 

[l) Acts ii. 2. (m) Bp. Andrewes. 

(n) Rev. C. Marriott. (o) See below, ver. 26. 

(2>) See St. John xv. 26: (where the note should be consulted:) xvi. 7. Also Acts ii. 33, 

and Eph. iv. 8, (quoting Ps. lxviii. 18.) 
(q) See below, ver. 26. 

(r) Bp. Andrewes. So in St. Matth. iii. 17, &c. 
(s) Also below, in ver. 26, and in chap. xv. 26 : xvi. 7. 



830 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

one whose function it is to intercede for the accused by prayer and entreaty. His 
work is therefore the direct opposite of Satan's, — "the Accuser of our brethren . . . 
before our God day and night."(£) On this office, as discharged by Christ Him- 
self, "who also maketh intercession for us,"(u) consider 1 St. John ii. 1: and, as 
discharged by " another Intercessor," even the Holy Ghost, " who maketh inter- 
cession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered," — consider Romans viii. 
26, 27. — Unlike our Saviour, then, who had interceded for the Disciples till now,(w) 
but who now was about to be withdrawn from their eyes, that " other Intercessor" 
whom He promised them, would abide with them "forever." This then was a 
topic of lofty consolation indeed. Nor can we forbear suspecting that in the very 
name of " Paraclete," (notwithstanding all that has been written on this subject,) 
was suggested to the Disciples a sense of coming consolation akin to what the title 
of " Comforter" conveys to an English ear. An attentive perusal of 2 Cor. i. 2 to 
7, will confirm the learned reader in this opinion ;(x) and will perhaps incline him 
to the belief that by our translation of " Paraclete," we do in truth retain a pre- 
cious and most ancient commentary on our Lord's language, which is embodied in 
the ancient Latin version. Truly has it also been remarked, that,—" If they had 
been perplexed, He would have prayed for the Spirit of Truth : if in any pollution 
of Sin, for the sanctifying Spirit. But they were, (as orphans,) cast down and 
comfortless. (y) The Spirit of Truth, or of Holiness, would have done them small 
pleasure. It was Comfort they wanted. A Comforter to them was worth all !"(z) 
See a few words more, below, on verse 26 : and, take notice, that in St. John xv. 
26, the meaning of " Paraclete" seems somewhat different. 

On the perpetual abiding of the Holy Ghost, as contrasted with the short dura- 
tion of our Lord's earthly life, Bp. Andrewes remarks beautifully: "Therefore 
Christ's abode is expressed by the setting up of a Tent, or Tabernacle,{a) — to be 
taken down again, and removed within a short time. But the Holy Ghost shall 
continue with us still ; and therefore He is allowed a Temple, — which is permanent, 
and never to be taken down. {b) 

17 Even the Spirit of Truth : whom the World cannot receive, be- 
cause it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him : but ye know Him ; for 
He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 

Many unsatisfactory reasons have been offered why the Holy Ghost is called 
" the Spirit of Truth ;"(c) which we will not enumerate. We shall perhaps feel the 
force of the expression best, if we keep steadily in mind what is the Gospel-view of 
"Truth." Now, " Truth" consists in conformity to the Mind and will of GOD: 
and whatever is opposed to this, is emphatically termed "a Lie."(d) God's Holy 
Word, then, because it declares His mind and will, is called " Truth" itself.(e) Ac- 
cordingly, we often find the word " Truth" opposed to Unrighteousness ; as in 1 
Cor. xiii. 6; Bom. ii. 8 : 2 Thess. ii. 12. Again, we read of "doing Truth," in St. 
John iii. 21, and 1 St. John i. 6 : — of " walking in Truth," in 2 St. John ver. 4, and 
3 St. John ver. 4. In like manner, actions, as well as persons, are called "true," 
which in other writings would probably have been called "holy," "just," or 
" righteous ;" as in St. John vii. 18 : Phil. iv. 8 ; and throughout the Book of Reve- 
lation, where "true" is a frequent epithet of Him who declared Himself to be "the 
Way, the Truth, and the Life ;"(/) an d who, in the days of His humiliation, was 
seen to be "full of Grace and Truth." {g) In the writings of St. John, (who is 
called " the Divine" because He discourses so largely of the Divine Nature of 
Christ,) it is found that the words " True" and " Truth" occur more frequently 
than in all the other Books of the New Testament put together. 

(t) Rev. xii. 10. (u) Rom. viii. 34. 

(«) Consider St. John xvii. 9, 11, 15, 17, 20, 24. Also St. Luke xxii. 32. 

(x) See also Acts ix. 31. (y) St. John xvi. 6. 

(z) Bp. Andrewes. 

(a) See the note on St. John i. 14. 

(b) Alluding, doubtless, to 1 Cor. vi. 19 : iii. 16, 17, and 2 Cor. vi. 16. 

(c) Here, and in chap. xv. 26 : xvi. 13. 

(d) Rev. xxi. 27 : xxii. 15. Consider St. John viii. 44. 

(e) St. John xvii. 17. Compare 2 Cor. vi. 7: Eph. i. 13: Col. i. 5 : 2 Tim. ii. 15: St. 
James i. 18. 

if ) See above, ver. 6. See Rev. iii. 7 and 14 : vi. 10 : xix. 11, &o. 
(g) St. John i. 14 and 17. 



XIV.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 831 



The Holy Ghost is therefore here called " the Spirit of Truth," because it was 
to be His blessed office, hereafter, to " testify of Christ," (h) who is Truth itself: to 
teach the Apostles all things,(i) "that pertain to Life and Godliness ;"(j) in other 
words, to " guide them into all Truth ;"(&) and to bring their lives and doctrines 
into entire conformity with the mind of GOD. . . . Consider the places referred to at 
foot of the page.(Z) 

This " Spirit of Truth," our Lord declares that "the World cannot receive, be- 
cause it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him : but" (He adds) " ye know Him ;" 
thus opposing "the Spirit of the World" to " the Spirit which is of God ;" and in- 
timtaing that "the natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for 
they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spirit- 
ually discerned."(m) .... The terms "seeing" and "knowing" are probably here 
used, as above in verse 17, with reference to that inner vision which is the truest 
Sight, and yields the most perfect knowledge. 

18 I will not leave you comfortless : I "will come to you. 

Rather, " I will not leave you orphans :" thereby declaring Himself their Father, 
— as He had lately addressed them as His "little children ;"(n) and adding words 
of larger and yet larger consolation. Him it was that the Apostles desired, and 
longed for ; and full well He knew it. He promises therefore that He will Himself 
come back to them ; not leave them in their orphanhood. 

But when did He mean that He would " come?" We may not presume to speak 
positively on this subject, as if we knew for certain the meaning of words which 
the Fathers explain diversely. The most trustworthy opinion, however, seems to 
be that the reference is to that real but mysterious presence with His Church which 
was to date from the descent of the Holy Spirit. 

With equal truth and beauty has it been remarked as " wonderful" how the 
highest points of doctrine respecting the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
are interwoven throughout ; so as to render them, humanly speaking, replete with 
difficulties and contradictions, for which no key is furnished but by the Catholic 
Faith: discords moulded into a Divine harmony, which nothing less than Eternity 
can unravel. Our Lord will ask the Father, and He will give the Comforter ; 
but not so, our Lord Himself will send Him. And He is " another Comforter," 
for our Lord Himself is called by the same name of " Comforter :"(o) and yet He 
is not another, but it is He Himself that is to come ; and again, He will not send 
Him, but He Himself will come. All these things to us are not contradictions, but 
Christian verities. Humanly speaking, they are such things as cannot be ; but 
Divinely speaking, such as cannot be otherwise." (p) 

19 Yet a little while, and the World seeth Me no more : but ye see 
Me : because I live, ye shall live also. 

Perhaps it should rather be, — " Because as I live, so shall ye live." " We are 
adopted sons of God to Eternal Life," (says Hooker) " by participation of the Only- 
Begotten Son of God, whose Life is the well-spring and cause of ours." 

The meaning of the entire passage seems therefore to be, — Pass a few hours, and 
I shall be withdrawn from the gaze of the World. Men will see Me no longer. But 
ye shall see Me,-— not with your bodily organs indeed, (except at intervals during 
the great Forty Days,) but with that inner vision of which I have already spoken, 
and which will result from My indwelling presence with you.(g) Thus will ye be- 
hold Me, in Time ; and throughout Eternity, ye will behold Me, not as in a glass 
darkly, but face to face. For, by virtue of that well-spring of Life which is in My- 
self, ye shall be raised from Death, and live also.(r) " Doth any man doubt," (asks 
pious Hooker,) " but that even from the Flesh of Christ our very bodies do receive 
that life which shall make them glorious at the latter day, and for which they are 
presently accounted parts of His blessed Body ?" 

(h) St. John xv. 26. (i) See below, ver. 26. (j) 2 St. Pet. i. 3. 
(k) St. John xvi. 13, and 1 St. John ii. 27. Contrast with this 1 Tim. iv. 1. 

(I) See below, ver. 26. Also St. John xvi. 13. 1 St. John ii. 20, 27. Consider St. John xii. 
16, and the note there. 

(m) 1 Cor. ii. 12, 14. (w) St. John xiii. 33. 

(o) 1 St. John ii. 1. ? p) Williams. 

(q) Consider ver. 17. (r) Compare St. John v. 26. 



832 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

20 At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in 
Me, and I in you. 

This seems rather to mean. — " In that day ye shall know that as I am in My 
Father, [and My Father, in Me,] (s) even so ye are in Me, and I in you." The 
former of these sublime truths has been made the subject of remark already. (t) 
The latter demands special notice at our hands now. 

" We are by nature the sons of Adam. "When God created Adam, He created us, 
and as many as are descended from Adam have in themselves the root out of which 
they spring. The sons of God have God's own natural Son as a second Adam (it) 
from Heaven, whose race and progeny they are by spiritual and heavenly birth." 
" In Him we actually are, by our actual incorporation into that society which hath 
Him for their Head, (a:) and doth make together with Him One Body, (He and they 
having in that respect one Name ;){y) for which cause by virtue of this mystical 
conjunction, we are of Him and in Him, even as though our very flesh and bones 
should be made continuate with His. (z) No man actually is in Him, but they in 
whom he actually is. For " he which hath not the Son of God hath not life,"(<z) 
" I am the Vine, ye are the branches : he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the 
same bringeth forth much fruit ;"(b) but the branch severed from the Vine 
withereth. 

"It is too cold an interpretation, whereby some men expound our being 'in 
Christ' to import nothing else, but only that the selfsame nature which maketh us 
to be men, is in Him, and maketh Him man, as we are. For what man in the 
"World is there which hath not so far forth communion with Jesus Christ ? It is 
not this that can sustain the weight of such sentences as speak of the mystery of 
our coherence(c) with Jesus Christ. The Church is in Christ as Eve was in 
Adam. Yea, by Grace we are every of us in Christ and in His Church, as by 
Nature we are in these our first Parents. God made Eve of the rib of Adam. And 
His Church He frameth out of the very flesh, the very wounded and bleeding side, 
of the Son of Man. His Body crucified and His blood shed for the life of the 
"World, are the true Elements of that Heavenly Being, which maketh us such as 
Himself is of whom we come.(cZ) For which cause, the words of Adam may be 
fitly the words of Christ concerning His Church, ' flesh of My flesh and bone of 
My bones,' a true native extract out of Mine own Body. So that in Him even 
according to His Manhood, we according to our heavenly being are as branches in 
that root out of which they grow." (e) — And this must suffice on this great subject; 
but the reader is invited to consider, in connection with it, St. John vi. 53 to 57 ; 
particularly ver. 56 ; and to read the notes thereon. He is also referred to chap- 
ters xv. 4, 5, and iv. 15, 1G. 

21 He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is 
that loveth Me : and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, 
and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. 

This amounts to a declaration that the sad hearts and weeping eyes of the 
Apostles would not be accepted by their Lord as any proof of their Love. Obe- 
dience was the test He chose, and which He now, once more insists upon. — He 
intimates, at the same time, that the manifestation of Himself which He had already 
promised to the Eleven would not be confined to themselves alone ; but should 
prove the common reward of " all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincer- 
ity:'^/) of every one, that is, who besides "holding" the commandments of 
Christ in theory, "keeps" them in practice, also. 

All such " shall be loved of the Father." "What is implied thereby, may be 
gathered from those words of the Evangelist: "Behold, what manner of love. the 
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God."(#) 

(s) Consider well St. John xvii. 21. 

(t) See above, the note on the first words of ver. 10. 

(«) 1 Cor. xv. 47. («0 Col. ii. 10. 

(y) 1 Cor. xii. 12. (z) Ephes. v. 30. 

(a) 1 St. John v. 12. (6) St. John xv. 5. 

(c) St. John xiv. 20 : xv. 4. (d) 1 Cor. xv. 48. 

(e) Hooker. (/) Eph. vi. 24. 

(g) 1 St. John iii. 1. .'■... 



XIV.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 833 



Now, "to he called," in Scripture language, is "to be." " Like as a Father pitieth 
his children/' therefore, "so the Lord pitieth them that fear Hmi."(/?) Every such 
obedient disciple, moreover, the Son of Man, who is sitting at the Right Hand of 
God, will love also. The words, " and will manifest Myself to him," seem equiva- 
lent to the promise which our Saviour made to His Apostles, in verse 19, that they 
should "see" Him: words, which He will be found to explain presently, in verse 
23. 

22 Judas saith unto Him, (not Iscariot,) Lord, how is it that Thou 
wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the World ? 

St. John testifies singular anxiety to preclude the supposition that it was the 
Traitor, (the only "Judas" whom he has hitherto named.) who asked this question. 
The speaker was "Judas, the brother of James:" called by St. Matthew, "Leb- 
baeus, whose surname was Thaddseus." He was one of our Lord's cousins, 
("brethren," as they are called in the Gospels,) and author of the Epistle which 
bears his name.(i') . . . His surprise seems to have arisen out of the deep-rooted 
belief, (which St. Jude will have entertained with the rest of his nation,) that the 
manifestation of Messiah was to be something of a wholly different nature from 
that which He here, for the second time, intimates. Our Saviour's renewed allu- 
sion to what He had more fully stated in ver. 19, suggests the inquiry which St. 
Jude had probably desired to make ever since those words were spoken; but which, 
after the promise of a "manifestation," (in ver. 21,) he could suppress no longer. 

23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will 
keep My words : and My Father will love him, and We will come 
unto him, and make our abode with him. 

In these words, our Lord very nearly repeats what He said in verse 21 : but it 
will be felt that His reply to the inquiry of St. Jude was well fitted to dispel any 
carnal notion of the manner of His future presence with His Disciples, which 
they might have conceived from verses 18, 19, and 21. " We will come and make 
our abode Avith him," — can only indicate a spiritual presence : real indeed, yet not 
visible ; personal indeed, yet not corporeal. 

_" Here is the soul of man made the habitation of God the Father, and God the 
Son ; and the presence of the Spirit cannot be wanting where these two are 
inhabiting; for " if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."(&) 
In other words, the indwelling of the Spirit, by virtue of the mystery of the Di- 
vine Nature, procures the presence of the Father also, and of the Son : for " since 
they all are but One God in number, one indivisible Essence, or Substance, their 
distinction cannot possibly admit separation." " Dare any man," (asks Hooker,.) 
" unless he be ignorant altogether how inseparable the Persons of the Trinity are, 
persuade himself that every of them may have their sole and several possessions ; 
or that we being not partakers of all, can have fellowship with any One?" .... See 
above, on verse 11. 

Our Saviour's promise of " coming," and " abiding" (Z)with the believer, recalls 
that striking declaration in the Book of Revelation : " Behold, I stand at the door, 
and knock : if any Man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, 
and sup with him, and he with Me."(ra) 

On the saying which immediately follows, the reader is referred to the note 
above, on verse 15. 

24 He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings : and the word 
which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me. 

In other words, the precepts of the Son(w) are the precepts also of the Father ; 
as so often explained elsewhere. — The reader is particularly requested to read here 
the notes on St. John vii. 16, and xii. 49. — " The full sense of this clause is as 
follows : As those who show their love to Me by keeping My words will be loved 

(7t) Ps. ciii. 13. (i) See the note on St. Mark iii. 18. 

(k) Bp. Pearson, quoting Rom. viii. 9. 

(l) See above, the note on ver. 2. Compare St. John i. 38, 39. 
(m) Rev. iii. 20. (n) See above, ver. 21. 

53 



834 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

both by Me and My Father, (o) so, on the other hand, they who, loving Me not, do 
not keep My sayings, will be excluded as well from My Father's love as from 
Mine ; since the Word which ye hear from Me, is not Mine only, but my Father's 
also who sent Me."(_p) 

25, 26 These things have I spoken unto yon, being yet present with 
you. But the Comforter, 

" The connection is as follows: — But since, of the things which I have spoken to 
you during My presence with you, some are imperfectly understood, and some will 
be forgotten by you, the Comforter," (g) 

which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My Name, 
He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, 
whatsoever I haVe said unto you. 

"The Holt Ghost whom the FATHER will send." The lofty Doctrine which 
is implied by this right of Mission, will be found largely commented on in the notes 
on St. John xv. 26. 

So much has been already offered above, on ver. 16, concerning the meaning of 
Paraclete, (which we here again translate " Comforter,") that in this place, where 
one great office of that Divine Person is described, it shall only be added that the 
Name embraces an allusion to every function of the Ministry to which the Apos- 
tles were set apart ; — not only the office of Consolation, (r) and of Intercession or 
Entreaty, (s) but of Exhortation, {t) and of Teaching(u) likewise. 

Our Saviour is therefore here supplying a fresh ground of consolation to His 
sorrowing Apostles. He renews the promise "of the Paraclete," whom He now, 
for the first time, tells them is " the Holy Ghost ;" and intimates that it will be 
His. two-fold office to "teach" them, (that is, to explain to them the meaning of,) 
everything which He had Himself ever said to them ; and to recall to their memories 
all the precious words which He had ever spoken, — "being yet present with them/' 
The Holy Ghost was therefore to prove the instructor of the Apostles ; guiding 
them " into all the Truth' 7 of those many things which Christ desired to explain 
to them ; but which at present they were "not able to bear."(y) He was to teach 
them " all things ;" not as though Christ's Teaching was incomplete, but inas- 
much as it was imperfectly understood. He was to bring all things to their 
remembrance, not merely as enabling their memories to retain the actual words 
and matter of their Lord's teaching ; but as illuminating their minds to see and 
hold fast all that was contained within it : to clear up its difficulties ; to carry it 
out to its consequences ; to apply its principles to all particular cases ; to expand 
and connect all its separate oracles into one consistent and complete body and sys- 
tem of Heavenly wisdom. Thus, when our Lord said, " Destroy this Temple, and 
in three days I will raise it up," — speaking not of the Temple on Mount Mori ah, 
but of the Temple of His own Body, — His Disciples evidently did not understand 
His meaning much more clearly than the unbelieving Jews : for the Evangelist 
adds, "When therefore He was risen from the dead, His Disciples remembered that 
He had said this unto them ; and they believed the Scriptures and the word which 
Jesus had said." (a:) That is, the Comforter brought to their remembrance not the 
mere words, but the deep, solemn, and mysterious truth which, in His mouth, they 
contained. So again, when our Lord fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah by His 
entering into Jerusalem, we are told that "these things understood not His Disci- 
ples at the first : but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these 
things were written of Him, and that they had done these things unto Him. "(.?/) 

"Thus then is seen the difference between the teaching of Christ; and of the 
Holy Ghost ; and, at the same time, its sameness. The teaching was the same, 
but in a different way. Christ taught them : the Holy Ghost made them under- 
stand. The Word gave the Doctrine: the Spirit gave the capacity. The Saviour 

(o) See ver. 23. (p) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(q) Lonsdale and Hale. (r) Acts xv. 31 : xvi. 40. 2 Cor. i. 3 to 7. 

(s) Acts xiv. 22. (0 Acts xi. 23 : xv. 32. 

(«) Acts xiii. 15. (v) See St. John xvi. 12, 13. 

(x) St. John ii. 22. See the note on St. John ii. 17. 
{y) St. John xii. 16, — where see the note. 



XIV.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 835 



was with them : the Comforter was within them. The change therefore was not 
in the teaching, but in themselves ; as when a man's eyes are dim, and you give 
him a Bible, and he can hardly read it. The Word is God ; s Word ; and so, per- 
fect : but its use to him is small. Let his eyes be healed however, and what a 
change comes over his use of it ! It is the same ; but to him how different ! . . . 
Such is the teaching of the Spirit ; making to mankind available the teaching of 
the Son of Man."(z) 

In passing, we would ask those writers who are prone to suspect the Apostles 
and Evangelists of inaccurate memories, how they reconcile their notion of Inspi- 
ration with this promise of our LoRD?(a) 

The sending of the Holt Ghost " in the Name" of Jesus Christ implies that 
His office would be to carry forward and complete the gracious work which Christ 
had effectually begun. Thus, He would add the great work of Sanctification to 
the work of Redemption ; would recall to the Apostles our Saviour's teaching, and 
guide them into all the Truth of it; for he who comes "in the name" of another, 
comes to do the work of that other. Consider, and compare, the language of St. 
John v. 43. 

27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you : not as the 
World giveth, give I unto you. 

Friends are ever wont to use words of Peace at parting ; and by saying, " Peace 
Heave with you," the Prince of Peace(6) here shows that He is about to be parted 
by Death from His Disciples, — to whom these words convey His prevailing Bene- 
diction, and Divine legacy, — their large inheritance. But it is more than " Peace" 
that He " leaves" them. " My Peace/ - ' (He says,) " I give unto you." The nature 
of it, St. Paul declares in a familiar place ;(c) and twice calls it the Peace of 
God."(cZ) For this Peace, the Church prays daily in her second Collect at Evening 
Prayer : in her Litany also ; and herein she bestows her parting benediction^/' ) 
— It is interesting to find these words of our Lord prefixed to the Confession, or 
Creed, of the 630 Bishops who met at Chalcedon, about a. d. 451 ; as the Divine 
warrant for uniformity of Doctrine. 

Take notice that our Lord goes on to contrast His gifts with those unreal goods 
which the World gives ; as well as His manner, with the World's manner of giv- 
ing. Those, eternal, and "without repentance ;"{g) these, temporal, and altoge- 
ther insecure : those, proceeding from Him to whom all things of right belong ; 
these, conferred by persons who are not their true possessors. . . . The Blessed 
Speaker may have observed His Disciples growing sorrowful as well as afraid at 
the prospect which these sayings, ominous of His near departure, disclosed. He 
therefore, "whose words had cast down their hearts, raiseth them presently again 
with chosen sentences of sweet encouragement ;"(h) repeating, first, the soothing 
exhortation, 

28 Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have 
heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If 
ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father : 

Alluding to what is found above, in verses 2 and 3 ; also 12, 18, and 23 : and 
" teaching us," (observes Cyprian,) "that we must rejoice rather than grieve at 
the departure out of this World of those we love." — The knowledge whither our 
Saviour was going should have caused His Disciples to rejoice, He saith : 

for My Father is greater than I. 

In order to understand what made this a reason for such rejoicing, consider Phil. 
ii. 5 to 11. Read also St. John xvii. 1, 2 and 5 : Eph. i. 20 to 22: Hebr. i. 3, 4: 
ii. 9 : xii. 2, &c. — For a kindred saying, see St. John x. 29, and the Commentary on 

(z) These valuable remarks are from a MS. Sermon by the Rev. Robert Scott, D.D., Master 
of Balliol. 

(«) See the note on St. John xii. 15. (5) Is. ix. 6 : compare xxvi. 3. 

(c) Phil. iv. 7. (d) Col. iii. 15. 

(/) At the end of the Communion Service; availing herself of St. Paul's allusion to the 
words in Phil. iv. 7. 

(g) Rom. xi. 21. (h) Hooker. 



836 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

that place : taking note of the emphatic statement which immediately follows in 
verse 30, — namely, " I and [the] Father are One." 

It remains then to offer a few words on the remarkable declaration before us : 
concerning which, it is perhaps not enough to suggest that our Lord here declares 
Himself " inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood:" for, (as Gregory of 
Nazianzus points out,) however true, this would have been a very trifling statement 
for our Lord to make : so perfectly obvious is it that God is greater than Man. In 
the opinion of the most learned of the Fathers, a loftier doctrine is here conveyed; 
and the subject may be fitly introduced by a reference to what has been already 
offered in the notes on St. John v. 20. Because the Son received His essence from 
the Father, He which was equal, even in that equality is considered here to con- 
fess a priority ; saying, " the Father is greater than I :" the Son, equal in respect 
of His Nature ; the Father, greater in regard to the communication of the God- 
head. 

"I know Him," (saith the Holy One,) "for I am from Him."(?) "And because 
He is from the Father, therefore He is called by those of the Nicene Council, in 
their Creed, ' God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God/ The Father 
is God, but not of God ; Light, but not of Light : Christ is God, but of God ; 
Light, but of Light. There is no difference or inequality in the Nature or Essence, 
because the same in both ; but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ hath that 
Essence of Himself, from none ; Christ hath the same not of Himself, but from 
Him." This, then, hath been thought by many Doctors of the Church to be the 
ground of the superiority ascribed to the Father by the Son, in the text. "And 
the privilege or priority of the first Person, (say they,) consisteth not in this, — that 
the Essence or attributes of the One are greater than the Essence or attributes of 
the Other; (for they are the same in both;) but only in this, — that the Father 
hath that essence of Himself; the Son, by communication from the Father."(j) 
And this is certainly what those 250 Bishops, who met at Sardica in a. d. 347, 
meant, when they said, — " No one ever denies that the Father is greater than the 
Son ; not because their Substance is different, nor indeed because of any other dis- 
parity whatsoever : but because the very Name ' Father' is greater than the Name 
' Son/ " 

It may yet be a satisfaction to those who are inclined to think that it was only 
because He had taken "the form of a servant," that the Eternal Son said "My 
Father is greater than I," — to know that Augustine, in eighteen out of nineteen 
places in his writings, advocates their view ; and that even Cyril himself, when he 
wrote his Commentary on St. John, was of the same opinion. Let better men de- 
cide whether the true account of the matter may not possibly be this : — that, how- 
ever certain the Doctrine laid down in the former part of the present note may be, 
yet that, in the actual context of the ivords under consideration, they are to be ex- 
plained otherwise. So, at least, thought all those Patriarchs and Metropolitans 
who discussed the saying "My Father is greater than I," in a Synod held at Con- 
stantinople, a. d. 1166. (k) 

29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is 
come to pass, ye might believe. 

With the same design with which He here foretells His approaching departure 
to the Father, the Blessed Speaker had before predicted the treachery of Judas 
Iscariot, in St. John xiii. 19 ; and, with the same design, He will foretell the suffer- 
ings of the Apostles in chap. xvi. 4. Consider what is stated in St. John ii. 22. 
Our Saviour next intimates that His time for intercourse with. His Apostles is now 
drawing to a close. He had yet much to tell them ;{l) and they were hanging on 
every word with intense interest and wonder. But the night was already wearing 
fast away. He says therefore : 

30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you : for the Prince of this 
World cometh, and hath nothing in Me. 

(i) St. John vii. 29 : where see the note. 

( /) So Bp. Pearson : also Bp. Bull, following therein Athanasius, his predecessor Alexander, 
Hilary, and many others. 

(/c) The Acts of that Synod have lately been found in the Vatican. 
(I) St. John xvi. 12. 



XV.] 



on st. john's gospel. 837 



He has already called Satan the "the Prince of this World" in St. John xii. 31, 
where the note should be referred to. See also St. John xvi. 11: and consider how 
fearful is the intimation here given of the actual approach of that Old Serpent at 
the present juncture, — which may not be explained away, as if the instruments of 
Satan, Judas and the rest, were all that is meant. After the Temptation, he had 
departed from the Holy One " until a season/' — which season had now at last 
arrived, (m) 

" A cunning searcher hath pried narrowly into every corner of His Life ; and, if 
there had been anything amiss, would have been sure to have spied it, and pro- 
claimed it; but he could find nothing."(n) From Sin, Christ "was clearly void, 
both in His Flesh, and in His Spirit."(o) It is not therefore because Satan, (to 
whom our Lord had never "given place"(_p) for a moment,) had any power over 
Him, to hurt Him, that He was about to suffer Death, (which is " the wages of 
Sin;"(<z) but, — 

31 But that the World may know that I love the Father ; and as 
the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. 

That is, — But I will submit to Death, (and thus slay Satan with his own wea- 
pon), (r) that I may redeem the World ; and that thereby the World may know that 
I love the Father ; and do, even as He gave Me commandment. This verse should 
be carefully compared with the latter portion of St. John xv. 10 ; where see the 
Commentary. See also St. John x. 18; and the notes on the place. The Blessed 
Speaker adds, — 

Arise, let us go hence. 

After which, we picture to ourselves the Eleven Apostles, amazed at all they had 
seen and heard during the last few hours, sorrowfully rising from table ; quitting 
the "large upper-chamber" where they had been partaking of the last Jewish Pass- 
over, the first Lord's Supper ; and preparing to follow the Holy One through the 
streets of Jerusalem to their customary place of resort, — the Garden of Gethsemane, 
at the foot of the Mount of Olives. 



CHAPTER XY. 



1 The consolation and mutual love between Christ and His members, under Hie 
parable of the Vine. 18 J. comfort in the hatred and persecution of the World. 26 
The office of the Holy Ghost, and of the Apostles. 

The former chapter ended with the words, — "Arise, let us go hence." It is to 
be supposed that the blessed Company rose at that saying, and followed our Sa- 
viour through the streets of Jerusalem in the direction of the Mount of Olives. 
Their way will have led them past the Temple ; above the gates of which, and just 
beneath the coping, a golden Vine was constructed of surprising size and very 
costly workmanship. Its depending clusters were of the height of a man. How 
then can we forbear suspecting that the words which follow were spoken with spe- 
cial reference to that symbol ; which may have all the while hung mantling above 
the Divine Speaker, and the little band of mournful Disciples which surrounded. 
Him, as they reposed in one of the porches of the sacred edifice ? 

I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Husbandman. 

(m) See the note on St. Luke iv. 13. (n) Bp. Sanderson, 

(o) Art. XV. 

(p) Eph. iv. 27. (q) Rom. vi. 23. See Heb. ii. 14. 

(>•) Pseudo-Fell on Hebr. ii. 14-, 15, — which see. 



838 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

The sense in which our Lord here calls Himself fi the true Vine/ 7 and elsewhere 
"the true Bread;" (a) in which also the Evangelist St. John styles Him "the true 
Light ;"(&) is much to be noted. It is not implied that the noble Vine(c) which He 
had brought out of Egypt, casting out the heathen in order to plant it;{d) the 
" Angels' food" with which He had fed His people in the Wilderness ; or the Light 
which He pronounced, " in the beginning," "very good," — were all otherwise than 
true : but only, that every thing implied in those titles, when bestowed on any of 
His creatures, was fulfilled in Himself alone. They were but shadows ; He, the 
very substance. They, the signs ; He, the very thing signified. They, the type ; 
He, the antitype, (e) Wiclif translates, "I am the verri Vine." Christ is there- 
fore not only " the Lord of the Vineyard ;"(jf) not only is He "the Son" of "the 
Lord of the Vineyard ;"(</) but He is also the "Vine" itself. And this, His uni- 
versal character, has been already pointed out in the note on St. John x. 11. Having 
thus styled Himself the Vine, it became necessary, in order to pursue the Parable, 
to speak of the Father as the Husbandman ; in which, moreover, there will be felt 
to be an exceeding propriety. Let us, however, instead of perplexing ourselves 
with such minor details, bear in mind a remark which has been already elsewhere 
offered ; namely, that in interpreting each of our Lord's parables, the great pur- 
pose for which it was delivered is to be ever borne in mind, if we would understand 
it rightly. (h) Thus, in the present instance, our Lord is chiefly bent on showing 
that it is only by abiding in Him, like branches in the Vine, that we can become 
fruitful ; or indeed, that we can live. The remark is also true, that " what is prin- 
cipally to be regarded in this place is, — that hitherto indeed Israel had been the 
Vine, into which every one that would betake himself to the worship of the true 
God, was to be set and grafted in. But from henceforward they were to be planted 
no more into the Jewish Keligion, but into the profession of Christ. Hence the 
Disciples were no longer called 'Jews' or ' Israelites,' but 'Christians.' "(i) 

Of all the fruit-trees, then, why does our Lord here resemble Himself to a " Yine?" 
Doubtless, the immediate reason was in order thereby to interpret and illumine many 
a dark place of Psalm and ancient prophecy, where the image of the Vine was found 
already. But this is only to postpone our answer. The Prophets, speaking by 
" the Spirit of Christ which was in them,"(Z) had been removed to discourse of a 
Vine, in preference to any other fruit-tree, because it was foreseen that our Saviour 
would have occasion hereafter to refer, (as He does here,) to the image of a very 
fruitful tree with many branches ;(m) a tree which not only admits of pruning ; but 
whose very productiveness depends on the judicious use of the pruning-knife. It 
needs, in truth, very slender powers of fancy, or a very limited acquaintance with 
the sacred writings, to discover a multitude of additional reasons why Christ should 
compare Himself to a Vine. Its fruit is a type of spiritual gifts, as our Lord testi- 
fied both by His acts and by His sayings. (») The use of the juice of the grape in 
the Holy Eucharist imparts a solemn meaning to the Psalmist's declaration, that it 
is this which "maketh glad the heart of man."(o) The very phrase, "blood of 
grapes,"(_p) prepares us, from the first, for something mysterious in connection with 
the Vine. 

Delightful is it to find writers about the Grape-Vine, who had nothing less in view 
than the illustration of the Gospel, becoming our instructors in such passages as the 
following: — " It is hardly possible to plant a Vine in any situation in which it will 
not thrive . . . The truth is that the roots of the Vine possesses an extraordinary 
power of adapting themselves to any situation in which they may be planted, pro- 
vided it be a dry one. They will ramble in every direction in search of food, and 
extract nourishment from sources apparently the most barren. ; In short, they are 
the best caterers that can possibly be imagined ; for they will grow, and even thrive 
luxuriantly, where almost every other description of plant or tree would inevitably 
starve." 

(a) St. John vi. 32. (6) St. John i. 9, 

(c) Jer. ii. 21. [d) Ps. lxxx. 8. 

(e) Consider Heb. viii. 2, and ix. 24 Also the note on St. John x. 11. 

(/) St. Matth. xx. 8. (g) St. Matth. xxi. 37, 40. 

(h) See the note on St. Luke xvi. 8. (t) Lightfoot, referring to Acts xi. 26. 

(0 1 St. Peter i. 11. 

(m) Ps. lxxx. 11. See the note on St. Mark iv. 32. 

(«) St. John ii. 11, (where see the note;) and St. Matth. ix. 17. 

(o) Ps. civ. 15. Compare Judg. ix. 13. {p) Glen. xlix. 11. Deut. xxxii. 14. 



XV.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 839 

The author of the same treatise seems to be discoursing in a parable when he 
adds : — " Pruning and Training are so closely connected together, that they almost 
constitute one operation. In pruning a Vine, regard must be had to the manner 
in which it is afterwards to be trained ; and, in training it, the position of the 
branches must, in a great measure, be regulated by the mode in which it has pre- 
viously been pruned." 

" The old wood of a Vine is not only of no use, but is a positive injury to the fer- 
tility of the plant." 

" The sole object in view in pruning a Vine is to increase its fertility." But it 
is added, (and there is something affecting in the remark: — "Although by pruning 
a Vine its fertility is increased, its existence is no doubt thereby shortened. The 
severing of a healthy branch from any tree is, without doubt, doing an act of vio- 
lence to it ; the effects of which are only overcome by the superior strength of the 
vegetative powers of its roots." (q) 

To understand our Saviour's next words, we must anticipate His declaration in 
ver. 5: — "I am the Vine, ye are the branches." 

2 Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away : and 
every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth 
more fruit. 

Nothing is here said about unbelievers. Our Saviour is talking only of Chris- 
tian men, — ("Every branch in Me,"" He says : and He distinguishes believers into 
two classes ; those who bear not, and those who bear fruit. The former, " He 
taketh away,"— "like Judas, who was even now gone forth, and severed from the 
Church. The latter class, ' He purgeth/ (' or cleanseth/) — by His "Word, by His 
Spirit, by His Providence, by trials and afflictions ; as He was about to do with 
these His beloved Apostles: not willingly, but that they might 'bear more fruit/ "(V) 

Under one of these two classes, all perforce are comprised ; and take notice, that 
the words of Solomon, adopted by the Apostle in his exhortation, (" My son despise 
not thou the chastening of the Lord/' &c.,)(s) must, by our Lord's showing, be ap- 
plicable to all who are not reprobates. 

3 Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto 
you. 

."Ye are already sanctified" (He says) "by the operation of My Doctrine and 
Spirit upon you, (7) though ye may need further pruning in order to a greater de- 
gree of fruitfulness."(«) This saying should be thoughtfully compared with what 
is found in St. John xiii. 10 : and let the learned reader decide whether there is not 
an allusion here to the precept contained in Levit. xix. 23. 

There is a slight play of sound in the original, (which disappears in the transla- 
tion, (between the words "taketh away/' "purgeth," and "clean." Observe that 
here, our Saviour claims to Himself the Husbandman's Office ; since it is His 
Word which cleanseth the branches. "And thus, throughout these Discourses, 
He departs from them, yet He continues with them. He is One with the Father, 
yet different. He is One with the Comforter, yet another. He is the Vine, and 
His Father is the Husbandman ; and yet, He and the Father are One. He is the 
Vine, and yet the Vine are His Disciples. "(x) 

4 Abide in Me, and I in you. 

That is, — "And I will abide in you :" or, " that I also may abide in you." . . . 
"How is this communion, but by prayer ; by keeping His word; by good works ; 
by His Sacraments ; by His sanctifying Grace ; by the Peace of God keeping the 
heart ; by Faith exercised in Love V'{y) Lastly, from a comparison of this place with 
1 St. John ii. 6, it must be added, — By walking even as He walked. 

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the Vine ; 
no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. 

(q) Clement Hoare on the Cultivation of the Grape-Vine, 1837. 

(r) Williams. (s) Heb. xii. 5, — quoting Prov. iii. 11, 12. 

(*) Compare Eph. v. 26. (u) Hammond. 

(x) Williams. (y) Williams. 



840 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

To understand the meaning of these words, it must he remembered that "except 
it abide," " except ye abide," in this place signify, — " but must abide." See the 
note on the next verse. 

5 I am the Vine, ye are the branches : He that abicleth in Me, and 
I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit : for without Me ye can 
do nothing. 

Rather, — "severed," or "apart from" Me .... The teaching of these words is 
not to be mistaken. Only while in Christ, (into whose body we were " grafted" 
at our Baptism,) can we bring forth the fruit of good works, — as branches can only 
produce grapes while they abide in the Vine. Yet are those works not ours, but 
Sis ; being done solely by virtue of that life which we enjoy because we are in 
Him. Sis infused grace it is which makes us productive ; without whom, we can 
do nothing. 

He says not, "For without Me ye can bring forth but little fruit;" not, " There 
are some things ye cannot do without Me ;" or, " There are many things ye cannot 
do without Me ;" but, " Without," (or "Apart from) Me, ye can do nothing :" no- 
thing good, nothing pleasing and acceptable unto God: whereas if we could either 
prepare ourselves to turn, or turn ourselves when prepared, without him, we could 
do much. And to put it out of doubt, the same Spirit tells us elsewhere, " For it 
is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (2) 

On the doctrine implied by that saying, — "He that abideth in Me, and I in him," 
(that is, "and in whom I abide,") — see the notes on St. John xiv. 20. The branch 
bears fruit, not because it abideth in the Vine, but because in it the Vine abideth. 

6 If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is 
withered ; 

"0 wonderful and mysterious life-giving union ! He is still a branch, but a dead 
branch. No longer, by prayer and communion with God doth he draw life ; and 
then, he is cut off from the Body." "Cast out" is he, — according to the constant 
language of Holy Scripture: compare St. Matthew viii. 12: xxii. 13: xxv. 30; 
and read the latter part of the note on St. John xiii. 30. — "But the end is yet to 
come."(a) 

and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are 
burned. 

There is no word for " men" in the original. (6) " The fire spoken of is, doubt- 
less, that fire into which the soul is cast ; the soul that can never die, and the fire 
that can never be quenched. "(c) .... Consider, in connection with this place of 
Scripture, St. Matthew xiii. 30 : and see the next note. 

7 If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what 
ye will, and it shall be clone unto you. 

Thus is set forth, (in verses 6 and 7,) in a few words of awful contrast, the 
blessed consequence of " abiding" in Christ, — like the Eleven : and the terrible 
result of " abiding not" in Him, — like Judas. " If a man abide not," his " end is 
to be burned," as speaks the Apostle. (d) This is the fate of " every tree which 
bringeth not forth good fruit," — proclaimed in the self-same words both by our 
Saviour Christ, and by His Forerunner. (e) But the result of "abiding" in 
Christ, is, that the Believer asketh what he will, " and it shall be done unto" 
him:(,/) for he will not "ask amiss." Consider Romans viii. 26, and St. James 
iv. 3. In connection with the phrase, "My words abide in you," the reader is in- 
vited to consider attentively the language of St. Peter and St. John in the two 
places referred to at foot.(^) " If ye keep My commandments," (saith our Saviour, 

(2) Bp. Beveridge, quoting Phil. ii. 13. Consider Art. X. 
(a) Williams. (&) See note on St. Luke vi. 38. 

(c) Williams, (d) Heb. vi. 8. 

(e) St. Matth. vii. 19 and iii. 10. (/) See also St. John xiv. 13, 14: xvi. 23. 

(g) 1 St. Pet. i. 23, and 1 St. John iii. 9,— where, what is here called the Word, is spoken of 
as Seed. 



XV.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 841 

in verse 10,) " ye shall abide in My love:" and, as if in allusion to these sayings, 
the beloved Disciple declares in his first Epistle, "Whatsoever we ask, we receive 
of Him, because we keep His Commandments, and do those things that are pleas- 
ing in His sight. "(h) " This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask 
any thing according to His will, He heareth us."(i) See below, the latter part of 
ver. 16. 

8 Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit ; so shall 
ye be My disciples. 

Our Saviour declares that the Eternal Father will be glorified by the fruits of 
Faith which the Apostles should hereafter exhibit ; doubtless, alluding chiefly to 
the time when they should " be endued with power from on high."(/i) The con- 
version of the nations to the knowledge of "the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus," is 
of course the result chiefly intended ; as appears from "verse 16, — where see the 
note : but take notice how it is declared that the fruit of good works, as shown in 
the life and conversation of the humblest believer, is the glorifying of our Father 
which is in Heaven. See St. Matthew v. 16 : 1 Cor. vi. 20. — "What unspeakable 
condescension is it that even God Himself should deign to receive glory from His 
creatures, and be glorified in their obedience V'(l) 

The meaning of the last clause is uncertain. It seems probable that our Saviour 
is here declaring two respects wherein the Father will be glorified ; — namely, by 
the Apostles' bearing "much fruit;" and by their becoming His "Disciples indeed;" 
which title, as He once told the Jews, belongs only to as many as "continue in His 
Word."(m) 

9 As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you : continue ye 
in My love. 

The words are plain ; and the saying seems at first to present no difficulty. But, 
on examination, all the discourses of Him who spake as "never man spake"(;z) are 
found to present doubts, if not difficulties. In what respect, (for example,) had 

our Lord so loved His Disciples as the Father had loved Him t Again, — 

Does He here exhort them to continue in His love towards them ? that is, not to 
forfeit His gracious friendship : or to persevere in their love towards Him? that is, 
to be faithful unto death. For, (as Augustine remarks,) "the words themselves do 
not make it evident which love He means ; His to us, or ours to Him." The latter 
sense will be found to be fully established by a reference to the places indicated at 

foot.(o) See the note on the next verse Lastly, — Is that brief concluding 

sentence, " Continue ye in My love," to be taken by itself? or is it to be taken with 
what goes before? making the meaning of the whole verse, this: — "As the Fa- 
ther hath loved Me, and I have loved you, [so] continue ye in My love."( p) . . . . 
It follows : 

10 If ye keep My Commandments, ye shall abide in My love ; even 
as I have kept My Father's Commandments, and abide in His love. 

As already hinted, the meaning certainly is, that the keeping of Christ's Com- 
mandments would be the best evidence that the Disciples persevered in their love 
of Christ ; (according to those sayings of their Divine Master, — " If ye love Me, 
keep My commandments. "(g) "This is My commandment, That ye love one 
another as I have loved you."(r) " By this shall all men know that ye -are My 
Disciples, if ye have love one to another." (s) Consider also St. John xiv. 24; and 
especially 1 St. John ii. 3 to 6.) And the concluding clause means, — Even as the 
evidence that I love the Father, is, that I keep His commandments. — In illustra- 
tion of which last words, it will suffice to refer the reader to the Commentary on 

(h) 1 St, John iii. 22. (0 1 St. John v. 14. 

(k) St. Luke xxiv. 49. (I) Williams. 

(wz) St. John viii. 31. (n) St. John vii. 46. 

(o) Consider St. Luke xi. 42. St. John v. 42. 1 St. John ii. 5, and 15 : also iii. 17. Con- 
sider especially 1 St. John ii. 3 to 6, not only as an allusion, but also as a commentary, on 
verses 4, 5, 9, 10, of the present chapter. 

(_?;>) Compare verse 4, above : also vi. 57. (q) St. John xiv. 15. 

(/•) St. John xv. 12. (s) St. John xiii. 35. 



842 A PLAIN COMMENTARY |_CHAP. 

St. John iv. 34, v. 30, and vi. 38. Let him consider also St. John xiv. 31, and read 
the note on that place. 

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain 
in you, and that your joy might be full. 

The meaning of these few difficult words seems to be, — I have been thus earn- 
estly exhorting you to persevere in love towards Me, and obedience to My com- 
mands, in order that, when I am away, ye may have an abiding sense of that joy 
which My presence inspired; and not only so, but, this life ended, that ye may find 
in Me a full measure of Bliss. (t) Consolation in this World, amid hardships and 
trials : and in the World to come, an inheritance of perfect joy. For, as it is 
written, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."(w) 

12 This is My Commandment, That ye love one another, as I have 
loved you. 

Observe how our Saviour takes occasion here to repeat that self-same " new 
Commandment" which he had already delivered in chap. xiii. 34 ; and which He 
here distinguishes from all other commands, by calling it His own. So much has 
been already offered on this subject, that it must suffice, on this occasion, to refer 
the reader to the note on St. John xiii. 34. 

The largeness of the love wherewith Christ hath loved us, was not alluded to be- 
fore. Here, it is distinctly specified. He seems to say, — Love ye one another even 
unto Death, as even unto Death I have loved you. 

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay clown his life 
for his friends. 

"But God commendeth His Love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners. 
Christ died for us." If then, " when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by 
the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His Life I" (a;) 
" This is the love which has been shown to us ; and it was exhibited for those who 
were not "friends;" who were unreconciled; aye, who were enemies. When we 
had neither the power nor the will to make ourselves friends of God, did He first 
redeem us, and then adopt us for his own ; reveal Himself to us, and take us to His 
own bosom as the Disciples whom He loved." [y) 

Take notice that in the expression " lay down His life," it is implied that by His 
own free will Christ would submit to death. 

Most interesting, however, is it that we should have our attention directed to the 
plain and repeated allusions in St John's first Epistle, to the present and the preceding 
verse. " In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent 
His Only Begotten Son(s) into the World, that we might live through Him .... 
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." (a) "Herein per- 
ceive we Love, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our 
lives for the brethren." (b) 

Upon the last word of the verse before us ("friends,") the Divine Speaker pro- 
ceeds to engraft a further gracious statement : 

14 Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 

That is, — Ye will be My friends. The present verse is therefore exactly equiva- 
lent to the former half of vesse 10, as we have already explained it. Take notice of 
the largeness of the Love, which anticipating the obedience of the Apostles, in the 
ensuing verse bestows upon them, in advance, the very title of endearment which 
He here promises ! 

Obvious must it be to an attentive reader, that the word "friends" occurs in a 

(t) Compare for the expression, St. John hi. 29 : xvii. 13. Phil. ii. 2. 1 John i. 4, and 2 
John 12. 

(«) 1 Cor. ii. 9, quoting Is. lxiv. 4. (as) Roni. v. 8, 10. 

(y) From a MS. Sermon by Rev. Robert Scott, D.D., Master of Balliol. 

(z) A few words here seem intended to recall our Saviour's discourse to Nicodemus. St. 
John iii. 16. 

(a) 1 St. John iv. 9, 11. (6) 1 St. John iii. 16. 



XV.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 843 



somewhat different sense here, and in verses 13 and 15. Here, the conduct of men 
shows that they love CHRIST; there, the treatment which they experience at 
Christ's hands, proves that He loves them ... In verse 17, our Lord will explain 
what He specially means by "whatsoever I command you." In the meantime, He 
proceeds to show why He will henceforth call His Disciples "friends :" 

15 Henceforth I call you not servants ; for the servant knoweth not 
what His Lord doeth : but I have called you friends ; 

Kather, — " I call you servants no longer." Not but what he may still, by impli- 
cation, sometimes call His Disciples by the name of " servants ;" as He had done in 
time past.(c) But He here declares that He will henceforth regard them as stand- 
ing towards Himself in a new and more endearing relation : that namely, of 
"friends." 

This glorious apellation had been already bestowed by God on faithful Abra- 
ham :(d) "and striking it is to observe that unto this day, all those on the face of 
the earth who call upon the God of Israel, — not Christians and Jews only, but even 
the followers of the false prophet, — so glory in this title of the Patriarch, that 
Mamre or Hebron, where Abraham dwelt, is no longer called by either of those 
names; but by one which signifies simply, ' the Friend ;■ '(e) — a reverent and mys- 
terious expression of the name of Abraham, — 'the friend of God/" 

The title thus bestowed by our Saviour upon His Disciples, (be it observed,) 
" was an advance and promotion even of those who had been of His company from 
the beginning: "I call you servants no longer:" that is, I have hitherto called you 
so ;" but will call you so no more. " Now, here is a two-fold blessing. First, that 
we should be servants, or even bondsmen of God at all, is the work of His infinite 
mercy, who hath redeemed us out of the power of the evil One to whom we were in 
bondage. But the Love which sought us out in the House of our Captivity, and brought 
us into the household and family of God, giving us that service which is perfect free- 
dom, in exchange for the grinding drudgery and noisome dungeons of the Adversary's 
prison-house, has not even stopt short there. Having begun to love those whom He 
had made His own, He loved them unto the end.(y) " No longer do I call you ser- 
vants, . . . but I have called you friends." This is the spirit of Adoption, which re- 
places the Spirit of bondage unto fear For this purpose Christ came into the World, 
and took upon Him the form of a Servant, being made in the likeness of man ; that 
He might not only speak to us, but be with us, as a man with his friend. And that 
this bond of Friendship, begun through this humiliation of His, might remain firm 
and ratified eternally, in the truth of that Human Nature which He hath united 
with the GoDhead for ever. Thus, our citizenship is in Heaven : there is He who 
is our friend, and who calls us His friends, — the "friend that sticketh closer than a 
brother \"{g) 

The particular distinction between the " Servant" and the " Friend," which 
is here drawn by our Blessed Lord, demands our attention : — " The servant know- 
eth not what his Lord doeth." " It is not necessary that he should ! The common 
soldier is neither expected nor permitted to know the plans of the commander. His 
part is simply to do that which is appointed him : to keep watch and guard ; to 
march hither or thither ; in faith that his work is part of a large plan, but still 
without knowing the end, without understanding what he does. Thus was it with 
the Jews, through whom God was working even from the time when he called 
Abraham His friend, in preparation for the Advent of the Redeemer. Their whole 
Law and its disposition were designed and adapted for that end ;(Ji) and yet, how 
entirely ignorant were they of it, even when the end came ! ' Ye know nothing at 
all/ said Caiaphas. How true of all those to whom he said it, while they were 
the instruments of God's work! How true, above all, of Himself! They 'knew 
nothing at all'(i) . . . This is to be a servant, in the sense in which Christ uses 
the word here ; not as it is often used in Holy Writ, of that ' service which is perfect 
freedom ;' our ' reasonable service ;' the ministrations of a dedicated life to God 
and His Son ; but in contrast to the higher gift and more intimate relation of those 

(c) Compare ver. 20 of the present chapter with. St. John xiii. 16. 

(d) Is. xli. 8. See St. James ii. 22. (e) Al Khalil. 

(/) St. John xiii. 1. (g) Prov. xviii. 24. 

(/i) Consider Eph. iii. 5. (i) Col. i. 26. 



844 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

whom the Son, having made free, has made friends. 'I have called you 

friends :'"{k) 

for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known 
unto you. 

"All things, (that is,) which were within their grasp ;(Z) . . . which were within 
the sphere of their own work and position :{m) — for it need hardly be remarked 
that we must not understand it of the deep things of God, which are known only to 
the Father, the Son and the Holt Spirit, who searcheth the depths of the God- 
head. These are things which our nature makes it impossible for us to know : so 
that it is not so much that God withholds them from man, as that man cannot take 
them in. But all the work in which they have their part ; all the living organiza- 
tion and body of which they are lively members : all His own work, will, affections, 
His whole self as the Mediator between God and Man, — all this, He reveals to them, 
in proportion to the truth of their friendship. (ri) In short, He says in the text, 
that lie has no secrets from His friends. 

" So it is said of Moses, (though, in a more strict sense, God calls him His 'ser- 
vant,') 'the Lord spake unto Him face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.' (o) 
And this was the reward of a servant ; that, for his faithfulness, he should be treated 
confidentially ; and, so far, raised above a servant's place/ Accordingly, it is worth 
observing that where it is said ' My servant Moses ... is faithful in all Mine 
House. With Him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark 
speeclies,'(p)- — the Greek rendering of the word ' servant' is peculiar: a term of 
milder import than usual being employed, which St. Paul is careful to repeat when 
he alludes to this place of Scripture, in Hebrews iii. 5. — Still more clearly is all 
this seen, as we might expect, in the case of him who was by pre-eminence called 
' the friend of God. ; (^) ' And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing 
which I do?'(r) — Accordingly, long before the time of this His last discourse, our 
Lord had made a marked distinction between those who came to hear Him, in 
general ; and the inmost circle of His Disciples/' Consider St. Matthew xiii. 10 to 
17.(,) i 

It might be thought that the past tense is used above, as so often elsewhere, with 
reference to an act yet future : since it was to be the office of the Holy Ghost, on 
the ensuing Day of Pentecost, to teach the Disciples "all things," and to guide 
them " into all the Truth. "(t) But in what sense this was spoken, has been fully 
explained in the notes on St. John xiv. 26, — to which the reader is referred. The 
office of the Holy Ghost was to explain to the Disciples those many things which 
Christ Himself had taught them. 

With reference to the words, " all things that I have heard of My Father/' the 
reader is requested to read the note on St. John v. 20 : also the extract from Hooker 
in the note on St. John xvi. 15. 

16 Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, 

" The whole blessing then, is a gift, a grace, a mercy ; and, in this respect, differ- 
ing from the character of earthly friendships ; for at the very beginning and root 
of these there lies a notion of equality and mutual choice, and of liking for one 
another. But here, the notion of equality is preposterous ; and therefore, we could 
not have chosen Him, though it lay in itis sovereign power to choose us, as of His 
sovereign power He hath done, making us His friends, and thereby giving us the 
power, which but for that gift we could not have had, of making Him our friend 
also.(w) "I have chosen you, "(a?) He says ; (commending thereby His undeserved 
affection towards our fallen race ;) — 

(k) From a valuable MS. Sermon by the Rev. Robert Scott, D.D., Master of Balliol. 

(I) Consider St. John xvi. 12. (m) Compare Acts xx. 27. 

(u) Consider Ps. xxv. 14: Prov. iii. 32. 

(o) Exod. xxxiii. 11. Compare Deut. xxxiv. 10. 

\p) Numb. xii. 7, 8. Consider what is implied by the reference to this place in 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 

(q) See above, the beginning of the note on verse 15. 

(r) Gen. xviii. 17. (s) From the MS. Sermon last quoted. 

(t) See St. John xiv. 26, and xvi. 13. [u) From the same MS. Sermon. 

[x) See St. John xiii. 18. 



XV.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 845 

and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that 
your fruit should remain : 

That is, — It was not ye, in the first instance, who made choice of Me ; but, in 
order that I might send you forth as Apostles, I made choice of you, and ordained(?/) 
you to this office ; that ye should il go into all the World, and preach the Gospel 
to every creature."( 2 ) " This His choice, however, laid no constraint on their will, 
that they should not fall; for He had said before, "Have I not chosen you Twelve, 
and one of you is a devil V'(a) Nor had he chosen them for sensible assurances, 
but for bearing fruit."(6) . . . Consider St. Paul's language to the Romans i. 13 ;(c) 
and refer back to Avhat has been already offered above, on verse 8. The allusion 
here to "fruit," (that is, to works,) which " should remain/ 7 or "abide" the trial, 
recalls that striking passage in 1 Cor. iii. 12 to 15, — to which, (especially to the lan- 
guage of verse 14,) it must suffice simply to refer. Or we may understand the 
allusion more definitely, as referring to that setting up of the Church of Christ, 
which shall never be destroyed, (cl) and which was to be the great and abiding 
work of the Apostles of the Lamb. Consider Eev. xxi. 14 : Ephes. ii. 20 ; and St. 
Matth. xvi. 18. — Our Saviour adds: 

that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my Name, He may 
give it you. 

This should be compared with verse 7, above. — It will be found that there is the 
same connection of thought traceable in verses 7 and 8, as throughout the present 
verse. See chap. xiv. 13, and 14. Consider also, chap. ix. 31. 

17 These things I command you, that ye love one another. 

Take notice that our Saviour here recurs to what He was saying in verse 14. 
" Ye are My friends," (we heard Him say,) " if ye do whatsoever I command you/' 
Accordingly, having, in verse 15, enlarged on that gracious appellation, "friends/' 
He here repeats His " new Commandment :" " These things I command you," (or 
"These [are the things which] I command you," namely.) — " that ye love one an- 
other." He reverts continually to this His heavenly requirement. . . . And now 
the Discourse takes a fresh turn. Our Saviour fortifies His Disciples against the 
World's hate and unkindness. 

18 If the World hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated 
you. 

" Marvel not," therefore, — it seems to be implied. See 1 St. John iii. 13. 

19 If ye were of the World, the World would love his own : but 
because ye are not of the World, but I have chosen you out of the 
World, therefore the World hateth you. 

Twofold, therefore, was to be the consolation of the Disciples under the World's 
hatred : first, the thought of what their Divine Master had experienced at its 
hands : next, the evidence which would thus be afforded them that they were not 
of the World, but the chosen of Christ. " For if I yet pleased men," (exclaims 
the great Apostle,) " I should not be the servant of CHRisT."(e) Compare St. John 
xvii. 14, and 1 St. John iv. 5. Consider also the saying, (addressed to those who 
" did not believe in Him/') in St. John vii. 7, — where " the World" is used in the 
same sense as here. 

"The godly," (says Bishop Sanderson,) "are in this World 'as strangers and 
pilgrims" (/') in a foreign, yea, in the enemy's country ; and they look upon the 
World, and are looked upon by it, as strangers ; and are used by it accordingly. 
If they were of the World, the World would own them, and love them, as her 
own ; and they would also love the World again, as their own home. But because 

(y) "The original word is similarly used in Acts xx. 2S. 1 Cor. xii. 28 : 1 Tim. i. 12: ii. 7. 
2 Tim. i. 11." — Lonsdale and Hale. 

(z) St. Mark xvi. 15. - (a) St. John vi. 70. 

h) Williams. (c) Compare Phil. i. 11, and Col. i. 6. 

(d) Lonsdale and Hale. (e) Gal. i. 10. (/) 1 St. Pet. ii. 11. 



846 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

they are not of the World, though they be in it, but are denizens of Heaven, (g) 
therefore the World hateth them ; and they, on the other side, are weary of the 
World, and long after Heaven, their own country, where their treasure is laid up, 
and where their hearts and affections also are." 

20 Remember the Word that I said unto you, The servant is not 
greater than his lord. 

How full of solemn interest becomes any saying of our Lord which He 
could in so marked a manner recall to the minds of His Disciples ! He reminds 
them of what he had said an hour or two before, after washing their feet. See St. 
John xiii. 16, and the note on the place. Take notice however, that His present 
allusion is not to that occasion ; but to the charge which he had delivered to them 
about a year and a half before, when He sent them out by two and two ; and when, 
in order to arm them for the strife on which they were that day to enter, He said, 
— " The Disciple is not above his Master, nor the Servant above his Lord. It is 
enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master, and the Servant as his Lord. If 
they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call 
them of his household V\h) And so it follows here : 

If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you ; if they 
have kept My saying, they will keep your's also. 

But they did persecute Me, (it is implied ;) therefore, will they also persecute 
you. And they did not keep My word ; therefore, neither will they keep yours. 
. . . " Keeping" Christ's "Word" obviously denotes holding fast His Doctrine, 
and obeying His precepts ; as in so many other places, (i) 

21 But all these things will they do unto you for My Name's sake, 
because they know not Him that sent Me. 

" For My Name's sake" seems to be a prophetic allusion to the future appella- 
tion of Christians. "Do not they blaspheme that worthy Name by which ye are 
called 1 ?" — asks St. James. (j) Compare St. Matthew xxiv. 9, and St. Mark xiii. 
13 ; and the note on the latter place. " If any man suffer as a Christian" (writes 
St. Peter,) "let him not be ashamed ; but let him glorify God on this behalf."^-) 
And we know that the Apostles did so ; departing from the presence of Councils, 
"rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name."(Z) 

The reason of the enmity of the Jews follows : — "because they know not Him 
that sent Me." Ever marvellous, or at least unexpected, are the reasons which 
Christ assigns. Thus, He here ascribes the Jews' hostility not to their ignorance 
of Himself, but of the Father who sent Him,(m) whom they yet professed to 
know.(n) It will be found suggested in the note on verse 23, that the Doctrine 
which our Lord states openly on so many other occasions, is here implied; 
namely, that every act of despite which the Jews had committed against the Son 
of Man, had been, in effect, a proof that they hated the Father also. For take 
notice, that the point of this accusation rests in the words, " they know not; that 
is, they refuse to know, they will not knoiv.(o) In short, " they hate :" even as 
Christ is said to "know" those only whom He loves.(p). As it is elsewhere writ- 
ten, — "They have blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should 
not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I 
should heal them." (q) Hence, it follows : 

(g) Phil. iii. 20. (h) St. Matth. x. 25. 

(i) They are as follows: St. John viii. 51, 52, 55: xiv. 23, 24: xvii. 6. 1 St. John ii. 5. Rev. 
iii. 8, 10 : xxii. 7, 9. Compare above verse 10. 

(j) St. James ii. 7. Compare Acts xi. 26 : xxvi. 28. 

(k) 1 St. Peter iv. 16. (I) Acts v. 41. 

(m) Compare St. John xiv. 24: xvi. 3 : xvii. 25. 

(n) St. John viii. 41, 42, 54, 55. 

(o) Compare St. Luke xix. 42, 44. 1 Sam. ii. 12. Ps. lxxix. 6. Is. i. 3 : v. 13 : xiv. 5. Jer. 
ix. 3, 6. Hos. iv. 6. 2 Thess. i. 8. 2 St. Pet. iii. 5. 

(£>) See St. Matth. vii. 23 and xxv. 12, (and the notes;) also St. Luke xiii. 25. Compare 
St. John ii. 4 and 5. 

(q) St. John xii. 40, where see the note. 



XV.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 847 

22 If I had not conie and spoken unto them, they had not had sin : 
but now they have no cloak for their sin. 

" He meaneth, they had no colour of plea ; nothing to pretend "by Tray of 
excuse."(r) 

He had before, (in verse 21, declared that the enmity of the Jews proceeded 
from their not knowing the Father. He here explains that their ignorance was 
nevertheless inexcusable ; the result of a depraved will. He " had come and spo- 
ken unto them," " as never man spake ;"(s) and it rested with themselves to hear, 
or to forbear. 

Prophetically of this very matter had it been written : — " Wisdom crieth with- 
out; she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth in the chief place. of con- 
course, in the openings of the gates : in the city she uttereth her words, saying, 
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their 
scorning, and fools hate knowledge ? Turn you at My reproof: behold I will pour 
out My Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you." But " they 
hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of 
My counsel : they despised all My reproof. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of 
their own way.(f) 

When our Lord says that if He had not " come and spoken unto them, they had 
not had sin," — He can, of course, but mean that the Jewish nation would, in that 
case, have been guiltless of the special sin of not knowing by idiom He had been 
sent ; and of rejecting Him. This is explained in chap. xvi. 9. Men sin as often 
as they resist the guidance of conscience, — however imperfectly informed that con- 
science may happen to be. Hence it is that the most degraded among the heathen 
are capable of Virtue and of Yice.(w) All those on whom the glorious light of 
the Gospel hath not yet shined, are nevertheless secure from the Sin of rejecting 
the blessed offer of Salvation; even as, (alas!) they are excluded from the oppor- 
tunity of embracing it. 

Some of the most striking occasions when, by His words 'and by His works, 
Christ spoke to this nation, and was rejected, will be recalled with advantage in 
this place. (v) 

23 He that hateth Me hateth My Father also. 

This seems to belong to what our Saviour was saying above, in verse 21; to com- 
plete its sense, and to be, as it were, explanatory of it. He there declared that 
His disciples would have to endure persecution at the hands of the Jews, because 
that nation had not known the Father that sent Him. "These things will they do 
unto you," (we shall hear Him presently declare,) ; ' because they have not known 
the Father, nor Me/'(io) " If ye had known Me," (we have heard Him say on 
two former occasions,) "ye should have known My Father also. "(a; ) Here, it is 
plainly,—" He that hateth Me hateth My FATHER also:' 

24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man 
did, they had not had sin : but now have they both seen and hated 
both Me and My Father. 

As verse 23 corresponds in a manner, with verse 21, so does the present verse 
correspond with verse 22 ; showing what was meant thereby. The works of 
Christ, so far exceeding any which were ever wrought by mere man:(?/) those 
many wonderful works so often elsewhere alluded to, (z) and concerning which the 
Evangelist himself says such striking things, in chap. xii. 37 to 41 ; the miracles, 
in short, which our Saviour had so freely wrought in the presence of His country- 
men, were what rendered their hardness of heart inexcusable. 

(r) Sanderson. 

(s) St. John vii. 46. Consider below, verse 24. 

[t) Prov. i. 20 to 23, 29 to 31. («) See Rom. ii. 12, 14, 15. 

(v) As, St. Matth. ix. 32 to 34: xii. 22 to 24. St. John v. 8 to 16 : viii. 43 to 59 : ix. 13 to 
22 : x. 29 to 39 : xi. 43 to 53. See also St. John v. 36 : x. 25, 37, 33,— where see the references 
at foot of the page. 

(■w) St. John xvi. 3. ' (x) St. John viii. 19 and xiv. 7. 

(?/) Consider St. John iii. 2 : vii. 31 : ix. 32. 

Cz) See St. John x. 37, 38, and the notes there. 



848 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

^ By saying, " the works which none other man did/' it is not meant that every 
single miracle which our Lord performed surpassed in wonder any single miracle 
recorded of Moses, or Elijah, or Elisha ; for that would not be true. But the 
works were made so great by the way He wrought them. Without effort, by a 
mere word, He showed that all Creation was obedient to His will. From Him, as 
from an inexhaustible fountain, (a) flowed forth healing virtue equal to the needs of 
all. 

In illustration of the concluding words, " Now have they both seen and hated 
both Me and My FATHEB" see above, St. John xii. 45, and xiv. 9. 

25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is 
written in their Law, They hated Me without a cause. 

The meaning in this, as in so many other places of the Gospel, (6) is not that the 
Jews hated Christ in order that the words of David might be fulfilled; but that, 
from their hatred, resulted the fulfillment of certain words, spoken prophetically 
by the inspired Psalmist ; and which the Evangelist here adduces as having re- 
ference to the sacred person of our Lord — The "Law" here stands for the whole 
volume of the ancient Scriptures ;(c) and it is emphatically called "theirs," (as 
in other places, (d) to convey a tacit reproof of that wickedness which, " one of 
themselves, even a prophet of their own,"(e) had foreseen and denounced. 

That the present reference is to the Book of Psalms, is certain ; but it seems im- 
possible to declare precisely to which place in the Psalter our Saviour alludes : 
whether to Ps. xxxv. 19, — or to lxix. 4, — or to cix. 3.(/') The sentence, exactly as 
it stands in the Gospel, is not found in any part of the sacred writings. Some will 
infer, (and perhaps rightly,) that the reference here, like that in St. Matth. ii. 23, 
is to no particular Psalm, but to the repeated witness of the Spirit, in three or 
more places. 

A very important text follows. Our Lord has been alleging the unbelief and the 
hatred of the nation. He adds : 

26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from 
the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Fa- 
ther, He shall testify of Me : 

The " Comforter" is thus, for the second time, identified with the Holy Ghost ;(i) 
who is also now, for the second time, called "the Spirit of Truth." Concerning 
that appellation, see the note on St. John xiv. 17. 

Here, and here only, is it expressly declared in Scripture that the Holy Ghost 
"proceedeth from" the Father. (j) And this is that great truth concerning the 
Third Person in the Blessed Trinity, which we proclaim in the two Creeds incor- 
rectly called the Nicene Creed, and the Creed of St. Athanasius. Incorrectly : for 
the Creed of the Council of Nicsea (A. D. 325), does not contain this doctrine. It 
was added to that Creed by the Council of Constantinople, in A. I). 380. The 
Athanasian Creed is of later date than the famous Father whose name it bears ; 
and is clearly of Western, not Eastern, origin. 

But in both the Creeds above alluded to, (as well as in the Litany,) we declare, 
not only that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father, but also from "the 
Son." The Church's warrant for so doing is chiefly the verse of St. John now 
under discussion, added to the following place of St. John's Gospel, — chap. xvi. 7, 
14, 15. She argues, that " though it be not expressly spoken in Scripture that the 
Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Son, yet the substance of the same truth is vir- 
tually contained there : because those very expressions which are spoken of the 
Holy Spirit in relation to the Father, for that reason because He proceedeth from 
the Father, are also spoken of the same Spirit in relation to the Son ; and there- 
fore there must be the same reason presupposed in reference to the Son, which is 
expressed in reference to the Father." Thus, " since the Holy Spirit is called 

(a) St. Mark vi. 56. 

(b) See the note on St. John xii. 38. 

(c) As in St. John x. 34 ; where see the note, 

(d) St. John viii. 17 : x. 34. (e) Titus i. 12. 

(/) The marginal reference in the Vulgate is, (unreasonahly enough,) to Ps. xxv. 19. 
(i) See St. John xiv. 26. (j ) Consider also 1 Cor. ii. 12. 



XV.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 849 

the Spirit of God,(&) and the Spirit of the Father, (Z) because He proceedeth from 
the Father, it followeth that being called also [the Spirit of Christ, (m) and] the 
Spirit of the Son,(w) He proceedeth also from the Son."(o) "The Spirit of both, 
as sent and proceeding from both."(j?) 

"The Holt Ghost," (writes an Eastern Bishop,") (#) "is expressly declared to 
be from the Father ; and is moreover witnessed to as being from the Son. For, 
(saith the Scripture,) ' If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
His.'(r) Thus, the Spirit, which is from God, is the Spirit of Christ also. On 
the other hand, the Son, though He is from God, neither is, nor is anywhere 
declared to be, from the Spirit." (s) 

Again : Because the Holy Ghost " proceedeth from" the Father, He is there- 
fore " sent by" the Father ; as from Him who hath by the original communication 
a right of mission : as, — " The Comforter, which is the Holt Ghost whom the 
Father will send." But the same Spirit which is sent by the Father is also sent 
by the Son; as He saith, — "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto 
you."(£) Therefore the Son hath the same right of mission with the Father, and 
consequently must be acknowledged to have communicated the same essence. The 
Father is never sent by the Son, because He received not the GoDhead from Him ; 
but the Father sendeth the Son, because He communicated the GoDhead to Him. 
In the same manner, neither the Father nor the Son is ever sent by the Holy 
Spirit ; because neither of them received the Divine Nature from the Spirit : but 
both the Father and the Son sendeth the Holy Ghost, because the Divine Nature, 
common to both the Father and the Son, was communicated by them both to the 
Holy Ghost. As therefore, the Scriptures declare expressly that the Spirit pro- 
ceedeth from the Father, so do they also virtually teach that He proceedeth from 
the Son. 

" From whence it came to pass in the primitive times, that the Latin Fathers 
taught expressly the procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son ; 
because, by good consequence, they did collect so much from those passages of the 
Scripture which we have used to prove that truth. And the Greek Fathers, though 
they stuck more closely to the phrase and language of Scripture, — (saying, that the 
Spirit proceedeth from the Father, and not saying, that He proceedeth from the 
Son,) — yet they acknowledge under another Scripture expression the same thing 
which the Latins understand by " Procession," viz., that the Spirit is of or from 
the Son,(m) as He is of and from the Father ; and therefore, usually, when they 
said He "proceedeth from the Father," they also added, He "received of the 
Son."(v) The interpretation of which words, according to the Latins, inferred a 
Procession ; and that which the Greeks did understand thereby, was the same 
which the Latins meant by the Procession from the Sox ; that is, the receiving of 
His Essence from Him : that, as the Son is God of God by being of the Father, 
so the Holy Ghost is God of God by being of the Father and the Son ; as 
receiving that infinite and eternal essence from both." 

From a difference of language concerning this great Doctrine, the Eastern Church 
proceeded to its express and open denied. This led to many disputes ; until at last, 
the Latins (in A. D. 858), thrust the words " and from the Son" into the Creed of 
Constantinople, — in open defiance of the General Council of Ephesus, A. D. 431, 
" which had prohibited all additions : and that, without the least pretence of the 
authority of another Council." " And being admonished by the Greeks of that, as 
of an unlawful addition, and refusing to erase it out of the Creed again, it became 
an occasion of the vast schism between the Eastern and the Western Churches ;" 
a schism, " never to be ended, until those words, ('and from the Son,') are taken 

{k) 1 Cor. ii. 11, 12. (I) St. Matth. x. 20. 

(m) Rom. viii. 9; Phil. i. 19; and 1 St. Pet. i. 11. 

(«) Gal. iv. 6. (o) Bp. Pearson. 

(p) Bp. Andrewes. 

(q) Gregory, Bp. of Nyssa in Cappadocia, A.D., 375. 

(r) Rom. viii. 9. 

(s) From a newly discovered fragment of this Father: in the margin of which, an ancient 
critic has written, — "Nobly said, great Gregory." 

(t) Above, ver. 26 : also St. John xvi. 7. Compare Acts ii. 33, and Eph. iv. 8, (quoting Ps. 
Ixviii. 18.) 

(u) See the passage frem a Greek Father, quoted above; in which, take notice that the word 
rendered "from," may be rendered "of," throughout, at pleasure. 

(») From St. John xvi. 14, 15. 

54 



850 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

out of the Creed."(x) In the year 1043, the Eastern Church proceeded to excom- 
municate the Western, on this account, as heretical. 

" This, therefore, is much to be lamented," (says Bp. Pearson, summing up the 
question,) " that the Greeks should not acknowledge the truth, which was acknow- 
ledged by their ancestors, in the substance of it ; and that the Latins should force 
the Greeks to make an addition to the Creed, without as great an authority as hath 
prohibited it ; and to use that language in the expression of this doctrine which 
never was used by any of the Greek Fathers." The Doctrine itself is certain ; for 
it " may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture :"{y) the addition 
of words to the formal Creed without consent, and against the protestation of the 
Oriental Church, was unjustifiable. 

The connection of ver. 26 with what goes before, has already been briefly noticed. 
Our Saviour said, (in verses 24, 25,) that the Jewish nation had seen, and disbe- 
lieved, and hated, both Himself and His Father: "but when the Paraclete(2) is 
come/' (He proceeds,) " He shall testify of Me ;" that is, " He shall bear witness 
to you and to the World that I came forth from God, and that My doctrine is true. 
In other words, He shall bear witness of the injustice of the World's hatred, "(a) 
and the sinfulness of its unbelief. Consider, in passing, what striking " witness" 
to the Divine Mind the Holy Spirit is related occasionally to have borne : as in 
Acts viii. 29 : x. 19 : xi. 12 : xiii. 2. Reasonably, therefore, is it added concerning 
this Divine Witness, — " even the Spirit of Truth, which proceed 'eth from the Father." 
"The Spirit of Truth," — and therefore, (it seems to be implied,) a sure Witness. 
More than " an Angel from Heaven. "(b) One that actually " proceedeth from the 
Father," — and therefore, (it seems to be hinted) the very fittest Person to testify 
concerning the Son. ... As for the testimony here spoken of, the Spirit sent 
down upon the Apostles, did even thereby testify that Christ was risen ; because 
it was Christ who sent that Spirit from the Father; and, (as He frequently 
declared,) He could not send Him, until He was Himself " gone away."(c) Then 
further, the miracles which the Apostles were enabled to perform, wrought convic- 
tion in every beholder ;(d) while "the wisdom and the spirit by which they 
spake." (e) (according to their Lord's true promise,) were such as all their adver- 
saries were " not able to gainsay or resist ;"(f) for "with great power gave the 
Apostles witness of the Resurrection."^) — It follows : 

27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me 
from the beginning. 

" The Apostles witnessed together with that Spirit, because they were enlight- 
ened, comforted, confirmed, and strengthened in their testimony by the same 
Spirit." (h) They were enabled, moreover, to bear their unaided human testimony 
to our Saviour, — as eye-witnesses of His miracles, " from the beginning ;" and as 
men who had listened to that Divine teaching, which it was to be the office of the 
Holy Ghost to bring back to their memories, and to explain. Accordingly, we 
frequently hear them bearing witness of Christ, and urging the very plea here put 
into their mouths, as the ground of their claim to attention : — We beheld His glory !" 
exclaims St. John in the first chapter of his Gospel. And again: "That which 
was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, 
which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life ; . . . 
that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you."(i) St. Peter relates con- 
cerning St. John, St. James, and himself: " This voice which came from Heaven 
we heard, when we were with Him in the Holy Mount ;" and this he says to show 
that he and the rest " had not followed cunningly devised fables," when they made 
known to the Church " the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were 
eye-witnesses of His Majesty. "(J) The same St. Peter, when one had to be chosen 
into the place of the traitor Judas, addressed the Disciples to much the same effect, 

(x) Bp. Pearson. (y) Article VIII. 

(z) The sense of " Comforter" seems less applicable here than in St. John xiv. 16, — where see 
the latter part of the note. 

(a) Lonsdale and Hale. (b) Gal. i. 8. 

(c) See St. John xvi. 7 ; and the note on the last words of vii. 39. 

(d) Consider Acts iv. 14 : viii. 18, 19. (e) Acts vi. 10. 
(/) St. Luke xxi. 15. Consider Acts ii. 37. 

(g) Acts iv. 33. (h) Bp. Pearson. 

(t) St. John i. 1, 3. [j) 2 St. Peter i. 16, 18. 



XVI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 851 

in these familiar words : " Wherefore of these men which have companied with us 
all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the 
baptism of John, unto that same day that He was taken up from us, must one be 
ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection. And they appointed two, 
Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias." (k) Consider 
further St. Luke xxiv. 48 ; Acts i. 8 ; ii. 32 ; iv. 20, 33 ; and x. 41. But, above 
all, Acts v. 32 is worth referring to ; for there we hear the Apostles say, — " And 
we are His witnesses of these things ; and so is the Holy Ghost, whom God hath 
given to them that obey Him/-' 



CHAPTER XVI 



1 Christ comforteih His Disciples against tribulation by the promise of the Holy 
Ghost, and by His Resurrection and Ascension : 23 Assureth their prayers made 
in His Name to be acceptable to His Father. 33 Peace in Christ, and in the 
World affliction. 

The connection of what follows with what went before, seems to be of the closest 
kind. The scene will therefore have been the same which was indicated in the 
note prefixed to chap. xv. — The first words contain an allusion to what the Blessed 
Speaker was saying in verse 18 of the former chapter. 

These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be 
offended. 

The purpose, then, with which our Lord had been forewarning His Disciples(a) 
was, not to sadden them ; but that when assailed by the storm of persecution, they 
might not be shaken from their steadfastness. Somewhat similar was the object of 
all that follows, — as we shall be reminded in verse 33. A few instances of what 
the Apostles would have to expect at the hands of their countrymen, are specified : 

2 They shall put you out of the synagogues : yea, the time conieth, 
that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service. 

More than " doing service" is here meant. jThe original expression amounts 
very nearly to " offering sacrifice" And so it came to pass: "as it is written," 
(said the great Apostle, applying to the early Christians a prophecy of David,) 
"For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the 
slaughter." (b) . . . Instances of such treatment are found in Acts viii. 1: ix. 1. 
&c. : and the confession of one who had been a persecutor is preserved ; namely, 
that he regarded every act of violence against the Christians, as the mere discharge 
of his duty.(c) 

We have already seen, (in the case of the man born blind,) how prompt the 
Pharisees were to pass sentence of excommunication :(d) which sentence, though it 
could not harm the Apostles, was yet a convincing proof of the hate with which 
they would be regarded by the rest of the Jews. 

3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not 
known the Father, nor Me. 

This should be compared with what is read in chap. xv. 21 ; and the note on 
that place may be referred to. Compare also the last words of chap. xv. 24. 

(k) Acts i. 21 to 23. («) See St. John xv. 20, 21. 

(6) Rom. viii. 36, quoting Ps. xliv. 22. (c) Acts xxvi. 9 to 11. 

(d) See St. John ix. 22, 34. Compare xii. 42. 



852 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, 
ye may remember that I told you of them. 

And the thought that all had been fully foreseen by Me, (it is implied,) will 
prove your comfort and your stay. Compare verse 1, and consider St. Matthew 
xxiv. 25. 

And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I 
was with you. 

The allusion seems to be no longer to the hardships which should hereafter befall 
the Disciples. It may well be thought, in fact, by any one reading the Charge 
with which our Lord originally sent His Disciples forth, (e) that He had, even from 
the very beginning, "said these things" unto them. Our Lord here seems to speak 
rather of His departure to the Father ; concerning which, He had hitherto said so 
little, for the reason which He here assigns. 

5 But now I go My way to Him that sent Me ; and none of you 
asketh Me, Whither goest Thou ? 

He contrasts the demeanor of His Disciples, as they now hang upon His words, 
sad and silent, — with that impatience and importunity which had before charac- 
terized their inquiries ; namely, in chap. xiii. 36 and xiv. 5. There may even be 
a slight reproof implied : as if He had said, — When I spoke before of departure, 
there was no lack of inquiry as to whither I went. I exclaimed, in reply, that I 
depart to Him who sent Me ; and lo, ye ask no further question : 

6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled 
your heart. 

My words have made you sad, and therefore silent. . . . "He was indeed about 
to leave them as to His visible presence, but not in Spirit. Without Him they 
could do nothing ; all their life must be from Him. As God, He would be ever 
with them. The change was to be this : He was to go away from them as Man, 
and in future to hold communion with them as such not by visible actions and by 
word of mouth, but by sending to them the Holy Spirit from the presence of the 
Father, whose throne He shares." (f) — Accordingly, (still pursuing the same train 
of thought,) our Saviour adds : 

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth ; It is expedient for you that I 
go away : for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; 
if I depart, I will send Him unto you. 

By this tender assurance that it was for their good that He must soon depart, our 
Saviour seeks to reconcile His little band of faithful followers to the prospect of 
His loss : but " it was a hard saying, (and who could endure it?) that it should be 
expedient for them, or for any, to have Christ go from them, or forsake thein/ ; (<7) 
Verily, it required to be supported by the assurance that it was " the truth" which 
He told them ! . . . Consider only what must be the value of that great blessing 
which was given to them, which is given to us, to compensate for the loss of His 
visible presence ! 

" And sure, the proposition is not so hard, but the reason that induceth it is as 
hard, or harder. ' The Comforter will not come.' Be it so. Let Him not come. 
Stay you ! We desire no other Comforter ! And the condition moveth not, neither : 
' If I go not away/ Why may Christ not stay, and the Holy Ghost come notwith- 
standing? What hinders it but we may enjoy both together?" — So writes pious 
Bp. Andrewes in his quaint, but beautiful sermon on this text. 

" We shall never see the absolute necessity of the Holy Ghost's coming/' (he 
proceeds,) "until we see the inconvenience of His not coming; that it may by no 
means be admitted. We cannot be without Him. For first, in both the principal 
works of the Deity," — as in the Old Creation, so in the New, — "all three Persons 

(e) St. Matth. x. 16 to the end. See also St. Matth. v. 11, 12 : xxiv. 9. 
(/) Rev. C. Marriott. (g) Bp. Andrewes. 



XVI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 853 

must co-operate. It was the counsel of God that every Person in the Trinity- 
should have His part in both. — And secondly, the work of our Salvation must not 
be left half undone, but be brought to full perfection. Christ's Coming, however, 
can do us no good, if the Holy Ghost come not. When all is done, nothing is 
done. Our Saviour could say truly, ' It is finished/ in respect of the work itself: 
but in regard of us, and making it ours, it is not finished if the Holy Ghost come 
not too. The deed is not valid till the seal is set. . . . And as nothing is done for 
us, so can nothing be done by us, if He come not : no means on our part avail us 
aught, neither Sacraments, nor Preaching, nor Prayer, if the Spirit be away."(A) 

Then further, the Disciples " were to know more of Christ's Power and Glory, 
more of His Goodness and Love, even by not seeing Him for awhile ; when they 
beheld Him extend His care and kindness to all the ends of the Earth, by sending 
His Holy Spirit on all that believe, and by manifesting His presence with them 
everywhere, although unseen. — It was well also that the Church of God should be 
exercised in walking by Faith and not by sight : that He should make trial of His 
servants in a few things, before placing in their hands the whole of the inheritance 
He intended for them/' — " That, in short, is best for us now, which is best calcu- 
lated to fit us for meeting Him in judgment, and for living with Him in glory." 

" But the language of the text seems plainly to speak of another, and that the 
principal reason, why it was better that our Lord should leave His people upon 
Earth for awhile : namely, that He might present Himself before the Father on 
their behalf; and sitting down on His Right Hand, might send the Holy Ghost to 
supply His place on Earth. "(V) The mission of the Holy Ghost, by God's inscru- 
table decree, was made dependent on our Lord's return to the bosom of His Father. 
This has been already noticed in the note on the latter part of St. John vii. 
39. The entire subject is manifestly above us. Christ is here declaring as much 
as it is good for men to know of so great a mystery ; proclaiming in the ears of 
His Church one of the relations in which the persons in the Blessed Trinity stand 
to one another : necessary relations, indeed : yet not as men understand Necessity. 
The writer last quoted has said: — "We cannot so scan the Law which God hath 
set Himself to work by as that we should know how it is that one of His acts re- 
quires and implies another; as the sending the Holy Spirit required that our Lord 
should leave His flock for a time. But we can see much connection and mutual 
fitness in these things. Had our Lord remained visibly present, many things could 
not have been done which have since been done by the Holy Spirit. Our very 
duties to Him, as visibly before us on Earth, would have been entirely different 
from what they are now. Our relation to the World would have been different, and 
our whole state so entirely another thing than it has been, that we cannot tell at 
all what it would have been. Only thus much we seem to gather from the scat- 
tered intimations of Holy Writ, that it is because of the exceeding glory of that 
which is to come, that we need this time of preparation.' 7 

" If I depart," (saith our Lord,) " I will send him unto you " From this right 
of Mission on the part of the Son, as already so largely explained in the Commen- 
tary on St. John xv. 26, is argued the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the SON 
as well as from the Father. 

8 And when He is come, He will reprove the World of Sin, and of 
Righteousness, and of Judgment : 

Verses 8 to 11 comprise a passage of considerable difficulty, yet of prime import- 
ance, and of unusual interest : for our Saviour is here describing nothing less than 
the work of the Holy Ghost in the World ; giving a brief summary of what was 
the object, and what would be the end, of His Mission. He declares that the Holy 
Ghost, at His coming, would " convince" the World ; for the term employed is far 
stronger than " reprove." The Divine meaning is, — " He who shall come in My 
Name shall so bring home to the World its own " Sin." My perfect " Righteous- 
ness," God's coming "Judgment ;" shall so " convince it of these, that it shall be 
obliged itself to acknowledge them."(j ) And this was to be a pledge of what would 
take place in that great day, yet future, when " Sin, which we now see but wit- 
nessed against, shall be condemned in the eyes of men and Angels: when that 
Righteousness which we now see but feebly proclaimed, and set forth in a few faint 
examples, shall shine forth in the Royal and priestly Glory of Christ our King and 

(h) Abridged from. Bp. Andrewes. (i) Rev. C. Marriott. (j) Trench. 



854 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP, 

Saviour : and that Judgment which men hear of and forget, shall be seen and felt 
in the fullness of eternal joy, and the terrors of eternal fire."(/c) In this announce- 
ment, take notice, was contained a ground of real consolation to the Apostles ; 
warned, as they had already been, of the hostility they would have to encounter at 
the World's hands. They were promised a powerful ally, who should "convince 
the gainsayers,"(Z) and therefore convict their common Enemy. 

The Holy Ghost "was to convince the World of Sin, of Righteousness, and of 
Judgment. In these three things are summed up the chief truths concerning Man 
in his present state. The great distinction between Sin and Righteousness, and 
how the one is to be avoided and the other attained ; how they are to be known, 
and where they are to be seen : this, the Holy Spirit was about to make manifest. 
And He was also to give warning to man of the righteous Judgment of God ; and 
to prove to those who would learn, that it should be executed in due time, and by 
Him who was now despised and rejected of men."(ra) "However easy or difficult 
it may prove to interpret the reasons of the Holy Ghost, the three doctrines them- 
selves, seem to form so plain and intelligible a series, as to require to be interpreted 
connectedly. They appear to comprise the History of Man, from his fall to his 
glory. Sin, — the sin of mankind: Righteousness, — the state or condition of being 
restored out of Sin, in Christ/' (who is declared by the prophet to be " our Right- 
eousness :")(n) "Judgment, — the final retribution, in which God will reward those 
who, in Christ, obey His Law, and punish those who are impenitent." (o) But a 
clue to the Divine meaning is supplied by the words which follow, without which 
it would have been dark indeed. First then, the Holy Ghost would convince the 
World of Sin :— 

9 of Sin, because they believe not on Me ; 

The Blessed Speaker " names Sin first, because Sin is the present state of the 
World." (p) Now, throughout His Ministry, Christ had been condemning the 
World. But the World, in turn, had accused Him of being a Sinner ; and had even 
put Him to death as such. He therefore here declares that the Holy Ghost would, 
like an umpire, decide between their respective claims ; and convict the World of 
Sin. That is, He would cause it to confess not only that it is generally sinful, but 
that it had specially sinned in respect of its unbelief and rejection of Messiah: in 
the words of Christ Himself, — " Because they believe not on Me." And with this 
should be compared the language of St. John viii. 24. 

In illustration of the promise thus delivered to the Apostles, consider the con- 
science-stricken cry of the multitude, at the end of St. Peter's first Pentecostal Ser- 
mon : " Men and brethren, what shall we doV'(q) On being called upon to "repent 
and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins," three thou- 
sand were obedient to the exhortation. Consider again, the conduct of the jailor 
of Philippi : " Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thine house. . . . And he ... . 
was baptized, he and all his, straightway."(r) Such also, (St. Paul declares,) would 
be the confession of an individual unbeliever on entering the Church, and beholding 
the spiritual gifts which abounded at Corinth. (s) "Men were convinced by the 
reproof of the Holy Spirit, and the wicked World was convicted. True, the World 
resists and will resist the clearest evidence. But the Spirit in the Apostles bore 
witness ; and the same Holy Spirit, by the .Scriptures, and in the Church of God, 
does still bear witness against the Sin of the World, whether in disbelieving or in 
disobeying our Lord."(£) In the words of another excellent writer, "When the 
Spirit of Truth came, His first province was to convince the World of Sin, because 
they believed not in their Lord. And since that Heavenly witness is perpetual, 
since unbelief still characterizes the World as such, therefore it is that the World 
is yet held an enemy by the Church, which though in, is not of, the World. "(?i) 

Take notice, then, that under one great head of Unbelief, the guilt of the World 
is gathered up and comprised. Unbelief is therefore a sin of the heart, not a mere 
error of the understanding : afaxdt, not a misfortune. 

But the Holy Ghost " was also to reprove the World, that is, to give proof in 
the face of the World, and against its false judgments, concerning Righteousness." 

(Jc) Rev. C. Marriott. (I) Tit. i. 9. (m) Rev. C. Marriott. 

(n) Jer. xxiii. 6, and xxxiii. 16. (o) Dr. Moberly. (p) 1 St. John v. 19. 

[q) Acts ii. 37. (r) Acts xvi. 30, 31, 33. (s) Consider 1 Cor. xiv. 24 25. 

(0 Rev. C. Marriott. («) Dr. W. H. Mill. 



XVI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 855 

10 of Righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no 
more ; 

" He was to make it manifest that Christ was indeed the Righteous One ; and 
that through Him, and in Him alone, man could either attain to Righteousness, or 
be accepted before God, as righteous. He was to do this, because our Lord was 
going to the Father, and because for a time the World was to see Him no more."(x) 
While He was on Earth, men had stumbled, (been offended,) at the lowly aspect of 
One who had been described in Prophecy as "a worm and no man :"(?/) ^ u t this 
cause of offence was now about to be removed. Christ was to be withdrawn from 
the sight of men ; and straightway the work of convincing the World of His 
"Righteousness" would be found to begin. Thus, no sooner had our Lord com- 
mended His Spirit into the Hands of His Father, than the Centurion who "saw 
what was done," was heard to glorify God, saying, " Certainly this was a righteous 
Man!"(z) Still more apparent did our Lord's Righteousness become when, at the 
end of three days, He rose from death ; and when, at the end of forty days more, 
He ascended up into Heaven. ... As He had declared long before by the mouth 
of His Prophet, — " He is near that justifieth Me !"(«■) 

But it would not be enough that the Righteousness of Christ should in this man- 
ner be made to appear. " The Holy Spirit was further to give proof before all 
men that the Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ was approved and accepted 
of the Father. And of this indeed He gave the strongest proof that could be given. 
For our Lord was taken up to Heaven ; having promised that He would send the 
Holy Spirit from the Father to His Disciples. When therefore the promised gift 
was sent, it was the proper token that His work was accomplished, and His Righte- 
ousness accepted of the Father in behalf of His Church, as well as of Himself: so 
that St. Peter, when he would prove that He was indeed glorified, had but to say, 
"He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. "(b) And as the Holy 
Spirit came to teach men that Christ is indeed the only source of Righteousness, 
and the only means of our being accepted as righteous ; (for as our Lord says in 
ver. 14, "He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto 
you ;") so He also came to teach men Righteousness, in the place of our Lord ; and 
this He has done ever since, both by inward and secret influences, and by outward 
means."(c) 

The third great ofHce of the Comforter remains. He was to convince the World, 

11 of Judgment, because the Prince of this World is judged. 

Lastly, the Holy Ghost would "convince the World of Judgment ;" (that is, of 
its own Judgment :) when it found itself judged, and beheld itself condemned, in 
the person of the Devil, " its Prince," — by which name Satan is repeatedly spoken 
of.(d) The great Legal type of this mighty event was exhibited at the time of the 
Exodus from Egypt, when " Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore ;"{e) 
a proof that God had "judged" the nation whom they had served. (f) An Evan- 
gelical prelude to the same transaction took place when Satan was seen to fall, like 
Lightning from Heaven. (g) But it did not actually take place until the great Cap- 
tain of our Salvation, ascending up on High, "led Captivity captive,"(A) (that is, 
the Devil, Sin, and Death:) for we know that "having spoiled Powers and Princi- 
palities," (the Rulers of Darkness, )(i) and the Princes of this World, (A;) "He made 
a show of them openly, triumphing over them by" His Cross. (I) For the Cross of 
Christ, as St. Paul elsewhere a second time assures us,(wi) was the very instru- 
ment of His Victory, and as it were the chariot on which He was borne aloft in 
Triumph .... Concerning this mighty transaction however, so much has been 
already offered on that previous saying of our Lord, " Now is the Judgment of this 
World : now shall the Prince of this world be cast out," that it must suffice to re- 
fer the reader to the note on St. John xii. 31. 

(x) Rev. C. Marriott. (y) Ps. xxii. 6. (z) St. Luke xxiii. 46, 47. 

la) Is. 1. 8. \b) Acts ii. 33. (e) Rev. C. Marriott. 

[d) St. John xii. 31, where see the note; and xiv. 30. 

(e) Exod. xiv. 30. (/) Gen. xv. 14. 
[g) St. Luke x. 18, where see the note. 

(h) Eph. iv. 8, quoting Ps. lxviii. 18. Compare Judges v. 12. 
(») Eph. vi. 12. (&) 1 Cor. ii. 6. 

(I) Col. ii. 15. (m) Heb. ii. 34. 



856 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Take notice, that the World could in no better way be convinced of its own con- 
demnation, than by beholding the condemnation of its Chief. Moreover, his down- 
fall was the virtual overthrow of his empire ; even as the slaying of Goliath was a 
pledge to Israel, and more than a pledge, of the conquest of the Philistines. " And 
that Satan was indeed judged, was clearly shown by the power exercised over him 
by the believers of old, who cast out devils from numbers that were possessed, and 
trod underfoot "all the power of the enemy."(w) St. Paul was sent to turn the 
Gentiles "from the power of Satan unto God :"(o) while our Lord Himself repeat- 
edly intimates that, v by His miracles of Healing, He was " spoiling the house" of 
the " strong man armed," who had so long been " keeping his goods in peace/' 
Consider St. Luke xiii. 16, and see the latter part of the note on the place. " Nor 
was Satan driven only from his dominion over men's persons, and over the minds 
of thousands, but the very "Kingdoms of the World became "the Kingdoms of the 
Lord and of His Christ. "(p) The altars where the Devils used to receive 
the erring homage of the multitudes whom they deceived, were razed to the 
ground ; and the fairest portion of the Earth is wre.ned from the hand of him who 
boasted that he could dispose of its Kingdoms as he would, and adjudged to his 
righteous Conqueror."^) 

Such then was to be, — such is, — such will be to the end, the office of the Holy 
Spirit in the World: — (1st) to convince Man of his sinfulness, and to incline his 
heart to Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ : (2ndly) to convince him that Christ, who 
now sitteth at the Right Hand of God, " is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteous- 
ness, and Sanctification, and Redemption ;"{r) (3rdly) to convince him that Judg- 
ment on Sin hath begun already, and will be duly executed on all sinners, in the 

end ; including Satan himself, the Prince of Sinners, and all his evil angels 

May we without presumption, point out that the awful details of this vast threefold 
picture, as they may be supposed to have presented themselves, in overwhelming 
majesty, to the mind of the Divine Speaker, naturally led to the words which 
follow? 

12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them 
now. 

In these words, there is nothing inconsistent with our Lord's declaration that all 
things that He had heard of the Father, He had made known unto the Twelve, (s) This 
has been already pointed out at p. 844. All those Divine things which perfect 
Wisdom had decreed to communicate to the Apostles, must needs be conveyed to 
them, either now or hereafter. As many of those things as they were "able to bear,"00 
our Lord had communicated with His own lips. Even those things, however, He 
had but taught them ; leaving it to the Holy Ghost fully to explain their meaning 
at some future time.(?i) There still remained, (as we learn from the present place,) 
many things which the Apostles must needs be taught ; but which they were not 
in a fit condition yet to receive. The mysterious method by which a knowledge of 
these things was to be imparted, is explained in the next verse. 

13 Howbeit, when He the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide 
you into all truth : 

" He," — namely, " the Comforter," spoken of above, in ver. 7 : and to which the 
present verse, in a manner, refers. For the third time, the Holy Ghost is here 
called "the Spirit of Truth;" concerning which appellation, seethe note on St. 
John xiv. 17 : and for the Gospel notion of " Truth," see on xviii. 38. " Let us but 
observe how the whole World at this time lay in falsehood and error : the Gentiles, 
under a Spirit of delusion ; the Jews, under the cheat of traditions ; and then it 
will appear how seasonable and necessary a thing it was that 'the Spirit of Truth,' 
should be sent into the World."(w) And it is here declared of Him, that, at His 
coming, He should lead the Apostles " into all the truth" of the many things which 
Christ had yet to say, but which at present the Apostles could not bear. "By 
this means it came to pass that ' all Scripture was given by inspiration of God ;' "(x) 

(n) St. Luke x. 19. (o) Acts xxvi. 18. (p) Rev. xi. 15. 

(q) Rev. C. Marriott. \r) 1 Cor. i. 30. («) St. John xv. 15. 

(t) Consider St. Matth. ix. 17, &c. (w) See the note on St. John xiv. 26. 

[v) Lightfoot. (*) 2 Tim. iii. 16. 



XVI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 857 

that is, by the motion and operation of the Spirit of God ; and so, whatsoever is ne- 
cessary for us to know and believe, was delivered by Revelation." (y) Hence the 
dignified declaration of the first Council that their decree was the expression of what 
seemed good to the Holy Ghost, (z) and to them. The statement in the text so 
nearly resembles what is met with in St. John xiv. 26, that the reader must be in- 
vited to refer thither : as well as to the note on the place. The reason why the 
Holy Spirit would guide the Apostles "into all the truth," of the things which 
Christ had spoken, follow : 

for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, 
that shall He speak. 

'*:' This is to be compared with those well-known sayings of our Saviour concerning 
Himself: — "He that sent Me is true ; and I speak to the world those things which 
I have heard of Him .... I do nothing of Myself ; but as My Father hath taught 
Me, I speak these things. "(a) " My Doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me."(6) 
" The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself."(c) " I can of Mine own 
self do nothing: as I hear I judge. ,7 (<i) "Whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as 
the Father said unto Me, so I speak." (e) In the Commentary on these places, it 
will be found suggested that our Saviour, when He used such words, spoke not as 
He was the Son of Man, but as He was the Only-Begotten Sox of the Eternal 
Father: and the application of similar expressions to the Holy Ghost, in this 
place, will be felt to be fully confirmatory of that view. The third Person in the 
Blessed Trinity, because He derives His essence eternally from the other two Per- 
sons, is said not to " speak of Himself" — to save the necessity of a prolonged dis- 
cussion on this subject, the reader may be at once invited to read what has been 
already offered at pp. 711, 804, 681. He is requested to observe, however, (and 
the remark will be found of importance towards the right understanding of the 
connection of what follows in verses 14, 15,) that what our Saviour is here specially 
asserting, at least by implication, is the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the 
SON. He adds: 

and He will show you things to come. 

But why is this added ? Is it simply a promise that among other lofty gifts, the 
early Church would possess the faculty ot foreseeing future events ?(/) A few 
instances of this gift in operation are indeed met with in the Acts : as when Agabus 
prophesied an approaching famine, (g) and warned St. Paul of the danger that 
awaited him at Jerusalem ;(h) and St. Paul himself foresaw(i') what should befal 
the Church of Ephesus(^) after his departing ;(l) as well as that in the last days, 
there would be a departure from the Faith ;{m) and that perilous times would 
come.(n) .... An allusion to such a power generally residing in the Church seems 
however, to have little to do with the matter in hand. Is not the reference rather 
to those prophetic intimations of the future destiny and prospects of the Church 
with which the Apostolic Age was favoured ? the complement, as it were, of that 
Divine Knowledge which our Saviour was even now desirous of imparting to His 
Apostles, but which they were as yet unable to receive. Shall we be thought rash 
if we venture more particularly to suggest that a promise is here specially given of 
that '■'Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Rim, to shoio unto His 
servants things which must come to pass shortly: and He sent and signified it by His 
Angel to His servant John; who bare testimony to the Word of God, and to the 
profession of Jesus Christ, and [bare witness of] all things that he saw ?"(°) 

14 He shall glorify Me : for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show 
it unto you. 

(y) Bp. Pearson. (z) Acts xv. 28. 

(a) St. John viii. 26, 28. (6) St. John vii. 16. 

(c) St. John xiv. 10. (d) St. John v. 30. 

(e) St. John xii. 50. (/) Acts xiii. 1. Eph. iv. 11. 
(g) Acts xi. 28. 

(h) Acts xxi. 10, 11. Agabus seems to have been one of many who uttered this prophecy; 
Acts xx. 22, 23. 

(i) Acts xx. 29. (7c) Rev. ii. 1 to 6. 

(I) Consider also 1 Cor. ii. 10. (m) 1 Tim. iv. 1. 

(n) 2 Tim. iii. 1. (o) Rev. i. 1, 2. 



858 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

"Of Mine," (or " Of that which is Mine") does not seem to be quite the same 
thing as "Of Me:" neither, perhaps, is it enough to say that, "He shall receive of 
mine," signifies " He proceedeth from Me." We nothing doubt, indeed, that it is 
only because the Holy Ghost derives His Essence eternally from the Son no less 
than from the Father, that He is here said to " receive of" that which is Christ's. 
We humbly accept the decision of our predecessors in the Faith, that the Spirit is 
"God of Goi>"(p) the Father, and of God the Son ; and that this doctrine is to be 
gathered from the declarations in the present, and the next verse, (" He shall take/' 
or " receive of Mine,"(g) joined to the famous declaration in chap. xv. 26, that He 
11 proceedeth from the Father." Moreover, with the Latin Church, we fully be- 
lieve that this assertion amounts to a declaration that the Holy Ghost proceedeth 
from the Son as well as from the Father. (r) All these momentous truths seem, 
however, to be implied in the text, rather than enunciated by it. They are inciden- 
tally conveyed by what was asserted ; not the especial thing asserted, or at least 
chiefly meant. 

The design of the Divine Speaker seems to have been to prosecute what He was 
saying in ver. 12, and the beginning of ver. 13. When the Spirit of Truth should 
come, it would be His office to instruct the Apostles in all the Truth of what had 
been delivered, or left unspoken, by Christ Himself; to reveal, in Apocalyptic 
vision, the future destinies of Christ's Church ; and to glorify Messiah, by taking 
of that which was His, and proclaiming it to mankind. This is, by delivering to 
mankind, and enforcing, His Doctrine; by explaining, (like an ambassador) His 
Mind and Will ; and by teaching the application of his precepts to every fresh 
requirement of His Church. Manifestly would the Holy Ghost be glorifying 
Christ, if none but Christian mysteries formed the subject of His teaching; none 
but works like those of Christ were wrought at His suggestion ! ... It follows : 

15 All things that the Father hath, are Mine : therefore said I, 
that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you. 

Every step, here, brings with it increase of Divine knowledge. Every word re- 
veals something more of the proportions of Eternal Truth. —The Spirit was known 
to be the Spirit of the FATHER. But because "All things that the Father hath," 
those the Son hath likewise ; therefore could the Son say that the Holy Ghost would 
take of His ; which amounted t3 a declaration that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of 
the Son, (s) no less than of the Father. . . . Out of this statement directly arises the 
lofty Doctrine that the Father and the Son are One in respect of Essence. " All 
things that the Father hath are Mine," saith Christ ; because in Him is the same 
fullaess of the Gonhead.(/) 

Let us hear our own Hooker on this grand theme, — the Law of subordination in 
the most Holy Trinity, " Our God is one, or rather very Oneness, and mere Unity 
having nothing but itself in itself, and not consisting (as all things do besides God) 
of many things. In which essential Unity of God, a Trinity personal nevertheless 
subsisteth, after a manner far exceeding the possibility of man's conceit. The works 
which outwardly are of God, they are in such sort of Him being One, that each 
Person [in the Divine Unity] hath in them somewhat peculiar and proper. For 
being Three, and they all subsisting in the essence of One Deity; from the Father, 
by the Son, through the Spirit, all things are.(it) That which the Son doth hear 
of the Father and which the Spriit doth receive of the Father and the Son, the 
same we have at the hands of the Spirit as being the last, and therefore the nearest 
unto us in order, although in power the same with the second and the first." 

16 A little while, and ye shall not see Me : and again, a little while, 
and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father. 

( p) Alluding to the expression in the Nicene Creed, already remarked upon. 

(q) The same word is repeated in the Original, in ver. 15. 

(r) The Greek Fathers, " sticking more closely to the phrase and language of the Scripture," 
(says Bp. Pearson,) "yet acknowledge, under another Scripture expression, the same thing 
which the Latins understand by " Procession ;" namely, That the Spirit is of or from the Son, 
as He is of and from the Father." 

(«) See Rom. viii. 9. Gal. iv. 6. Phil. i. 19. 1 St. Pet. i. 11. 

(t) Bp. Pearson. 

(u) Consider Ephes. iv. 6, — which Hippolytus (a.d. 230) seems to allude to when he says, 
" The Father is above all, and the Son through all, and the Holy Ghost in all." Compare 1 
Cor. viii. 6, and Romans xi. 36. 



xvi.] on st. John's gospel. 859 

"Because I go to the Father •" and, (it seems to be further implied,) will send 
down the Holy Ghost to enlighten your eyes, whereby ye shall see Me indeed. 

He shows that on His departure depended His mysterious presence: " Ye shall 
see Me, because I go to the Father;" but in verse 10, we read, "because I go to 
the Father, and ye see Me no more." Thus, because He went to His Father, 
they should both see Him, and not see Him. They should not see Him in 
the flesh, but they should see Him in the Spirit ;(x) no longer with their bodily 
organs, but with that inner vision which results from Christ's indwelling presence, 

and which best deserves the name of Sight Such seems to be the true 

meaning of this difficult passage ; as the reader will probably be inclined to admit 
if he will ponder carefully our Lord's words in chap. xiv. 18 to 20. 

A similar promise had been already made to the Apostles, in St. John xiv. 19: — 
"Yet a little while, and the World seeth Me no more, but ye see Me." The same 
mysterious reason also which is here assigned in explanation of the Apostles' 
faculty of supernatural vision, is elsewhere given to explain why the believer in 
Christ should do greater works than Christ Himself had wrought: namely — , 
"Because I go to My Father." See the notes on St. John xiv. 12, where the 
words are briefly explained. For the self-same reason, Mary Magdalene was for- 
bidden to touch her risen Lord in the garden. " Touch Me not," (He said,) "for I 
am not yet ascended." See St. John xx. 17, and the note on the place. 

The first words of the verse before us(z) may either mean, Pass a few hours, 
and ye shall not see Me ; because I shall be crucified, dead, and buried ; and so, 
hidden from the eyes of men : — or, Pass forty days, and ye shall not see Me ; be- 
cause I shall have ascended up into Heaven. If the reader considers only the three 
places indicated at the foot of the page, (a) he will probably incline to the former 
view as the more probable. We would humbly suggest however that since the 
promise delivered here, and in chap. xiv. 19, that the Disciples should hereafter 
" see" Christ, seems clearly connected with the Day of Pentecost, — when the pro- 
mise was further given that He would return, (6) and see them,(c) — it is better to 
regard the Death and the Ascension of our Lord, as parts of one event; the begin- 
ning and the end of that departure to the Father which he had so often announced 
to His Disciples. 

17, 18 Then said some of His Disciples among themselves, What is 
this that He saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see Me: 
and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me : and, Because I go to 
the Father ? They said therefore, What is this that He saith, A lit- 
tle while ? we cannot tell what He saith. 

Rather, " of what He is talking." — Something very similar, our Lord had said 
repeatedly before ;(c?) but never in so pointed and enigmatic a manner as now. It 
need excite the surprise of none that the Disciples found the saying a hard one, 
since the meaning of it is not understood with certainty even at the present day. 
Our Lord's explanation has been before the world for eighteen hundred years; and 
the most learned doctors and fathers of the Chuch are not yet agreed as to the pre- 
cise signification of what was spoken. What must have been its obscurity prior 
to the " glorious Resurrection and Ascension" of Christ, and to the Coming of the 
Holy Ghost ! 

But the Disciples had to do with One " unto whom all hearts be open, all desires 
known, and from whom no secrets are hid." Accordingly, it follows : 

19, 20 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask Him ; and 
said unto them, Do ye inquire of yourselves of that I said, A little 
while, and ye shall not see Me : and again, a little while, and ye shall 
see Me ? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and 
lament, but the World shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but 
your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 

(x) Dr. Moberly. 

(z) Compare for the expression St. John vii. 33 : xii. 35. 

(a) Verse 22 of the present chapter, compared with St. John xx. 20, and Acts i. 3. 

{b) St. John xiv. 18. (c) See below, ver. 22. 

(d) See St. John vii. 33 : xiv. 2, 4, 12, 28 : xvi. 5, 7, &c. 



860 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

"Whereas the World's joy," (it is implied,) " shall be turned into sorroAY." 
_ Take notice that, by this reply, our Blessed Lord does not explain the proposed 
difficulty. Only indirectly do His words bear upon the doubt which the Disciples 
had expressed. May it be thereby intimated that it is not for Disciples " to know 
the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power?"(e) that it 
is_ better for Faith to be exercised, than for curiosity to be appeased? and that the 
Divine Counsels must ever be interpreted by the result? 

Let us however observe what our Saviour's reply really does amount to : even 
this, — that events were at hand which would affect His faithful followers, and the 
wicked World, very differently. Sorrow awaited the one: joy, the other. But the 
sorrow of the Disciples was not to be abiding. It was to be turned into joy. Here, 
therefore, two distinct periods are indicated : and it is obviously implied that the 
period of sorrow would begin when, after a little while, the Disciples should no 
longer see' Christ ; the season of Joy, when again, after a little while, they should 
see Him. Take notice, that the present discourse extends down to the end of ver. 
28, where the same two periods are again marked, and the two events indicated 
which would occasion successively the Sorrow and the Joy. "I leave the World;" 
hence, the Sorrow: — " I go unto the Father ;" hence, the Joy. Sorrow, — because 
with our Lord's leaving the World, came bereavement: Joy, — because with our 
Lord's going to the Father, was mysteriously connected the promise of His return. 
Consider, by all means, ver. 22 of the present chapter ; also chap. xiv. 18. 

But the words of Christ are ever high as Heaven ; and he who seeks to limit 
their meaning, (as we have been just now doing,) speedily becomes reminded of 
his error. " hi the World ye shall have tribulation" our Lord is found to say be- 
low, in ver. 33. The periods of Sorrow and of Joy of which He speaks must 
therefore be extended beyond the limits of the first Easter and Whitsuntide. Nay, 
His words are the property of all believers, to the end of Time. Whatever may 
have been their immediate force, they have a yet broader application, holding true 
of man's entire journey through this Vale of tears; which stands in the same rela- 
tion to a Heaven of bliss, as the Sorrow which may endure for a night to the Joy 
which cometh in the morning. (f) The Saints of God are taught to expect tribu- 
lation here below, (g) but they have the promise of abiding blessedness hereafter :(h) 
while earthly prosperity is often the short-lived inheritance of the wicked. (z) 

21, 22 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her 
hour is come : but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remem- 
bereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the World. 
And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your 
heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 

When the Disciples heard our Blessed Lord so expound His own words, they 
will have naturally thought that by this image of maternal anguish suddenly ex- 
changed for maternal rapture, He had but intended to set forth the contrast 
between the weeping and lamentation which awaited themselves at His approaching 
departure, and the Joy into which that sorrow of theirs was, in a little while to be 
tnrned. 

Is it not pretty evident however, that, besides this, His Divine words had a 

grofounder meaning ? and may we not reverently suppose that when the Holy 
pirit brought to the Disciples' remembrance all things which Christ had ever 
said unto them,(&) He may have also guided them to perceive that by this image 
of a travailing woman was conveyed a sublime hint of the relation in which this 
present Life stands to the Glory which shall be revealed ?(£) " For we know," 
(says the great Apostle,) " that the whole Creation groaneth and travaileth in pain 
together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the iirst 
fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adop- 
tion, to wit, the redemption of our body :"(m) meaning by that word " redemption," 

(e) Acts 1.1 (/)Ps. xxx. 5. 

(g) 2 Tim. iii. 12. 1 St. Peter iv. 12. 

(h) Consider St. Luke vi. 20 to 23. Rom. viii. 18. 2 Cor. iv. 17. 

(«) Consider Ps. lxxiii. 2 to 5, and 12. Job xxi. 7 to 9. Jer. xii. 1. 

(k) St. John xiv. 26, and the note there. (I) Rom. viii. 18. 

'(m) Rom. viii. 22, 23. 



XVI.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 861 



the final vindication of the body from corruption, (n) which will take place at the 
time of the general Resurrection, — hence called "the Regeneration, ."(o) 

" When these things begin to come to pass/' (said our Saviour, speaking of the 
calamities which were to come upon Jerusalem, and which He had already described 
as " the beginning of biil/i-pangs, 1 ') (p) " then look up, and lift up your heads ; for 
your Redemption draweth nigh." (q) Accordingly, as the first-born of the New 
Creation, His own Resurrection from Death is spoken of under the same remark- 
able image ; — " as it is written in the second Psalm, Thou art My Son, this day 
have I begotten Thee."(r) — Do not these several intimations of the Spirit guide us, 
therefore, to the full meaning of our Lord's words on the present occasion ? In a 
certain sense, the travailing Mother's "hour had come,"(s) already; and she was 
to " have sorrow." Already also was she to forget her anguish ; for on Easter- 
morning, her sorrow was to be turned into Joy. In a far higher and truer sense, 
however, she travails still : nor, till the consummation of all things, will her heart 

rejoice with that Joy which no man taketh from her And thus, the same 

breadth of meaning is vindicated for verses 21 and 22, which we claimed above, for 
verses 19 and 20. 

It will appear, therefore, that we understand our Lord's promise, "I will see 
you again, and your heart shall rejoice," to have had a primary fulfillment on that 
memorable occasion, (the evening of the first Easter-Day,) when He stood in the 
midst of the Disciples, "and saith unto them, Peace be unto you:" for "then," 
(we read,) "were the Disciples glad, when they saio the Lord."(£) A yet higher 
fulfillment will His Divine words have received when the Day of Pentecost arrived ; 
as we have already elsewhere endeavoured to explain. (u) Not until the last Day, 
however, when, having prepared a place for them, He "will come again" and 
receive His Disciples unto Himself; that where He is, there they may be also:(y) 
not until then will that fullness of Joy of which our Saviour here speaks, become 
the abiding portion of His Saints. 

Our Saviour concludes as follows : 

23 And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing. 

Words which evidently require the same largeness of interpretation as the rest 
of our Lord's discourse. In a primary sense, doubtless, the "Day" spoken of was 
the Day of Pentecost : when there would be no more such questions asked as the 
Disciples had been asking throughout this mournful evening.(w) Our Lord had 
already alluded thereto by the phrase " In that day," in a kindred passage. (x) 
The great Day, however, is evidently yet future when Faith will be swallowed up 
in Enjoyment; and when there will be no more room for any kind of doubt or 
question. 

Take notice that the word translated " ask" in what follows, is a wholly different 
word from that which is used in the place before us. Here, " asking questions" is 
meant: there, " making petitions." 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father 
in My Name, He will give it you. 

Or, (as it is expressed in chap. xiv. 13,) "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, 
that will I do." Doubtless, from that day forward, the Church learned to conclude 
all her prayers, (as now,) with the Divine formula " Through Jesus Christ 
our Lord." .... In this verse then, there is " no contrast drawn between asking 
the Son, which shall cease ; and asking the Father, which shall begin. 
But the first half of the verse closes the declaration of one blessing, namely, that 
hereafter they shall be so taught by the Spirit as to have nothing further to 
inquire : the second half of the verse begins the declaration of altogether a new 

(n) Eph. i. 14: iv. 30. (o) St. Mattli. xix. 28, where see the note. 

(p) St. Matth. xxiv. 8. (q) St. Luke xxi. 28. 

(r) Acts xiii. 33. 

(s) Compare the language of St. John xvii. 1 : see the latter part of the note on St. John 
xii. 23. 

(t) St. John xx. 19, 20 : compare St. Luke xxiv. 41 ; not losing sight of ver. 52. See also 
Acts ii. 46 : xiii. 52. 

(u) See the note on ver. 16. (v) St. John xiv. 3. 

(tc) See above, ver. 5. (x) St. John xiv. 20. 



862 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

blessing ; that whatever they shall seek from the Father in the Son's Name, He 
will give it them."(z) 

24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My Name : ask, and ye shall 
receive, that your joy may be full. 

"Ye have hitherto indeed been accustomed to pray to the Father, but not in My 
Name, — as ye shall hereafter pray to Hirn."(a) " Ask, and ye shall receive, that 
your joy may be perfect." 

25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs : 

" These things in dark speeches have I spoken unto you" saith our Lord; alluding 
first, to His saying in ver. 16 ; next, to His reply, in ver. 20, and still more in ver. 
21, to the Disciples' question in ver. 17. Nay, verse 22 itself is " a dark speech," 
even to ourselves : bow much more to the men to whom the words were originally 
addressed ! ... It follows : 

but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in pro- 
verbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. 

"Shall show you plainly in what relation the Father stands to Me, and to 
you. "(6) The allusion here is certainly to the Day of Pentecost ; as already sug- 
gested above, on ver. 23. The Divine doctrine conveyed seems to be, that by the 
descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles would become enlightened to such a 
degree, as to need no other instruction. At that time, our Saviour promises that 
He will teach them more openly than now ; meaning thereby, that it will be the 
office of the Holy Ghost to teach them. For the Holy Ghost was to be sent by 
Himself, and to come in His Name.(c) Whatsoever therefore, He did, — inasmuch 
as He received of Christ's, and showed it unto the Disciples,(d) — might truly be 
said to be the work of Christ Himself. 

26, 27 At that day ye shall ask in My Name : and I say not unto 
you, that I will pray the Father for you : for the Father Himself 
loveth you. 

" In that Day," still indicates the season which followed the Day of Pentecost: 
and our Blessed Lord is comforting His Disciples concerning it. They had been 
hitherto blessed with His own prevailing prayers on their behalf. Henceforth 
they will have to pray for themselves. But, in the meantime, He encourages them 
to believe that they will be unconscious of any lack. " He speaks of those who 
love Him being brought into such close communion with the Father, that they 
may pray to the Father in His Name, and not need Him to pray for them, but be 
at once accepted and answered for His sake. They are still accepted for His sake ; 
and therefore His not praying for them separately must be, because they are brought 
so near to Him, so made one with Him, that in their very prayer He prays. "(e) 
So abundantly, in short, are they blessed with the love of the Eternal Father, that 
He will freely give them whatsoever things they need. — And wherefore? The 
reason follows : 

Because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from 

God. 

Our Saviour says not simply, " and have believed in Me.' 1 He designed to show 
wherein belief in Christ consists: namely, in a belief that He "came out from 
God ;" that He is His true and natural Son ; and that, for us men and for our 
Salvation, He was by Him sent into the World.(y) Consider chap. xvi. 8. 

Bishop Pearson handles this great subject in his usual lofty way. " Though 
Christ saith ' the Father is in Me, and I in Him ;'(#) yet withal He saith, ' I came 
out from the Father :' by the former, showing the Divinity of His Essence ; by the 

(z) Trench. (a) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(b) Lonsdale and Hale. (c) St. John xiv. 26 : xv. 26 : xvi. 7. 

(d) See above, verses 14, 15. (e) Rev. C. Marriott. 

(/) Maldonatus. (g) St. John x. 38. 



XVI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 863 

latter, the origination of Himself. We must not look upon the Divine Nature as 
sterile, but rather acknowledge and admire the fecundity and communicability of 
itself, upon which the Creation of the World depencleth ; God making all things by 
His Word, to whom He first communicated that Omnipotency which is the cause 
of all things." — Such remarks as these do not indeed help us to understand the 
passage of Scripture to which they relate, in its actual connection. But they are 
important, if they bring before us the depth and fullness of the inspired Word ; 
and remind us that it is "profitable for Doctrine" as well as "for instruction in 
Righteousness. "(A) Take notice that in what follows, the phrase, " I came forth 
from God," is exchanged for another : — 

28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the World : 
again, I leave the World, and go to the Father. 

Availing Himself of the last words He had spoken, our Saviour makes this 
fuller and more formal statement concerning Himself; a statement, (let it be ob- 
served in passing, (which conveys by implication the important assurance of the 
pre-existence of our Lord's Divine Nature. He had already, (in verses 5 and 16,) 
declared that He was about to " leave the World, and go unto the Father." By 
the form of speech which He here uses, He seems to imply that in that very state- 
ment is contained and implied that He had first "come forth from the Father," 
and was "come into the World. "(0 "Now, that He ascended," (saith His Apostle,) 
"what is it but that He also descended first? . . . He that descended is the same 
also that ascended up far above all heavens." (&) 

Let us hear Augustine concerning this mysterious statement. "Our belief hath 
altogether been, nor should it seem an incredible account of the matter to any, 
that when Christ came forth from the Father, He so came into the World, as never 
to leave the Father : so left the World and went unto the Father, as never to 
leave the World. He ' came forth from the Father/ because He is 'of the Father :' 
He came into the World, because He displayed to the World that Body which He 
had taken of the substance of the Virgin. He left the World, by withdrawing 
from it His Human Body ; but He did not leave the World by withdrawing from 
it His governing presence." 

29, 30 His Disciples said unto Him, Lo, now speakest Thou plainly, 
and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that Thou knowest all 
things, and needest not that any man should ask Thee : by this we 
believe that Thou earnest forth from God. 

Had not our Lord indeed spoken as plainly with reference to their difficulty, 
before ?(Z) Was He really speaking no " proverb ;" that is, uttering no difficult say- 
ing, now? What then is the meaning of His words in verse 25 ? The latter part of 
this reply of the Disciples is perhaps our best guide to the meaning of the earlier 
portion of it. Our Lord had shown by his entire discourse from ver. 19 to ver. 28, 
that unto Him the hearts of the Disciples were open ; the question they desired to 
ask Him, known ; that, in short, from Him no secrets are hid: and this astounding 
discovery drew from those guileless men their present prompt and hearty confession 
of His Divinity. Their entire reply, therefore, will have perhaps amounted to this: 
— " Lo, now Thou declarest Thy Divine Original quite plainly. We have now 
heard Thee even more emphatically than ever we heard Thee before, proclaim 
whence Thou earnest and whither Thou goest. We recall the many occasions on 
which Thou hast spoken of Thyself as the very and Eternal Son of God ;(m) as of 
the same Nature with the Father ;(n) as One with the Father ;(o) entitled to the 
same Faith (p) and Love(g) as Himself. And now, because Thou connectest with 

(h) 2 Tim. iii. 16. 

(i) Compare St. John viii. 42, (where see the note,) and xvii. 8. 

(k) Ephes. iv. 9, 10. Compare St. John iii. 13. 

(I) Consider the following expressions : " I proceeded forth and came from God :" (St. John 
viii. 42,) "and now I go My way to Him that sent Me," (xvi. 5.) " I go to My Father, and 
ye see Me no more," (ver. 10.) — Grotius, with his usual acuteness, points out that the words 
"I leave the world," occur here for the first time. But are they not fully implied by St. John 
xiv. 18 to 31 ? 

(m) St. John vii. 29, Ac. (») St. John x. 38 : xiv. 9, 10, 20, &c. 

\o) St. John x. 30. (p) St. John xiv. 1. 

(q) St. John xv. 23, 24. 



864 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

all this a convincing proof that Thou art indeed the Searcher of Hearts, we believe 
all that is implied by that mysterious saying, ' I came forth from God V " 

Take notice that, because the particular circumstance which wrought conviction 
in the Disciples was the discovery that when they wished to ask our Lord a ques- 
tion, His words had shown that for them to ask was superfluous,; — they ground 
their confession on this circumstance. Else, the natural form of words for them to 
have used would have been,—" and needest not to ask any man." 

It is not, of course, to be thought that the Disciples did not believe before :{r) or 
that they so believed now, that their Faith could receive no future increase. Faith 
admits of degrees ;(s) and one of the periods is here marked when the Disciples, 
(even Nathaniel,^) and Simon Peter,) (it) made a clear advance in this heavenly 
grace. Their emphatic " Now," twice repeated, suggests the form of our Lord's 
reply. 

31, 32 Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe ? Behold, the hour 
cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his 
own, and shall leave Me alone : and yet I am not alone, because the 
Father is with Me. 

As if He said, — " Do ye think yourselves now at length, ' grounded and settled' 
in the Faith ?"(#) (for our Lord is probably asking a question here, as in chap. xiii. 
38.) "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered" — 
like sheep when their Shepherd is smitten. Consider St. Matthew xxvi. 31. The 
allusion is obviously to that hour, now so very close at hand, when, at sight of the 
treachery of Judas and its consequences, " all the disciples forsook Him, and 
flfld."(y) 

Take notice, that even while delivering this mournful prophecy, our Saviour 
proclaimed a great truth concerning His own Divinity ; thus administering twofold 
support to that very Faith which He yet foresaw would fail. He was so " One" 
with God the Father, by the sameness of His Essence, that He could not be sepa- 
rated from the Father ; nor be, in a divine sense, " alone." Consider chap. viii. 16, 
29. A good man has said, " There is something inexpressively touching in these 
simple words, when we remember the relation between the Speaker and those 
whom He addressed . . . We cannot read them without having our thoughts led to 
the misery and woe which for our sakes He endured ; to the mightiness of that 
struggle for which He resigned the presence, and the aid and the comfort of the 
Everlasting Father."(z) 

Our Saviour with two short sentences brings His Heavenly discourse to a close : 

33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have 
Peace. 

Referring to all that He had been lately saying; but especially, as it would 
seem, to what is found in verses 5, 7, 8, and 13 to 16 ; — as, the expediency of His 
departure, the comfort and aid of the Holy Ghost, the mysterious promise of His 
return. The purpose with which all this had been spoken, is declared briefly ; 
namely, that in Christ the Apostles " might have Peace." And here it may be 
well to remind the reader that we had a similar form of expression, and announce- 
ment of a purpose, in ver. 1. It is thought that the places referred to at foot of 
the page, will be also found to merit attention. (a) 

It was not the object of the present Divine Discourse, therefore, to gratify cu- 
riosity, or to solve doubts; (for that was reserved for the Holy Ghost ;(6) but to 
administer heavenly consolation. All that is implied by that largest word of bless- 
edness, — "the Peace of God," — would largely flow into the Disciples' hearts when 
the Comforter should bring this farewell discourse of their Lord and Master to 
their remembrance. 

In the World ye shall have tribulation : but be of good cheer ; I 
have overcome the World. 

(r) Consider St. John ii. 11, and vi. 69. («) St. Luke xvii. 5. 

(t) St. John i. 48 to 50. (u) St. Matth. xvi. 15 to 17. 



(x) Col. i. 23. (y) St, Matth. xxvi. 56. 

(z) Rev. Hugh James Eose. (a) St. John xiii. 19 : xiv. 29 : xv. 11 : xvi. 1, 4. 

[b) See the note on St. John. 



XVII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 865 



Thus He foretells the World's Enmity ; but, at the same time, promises His own 
mightier aid. " 1 have overcome the World," He says ; because His Victory, to be 
obtained over the Prince of this World, was already close at hand : and though His 
Death was to be the price of it, it was to be complete, and it was altogether cer- 
tain, if) Thus, in a former chapter, He had said, "Now is the judgment of this 
World : now shall the Prince of this World be cast out."(w) 

And this encouragement to cheerful confidence is addressed to all believers in 
Christ to the end of Time. Moreover the successful warfare of the great Captain 
of our Salvation is to be imitated by His faithful soldiers and servants, — as every 
baptized Christian is called at the very font, when he is exhorted " manfully to 
fight under His banner, against Sin, the World, and the Devil." It was the con- 
fession of an Apostle that " we wrestle not against flesh and blood ; but against Prin- 
cipalities and Powers ; against the Rulers of the darkness of this World ; against 
spiritual wickedness in high places."(y) "But," (it was his boast,) "thanks be to God, 
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ l"(x) And so, in many 
striking places, says St. John,(?/) — once, with apparent reference to the present 
occasion. (2) 



CHAPTER XVII. 



1 



1 Christ prayeth to His Father to glorify Him, 6 to preserve His Apostles, 11 in 
Unity, 17 and Truth, 20 to glorify them, and all other believers with Him in Heaven. 

The Discourse which the Saviour of the World held to His sorrowful Disciples 
on the evening before His Passion having extended through three chapters, and reach- 
ed its close in the preceding chapter, His great Intercession follows. In order to 
approach it intelligently, we must consider that our Eternal High Priest, by solemn 
prayer, is here consecrating Himself as the great Sacrifice to God the Father. Now, 
the office of the Priesthood consisted of two parts, Sacrifice and Intercession. The 
first was fulfilled by our Lord's "one oblation of Himself once offered :" the second, 
which continues still, (for "He ever liveth to make intercession,"^) and gives 
efficacy to the other, is in the present chapter set before us. " It was with refer- 
ence to this part of the office, which He still sustains, that He showed Himself to 
St. John in Patmos in " a garment down to the feet,"(6) — the sacerdotal robe: and 
afterwards, as an Angel, mixing in a " golden censer the prayers of all the Saints, (c) 
with the incense, — which represents His own prevailing Intercession." (d) 

We seem to require no better reason for the introduction of this prayer in this 
place. Speculation is in fact swallowed up in a sense of gratitude and wonder at 
the Divine condescension, which here presents us with a specimen of the mysteri- 
ous intercourse which the Son of Man held with the Eternal Father in the days of 
His Humiliation. " We can never thank God enough that He has permitted us to 
bear such words ; to come as it were into the Council of Heaven ; and to hear what 
Christ our Lord says concerning us to the Almighty Father. Not that He speaks 
in His invisible GoDhead, of things that are too deep for us to hear ; but as Man 
in our own nature, of things that much concern us."(e) ..." Plain and artless as 
this address sounds, it is so deep, rich, and wide, that no one can find its bottom or 
extent." (f) A celebrated foreign Divine declared that he never ventured to preach 
on this Prayer of Christ ; humbly confessing that the right understanding of it 
surpasses the measure of faith which the Lord usually imparts to His people during 
their earthly pilgrimage." (#) Need it be stated that from countless passages in 

(t) St. John xiv. 30. (u) St. John xii. 31. 

(v) Ephes. vi. 12. (x) 1 Cor. xv. 57. 

(y) 1 St. John ii. 13, 14: v. 4. Rev. xii. 11. 

(a) 1 St. John iv. 4. (a) Heb. vii. 25. 

(6) Rev. i. 13. - (c) Rev. viii. 3. 

(d) Dr. Macbride. See Ps. cxli. 2. Rev. v. 8 : viii. 3, 4. 

(e) Rev. C. Marriott. (/) Luther. 
(g) Quoted from Spener by Olshausen. 

55 



866 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

the Gospel the Commentator also would fain turn aside, if he might, with the ejacu- 
lation of Simon Peter on his lips, — "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, 
Lord V\h) .... The scene of all that is contained in the present chapter was doubt- 
less still the same as that indicated in the note prefixed to chap. xv. Our great 
High Priest makes His prayer for Himself and for His people within the very pre- 
cincts of His Holy Temple. 

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to Heaven, and 
said, 

Take notice of the precious indication of the gesture with which our Saviour 
pronounced the words which follow. Compare chap. xi. 41, and St. Mark vi. 41. If the 
Publican, in the parable, did not presume to do the like,(i) it was because he was 
overwhelmed by the sense of Sin, — which in Christ had not the slightest place . . . 
There are far more indications in our Lord's manner and gesture contained in the 
Gospels than a careless reader would suppose. 

Father, the hour is come ; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may 
glorify Thee : 

That " Hour/' thrice mysteriously hinted at in the beginning of the Gospel, as 
"not yet come,"(A;) and now, for the third, almost for the fourth time, declared to 
have at length arrived,(7) — is twice called the hour " that the Son of Man should 
he glorified." (m) By that expression we find is denoted our Lord's Triumph over 
Death, His Ascension into Heaven, and exaltation to the right hand of God;(w) 
which were all preliminary steps to that outpouring of the Spirit, (o) whereby the 
Eternal Son was to be yet further " glorified," — as we have heard Himself so re- 
cently declare. ( p) But the reader must be referred on this subject to what has been 
already so largely offered in another part of the present Commentary.^) 

The sense of the passage will therefore be, that the Son of Man, having reached 
the close of His Ministry, prays the Eternal Father, (who wills that men should 
pray for those very things which He hath yet pledged Himself to grant,{r) to glorify 
Him, — even by raising Him from the dead, and receiving Him up into Glory ; in 
order that He may in turn glorify the Father, — even by causing the knowledge of 
the Father to spread throughout the World, and by thus bringing many unto Sal- 
vation. Consider St. John xv. 8. Augustine explains the passage, — "Raise Me 
from the dead, that by Me Thou mayest be known to the whole World." See more 
on verse 5. Christ speaks here in His Mediatorial character. So also in the next 
verse. The fulfillment of all that is here prayed for is described in Ephesians i. 20 
to 23. 

" Some things," (says Hooker,) " He knew should come to pass, and notwith- 
standing prayed for them; because He also knew that the necessary means to effect 
them were His prayers. As in the Psalm it is said, ' Ask of Me, and I shall give 
Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for 
Thy possession."(s) Wherefore, that which God there promiseth His Son, the same 
He here prayeth for. . . . The pious writer goes on to show that our Saviour had 
not the like promise concerning every thing for which He prayed : observing, — 
" We know in what sort He prayed for removal of that bitter cup, which cup He 
tasted, notwithstanding His prayer." (t) 

2 as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give 
eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. 

That is, — " Even as Thou hast already given Him authority over all human crea- 
tures ;(w) and so effectually given it, that lie is able to impart Eternal Life to as 
many as Thou hast given Him." . . . The connection of this with what precedes, 

(h) St. Luke v. 8. (*') St. Luke xviii. 13. 

(k) St. John ii. 4 : vii. 30 : viii. 20. 

(I) St. John xii. 23 and xiii. 1. Consider xiii. 31. 

(m) St. John xii. 23 : xiii. 31. («) St. John xii. 16. 

o) St. John vii. 39 : xvi. 7. Acts ii. 33. (p) St. John xvi. 14. 

q) See the notes on St. John xiii. 31 and 32: on vii. 39: on xii. 28. 

r} See St. John xii. 28. (s) Ps. ii. 8. 

(t) St. Matth. xxvi. 39. St. Mark xiv. 36. St. Luke xxii. 42. 
(u) Compare St. Luke iii. 6. 



XVII.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 867 



seems to be somewhat of the following nature. The Divine Speaker has been anti- 
cipating the work whereby He is shortly to " glorify" the Father. Here, there- 
fore, He enlarges slightly on that subject ; hinting, both at the yastness of the field 
of Mercy which lies before Him ; and at the earnest of what is to follow, which He 
possesses in the Divine gift which the Father has already bestowed. "For being 
set down at the Right Hand of God, ' all authority hath been committed to Him 
both in Heaven and Earth ;'(x) and the end of this power which He hath received 
is, to confer Salvation upon those which believe in Him. For ' we look for the 
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be 
fashioned like unto His glorious Body/ "(?/) A thoughtful study of St. John v. 22 
to 27, inclusive, and of chap. vi. 37 to 40, will be found to furnish a valuable com- 
mentary on the present verse. Consider also chap. iii. 35. 

" The following verse shows, in a precise manner, how the communication of 
Eternal Life is a glorification of the Father, this life consisting in the knowledge 
of God Himself."(z) 

3 And this is Life Eternal, that they might know Thee the only true 
God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. 

Rather, — " To know Thee the only true God," &c. Who that reads this, does not 
exclaim with the Psalmist of old, "Thy thoughts are very deep?" . . "Of course 
we are not to take our Lord's words so far out of their proper meaning as to sup- 
pose that He means a mere barren knowledge, such as Balaam had." (a) Nor may 
we explain them away, by advancing such an obvious truism concerning them as 
that the knowledge of God is the condition of our entrance into Life Eternal. Far 
more is implied ; even this, — that " to know God," (according to the mind of the 
Spirit,) is to have become a partaker of His Nature: so that none can be said to 
know Him, save those to whom God imparts Himself. Consider 1 St. John v. 12. 
Hence, one of the ancients,(6) after declaring that " Life results from the partici- 
pating of God, remarks that ' to know Him, and to have experience of His gra- 
ciousness, is the very participation of Him/ .... The mysterious depth of the 
Divine language on such occasions is much to be noted, as supplying a clue to the 
meaning of many kindred passages, of which we might else little suspect the won- 
drous fullness. Thus, our Lord says — "He that believeth on Me hath everlasting 
Life :"(c) and elsewhere, "He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that 
sent Me, hath everlasting Life."(dJ) Again, "Whosoever liveth and believeth in 
Me, shall never die."(e) It is evident that a clue to the right understanding of all 
these passages is to be sought for in the true notion of " belief;" just as the true 
notion of " knowing God" furnishes us with a clue to the meaning of the text. It 
results from all, that " God is the life of the soul, as much as the soul is the life of 
the body : and that we must not think of Eternal Life as a thing to be begun here- 
after ; but as something to be begun now. The Life of Glory is, in fact, the Life 
of Grace continued." (f) See more on this subject in the notes on St. John v. 24: 
vi. 47, and xi. 26. 

"Life Eternal" then, consists in the "knowledge" of the Father, who alone of 
all gods is very God ;(g) in saying which, take notice that the Son of Man is speak- 
ing as the Son of Man. Yet, even so, He straightway represents Himself as co- 
ordinate with God the Father; by adding, "and Jesus Christ whom Thou 
hast sent." The meaning of this is. put out of all doubt by the passages alluded to 
at foot; where our Divine Lord plainly represents Himself as the proper object of 
human Faith.(A) Especially should reference be made to 1 St. John, v. 11, 12, 20, — 
in which last verse the very language here applied to the Father will be found 
used of the Son. 

4 I have glorified Thee on the Earth : I have finished the work which 
Thou gavest Me to do. 

(x) St. Matth. xxviii. 18. (y) Bp. Pearson, quoting Phil. iii. 20, 21. 

(z) Olshausen. (a) Kev. C. Marriott. 

(6) Irenaeus. (c) St. John vi. 47 : compare iii. 36. 

(d) St. John v. 24: see the whole verse. (e) St. John xi. 26. 

(/) Eev. C. Marriott. 

Ig) Such is the meaning of the expression " the only true God." 

(h) St. John iii. 15, 16, 36 : vi. 47 : xi. 25, 26. 



868 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

The latter part of this sentence explains the former part. By performing the 
great work which the Father had given Him to do, — by His miracles, (i) by His 
Doctrine, (k) by His pure and spotless Life, by the call of the Twelve, and by laying 
the foundation of the Church,— the Son had glorified the Father upon the Earth. 
See more on verse 6. 

Thus, on that memorable occasion, so largely treated of in a former part of the 
Commentary, where our Saviour was entering on the first portion of His earthly 
inheritance, in reply to the request of His Disciples that He would "eat," we 
heard Him declare, — " My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish 
Sis work:(m) and of His miracles generally, He afterwards said,— -" The works 
which the Father gave Me to finish, the very works which I do, bear witness con- 
cerning Me that the Father hath sent M.e."(n) ... If the Holy One asserted that 
He had already finished the great Work for which He came into the World, although 
the final triumph over Satan remained yet to be won, it may well be thought that 
inasmuch as a few hours of conflict alone remained, He spoke by anticipation of 
what was now so certain. Poly carp, (a disciple of St. John the Evangelist,) is 
thought to have written as follows ; — " How doth He say that He hath finished the 
Work of Man's Salvation, since He hath not yet climbed the standard of the Cross ? 
Nay, but, by the determination of His Will, whereby He had resolved to endure 
every article of His mysterious Passion, He may truly proclaim that He hath 
finished the Work." Shall St. Paul say concerning himself, in his old age, " I 
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course:" (o) and shall not the Incarnate 
Son anticipate, by some seventeen hours, the triumphant cry — " It is finished ?"(p) 

5 And now, Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with . 
the Glory which I had with Thee before the World was. 

The Holy One here prays His Father to confer on Himself, as God and Man 
that Glory which, as God, He had from all Eternity with the Father. " Bring My 
Human Nature into a participation of the Glory, which I, the Word, had with Thee 
before the beginning of the World." (q) ... A more splendid assertion of the pre- 
existence of our Saviour Christ, could not be desired. (r) " The Lord possessed 
Me in the beginning of His Way, before His works of old," saith Wisdom. " I was 
set up from Everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the World was :"(s) (" before 
the foundation of the World," as it is said below in v. 24.) " And the same Wis- 
dom of God, being made Man, reflect eth upon the same priority, saying, ' Now, 
Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self/ (that is, ' in Thine own presence,') 
' with the glory which I had with Thee before the World was.' "(t) 

The Very and Eternal God, who was of one Substance with the Father, having 
taken Man's nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, of her substance, two 
whole and perfect Natures, that is to say the GoDhead and Manhood, became joined 
together in one Person never to be divided. (u) And it is for the Divine glorification 
of this New Being, very God and very Man, that the Eternal Son is thought here 
to pray. This was He who, "being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to 
be equal with God : but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the 
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion 
as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death 
of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him"(x) Consider the 
latter part of ver. 24. 

6 I have manifested Thy Name unto the men which Thou gavest Me 
out of the World : 

It was in this manner, in part, that our Saviour had glorified His Father on the 
Earth, (as we heard Him declare in ver. 4,) and finished the Work which the 
Father had given Him to do. — But how did He " manifest," that is, make plain 

(t) See St. John ii. 11 : xi. 4, 40. (&) See St. John vii. 16, 18. 

(m) St. John iv. 34. («) St. John v. 36. Compare also ix. 4. 

(o) 2 Tim. iv. 7. {p) St. John xix. 30, — where see the note. 

(g) Theophylact. 

(r) Consider St. John i. 1, 2 : vi. 62 : viii. 58. Col. i. 17. 1 St. John i. 1, 2, &c. 

(s) Prov. viii. 22, 23. (0 Bp. Pearson. 

(u) Article II. (x) Phil. ii. 6 to 9. 



XVII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 869 

and manifest, ("make knoivn,"" as it is said in ver. 26,) God's "Name" upon 
Earth ? Doubtless, the word " Name" is here used in that large signification, so 
well known to the readers of Holy Scripture, whereby it is made to stand for God 
Himself. " The Name of the God of Jacob defend thee V\y) exclaims the Psalmist : 
and the author of the Book of Proverbs declares that " the Name of the Lord is a 
strong tower ; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."(z) " They shall call His 
Name Emmanuel," says the Evangelist, quoting the prophet Isaiah, (a) and implying 
that our Saviour Himself -would be, what the Name " Emmanuel" means, — 
namely, " God with us. "(6) As often therefore as our Lord made known to men 
the mind and will of the Eternal Father, — (as when He declared that " God so 
loved the World that He gave His Only-Begotten Son, to the end that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting Life,") (c) — or work mira- 
cles in token of His Divine Mission, (d) — so often did He "manifest His Name." 

This manifestation, then, is said to have been made to the men whom God the 
Father " gave" the Son. By which, it is not meant that there were any of the 
Jewish nation to whom the Redeemer did not preach the Gospel ; much less is it 
implied that He had kept from any the knowledge of the Father, — whom to know 
is Everlasting Life:(e) but only, that not all who heard believed. And those 
believed whom God had given Him, — and none others : for " no man can come to 
Me," (saith our Lord,) " except the Father which hath sent Me draw h\m."(f) 
This may seem to open the hard question of Predestination and Election ; into 
which we have neither the ability, nor the leisure, nor the inclination here to enter. 
This at least is certain, that unbelief is represented to us throughout the Bible as 
a Sin. See St. John xvi. 9. — What else we desire to offer on this deep subject will 
be found below, in the note on the latter part of ver. 12. 

Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me : and they have kept 
Thy Word. 

" 'Thine they were/ — in Thy secret Predestination unknown to Man and inscru- 
table ;"(<?) " and Thou gavest them Me." Thus, for the second time, the "gift" of 
the Father is mentioned. It will be found alluded to further, below, in verses 11, 
12, and 24. "As One with the Father, our Saviour had before said, 'I have 
chosen you out of the World ;'(h) but here, as Son of Man, He attributes it, not to 
His own election of them, but to the gift of the Father l"(i) 

7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given 
Me are of Thee. 

" For having obeyed the Word, they have come to know the Doctrine, whether it 
be of God, or whether I speak of Myself." (k) Take notice how constantly the 
Eternal Son refers everything He has, — even His very essence, — to the Eternal 
Father. This has been already largely dwelt upon in the Commentary on St. 
John v. 20, and on the latter part of xiv. 28. It appears, however, from ver. 8, 
that what is here printed " things," should rather have been " ivords." 

8 For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me ; 

"Therefore Christ hath revealed the perfect Will of God."(Z) He had before 
said, " The Word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me."(ra) 
The present statement should in fact be connected and compared with what is 
found in chap. vii. 16, 17 : viii. 28 : xii. 49, and xiv. 10. See also chap. v. 19, 30. 

and they have received them, and have known surely that I came 
out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. 

" This also our Lord often alludes to ; namely, that by keeping His words men 

(y) Ps. xx. 1. ( z ) Prov. xviii. 10. 

(a) St. Matth. i. 23 quoting Is. vii. 14. (b) Consider further, Exod. vi. 3. 

(c) St. John iii. 16. (d) St. John x. 25. 

(e) See above, ver. 3. (/) St. John vi. 44. 

(g) Williams. 

{h) St. John xv. 19 : See also xiii. 18 : xv. 16. 

(i) Williams. (k) Williams, — quoting St. John vii. 17. 

(I) Bp. Pearson. (m) St. John xiv. 24. 



870 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

come to know the Father : for He says, ' Whosoever shall receive Me receiveth 
Him that sent Me/ ""(») Refer to verses 27 and 30 of the preceding chapter, and 
see the note there. See also below, ver. 25. (o) 

Having, up to this place, prayed for Himself, and specified the grounds of His 
own right to that Glory for which He prayed, — our Saviour now makes the Disciples 
the subject of His request : — 

9 I pray for them : I pray not for the World, but for them which 
Thou hast given Me ; for they are Thine. 

Take notice that the word in the original is not so much " I pray/' as "I ask," 
or " make request ;" and so, in ver. 20. . . . Christ died for all; He willed the 
Salvation of all men. Yet, inasmuch as it depended on the will of others Avhether 
those gracious intentions should be frustrated or not, and He foresaw the obduracy 
of many, He says, " I pray not for the World :" meaning thereby the hardened 
and impenitent. . . . " In that prayer for Eternal Life/' (says Hooker,) "which 
our Saviour knew could not be made without effect, He excepteth them for whom 
He knew His sufferings would be frustrate, and commendeth unto God His own. 
They are the blessed of God, for whom He ordained His Kingdom :(p) to their 
charge nothing can be laid :(q) of them, those words of the wise man are meant, 
that ' none can hinder, when He will save/ "(r) " For this is that great prayer of 
Intercession on which the Salvation of the Church depended, and the prayer of 
Christ cannot but be availing to the attainment of that for which He prays. 
Thus, when He prayed for His murderers, the Centurion, (who was one of them,) 
on that day believed : and when St. Stephen prayed for his persecutors, St. Paul, 
the chief of them, was pardoned/'(s) 

The plea, or reason, follows : — " Because tliey are Thine." In ver. 6, we heard 
Him say, — " Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me/' Very naturally there- 
fore does it follow : 

10 And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and lam glorified 
in them. 

" ' Thine are Mine •/ therefore they belonged unto Christ before they were given 
by the Father. ' And all Mine are Thine / therefore, after they were given unto 
Christ, they belonged unto the Father."(£) "As if to imply, — Let no one, on 
hearing Me say, ' them which Thou hast given Me/ suppose that they are separated 
from the Father ; for all things that are Mine are His. Nor, because I said, 
* they are Thine/ suppose that they are separate from Me : for all things that are 
His, are Mme."(u) " All things that the Father hath are Mine,"(a;) our Lord 
had already declared : — by virtue of the Divine Unity, claiming such participation 
in the things of the Father. . . . But this is parenthetical. The words " and I 
am glorified in them/' cohere closely with the last words of ver. 9. We are 
reminded thereby that Christ is glorified in His Saints, — by their life,(?/) and by 
their death. (z) 

11 And now I am no more in the World, but these are in the World, 
and I come to Thee. 

Because He was so soon to leave the World, our Lord says, " Now lam no more 
in the world/ ; His allusion to the forlorn state of His Disciples recalls what we 

met with in chap. xiii. 1, — where see the note, on p. 541 "I come to Thee' 1 ' 

reminds us of the fuller statement we met with in ver. 28 of the former chapter. 

Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom thou hast 
given Me, that they may be one, as We are. 

The Eternal Son here used the epithet "Holy" in addressing the Father, (whom 

(n) Williams, — quoting St. Luke ix. 48. (o) Consider also St. John viii. 42. 

(jo) St. Matth. xxv. 34. (q) Rom. viii. 33. 

(r) Eccles. xxxix. 18. («) Williams. 

(i) Williams. \u) Chrysostom. 

(x) St. John xvi. 15. (y) 1 Cor. x. 31. 

(z) St. John xxi. 19. 



XVII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 871 

He calls " Just," in ver. 25,) perhaps because it was the sanctifying influence of 
the Father to which He chiefly alludes in the words, "Keep through Thine own 
Name those whom Thou hast given Me." Consider ver. 17 ; and take notice that 
St. Jude addresses His Epistle " to them that are sanctified by God the Father, 
and preserved in Jesus Christ." (a) The " Name" of God is here used in the same 
large signification as in verses 6, 12, and 26. 

It might seem, to a careless reader, that the language of the present verse favors 
the error of those who deny the Divinity of the Son. If believers may be " one," 
as Christ and the Father are "One," then, (it may be thought,) there can be no 
such mystery in the Divine Unity as the Church teaches. But quite of a contrary 
kind is the direct and only lawful inference from the present passage. The Disci- 
ples of Christ being all of one nature, (and that, Human,) as God the Father and 
God the Son are both of One Nature, (and that, Divine,) our Saviour here prays 
that the Disciples may all be of one mind and will likewise, even as Himself and 
the Father are of One Mind and Will. Take notice, however, that the word "as," 
here and in ver. 21, does not denote strict correspondence, but only general resem- 
blance ; as in the Athanasian Creed, where the union of two Natures in the One 
Person of Christ is popularly illustrated by the union of "the reasonable soul and 
flesh" in man. Consider also in St. Matthew v. 48, St. Luke vi. 36, and the note 

on the former place Unity, therefore, is what Christ and His Apostles(o) 

desire to behold in the Church. See more on ver. 21. 

12 While I was with them in the World, I kept them in Thy Name : 

The Divine Speaker says, " in Tliy Name,"(c) because, throughout the period 
of His Humiliation and the days of His Ministry, He had referred all things, as 
the Son of Man, to the Eternal Father who had "sent" Him. But the repeated 
mention of the Father's "Name" in verses 6, 11, 12, and 26 of the present chapter, 
is remarkable. 

those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but 
the son of perdition ; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 

Thus does the Great Shepherd of the sheep give an account of His shepherding, 
in language which recalls the speech of one of His special types. (e) Our great 
Ministerial example is able to boast that He has not lost one of that little flock 
which the Father had committed to Him, — Judas Iscariot only excepted, whose 
designation, ("the son of perdition,") St. Paul applies to the "Man of Sin ;"(,/*) 
and who had fallen through his own determined wickedness, in defiance of checks, 
and helps, and warnings innumerable, — as we have elsewhere shown. " None 
of them is lost," (saith our Lord;) that is, As far as /am concerned: for, as He 
declares elsewhere more clearly, — " Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise 
cast out."(/i) "But when they cast themselves out, I will not draw them to Myself 
by compulsion." So writes Chrysostom. 

The ordinary reader will perhaps be grateful for a few words on the subject thus 
opened to his notice, — one of the deepest in the whole domain of speculative The- 
ology. — " That Judas was converted, and, as far as concerned the present state, 
(abstracted from Perseverance,) effectually converted, I offer but this one testimony, 
— the words of Christ to His Father : " Of those that Thou gavest Me none is lost 
but the son of perdition." That whosoever is by the Father "given" to Christ, 
is converted, and that effectually, is concluded from Christ's universal proposition : 
"All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me."(i) And here it is expressly 
said that Judas, though by his apostasy now become "the son of perdition," was 
by God given to Christ, and therefore he came to Christ ; that is, he was con- 
verted: which also his being lost, his very apostasy, testifies; for how could he 

apostatize from Christ, that was never come to Him ?" Of two persons 

therefore, (as two of the Apostles,) " supposing that the outward means are accom- 
panied to both with a sufficient measure of inward Grace, the discrimination comes 
immediately from one man's resisting sufficient grace ; which the other doth net re- 
sist, but, makes use of. And as it is from corruption, and liberty to do evil, that 

(a) St. Jude ver. 1. (b) See 1 Cor. i. 10. 

(c) The same Greek phrase is translated in the previous verse, " through Thine own Name." 

(e) See Gen. xxxi. 38, 39. (/) 2 Thess. ii. 3. 

(h) St. John vi. 37. (i) St. John vi. 37. 



872 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 



one resists it ; so is it likely from the work of Grace upon an obedient heart, that 
the other is converted. Thus we ascribe all the good to the Work of Grace ; that 
is, to that power which by supernatural Grace is given to man; and all the ill to 
man and his liberty, or ability to resist. 

" But from what hath been said, there is yet more to be added ; namely, that the 
obedience of the one to the call of Grace, when the other, Csupposed to have suffi- 
cient, if not an equal measure,) obeys not, — may reasonably be imputed to the 
humble, malleable, melting temper which the other wanted; and that, again, owing 
to the preventing Graces of God, and not to the natural probity, or Free-Will of 
Man. Whereas the other, having resisted those preparing Graces, or not made use 
of them, lieth under some degree of obduration, pride, sloth, voluptuousness, &c, 
and that makes the discrimination on this side ; that is, renders him unqualified 
and incapable to be wrought on by sufficient Grace. And so still, if it be atten- 
tively weighed, this attributes nothing to Free Will, considered by itself, but the 
power of resisting and frustrating God's method ; yielding the glory of all the 
work of Conversion, and all the first preparations to it, to His sole Grace, by which 
the will is first set free ; then, fitted and cultivated ; and then, the seed of Eternal 
Life is successfully sowed in it "{J) 

The place of Scripture specially intended by our Lord, seems to be that passage 
in the cixth Psalm which St. Peter quoted on a memorable occasion, — "Let his 
days be few, and let another take his office." (A:) If any could be so perverse as to 
suppose from the manner in which Holy Scripture is here referred to, that it was 
the intention of the Divine Speaker to imply that Judas was under the necessity of 
proving a Traitor, let him notice how effectually the suspicion is repelled by ver. 9 
of the ensuing chapter ; where the Apostles are said to have retired from the Gar- 
den of Gethsemane in safety, " that the saying might be fulfilled which He spake, 
Of them which Thou gavest Me have I lost none." The allusion of our Lord on 
that occasion is to the words before us. 

13 And now come I to Thee ; and these things I speak in the World, 
that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 

An attentive reader of the Gospel will observe that our Saviour has specified the 
purpose with which He delivered many of His recorded sayings, on this the last day 
of His earthly Ministry. Consider the following places, — St. John xiii. 19 : xiv. 29 : 

xv. 11 : xvi. 1, 4, 33, &c It seems to be here implied that one object of the 

present Intercession was, that when our Lord should be withdrawn from His Dis- 
ciples' eyes, they might be filled, in full measure, with that joy which they had 
hitherto derived from His presence. Such seems to be the meaning of the expres- 
sion, "that thay may have my joy fulfilled in themselves:" with which, compare 
St. John xv. 11, and see the note on that place. 

14 I have given them Thy Word ; and the World hath hated them, 
because they are not of the World, even as I am not of the World. 

His Doctrine, like every other thing which is His, the Eternal Son refers to the 
Father, as already pointed out in the note on ver. 7 ; and explained in the notes 

on chap. vii. 16, and xii. 49 Already, doubtless, the Apostles of the Lamb 

had had a foretaste of the treatment which they were to expect at the World's 
hands. It was especially, however, with reference to what was to follow, that our 
Blessed Lord thus proclaimed the World's hostility, and traced it to its source, — 
which He again notices, and in the selfsame words in ver. 16. This topic has been 
already urged in chap. xv. 19, where see the note. Compare the concluding words 
with chap. viii. 23. 

15 I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the World, but 
that Thou shouldest keep them from the Evil. 

Rather, — " from the Evil One ;" that is, the Devil, who is repeatedly called "the 
Prince of this World. "(I) The same meaning is doubtless intended by our Lord 
in St. Matthew v. 37; and by His Apostle, in St. John v. 19. . . . Hence we learn, 

( f) From Dr. Hammond's Letter to Dr. Sanderson, concerning God's Grace and Decrees. 
(k) Ver. 8, quoted in Acts i. 20. See also Ps. lxix. 25. 
'I) See the note on St. John xii. 31. 



XVII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 878 

that until our appointed earthly work is completed, Divine Love is concerned only 
to keep us from the power of the Enemy ; not to take us out of the World. 

16 They are not of the World, even as I am not of the World. 

Why are these words, already met with in ver. 14, thus repeated ? Is it in order 
to imply that the Disiciples, however liable to harm from "the crafts and assaults 
of the Devil," (referred to in ver. 15,) were in their dispositions guileless and 
unworldly men ? 

17 Sanctify them through Thy Truth : Thy Word is Truth. 

Simple words ; yet full of difficulty, as usual. Their meaning seems to be as 
follows. It will be perceived that, from this place, our Saviour is speaking of the 
Ministry of His Apostles. As a preliminary step therefore, He prays that they 
may be sanctified, — that is, duly set apart for the Ministerial Office, for the work 
of preaching the Gospel. " Separate them for the Ministry of the Word, and 
preaching," — as Chrysostom explains the place. Thus, St. Paul describes himself 
as " called to be an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God;"(w) even as Jere- 
miah from the womb was " sanctified," and ordained " a prophet unto the na- 
tions." (n) This thought, so familiar to persons living under the Law, the Divine 
Author of the Gospel here transfers to the new Dispensation. And because the 
Keligion of Christ consists not of types and shadows, nor has any such ceremonial 
initiatory rites as attended the ordination of the Jewish priesthood, it is spoken of 
as approached through the sanctification of the Eternal Word, who is the Truth 
itself. Consider St. John i. 14, 17: xiv. 6 ; and below, ver. 19. This is to " have 
an unction from the Holy One;" which anointing, as St. John elsewhere declares, 
is Truth itself.(o) The reader is invited to read what will be offered on this great 
subject, (the Gospel notion of Truth,) in the notes on chap, xviii. 37 and 38. . . . 
Our Lord, proceeds : 

18 As Thou hast sent Me into the World, even so have I also sent 
them into the World. 

Even as Christ was the Apostle, or Sent(p) of the Father, (" the Apostle and 
High Priest of our profession," (q) as St. Paul calls Him,) so were the Twelve, the 
Apostles or Sent of Christ ; (for take notice that "Apostle'' means " one sent:") 
and our Lord speaks of Himself in a certain place, as " Him whom the Father 
hath sanctified, and se?it into the World." (r) — He uses here the past tense, ("I have 
sent them,") as in St. John iv. 58, for the reason specified in the note on that place. 
The mission of the Apostles " into the World" was yet future ; dating its com- 
mencement partly from the moment when the words recorded in St. John xx. 21 
were spoken, (the self-same words almost, as are found here ;) and yet more strik- 
ingly from the Day of Pentecost, — until which time the Apostles were forbidden to 
leave Jerusalem. (s) 

Two things seem to be especially intended by the parallel here established between 
the mission of Christ, and the mission of His Apostles. First, both were anointed 
in a similar manner ; namely, not with material oil, but with the Holy Ghost. 
Next, — both were sent forth with the right of delegating authority to others. But 
the reader must be referred on this head to the note on St. John xx. 21, — where 
the subject will be more fitly introduced. 

19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be 
sanctified through the Truth. 

_ All is for our sakes ! . . . . The Holy One continues His allusion to the Ceremo- 
nial Law, pointed out in the note on verse 17. Thus, because He was about to 
offer Himself up to the Eternal Father; and because whatsoever was dedicated or 
set apart for God's service, was said, in legal language, to be " sanctified ;"(£) He 

(m) Rom. i. 1 : and see Gal. i. 15. (n) Jer. i. 5. 

(o) 1 St. John ii. 20, 27. Perhaps St. John viii. 31, 32 should also be compared. 
(p) The reader is referred to the note on St. John ix. 7. 
(q) Heb. iii. 1. (r) St. John x. 36. 

(?) Acts i. 4, 5. 

(t) See Ex. xiii. 2. (Compare Numb, xviii. 15, 16, 17.) xxix. 36, 44: xxx. 29, Ac. Joel i. 
14 : ii. 15. 



874 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

declares that, for the Apostles' sake, He " sanctifies Himself." Not meaning that 
He could be made more holy than He was already, — in whom "dwelt all the full- 
ness of the GoDhead bodily ;"(w) but saying of Himself the same thing which is 
said in Heb. ix. 14 ; and announced in St. John x. 11 and 15 : namely, "And for 
their sakes, I offer Myself as a sacrifice unto Thee."(«) 

And this " sanctification," in a legal sense, we find had for its object the actual 
sanctification of the Apostles to their Ministerial Office. At the Consecration of 
Priests, under the Mosaic Law, a sacrifice was prescribed, (x) with many singular 
ceremonies ; but now, the great Sacrifice for the sins of the whole World was 
about to be offered up. It is, therefore, as if our Lord had said, — In the room of 
that sacrifice, and of all those other ceremonies which were practised at the con- 
secration and sanctification of the Ministers of the Old Testament, lo, I am about 
to offer up Myself on the Altar of the Cross. And since this Mighty Sacrifice of 
Myself is the very substance of Avhich all those others were but shadows, the Truth 
of which all those were but Types, My Apostles being thereby sanctified will be 
sanctified through the Truth.(y) 

With reference to His words in ver. 9, ("I pray for them,") our Saviour pro- 
ceeds : 

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall 
believe on Me through their word : 

" The Apostles believed in Christ through His own Word ; and the primitive 
Christians believed on the same Christ through the Apostles' word ; and this dis- 
tinction our Saviour Himself hath clearly made. Not that the word of the Apos- 
tles was really distinct from the word of Christ ; but only it was called theirs, 
because delivered by their Ministry : otherwise it was the same word which they 
had heard from Him, and upon which they themselves believed. "(2) 

21 that they all may be one ; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in 
Thee, that they also may be one in us : 

Kather, " As Thou, Father in Me, and I in Thee, (a) [are One,] — that they also 
may in us be one. "(6) • • • " We must particularly observe that our Lord did not 
say, "that We may all be one;' ; but, "that they may all be one/ 7 For the Father 
is so in the Son that they arc One because they are of one substance. We can 
be one in Them, but not with Them ; because we and They are not of one sub- 
stance. They are in us, and we in Them, so as that They are one in Their nature; 
we, in ours. They are in us, as God is in the Temple ; we in Them, as the crea- 
ture is in its Creator. Wherefore, He adds " in us," to show that our being made 
one by charity is to be attributed to the grace of God, not to ourselves." (c) 

Thus does the Saviour's prevailing Prayer extend as far as to ourselves, and em- 
brace the men of the present generation in its span of Mercy and Love: for the prayer 
is unto us, and to our "children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the 
Lord our God shall call. "(d) Let us well observe that the thing which Christ 
especially desires for the Church, is Unity, — here for the second time mentioned ; 
from which the gilt of Schism, the offence of " division, "(e) appears in the strongest 
light.(/*) On this occasion it is i!ot merely said "that they may be one, as we 
are;" but by a striking enlargement of phrase, the nature and manner of the unity 
of believers is described. For men can only be " one" in God the Father and God 
the Son, by believing in "One Lord," professing "one Faith," being made partak- 
ers of "one Baptism :"(#) being, in short, one in Spirit; "having," (as the Apostle 
says,) "the same love, being of one accord, of onemind."(/i) As often, moreover, as 
" with a true penitent heart and lively faith" we receive the Sacrament of Christ's 
Body and Blood, do we not "dwell in Christ, and Christ in us?" are we not "one 
with Christ, and Christ with us ?" 

The consequence foreseen by the Divine Speaker of such Unity in His Church, 
follows : 

(u) Col. ii. 9. {v) Chrysostom. 

(x) Exod. xxix. 10, 15, 19, 25, Ac. [y) So Maldonatus. 

(z) Bp. Pearson. («) Compare St. John xiv. 10, 11, Ac. 

(6) See Gal. iii. 28. U) Augustine. 

(d) Acts ii. 39. (e) 1 Cor. i. 10, Ac. 

(/) See above, ver. 11 ; also below, ver. 22. (g) Eph. iv. 5. 

(h) Phil. ii. 2.— Consider Rom. xii. 5. Ephes. iv. 3. 



XVII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 875 

That the World may believe that Thou hast sent Me. 

The meaning must be, that the sight of unanimity among Disciples, the discovery 
that " the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul,"(i) 
would so impress beholders, as to convince them that the Author of Christianity 
must have been sent from Heaven ; that the Gospel can have been no human in- 
vention, but must have come from God. — Very similar to these were the words 
which our Saviour addressed to His Disciples in chap. xiii. 35. — where see the 
note. 

22 And the Glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them ; that 
they may be one, even as We are One : 

By " the Glory" thus derived from the Father,(£;) it has been thought that the 
Eternal Son refers to that glorious Spirit, which the Father "giveth not by meas- 
ure unto Him."(Z) He must be understood therefore here to say that He had made 
His Disciples "partakers of the Divine Nature ;"(m) and surely this was pre-emi- 
nently done by the gift of the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, which He had 
just instituted. Consider, by all means, 1 Cor. x. 16, 17 ; where the participation 
of Christ in the Lord's Supper is noticed as the very condition of that oneness of 
believers of which our Saviour here, for the third time, speaks. (n) . . . The power 
of working Miracles,(o) seems to have been rather the consequence of the gift here 
spoken of, than the gift itself. 

23 I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in 
one ; 

Is the meaning perhaps to be made out thus, — " [Inasmuch as] I [am] in them, 
and Thou [art] in Me, that they may be made perfectly one?" For it is evidently 
implied that since the Father and His Christ are One, and since Christ and His 
Disciples are one, — the Disciples must be one with the Father : according to that 
of the Apostle, — "all things are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is 
God's." ( p) " This communion of the Saints with the Son of God," (says Bishop 
Pearson,) "is, as most evident, so most remarkable." 

And that the World may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast 
loved them, as Thou hast loved Me. 

From the Father's love, thus declared in the Disciples, the Divine Speaker anti- 
cipates the same blessed result which has been already remarked upon in the note 
on the latter part of vei\ 21. 

In what follows, the requests of the Son of Man extend beyond this World : 
stretching out into the far and glorious Future of the blessed. 

24 Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be 
with Me where I am ; 

Rather, "I wish;" that is, " I request."(g) And the unspeakable condescension 
of that wish on the lips of the Eternal Son ! — even that He may be united through- 
out the ages of Eternity to the men whom the Father had given Him ; that is, to 
as many as being called according to God's purpose by His Spirit working in due 
season, shall by grace obey the calling.(r) For take notice, that more is said here 
than in St. John xii. 26, and xiv. 3. Christ's faithful servants shall be throughout 
Eternity not only "where" Christ is, but u ioith" Him(s) likewise. "If we suffer 
we shall also reign with Him," says the great Apostle, writing to Timothy. (7) . . . 
He wishes, therefore, that His own may be with Him, — 

(*) Acts iv. 32. 

\k) Consider St. John i. 14, (in the original,) and 2 St. Pet. i. 17. 

(l) St. John iii. 31. Consider 2 Cor. iii. 18. 

(m) 2 St. Pet. i. 4. (») See verses 11 and 21. 

(o) Consider St. John ii. 11 : xi. 40. (p) 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. 

(q) See verses 9 and 20. (»•) Article XVII. 

(s) See 1 Thess. iv. 17. (0 2 Tim. ii. 12. 



876 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[chap. 



That they may behold My Glory, which Thou hast given Me : for 
Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the World. 

The reception of His Glory, (as of His Essence, )(u) the Eternal Son again refers 
to the Almighty Father. (v) But in this place we are perhaps to consider that He 
speaks of the Glory which He was to receive as Man; a subject already alluded to 
in ver. 5, (where the mode of expression is very similar,) and explained in the note 
thereon. . . . To Behold, in this place, is doubtless to be made a partaker of — as in 
St. John iii. 3, (compared with ver. 5,) and 36 : also viii. 51, compared with ver. 52. 
Irenseus calls attention to the gracious manner in which our Lord adverts to the 
subject of His Glory; namely, only in order to make request that His faithful 
Disciples may share it with Him. 

25 righteous Father, the World hath not known Thee : but I 
have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. 

The Eternal Father is here addressed as " righteous," or "just," because it is in 
virtue of this Divine attribute that none but believers in Christ will be admitted 
to be where Christ eternally is. — Concerning the " knowledge'' here spoken of, see 
what has been already offered in the note on ver. 3. — The great truth concerning 
the Son of Man which the Disciples are declared to have " known" has been made 
the subject of comment already, in the note on the latter part of ver. 8. 

26 And I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare it : 

The largeness of the signification in which the Name of God is here spoken of, 
has been sufficiently explained above, in the note on ver. 6. — The first words of the 
verse before us marks the difference of our Lord's knowledge from that of His 
Disciples, (alluded to in ver. 25 ;) for, "no man hath seen God at any time; the 
only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him."(x) 

How Christ had hitherto "declared," or "made known," the Father's "Name," 
has been shown in the note on ver. 6. He was to make it yet better known, as He 
here asserts, — referring probably to the great Pentecostal effusion of the Spirit 
which was to do so much for the illumination of His Church. He may also allude 
to that accession of knowledge in Divine things which the Apostles were to enjoy 
during the great Forty days.(y) 

that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I 
in them. 

This seems to mean, "that being made One with Me, by Faith and Love, Thou 
mayest love them, with the same love, wherewith Thou lovest Me." The conclud- 
ing clause, (" and I in them,") might almost be rendered, " Even as I am in them :" 
and implies, that Christ being in His Disciples as the head is in the body, and 
therefore One with them, it could not but be that the Love of the Father, which 
was poured out upon the Son, must be poured out upon the Disciples likewise. 
Consider St. John xiv. 23. 

We cheerfully adopt the language of a pious Commentator at the close of his 
notes on the present chapter. " After all our endeavours to explain it, we must 
allow that our thoughts are swallowed up in those depths of Wisdom and Love, and 
in those mysteries of the GoDhead, with which it is replete ; and that the light of 
Heaven alone can fully clear it up to us." (z) 



On reviewing this solemn Address, it will be found that in the first five verses, 
the Divine Speaker makes request for Himself: in the next three,(a) He introduces 
the subject of His Apostles ; and then, prays for them.(&) Next, He prays for all 
believers. (c) Lastly, looking beyond this World, He makes request that the men 
whom His Father had given Him, might behold his future Glory, and be made 
partakers of His Heavenly Joy. . . . "It may be observed that almost all the ex- 
pressions of Christ to the Father, in the presence of the Disciples, seem to have a 



(u) See above, on ver. 7. 
(x) St. John i. 18. 
(z) Rev. Thomas Scott. 
\b) Verses 9 to 19. 



(v) See above, ver. 22, and the note. 
(y) See St. Luke xxiv. 45. Acts i. 3. 
(a) Verses 6 to 8. 
(c) Verses 20 to 23. 



XVIII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 877 

reference to things spoken in His previous discourse with them. In both alike He 
speaks of His Departure, — and of His being One with the Father, — of His union of 
Will with the Father, — of their union with Him, — of the World not knowing God, 
— of their love to each other, and sanctification in Him, — of the Father abiding 
with them in their love to each other. As if, in this twofold expression of the same 
things, first to Man and then to the Father, were contained some mysterious mani- 
festation flowing from the ineffable union of Christ with God, and with Man : so 
that what He says to Man as their Saviour and their Judge, He says also unto God, 
as their Intercessor and High Priest. But when He speaks to Man, it is for the 
Glory of God : and when He speaks to God, it is for the edification of bl&n." (d) ^ 

We imagine the little company, in attendance on their Divine Lord, now with- 
drawing solemnly from the precincts of the Temple where we conceive the fifteenth, 
sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters to have been spoken. They move inthe direc- 
tion of what is now called St. Stephen's gate ; and are soon seen descending by the 
path which will conduct them, across Cedron, to the Garden at the foot of the Mount 
of Olives. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



1 Judas betrayeth Jesus. 6 The officers fall to the ground. 10 Peter smitetli off 
Malchus' ear. 12 Jesus is taken, and led unto Annas and Caiaphas. 15 Peter's 
denial. 19 Jesus examined before Caiaphas. 28 His arraignment before Pilate. 
36 His Kingdom. 40 The Jews ask Barabbas to be let loose. 

The preceding chapter ended with the great Intercession of the Saviour for His 
Church. Our High Priest is now bent on nothing so much as completing His great 
Sacrifice also. Accordingly, 

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His Dis- 
ciples over the brook Cedron, where was a Garden, into the which He 
entered, and His Disciples. 

He "went forth," or "out," of the Gate of Jerusalem. A slight declivity con- 
ducts to the brook Kidron, — which the Son of David now crosses, as His father 
David had done a thousand years before, in bitterness of spirit : flying from perse- 
cution and treachery. And it was in order to guide the reader to the typical bear- 
ing of that ancient history, that the Evangelist was divinely guided to introduce the 
mention of " Kidron" in this place. " All the country wept with a loud voice, and 
all the people passed over: the King also himself passed over the brook Kidron. . . . 
And David went up by the ascent of the Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up."(a) 
Christ also now "went, as He was wont, to the Mount of 01ives."(&) 

The word thus repeatedly translated "brook" means, in fact, a "winter-tor- 
rent;" and such, precisely, "Cedron" is described to be by modern travellers. 
" The channel of the Valley of Jehoshaphat," (writes Dr. Robinson,) "the ' brook 
Kidron' of the Scriptures, is nothing more than the dry bed of a wintry torrent, 
bearing marks of being occasionally swept over by a large volume of water. No 
stream flows here now except during the heavy rains of winter, when the waters 
descend into it from the neighboring hills. Yet, even in winter, there is no con- 
stant flow ; and our friends, who had resided several years in the city, had never 
seen a stream running through the valley. Nor is there any evidence that there 
was anciently more water in it than at present." From the manner in which St. 
John writes the word,, we discover that the Greek population of his day, overlooking 
the Hebrew original of Kidron, (which is derived from a root signifying to be 

{d) Williams. (a) 2 Sam. xv. 23, 30. (6) St. Luke xxii. 39. 



878 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

"dark" or "turbid," pronounced the name as if it were of Greek derivation, and 
meant " the brook of Cedars." (c) Such perversions of words are common in all 
languages ; remarkably, in our own. 

St. John is also the only Evangelist who mentions that Gethsemane, the scene of 
our Saviour's Passion, was a Garden; as well as that "in the place where He was 
crucified there was a Garden; and in the Garden a new sepulchre ;" and that "there 
laid they Jesus." (d) Was not this said in order to recall a yet earlier page in 
sacred History ? to remind us that as a Garden was the scene of Man's Fall in the 
person of Adam, so was a Garden also the scene of Man's recovery in the person of 
Christ ? " He chose that place for His Agony and satisfactory pains," (says Bp. 
Taylor,) "in which the first scene of Human misery was represented; and where 
He might best attend the offices of devotion preparatory to His Death." 

2 And Judas also, which betrayed Him, knew the place ; for Jesus 
ofttirnes resorted thither with His Disciples. 

Our Saviour was not seeking to escape from His enemies therefore, by withdraw- 
ing to the Garden of Gethsemane: but knowing that "the hour was come," He 
repaired to his accustomed haunt, in meek submission to the Will of His Eternal 
Father. 

That Judas "knew the place," the Evangelist mentions to prepare us for the 
history of the apprehension of the Holy One, which immediately follows ; but he 
reveals thereby the interesting circumstance that Gethsemane was a favourite haunt 
of our Saviour and His Disciples during the time of their sojourn, at Jerusalem. 
Perhaps ever since His arrival in the Capital, on this last occasion, though His 
nights were spent at Bethany, (e) the first hours of every evening may have been 
passed in soothing converse or in mysterious prayer amid the shades of this very 
garden. (/) How must it have aggravated the bitterness of what followed, that 
Judas should have availed himself of the knowledge which his Discipleship sup- 
plied to betray our Saviour into the hands of His Enemies ! " For it was not an 
enemy that reproached Me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated 
Me that did magnify himself against Me ; then I would have hid Myself from him : 
but it was thou, a man Mine equal, My guide, and Mine acquaintance. We took 

sweet counsel together, and walked in the house of God in compariy."(<7) 

Here, where his Divine Master had taught him how to pray, the Traitor comes to 
apprehend Him ; and it would seem from the narrative of the other three Evange- 
lists, as if he had even selected the moment of prayer itself as the fittest for the 
execution of his infernal purpose. 

It is worthy of remark how entirely St. John passes over that period of Agony, 
concerning which the other Evangelists have supplied us with such an affecting 
record. (h) He had nothing to add to the narratives of St. Matthew and St. Mark; 
above all, of St. Luke. From the account of our Lord's Intercession, he passes at 
once to the history of His Sacrifice. The wicked agent whose disappearance from 
the guest-chamber had been the signal(i) for the free and unrestrained discourse of 
the Son of Man, now re-appears. As it follows : 

3 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the 
chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches 
and weapons. 

Rather, — "having obtained the band, and [armed] servants, at the hands of the 
chief priests and Pharisees." Mention is here made of well-known officials : — First, 
the cohort of Roman soldiers, which on great festivals like the present the Procu- 
rator put at the disposal of the Sanhedrin, to protect the Temple, and to keep order 
in the City. Their Praefect is mentioned below, in ver. 12. Next, the armed ser- 
vants of the Sanhedrin, who guarded the Temple, and were under the command of a 
Jewish Captain.(A;) .... The word "Officers" is apt to convey a notion of rank, 

(c) So also in the ancient Greek version of 2 Sam. xv. 23. 

(d) St. John xix. 41, 42. (e) See the note on St. John xi. 1. 
(/) See St. Luke xxi. 37 : xxii. 39. (g) Ps. lv. 12 to 14. 

(h) St. Matth. xxvi. 36 to 46. St. Mark xiv. 32 to 42. St. Luke xxii. 39 to 46. 
(i) See St. John xiii. 31, and the note there. 
(k) Acts iv. 1 : v. 26, &c. 



xviii.] on st. John's gospel. 879 

which belonged to only a few of their number ;(Z) while " Servants,"(ra) is too vague 
a term. From the violence of their conduct, (ji) and the nature of the service on 
which they are found employed, (o) they would appear to have been a species of 
soldiery. 

With this band of Roman soldiers, therefore, (or some part of it,) and the armed 
officials which the chief priests and Pharisees supplied, Judas drew near. The 
present mention of " lanterns and torches" at a time when the moon was at full, 
while it marks the eagerness of the Traitor to effect his sinful purpose, suggests 
also the gloom of the Garden where our Saviour loved to pray ; an olive-grove, — 
if the venerable trees which stand on the site of Gethsemane, may be supposed to 
recall in any way the ancient aspect of the place. The " weapons" may have been 
a precaution against any attempt of the Disciples to rescue their Lord by an appeal 
to arms. That certain of their number carried swords, the Traitor will have cer- 
tainly known; though he had left the apartment, probably, before those "two 
swords" were produced, (p) — of which Simon Peter is found to have carried one. 

4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, 
went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? 

Rather, " all things that were coming upon Him. — The present Evangelist, who 
is careful on many occasions to declare that his Lord "knew all things, "(q) fails 
not to prefix the same statement to his History of the Passion ; that it may be 
clearly borne in mind that whatever happened was duly foreseen in the Divine 
counsels. His Gospel was written, (as he declared,) that men might " believe that 
Jesus is the Christ the Son of GoD."(r) . . . Our Saviour "went forth," (or "out,") 
of the Garden where He had been passing the last hour or two, and accosted the 
rabble and soldiery who had now assembled at the gate, with the question, " AVhom 
seek ye ?" 

5 They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, 
I am He. And Judas also, which betrayed Him, stood with them. 

It has been already elsewhere remarked, (s) that by the very idiom of the lan- 
guage, our Saviour proclaimed Himself on this, and many other occasions, by the 

selfsame Name, (I AM,) whereby He made Himself known to Moses The 

statement concerning Judas, (introduced by St. John, so much in the manner of 
one who was an eye-witness of the scene he describes !) suggests that the Traitor, 
inasmuch as he walked in advance of the rest,(Z) shared the overthrow of his com- 
panions, described in the next verse : according to that of the Psalmist, " Let them 
be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul : let them be turned back 
and brought to confusion that devise my hurt."(w) 

6 As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He, they went back- 
ward, and fell to the ground. 

An incident which recalls those prophetic words of the Psalmist, — "When the 
wicked, even Mine enemies and My foes, came upon Me to eat up My flesh, they 
stumbled and fell." (a;) And thus was exhibited in emblem the fate of the wicked 
in the presence of the Most High : "By the blast of God they perish, and by the 
breath of His nostrils are they consumed." (y) Would it not seem as if Judas had 
anticipated some such possible contingency, (remembering perhaps what had taken 
place before, on similar occasions,)^) when he charged the soldiers to notice whom 
he should kiss, and "hold Him fast ?'\a) 

By thus causing His Divinity to break forth upon His enemies(6) to their utter 

(Z) St. Luke xxii. 4. (mi) St. Matth. xxvi. 58. 

(*) St. Mark xiv. 65. St. John xyiii. 22. 

(o) St. John vii. 32, 45 : xviii. 3, 12 : xix. 6. Acts v. 22, 26. 

\p) St. Luke xxii. 38. 

(q) Consider the following places : chap. ii. 24, 25 : vi. 64, 65 : xiii. 11 : xvi. 30 : xxi. 17. 

(r) St. John xx. 31. (s) See the note on chap. vi. 20. 

(t) St. Luke xxii. 47. (m) Ps. xxxv. 4. 

(x) Ps. xxvii. 2. \y) Job iv. 9. 

(a) Consider St. Luke iv. 30. St. John vii. 30, 44: viii. 59 : x. 39. 

(a) St. Matth. xxvii. 48. (b) Compare Exod. xix. 22, 24. 



880 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

discomfiture, in the very moment when they were about to apprehend Him, our 
Lord showed in the clearest manner that it was by His own express permission that 
these wicked men afterwards prevailed : else could they have had no power against 
Him at all. He lifts up for an instant the mantle which screened His Divinity 
from the eyes of men ; and lo, they are unable even to stand in His presence ! . . . . 
Let us not fail to observe that an opportunity was thus afforded them for reflection, 
as well as an argument for repentance; for here was a plain " sign" that He with 
whom they had to do was not mere Man. And take notice, that besides this miracle 
of Power, a miracle of Mercy follows in verses 10 and 11. 

7 Then asked He them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, 
Jesus of Nazareth. 

It is obvious to imagine this inquiry repeated in the same firm voice, and with 
the same calm Majesty, as before; but the reply of the soldiers, faltered forth in a 
very different manner from at first. This time, however, no such miraculous ex- 
ercise of Divine power ensues as on the former occasion. 

8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He : if therefore ye 
seek Me, let these go their way ; 

Meaning the Eleven Apostles, who will have followed our Lord to the entrance 
of the Garden, and now stood by His side. The first part of this reply must have 
at once confounded and perplexed the men to whom it was addressed, — reminding 
them that they had been before withheld,{c) from laying hands on the Divine Speaker. 
Taking them at their word, however, in the concluding sentence, our Saviour 
merely claims for His followers license to depart, since it was Himself whom the 
soldiers said they sought. And this was because He must needs tread the wine- 
press alone, and of the people there must be none with Him:(e2) lest it should even 
enter into the dreams of any that the price of Man's Salvation was paid by some 
other Sacrifice besides that of Christ only. Whereas Caiaphas, without intending 
it, had divinely declared that it was " expedient for us that one Man should die 
for the people." (e) 

In one respect, our Lord's saying on this occasion recalls that of His great type, 
and ancestor after the flesh, King David. (f) Truly has it been pointed out, [g) 
however, that by these powerful words, — (which conveyed a command rather than 
expressed a petition,) — He divinely diverted from His Disciples the wrath of the 
man whom He addressed. So large was His love, in the hour of danger and of 
Death, that to screen them from fiery trial was all His care. 

9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which He spake, Of them which 
Thou gavest Me have I lost none. 

This is a somewhat surprising statement : for our Saviour, when He uttered the 
words referred to,(h) was speaking of eternal, not temporal Death; and certainly 
He cannot be thought to have been alluding to the mere apprehension of His Apos- 
tles. What, however, if the faith of those men was as yet so imperfect and insecure, 
that their apprehension now would have infallibly resulted in their ultimate fall ? 
Simon Peter, no prisoner, but a voluntary intruder into the scene of danger, thrice 
denied that he so much as knew Christ. What might have been the conduct, what 
would have been the fate, of the others, if they had now been separated from their 
Lord, and dragged away to a terrible death ? 

" YVhen they which were about Him saw what would follow, they said unto Him, 
Lord, shall we smite with the sword ? And one of them,"(i) — or, as St. John more 
particularly says, — 

10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the High 
Priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. 

Simon, when he drew his sword, (probably, with the intention of cleaving 

(c) Consider St. John vii. 30, 44. (d) Is. Ixiii. 3. 

(e) St. John xi. 50. (/) 1 Chron. xxi. 17. 

(g) By Chrysostom. (h) St. John xvii. 12. 
\i) St. Luke xxii. 49, 50. 



XVIII.J ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 881 

Malehus through the scull,) will have thought that the moment had arrived for 
which his Divine Master's discourse at the Paschal Supper had prepared him. (7b) — 
We need not discuss the morality of his act. If he struck the blow in alarm, under 
the impulse of sudden anger, zealous for the safety of his Lord, — (whose leave to 
shed blood he was careful to ask,(Z) although he did not wait to obtain His permis- 
sion,) — the deed was at least excusable. We are neither invited to dwell upon its 
sinfulness, nor to exalt its heroism.(m) 

The servant's name was Malehus. 

Thus, the latest Evangelist, not only tells us who struck this famous blow, but 
supplies us with a name which all his predecessors had omitted. St. John, as being 
" known to the High-priest," was very naturally acquainted with the High-priest's 
household. Hence, he knew the maid who kept the door,(n) — the name of the 
servant who encountered Simon's sword, — nay, he knew that it was a kinsman of 
this man who charged Simon, as he stood by the fire, with having been with Christ 
in the Garden. (o) .... Let us only beware, when we make such remarks, of the 
spirit in which we make them. However clever they may sound, however interesting 
they may prove, they are the shallowest remarks of all, and belong to the lowest 
style of criticism. Far worse than worthless are they, if their tendency be to 
obscure our apprehension of the Divinity of these precious Narratives, — where 
every word was weighed in a heavenly balance ; and Almighty Wisdom held the 
scale ; and nothing was set down without a lofty purpose. There were eternal 
reasons, not only why it should be recorded that " the servant's name was Malehus ;" 
but also why St. John, and no one but he, was selected to record that fact. It may 
be a true, but it is only a very partial account of the matter, to say that St. John 
knew the High-priest, and therefore knew Malehus, and therefore preserved his 
name. This is to reason about the Gospel as if it were a common book of History. 
Nay, when Piety has suggested (1st) that St. John hereby challenges inquiry into 
the exactness of his narrative ; (2nd) that the family of Malehus, — and indeed, the 
High-priest's entire household, — were hereby made witnesses of one of our Lord's 
miracles ; (3rd) that when St. John's Gospel was written, St. Peter, and Malehus 
himself, being probably dead, no mischief could any longer result from a mention 
of the Apostle's name in conjunction with that of the High-priest's servant; and 
hence that St. John mentions what the other Evangelists omit : — when Piety has 
suggested all this, and more, we are probably as far as ever from knowing all the 
reasons why it was set down that " the servant's name was Malehus." .... May 
we humbly suggest, as a better reason than any we have ever met with, why such 
things are so recorded, that it was in order to be a trial of Faith f to expose the 
men of this generation to the self-same trial as those who beheld the Word made 
flesh ; and who were therefore tempted to think Him mere Man ?(jp) 

11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath : 

" for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword :" 

the cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it ? 

" Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently 
give Me more than twelve legions of Angels ? But how then shall the Scriptures 
be fulfilled, that thus it must be?"(g) .... Such were the Divine sayings of the 
Saviour of the World on this memorable occasion, as collected from an earlier 
Gospel. In St. John's narrative we meet with a second allusion to that "Cup,' 7 
the bitterness of which has been already shown us in the way of foretaste in the 
Garden, (r) 

But we must turn to the Gospel of " Luke, the beloved physician/'(s) for the 
affecting Miracle of healing which now took place. The reader is referred to the 
place at foot for some remarks on this subject. (t) 

(k) See St. Luke xxii. 36, 37. (I) St. Luke xxii. 49. 

(m) With the Papists, — who seem to consider themselves at liberty to identify St. Peter with 
the Church of Rome, on all occasions. 

(n) See above, ver. 16. (o) See above, ver. 26. 

(p) See the second note on St. John xii. 48. 

(q) St. Matth. xxvi. 52 to 54. (r) See St. Matth. xxvd, 39, &c. 

(s) Col. iv. 14. 

(t) St. Luke xxii. 51. See also St. Matthew xxvi. 51 to 53. 

56 



882 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

12 Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took 
Jesus, and bound Him, 

For some remarks on the several personages here named, see above, on ver. 3. 
Concerning the phrase " the Jews" (instead of " the Chief Priests and Pharisees," 
as in ver. 3,) see the note on St. John v. 15. — These various officials " took Jesus 
and bound Him," in conformity with the Traitor's instructions not only to " hold 
Him fast/' (it) but also to " lead Him away safely. "(x) See above, on ver. 6. 

It is hard to conceive after two such recent " signs/' — so unequivocal a proof of 
Divine power, [y) superadded to this last extraordinary miracle of Mercy, — how 
these miscreants can have dared to prosecute their wicked purpose. Certain it is 
that those terrors which our Saviour had suddenly put forth, and with which He 
had for a moment smitten them to the ground, must have been by Him withdrawn, 
to facilitate their purpose ; or they never could have proceeded to the actual appre- 
hension of the Holy Jesus. 

Augustine remarks in his peculiar way, — " Unless our Lord had suffered Himself 
to be apprehended by them, they certainly could never have done that which they 
came to do : but then, on the other hand, neither could He Himself have done that 
for which He came. For they, in their rage, sought His destruction ; while He, 
by His Death, sought our Life." 

13 and led Him away to Annas first ; for he was father-in-law to 
Caiaphas, which was the High Priest that same year. 

Thus the Evangelist assigns the reason why our Lord was first conveyed to the 
house of Annas. It has been thought that this house was perhaps near at hand, 
and that the multitude may have been at a loss to know how to proceed. But it 
seems to be implied that Caiaphas would wish for the sanction, advice, and assist- 
ance of his father-in-law, in what was to follow. And indeed, on a careful review 
of the whole transaction, does it not seem something more than possible that it was 
in consequence of this man's counsel that the Jews persisted in requiring Pilate 
to execute their sentence ? May not the old man's advice to Caiaphas have been 
that he must by all means transfer the odium of the death of their Great Prisoner 
to the Roman power? 

St. John repeats no less than three times that Caiaphas was " the High Priest 
that same year." (z) 

14 Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it 
was expedient that one man should die for the people. 

Alluding to the remarkable incident recorded in chap. xi. 49 to 52, — where the 
reader is invited to read the notes. St. John's manner df identifying persons by 
some single circumstance in their history, has already been the subject of comment 
in the note on chap. iv. 46 : but the prophecy of Caiaphas is here referred to for 
the additional purpose of reminding the reader of the Divine purpose of the sacri- 
fice of the Death of Christ. 

15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another Disciple : 

Rather, " and so did the other disciple," — by which phrase the present writer 
designates himself. The expression is found to recur in chap. xx. 2, 3, 4 and 8 ; 
where St. John is spoken of, (as here,) in connection with Simon. So intimate a 
friendship is known to have subsisted between these two Apostles, (a) that it is not 
hard to understand how, in the primitive Church after mention had been made of 
St. Peter, it was obvious to infer, that by the phrase " the other Disciple," no person 
could be intended but St. John. And this has been remarked by others. May it 
not be further suggested, however, and with even better reason, that besides the 
tie of personal friendship which distinguished these two Saints from every other 
pair of Apostles, they two had clearly enjoyed marks of personal favour at the 
hands of their Divine Lord, (b) to which the rest of the Twelve were utter strang- 

(«) St. Matth. xxvi. 48. (x) St. Mark xiv. 44. (y) See above, on ver. 6. 

(z) See St. John xi. 49 and 51, and the notes on 50. Compare St. Luke iii. 2. 
(a) St. John xx. 2 to 4 : xxi. 7, also 20 and 21. Acts. iii. 1 : iv. 13. 
(6) On this subject, see the notes on St. Mark iii. 16 and 17. 



XVIII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 883 

ers ? To say nothing of the occasions when their names are found associated, — 
think of the great promise to St. Peter recorded in St. Matt. xvi. 18, 19 ! of his 
walking on the water to Christ ! of his paying tribute with his Lord ! Think, on 
the other hand, of the place which St. John occupied near his Master's person ! 
above all, of the place, which he held in his Master's heart. — (the heart of Christ !) : 
and of the affecting pledge of Love which he received from the lips of his dying 
Lord ! Such favours are found to have produced debate and rivalry among the 
Apostles, at the time;(c) and St. Peter must have been deeply conscious that "the 
Disciple whom Jesus loved" was even the more important person of the twain. 
His question concerning St. John in chap. xxi. 21, is very remarkable. By tacit 
consent therefore, among the Apostolic body, St. Peter and St. John seem to have 
enjoyed a kind of precedence of rank over their fellows : — so that of two Apostles 
mentioned, when Simon Peter was one, St. John was understood to be designated 
by the mention of " the other." 

that Disciple was known unto the High Priest, and went in with 
Jesus into the palace of the High Priest. 

Rather, "into the Hall :" from which it appears, that in what follows, we are pre- 
sented with the narrative of an eye-witness of all that occurred. Take notice also 
that St. John thus accounts for his own admission to the scene of danger, as well as 
for St. Peter's exclusion from it. He lays no claim to superior personal boldness, 
(though he evidently possessed that quality in a very eminent degree ;){d) nor 
insinuates any lack of it in his friend. 

16 But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other 
Disciple, which was known unto the High Priest, and spake unto her 
that kept the door, and brought in Peter. 

It was usual to commit the care of the door, or porch, to a female servant. See 
Acts xii. 13. 

17 Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not 
thou also one of this Man's Disciples ? He saith, I am not. 

When St. John missed Simon Peter, it was natural that he should suspect what 
had been the cause of his exclusion. He therefore speaks to the female servant 
who kept the door and brings in his friend. The damsel scrutinizes the person so 
admitted, somewhat closely ; and recognizes a follower of Jesus of Galilee. 

To reconcile this denial of St. Peter with the others recorded by the earlier 
Evangelists, is the province of a Harmony of the Gospels. It may suffice to refer 
the reader, concerning the entire transaction, to the notes on St. Mark xiv. G6 to 72 : 
also on St. Matthew xxvi. 73, 74. 

18 And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of 
coals ; for it was cold : and they warmed themselves : and Peter stood 
with them, and warmed himself. 

These were the private " servants" of the High Priest, and the public "officers" 
who were employed in the service of the Temple ; as explained in the note on 
verse 3. — Travellers admit that the nights in Palestine at the Paschal season are 
often intensely cold. Frost and snow are not unknown ; and these men had been 
exposed, besides, to the heavy dews. They therefore heaped together a fire of 
charcoal ashes, and assembled round it . . . Connect this, with St. Luke xxii. 44, — 
where see the note. 

Peter first stood, then sat,(e) then went out into the porch, (/) — changing his 
posture through uneasiness at the near prospect of detection. 

19 The High Priest then asked Jesus of His Disciples, and of His 
Doctrine. 



(c) St. Mark ix. 34 : St. Luke ix. 46 : xxii. 24. 

fd) This appears also from St. John xix. 26. 

(e) St, Luke xxii. 55, 56. (/) St. Matth. xxvi. 71. 



884 A PLAIN COMMENTAEY [CHAP. 

What may have been the purport of those questions? Was it perhaps implied by 
the Speaker that the Calling of Disciples indicated a design to become the Leader 
of a party ; and that our Lord's Doctrine was of a seditious tendency ? What is 
certain, the High Priest affected to inquire what His Doctrine actually was. 

20, 21 Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the World , I ever 
taught in the Synagogue, and in the Temple, whither the Jews always 
resort ; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou Me ? ask 
them which heard Me, what I have said unto them : behold, they know 
what I have said. 

Kather, — " Behold, these persons :" pointing probably to some of the bystanders 
as He spoke. ... A more sinister course than that pursued by Caiaphas, — a more 
triumphant reply than that of our Lord, — cannot be imagined. The former, instead 
of bringing a charge against his Prisoner, (if he had any to bring,) proceeds to ask 
questions about the Disciples and the Doctrine of the Holy Jesus. For all reply, 
our Saviour refers him to the persons present^ adherents of his own. They had 
many a time been in the Temple during our Saviour's Discourses to the people. Let 
them satisfy the curiosity of the High Priest ; and bear witness against Himself, if 
they are able. 

22 And when He had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood 
by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest Thou 
the High Priest so ? 

Consider the terrible indignity which was thus offered to the Creator of the 
World, — the brightness of the Father's Glory, and the express image of His Per- 
son 1(g) Consider next the monstrous wickedness of the menial who could strike 
such a blow at such a time ; and of the High Priest who, sitting on the judgment- 
seat, could suffer it to be inflicted. Above all, consider the meek bearing of Him, 
who "was brought as a lamb to the slaughter." "As a sheep before her shearers 
is dumb, so He opened not His mouth." (A) . . . A prelude to this act of cruelty and 
injustice is found in the history of the Kings :(i) but still more striking is the 
parallel afforded by the treatment of St. Paul by the High Priest Ananias. (A;) 

23 Jesus answered Him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the 
evil : but if well, why smitest thou Me ? 

The allusion is clearly to that command in Exod.xxii.28, — "Thou shalt not revile 
the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people." If I have done this thing, saith our 
Lord, charge Me openly with My offence ! 

24 Now Annas had sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the High 

Priest. 

This is said in order to recall the subject which has been suspended since ver. 13. 
Similar instances of the Divine method are discoverable in other parts of Scrip- 
ture.^) In like manner the words which follow next are intended to recall what 
was stated in ver. 18. 

25 And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. 

They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of His Disci- 
ples ? He denied it, and said, I am not. 

26 One of the servants of the High Priest, being his kinsman 
whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with 
Him? 

The charge which this person, Malchus' kinsman, brought against Simon Peter, 
is recorded by no other Evangelist except St. John. See above, the note on the last 
words of ver. 10 Thus, for the third time questioned, the Apostle's 

(g) Heb. i. 3. (A) Is. liii. 7. 

(i) 1 Kings xxii. 24. \k) Acts xxiii. 2 to 4. 

(I) e. g. Exod. vi. 29, 30, recalls ver. 10, II, 12 of the same chapter. 



XVIII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 885 

perplexity became extreme. St. Matthew and St. Mark say, "Then began he to 
curse and to swear." St. John says simply, — 

27 Peter then denied again : and immediately the cock crew. 

Whereby the Divine prophecy was fulfilled, — as all the four Evangelists conspire 
in recording. "And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remem- 
bered the word of the Lord, how He had said unto him, Before the cock crow, 
thou shalt deny Me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly." This bitter 
repentance of Simon Peter is not noticed by the Disciple whom Jesus loved. See, 
concerning it, the note on St. Matthew xxvi. 75. 

A fresh scene of indignity and suffering, — a new phase in our Saviour's Passion, 
— is now presented to us. We behold Him next dragged before Pontius Pilate the 
governor; whose Judgment-hall, (Prcetorium as it is called in the original,) is the 
scene of all that follows. 

28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the Hall of judgment : 
and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment- 
hall, lest they should be defiled ; but that they might eat the Passover. 

That is, — " but [remained without,] in order that they might eat the Passover :" 
which occasions a well-known difficulty; for the Passover supper, as we have seen, 
had been already eaten. It is obvious to suggest, either that some portion of the 
repast which might be called by the same name of "the Passover/' yet remained 
to be partaken of; (which is known to have been the case :) or else that these mis- 
creants, who proved so unscrupulous in their violation of the most sacred princi- 
ples of justice, resolved still to sit down to their Paschal Supper, although the 
season appointed for that purpose by the Divine Law had fully elapsed. Unfore- 
seen events had compelled them, in fact, to postpone their evening meal until the 
morning. 

The chief priests then, and others, who brought our Saviour to the Prsetorium, 
remained in the street till Pilate came out to speak to them. Their Prisoner, how- 
ever, they sent within. This appears from the subsequent narrative Take 

notice also, in passing, that the terrible repentance of Judas is related by St. Mat- 
thew in this place, (m) 

29 Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring 
ye againt this man ? 

"'Pilate therefore went out unto them,' — because their fear of contracting 
uncleanness prevented them from going into the judgment-hall." (n) 

30 They answered and said unto him, If He were not a malefactor, 
we would not have delivered Him up unto thee. 

Implying that they had satisfied themselves of our Saviour's guilt, and that 
nothing but a formal sentence was wanting. 

31 Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye Him, and judge Him accord- 
ing to your law. 

Rather, "and condemn Him,"— "adjudge Him to punishment." — Pilate's first 
words fully set before us the character of the man, — the very model of a weak 
temporizing politician. Evidently impressed by the mysterious majesty of his 
Prisoner, and heartily desiring His acquittal, he is found to be yet more anxious 
for his own personal safety. If Christ must needs die, let it at least be by the 
hands of others ; not by his own. He has not the courage to order His instant 
release, — which was the requirement of justice, and the plain dictate of con- 
science. 

The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any 
man to death : 

It has been thought that they thereby meant that during " the days of unlea- 
(«i) St. Matth. xxvii. 3 to 10. (n) Lonsdale and Hale. 



886 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY 



[CHAP. 



vened bread," and especially on the Feast-day itself, it was unlawful for them to 
order the execution of a criminal. But it is far more likely that this speech of 
theirs is to be taken in its plain signification, and that the power of life and death 
was no longer in any Court of the Jews, but in the Roman Governor alone as 
supreme. 

" Pilate had told the Jews to take Jesus and judge Him according to their Law. 
The force of their answer is, It will be to no purpose that we should judge Him 
according to our Law ; for His is an offence deserving of Death :{o) and, in such a 
case, we have no longer the power of carrying our sentence into execution against 
any man. . . . This answer agrees entirely with what we read elsewhere ;{p) for 
we find the Jewish High Priest and Council bearing evidence against Jesus, and 
condemning Him to Death, but obliged to have recourse to the authority of the 
Roman Governor, in order that the condemnation might be carried into effect. ; '(g) 
These wicked men were evidently bent on proceeding with all the forms of Law; 
else would they at once have had recourse to stoning, — as on so many other occa- 
sions, (r) lb may very well be that the fear of a disturbance among the people was 
what mainly deterred them from pursuing that violent and irregular course. Their 
object had been, (as we know,) to effect our Lord's apprehension "not on the feast- 
day ;"(s) inasmuch however as their intentions had been frustrated, it remained to 
procure that the cruel punishment of Crucifixion should terminate the sufferings of 
their great prisoner, — what to do with whom was probably a source of no small 
perplexity to them, now that He was actually in their power. And thus it came 
to pass that the prophecy which our Lord had so often delivered concerning the 
manner of His own death, unexpectedly found fulfillment. This is what the Evan- 
gelist means, when he adds, — 

32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He spake ? 
signifying what death He should die. 

The allusion is evidently to those many occasions on which our Lord, more or 
less openly, had predicted His Crucifixion. (t) Especially might the Evangelist be 
thought to allude to the minute and extraordinary prophecy in St. Matthew xx. 
18, 19 ; but that the recurrence of the very phrase which St. John here uses, in an 
earlier chapter of the present Gospel, (u) seems to prove that the allusion is to a 
different and more recent occasion. 

" If the Jews had sought from Pilate permission to put Jesus to Death accord- 
ing to their own Law, they would probably have obtained it ; in which case, He 
would have died by stoning as a blasphemer ;(v) but then His prophec}^ that He 
should die by Crucifixion, which was a Eoman not a Jewish punishment, would 
not have been fulfil led."(x) See above, what was offered on ver 13. 

Take notice however, that it was at this juncture, the multitude brought a spe- 
cific charge against the Holy One. "They began to accuse Him, saying, We found 
this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying 
that He Himself is Christ a King."(?/) Unless this is attended to, Pilate's ques- 
tion, which immediately follows, is scarcely intelligible. 

33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment-hall again, and called 
Jesus, and said unto Him, Art Thou the King of the Jews ? 

A momentous question, doubtless ; for it is recorded by all the four Evangelists, 
and in the self-same words. (z) Take notice that the Roman Governor does not ask 
our Lord Whether it be true that He has said this thing concerning Himself? but 
simply requires Him to declare Whether He be " the King of the Jews/' or not? 
And this was divinely ordained ; for thus it came to pass that our Lord's true title 
was eventually affixed to His Cross, — to the infinite annoyance of His enemies, who 
wished His accusation to be set forth in different language. See St. John xix. 19 
to 22. 

(o) St. John xix. 7. St. Matth. xxvi. 66. 

(p) St. Matth. xxvi. 59 to 66 : xxvii. 1, 2. 

q) Lonsdale and Hale, quoting St. Matth. xx. 18, 19 : xxvii. 3. 
r) St. John viii. 59 : x. 31 : (xi. 8 :) also Acts vii. 57 to 59. 

(s) St. Matth. xxvi. 5. (t) St. John iii. 14 : viii. 28. 

(u) St. John xii. 32, 33. {v) Levit. xxiv. 16. 

(x) Lonsdale and Hale. {y) St. Luke xxiii. 2. 

(») St. Matth. xxvii. 11. St. Mark xv. 2. St. Luke xxiii. 3. 



xviii.] on st. John's gospel. 887 

Pontius Pilate having entered the Praetorium, (from which he had issued on 
learning that the multitude were at his gate, (a) ordered our Saviour to be sum- 
moned into his presence. Our Saviour and the Roman Governor now stood face to 
face :(b) when the latter, with a miserable apprehension (which all that followed 
must have conspired to heighten,) that he had to do with more than mortal Man, 
asked our Saviour the question recorded in the text. The answer which the three 
earlier Evangelists record, is found not to have been immediate: for it follows, 

34 Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did 
others tell it thee of Me ? 

Tell thee, (that is,) that I had declared Myself to be "the King of the Jews." 
For, as we have elsewhere shown, the charge of claiming to be a King was brought 
against our Saviour while he was within the Judgment-hall, by His enemies, who 
were then assembled without. Full well indeed did the Holy One " perceive in 
Spirit"(c) all that had taken place on this occasion ; but He asks a question of 
Pilate, — as He asked a question of Adam, (d) and of Cain ;(e) of Abraham, (f) and 
of Moses, (g) — the object of which seems to have been to arouse Pilate to a speedy 
sense of the shameful injustice of the charge. It is, perhaps, as if He had said, — 
Thou hast been the Governor of this Country for five years. Did any rumour ever 
reach thee that I have been guilty of the class of crimes which Mine enemies lay to 
My charge ? Sayest thou this therefore of thyself? or is the question altogether 
prompted by the accusation of the multitude at thy gate ? 

Now, it is not to be supposed that Pilate can have been unaware of the general 
belief which prevailed at this time throughout the World that a King was about to 
appear. He will have inevitably discovered, during his residence in Judasa, that 
such an expectation was very prevalent among the Jewish nation ; and that this 
hope was in some mysterious manner connected with their religious profession, he 
will have also certainly known. Hence his rejoinder, which follows. 

85 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew ? 

This seems to mean, What shouid I, a Roman, know of such superstitions? "Am 
I a Jew, — that I should of myself know what Thy pretensions among Thy country- 
men are?"(A) 

Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered Thee unto me : 
what hast Thou done ? 

For all reply, our Saviour proceeds to answer Pilate's question in ver. 33. 

36 Jesus answered, My Kingdom is not of this World : if My King- 
dom were of this World, then should My servants fight, that I should 
not be delivered to the Jews : but now is My Kingdom not from hence. 

Rather, "ivould have fought, that I should not have been delivered." .... Our 
Saviour does not say that He has no earthly Kingdom ; but that His Kingdom is 
not of earthly origin. "As for repugnancy between ecclesiastical and civil power, 
or any inconvenience that these two powers should be united, it doth not appear 
that this was the cause of His resistance either to reign, or to judge. "(?') 

It is related that in the time of, Domitian, certain descendants of St. Jude, our 
Lord's cousin, were brought before the Emperor, on a charge of being of the royal 
line of David. " The Emperor questioned them concerning Christ, and the nature 
of His Kingdom ; where and when it was to appear. The peasants, (for they were 
no more,) made answer that it was not of this World, neither was it earthly in its 
nature, but heavenly and angelic, — and that it would not be revealed until the Last 
Day.'^j) The entire anecdote is related by one who lived in the middle of the 
second century, and is full of affecting interest. 

The English reader should be told that there is a marked emphasis, both in 
Pilate's reply, and our Blessed Lord's rejoinder, which it is difficult to convey 

(a) See above, ver. 29. (b) St. Matth. xxvii. 11. 

(c) Compare St. Mark ii. 8. (d) Gen. iii. 9. 

(e) Gen. iv. 9. (/) Gen. xviii. 9. 

(g) Exod. iv. 2. (h) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(i) Hooker, — referring to St. John viii. 11, and St. Luke xii. 14. (j ) Hegesippus. 



A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

exactly in English, — except perhaps by the use of italics. " Thy nation, and the 
High Priest," says Piiate. " My Kingdom is not of this World," (says the Divine 
Speaker.) "If of this World were My Kingdom, then would My servants have 
fought," &c, — the word for " servants" being the same which is translated "officers" 
in verses 3 and 12. 

37 Pilate therefore said unto Him, Art Thou a King then ? 

The exact rendering of the words would perhaps rather be, — " Thou art a King, 
then; art Thou not?" . . . Inasmuch as our Saviour had thrice made mention of 
His " Kingdom," it followed that, in some sense, He claimed to be a King. Pilate 
seems to have had a very correct notion of our Lord's meaning, — namely, that He 
spoke with reference to things spiritual. Otherwise, it is incredible that he would 
have hesitated to put his Prisoner to death. The Roman cannot but have had a 
general knowledge of the singular religion of the people over whose affairs he had 
come to preside ; and the present accusation being urged by the chief priests, he 
may have easily had a suspicion that it partook of a religious character. What is 
certain, Pilate persisted in bestowing this obnoxious title upon our Lord to the 
very last. He is recorded to have used it no less than five times. (A;) In reply to 
the present question, 

Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a King. 

Witnessing by those words, (which amount, in Hebrew, to an affirmation,) that 
" good confession before Pontius Pilate," to which the great Apostle directs the 
attention of his son Timothy ;(l) and through him, of the Church for ever. The par- 
ticulars of this dialogue, St. John will be found to give far more in detail than the 
other three Evangelists. He also presents us with the remainder of our Lord's 
reply : as it follows, — 

To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the World, 
that 1 should bear witness unto the Truth. 

Pilate will not, or rather cannot have known the full sublimity of this declara- 
tion. The pre-existence of Christ in His Divine Nature ; the mystery of His Holy 
Incarnation ; the gracious purpose of His Coming into the World, — of all this he 
can scarcely have had so much as a remote conception. Yet had he seen and heard 
enough to be fully convinced of our Lord's Innocence ;(m) to be aware that the 
chief priests had delivered Him for envy ;(n) and heartily to desire His release. (o) 

So emphatic a mention of "Truth," in connection with the very purpose of our 
Saviour's Advent in the flesh, suggests a few remarks in addition to what has been 
already offered on this subject in the note on St. John xiv. 17. It is not enough 
then, to speak of "Truth," as (1st) "the body of the Gospel Doctrines conveyed in 
our Blessed Lord's Lessons, and the Apostle's inspired teaching :"(p) nor yet (2nd) 
as " a principle of good, a holy influence, affecting the personal character, produc- 
ing certain fruits and blessed with certain privileges attached to it:"(q) nor even 
(3rd) as that which really exists, in contradistinction to that which is false and 
unreal, — all true Being, as contrasted with all Falsehood, Vanity, and Sin.(r) "The 
full idea of the Apostle is not reached ; for (4th) his conception of Truth mounts 
still higher, and identifies it with God Himself. He is the only reality, the only 
absolute Truth. He is the source and limit of all that is ; and in Him, all that is 
good and all that exists are united. Whatever was the thought in Pilate's mind, 
when he inquired, "What is Truth?" the only adequate answer which Scripture 
gives, in its absolute sense, is that which Jesus addressed to His Disciples, " I am 
the Truth and the Life."(s) He thus claimed Deity to Himself; and St. John no 
less assigned it to the Holy Spirit, when he declared that "the Spirit is Truth."(£) 

(/.) St. John xv. ii. 39. St. Mark xv. 12. St. John xix. 14, 15, 19. 
(I) 1 Tim. vi. 13. 

(m) See ver. 38 : also St. Luke xxiii. 4 and 22. 
(h) St. Mark xv. 10. (o) St. Luke xxiii. 20. 

(p) As in Gal. iii. 1. 2 Tim. iii. 7. Rom. i. 18. 

(q) As in St. John viii. 32, 44 : xvii. 17. 2 St. John ver. 2, 4. So in the Old Testament, 2 
Kings xx. 3. 2 Sam. xv. 20. 

(r) As Rom. i. 25. Nahum iii. 1. St. John i. 17. 

(s) St. John xiv. 6. (t) 1 St. John v. 6. 



XVIII.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 

All the other ideas of the Truth are summed up, and find their home and source, in 
this first principle ; for, from this one fount, all Existence, all that really is, pro- 
ceeded in the beginning, and has its continuance. From Him flows that holy influ- 
ence of Truth as it dwells in Man, working in him manifold graces ; and it is know- 
ledge of Him, veiled in His works, unveiled by His Word, and applied by the 
Spirit, which constitutes that true Doctrine, whether of Science or of Grace, which 
informs Man's understanding, and enlightens his reason." (u) 

" To this end was I born," (saith our Lord,) " and for this cause came I into the 
World, that I should bear witness unto the Truth." In connection with this 
remarkable saying, the thoughtful reader of the Bible will perhaps be glad to be 
reminded of the many proofs which the Old Testament Scriptures afford that under 
the Law the perfect obligation of Truth is not found declared and enforced as under 
the Gospel. The strict duty of Truthfulness was not acknowledged when Isaac 
bade his wife Rebekah,(x) (as Abram had before bade his wife Sarai),(?/) say she 
was his sister: when Rebekah taught Jacob to deceive his father,(z) and personate 
Esau: (a) when Jacob told his brother that he was on his way to Seir, when in 
reality he intended nothing less than going into the country of Edom:(6) when 
Simeon and Levi spake falsely to the men of Shechem ;(c) and Rachel covered her 
theft by an untruth ;{d) and Jael, in order to slay Sisera, was at once treacherous 
and cruel ;(e) and David gave Achish a false account of his expedition against the 
Amalekites.(y) All these passages in the history of persons who lived under the 
Law, we find it hard to reconcile with our notions of Truth derived from the Gospel. 
Will it not help us, to consider that "the Law was given by Moses, but Grace and 
Truth came by Jesus Christ."^) 

Every one that is of the Truth heareth My voice. 

" Now, being of the Truth" implies belonging to it; being mastered by it; taken 
up into it. It implies the being possessed by a principle which moulds that wherein 
it dwells to itself, as the weaker is held by the stronger ; even a possession of the 
soul by the very Essence of Being and of Life, manifested in the person of the Son, 
and administered by the Holy Ghost. We cannot attach a lesser meaning than 
this to our Lord's words, in their first sense. But, in a subordinate sense, the "be- 
ing of the Truth" will imply the being under an influence and temper of heart and 
of mind ; a virtue peculiarly practical ; an honesty and sincerity affecting the whole 
character, and shown in the conduct of daily life. Holy Scripture frequently pre- 
sents the idea of Truth in this practical aspect : as when it speaks of " walking in 
the Truth;" of those -who " do not the Truth ;" and when it classes amongst those 
who are shut out from the River and the Tree of Life, "whatsoever loveth or maketh 
a lie." 

" It is this truth of character which may be understood in our Saviour's saying 
in the verse before us : that virtue which in words is Veracity ; in heart is Sincerity; 
in conduct is Honesty. And though it be classed among the moral rather than the 
spiritual qualities of heart, yet it is not therefore to be cut off from the great first 
source of Truth, as though it were not an emanation from God Himself. On the 
contrary ; like the life, or reason, or conscience, it forms one of those lesser, yet 
good and perfect gifts, with which He has endowed His rational creatures, and 
which the Fall has marred but not destroyed." (h) 

38 Pilate saith unto Him, What is Truth ? 

It cannot be thought that Pilate was "jesting" when he asked this question; 
although it seems to be indeed the fact that he "would not stay for an answer."(i) 
In the language of a thoughtful writer, already largely quoted, — " he was too much 
impressed by our Saviour's presence, too much alarmed by the sanguinary cry of 
the multitude, and the remonstrances of his own conscience, to indulge a scoff or a 
sneer. Rather, in the very sadness of his heart he uttered what had long been to 
him a subject of hopeless inquiry. Like so many of the higher intellects of his 
time, Pilate had fallen into the depths of scepticism ; and after ranging through the 

(«.) From a MS. Sermon by the Ven. Archdeacon Grant, preached before the University, 
May 13th, 1S55. 

(x) Gen. xxvi. 6, 7. (y) Gen. xii. 10—13. 

(2) Gen. xxvii. 11 — 19". (a) Gen. xxvii. 24. 

(b) Gen. xxxiii. 14, 16, 17. (c) Gen. xxxiv. 

(d) Gen. xxxi. 34, 35. (e) Judges iv. 18—21. 

(/) 1 Sam. xxvii. 8 — 12. (g) St. John i. 17 : compare 14. 

(h) From the same MS. Sermon. (i) Lord Bacon. 



890 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

many systems of men, — their attempts to solve the mysteries of our nature, and to 
satisfy the understanding and the heart with some object on which they might lay 
hold, — regarded the attainment of Truth in anything as an impossibility, and the 
promise of it as a snare. Probably he thought that Jesus professed only to add one 
more to the list of philosophies, or systems of ideas, and turned away from it in 
sickness of heart." ( k) 

Did Pilate then not wait for an answer, for the reason already suggested ? or was 
it because he spurned the notion of learning philosophy at the hands of such an 
One as Christ ? or was it because Time pressed, and because it was impossible at 
such a moment to pursue such an inquiry? or was it not rather because he was ter- 
rified at the prospect of having to condemn so mj^sterious a Being ; and eager to 
procure His acquittal on a plea which had suddenly occurred to him, and which is 
embodied in the words which follow ? 

39 And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and 
saith unto them, I find in Him no fault at all. But ye have a custom, 
that I should release unto you one at the Passover ; will ye therefore 
that I release unto you the King of the Jews ? 

Thus, Pilate at once witnesses to our Lord's Innocence, and proposes to act 
towards Him as if He were guilty. He has neither the courage to condemn nor to 
release Him, on the ground of His accusation ; but thinks that by promising to the 
Jews that they should avail themselves of a practice recently established of setting 
a malefactor free at the Paschal season, the ends of either party may be attained. 
Neither will Pilate do violence to his own conscience ; nor will the honor of the 
High Priest be compromised. In such crooked policy, the Roman governor was 
signally and deservedly defeated. 

It will be discovered however, by a reference to St. Luke's Gospel, that between 
verses 38 and 39 comes the judicial interview between Herod and our Lord. Pilate, 
catching eagerly at the mention of Galilee in a second charge which the chief priests 
and people brought against Christ, and finding " that He belonged unto Herod's 
jurisdiction," sent Jacob's remote Descendant to suffer indignity and insult at the 
hands of the remote descendant of Esau. It was on our Saviour's return from that 
interview, that Pilate made the proposition recorded in the text. 

40 Then cried they all again, saying, Not this Man, but Barabbas. 
Now Barabbas was a robber. 

"Who, for a certain sedition made in the City, and for murder, was cast into 
prison. "(I) — This was that denial "in the presence of Pilate, when he was deter- 
mined to let Him go," with which St. Peter reproached the Jews at a later 
period :(m) adding, " But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a mur- 
derer to be granted unto you." .... "His own, they among whom He had gone 
about all His life long, healing them, teaching them, feeding them, doing them all 
the good He could ; it is they that cry, ' Not this Man, but Barabbas !' "(w) 



CHAPTER XIX 



1 Christ is scourged, crowned with thorns, and beaten. 4 Pilate is desirous to re- 
lease Him, but being overcome with the outrage of the Jews, he delivered Him to be 
crucified. 23 They cast lots for His garments. 26 He commendeth His Mother to 
John. 28 He dieth. 31 His side is pierced. 38 He is buried by Joseph and 
Nicodemus. 

Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him. 

(&) From the same MS. Sermon. 

(I) St. Luke xxiii. 19,— and see what follows down to ver. 24. 

(m) Acts iii. 13. (n) Bp. Andrewes. 



xix.] on st. John's gospel. 891 

Concerning this awful outrage, it must suffice to refer the reader to the commen- 
tary on St. Matthew xxvii. 26: but we may well repeat the Prophet's assurance, 
(reminded of it as we are by an Apostle,) that " with His stripes we are healed." (a) 
It follows in St. Matthew's Gospel, — " Then the soldiers of the Governor took Jesus 
into the Preetorium, and gathered unto Him the whole band ; and they stripped 
Him :" 

2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on His Head, 

" A most unquestionable token this, that Christ's Kingdom was not of this 
World, when He was crowned only with thorns and briars, which are the curse of 
the Earth. "(6) But the reader is requested to read what has been already offered 
concerning this mysterious incident, in the commentary on St. Matth. xxvii. 29. — 
Besides the thorny crown, other mock insignia of Royalty were not wanting ; as, 
" a reed in His Right Hand :" 

and they put on Him a purple robe, 
" and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him," 

3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews ; and they smote Him with their 
hands. 

" And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the Head. "(c) 
Take notice how intensely, by this last act of cruelty, the torture of the thorny 
crown must have been aggravated. 

4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I 
bring Him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in Him. 

Thus, passing sentence of condemnation on himself, even while pronouncing, 
nor yet for the first time,(d) our Lord's acquittal. "Behold, I bring Him forth 
unto you, that ye may know:" — for had Pilate judged that our Lord was in any 
sense guilty, he would have passed sentence upon Him within the Prsetorium. 

The Roman governor, notwithstanding that he was himself " a man of an high, 
rough, untractable spirit," (e) melted by the sight of so much meek endurance on 
the part of One whom he knew to be perfectly innocent of the crimes laid to His 
charge, had stepped out before his Prisoner, in order to address the multitude on 
His behalf. Our Lord is found to have followed Pilate : 

5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the 
purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the Man ! 

Take notice that, this time, Pilate, in addressing the Jews, does not, as hereto- 
fore, call our Lord their " King." He knew that they were exasperated by his 
use of that title ;(/) and now, he desires to move their pity, and if possible to 

persuade them to consent to our Lord's release " Behold the Man !" As if 

he said, — Behold the afflicted and tortured object of your malice and cruelty ; "a 
worm, and no man." If ye have human hearts, ye cannot behold such a dismal 
spectacle without commiseration ! . . . . These miscreants, on the contrary, are 
only the more exasperated at the sight: for, "when they saw Him," (as it follows :) 

6 When the chief Priests therefore and officers saw Him, they cried 
out, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him. 

Pilate was little prepared to see his expedient answer so ill, — to find that showing 
Christ to His enemies was but heaping fuel on the flame. These instruments of 
Satan, in fact, spake the language of him who was urging them on. Truly was it 
their "hour, and the power of Darkness." (g) 

Pilate saith unto them, Take ye Him, and crucify Him : for I find 
no fault in Him. 

(a) Is. 1. iii. 5, quoted in 1 St. Pet. ii. 24. (5) Lightfoot. 

(c) St. Matth. xxvii. 29, 30, — on which places see the notes. 

(d) St. John xviii. 38. "St. Luke xxiii. 14, 15, 22. 

(e) Bp. Pearson, from Philo. (/) See the note on St. John xviii. 37. 
(g) St. Luke xxii. 53. 



892 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Monstrous, that a heathen should have had thus to remonstrate with the chief 
Priests of a nation taught of God ! Desiring above all things our Lord's release, 
but determined at all events that he will not become himself the author of His 
Death, Pilate tells our Lord's accusers that if they will crucify his Prisoner, they 
must do it themselves ; for that he does not find Him guilty of the pretensions to 
Royalty which they had brought against Him. Hence, they invent an entirely 
new ground of accusation : as it follows, — 

7 The Jews answered Him, We have a law, and by our law He ought 
to die, because He made Himself the Son of God. 

They allude to the law contained in Levit. xxiv. 16, — " He that blasphemeth the 
name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall 
certainly stone him." But of the manner of death thus prescribed, these hypocrites 
say nothing ; because they desire our Lord's Crucifixion. Some think that the 
reference is rather to Deuteronomy xviii. 20. 

Let those who deny or doubt the true Divinity of our Saviour Christ, notice 
well the charge here brought against Him by His enemies ; and learn, even from 
those wicked men, a lesson. Full well were they aware of the nature of the claim 
which our Lord advanced, on many occasions; namely, of being "very God of 
very God," and " of one Substance with the Father." Consider St. John v. 18, 
together with what follows ; also chap. viii. 58, and x. 30 to 38 : and see the notes 
there. 

As Pilate had miscalculated on the effect which the sight of the Holy One, when 
"His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons 
of men, "(A) would produce on His enemies, so are they found to have very wrongly 
conceived the effect which their accusation would have on Pilate. Already over- 
awed by the unearthly bearing of our Saviour, and rendered uneasy by the 
unexpected message which he had in the meantime received from his Wife, (A;) this 
last intimation that his mysterious Prisoner claimed to be of Divine extraction, 
seems to have completed his embarrassment. Pilate had been shocked, before, to 
find himself urged to the commission of an act of such flagrant injustice : but now, 
there were superadded the terrors of the unseen World. 

8, 9 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more 
afraid ; and went again into the judgment-hall, and saith unto Jesus, 
Whence art Thou ? 

The form of this inquiry sufficiently shows what was passing through the mind 
of Pilate. He desires to know the origin of his Prisoner. Whence does He come? 
in other words, Who was His Father ?"(l) His Kingdom, (Pilate had heard Him 
say,) is " not of this World." Is He also "not of this World?" . . . The heathen 
Procurator again puts the descendants of Abraham to shame. Like Gamaliel in 
the Acts, he is seized with a salutary apprehension "lest haply he be found even 
to fight against God."(w) 

' But Jesus gave him no answer. 

Perhaps, because the inquiry was made in such a spirit that Pilate could not 
have been profited by our Lord's reply ; even had our Lord seen fit to give him all 
the information he asked for. The arrogant tone of the words which follow, which 
convey an imperious threat, seems to prove the truth of this conjecture. 

10 Then saith Pilate unto Him, Speakest Thou not unto me ? 
knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and have power 
to release Thee? 

" Power to crucify, and poiver to release." . . . "By this very saying, thou dost 
condemn thyself, Pilate !" (exclaims Ambrose.) " It is thy consciousness of 
thine own power, therefore, not thy conviction of His guilt, which moves thee to 
deliver up the Holy One to crucifixion !" — A modern critic observes, with truth. 

(h) Is. Hi. 14. See above, on the first words of ver. 6. 

(k) St. Matth. xxvii. 19. (I) See the notes on St. John vii. 27. 

(m) Acts v. 39. 



XIX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 893 

that Pilate further condemns himself in servilely yielding to a popular clamour, 
after so plainly declaring his own absolute unfettered authority. (n) 

11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, 
except it were given thee from above : therefore he that delivered Me 
unto thee hath the greater sin. 

That is, This boasted power of thine against Me, thou never wouldest have had, 
" were it not that God, who is My Father, hath, in His Divine counsels, for the 
good of the World, determined to deliver Me up to suffer death under thee. And 
this is a great aggravation of the sin of Judas, and the Jewish Sanhedrin : he, to 
deliver Me up to them; they, to make thee the instrument of their malice in cruci- 
fying Me, not only an innocent person, but even the Son of God Himself. This, 
they have had means to know better than thou ; and therefore, though thy sin be 
great, yet theirs, being against more light, is much more criminal, and shall be 
more severely punished."(o) 

12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release Him : 

It is evidently implied that the Roman here came forward, addressed the chief 
Priests and multitude, and tried again to persuade them to consent to our Saviour's 
acquittal. 

but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this Man go, thou art 
not Caesar's friend : whosoever maketh Himself a King speaketh against 
Csssar. 

Thus, the enemies of the Holy Jesus again shift the ground of their accusation ; 
and, having discovered that Pilate is heedless of their charge of blasphemy, assail 
him on his weakest side, by appealing to his political fears ; at the same time pre- 
ferring against our Saviour the favourite and most prevalent, because the most 
successful, charge of those times. They give Pilate to understand that if he perse- 
veres in advocating the release of Jesus Christ, they will accuse him at Rome 
before his Imperial master, of disloyalty and supineness in the discharge of his 
duties as Procurator of Judsea. Pilate's scruples vanish, at once, under so 
formidable a threat. He knows the suspicious and irritable temper of Tiberius ; 
and he fears less to put the Son of God to death, than to incur the Roman 
Emperor's displeasure. Accordingly, 

13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, 
and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pave- 
ment, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. 

"The word is Syriac or Chaldee ; called Hebrew here, according to the custom of 
the new Testament, which calls the Syriac language, (being at that time the vulgar 
tongue of the Jews,) Hebrew." ( p) Thus Golgotha, in ver. 17, and one of the in- 
scriptions on the Cross, in ver. 20, are spoken of as belonging to the Hebrew tongue. 
On the Cross, Hammond says the words were Syriac in Hebrew letters, 

Pilate is thus related to have passed sentence on our Lord in the place appointed 
for the trial and condemnation of criminals. What is here called "the Pavement" is 
supposed to have been a piece of mosaic or tesselated work, whereon the judgment- 
seat stood. Julius Csesar, in his military expeditions, carried about with him a 
"pavement" of this description. The Jews called the locality "Gabbatha," (which 
means raised or elevated,) with reference, seemingly, to the lofty place where the 
Roman Governor sat. 

14 And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth 
hour : and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King ! 

Before, it was " Behold the Man V See ver. 5, and the note there. Pilate now 
grows reckless, and bestows upon our Saviour the title which he knows is most 
obnoxious. How maddened with senseless rage they had by this time become, 
their rejoinder, in ver. 15, sufficiently shows. 

(n) Grotius. (o) Hammond. (p) Hammond. 



894 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

Thus does St. John fix the day, and the hour of the day, when the Roman Go- 
vernor delivered up our Saviour into the hands of His Enemies. See the note on 
St. John i. 39. " The Preparation of the Passover" signifies the Friday in Pass- 
over-Week: "the sixth hour," in St. John's Gospel, is not Twelve at noon, but Six 
o'clock in the morning. This has been explained more than once, in a previous 
part of the commentary. (q) 

15 But they cried out, Away with. Sim, away with Him, crucify 
Him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King ? 

Take notice how Pilate persists in bestowing the title of " King," upon our 
Saviour. Ever since his inquiry, in chap, xviii. 33, ("Art Thou the King of the 
Jews ?") until he inscribes it on the title over His Cross, the Roman perseveres in 
this appellation ;(r) which he may have felt a growing conviction, in some way, 
belonged to Christ ; while it was evidently most distasteful to His enemies. There 
may have been bitter irony also in this : for Pilate was addressing a people whom 
he and his countrymen despised; a people now in utter subjection to the Roman 
Power. And it seems to be implied that the scorned and outraged Being who stood 
before Him, was a fit person to be styled the King of such a race. At the same 
time, who sees not that, (as in the case of Caiaphas,)(s) what was spoken in cruelty, 
was overruled by a Higher Power to a lofty issue: that there was Divinesb Truth 
in what was meant for mockery and insult? See the note on St. Matth. xxvi. 65. 

"But with whatever view Pilate thus expressed himself, he thereby drew forth 
from the Rulers of the Jews that public rejection of Jesus as their King, which led 
to the rejection of their nation by God. They were so blinded by their eagerness 
to accomplish the destruction of Jesus, that they did not scruple to make such an 
acknowledgment of Caesar's sovereignty over them, as was at variance with all 
their national principles and feelings/' (t) 

The chief Priests answered, we have no King but Csesar. 

As if they had said, — We have never acknowledged Him by any such title. It 
is thou, not we, who favour these pretensions. "We have no king but Caesar !" 
(whereas their Fathers used to exclaim, " We have no King but God/") . . . And 
the miserable men who by such an argument urge Pilate to the commission of a 
crime which he dreads, but has no longer the courage to refuse, thereby convict 
themselves of rebellion, when they subsequently resist their Roman masters; and 
seal their own subjection to that cruel Power which in a few years will destroy them 
root and branch, overthrow their Temple and City, and inflict greater misery upon 
them than is recorded in the annals of any other nation, since the beginning of the 
world. See the note on St. Mark xiii. 19. 

16 Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And 
they took Jesus and led Him away. 

" And when they had mocked Him, they took off the purple from Him, and put 
His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify lliw."(u) . . . All the Evan- 
gelists, in this way, pass straight from Pilate's condemnation, or rather surrender 
of our Lord, to His Crucifixion. But we find that it was not until " the third 
hour,"(x) (that is, not until nine o'clock in the forenoon,) that "they crucified 
Him." Three hours had therefore elapsed, during which the hideous preparations 
for Death were in progress : — a severe aggravation doubtless of our Saviour's suf- 
ferings ; prolonging, as it did, His pains, and exposing Him to the brutality of an 
infuriated populace, and ruffianly soldiery. Satan was not inactive at such a time ; 
and his agents were all about him. An important statement follows : 

17 And He bearing His Cross went forth 

That is, the Saviour " went forth" or " out" of the City-gate; being there relieved 
of His awful burthen by "a man of Cyrene, Simon by name,"(?/) who was even 
then " coming out of the country" and about to enter Jerusalem, — as the Evange- 

(q) See the notes on St. John i. 39 : iv. 6, and 52. 

(r) See the notes on St. John xviii. 37. (*) See the notes on St. John xi. 49 to 52. 

(t) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(u) St. Mark xv. 20 : compare St. Matth. xxvii. 31. 

(x) St. Mark xv. 25. {y) St. Matth. xxvii. 32. 



XIX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 895 

lists are careful to explain. (z) St. John, omitting this incident, alone relates that 
the Redeemer at first, (in conformity with the established custom of the Romans,) 
was made to bear His own Cross. But what was a mere aggravation of bodily suf- 
fering in the case of others, was in the case of the Incarnate Word, much more. 
He thereby showed that Jehovah had "laid on Him the iniquity of us all;" and 
that "surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows !"( a) . . . Hereby 
too was fulfilled a famous type ; for that " Isaac bearing the wood did presignify 
Christ bearing the Cross,"(6) is observed not only by Christians. Pearson shows 
that "the Jews themselves have referred this type unto that custom: for upon the 
words " And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac 
his son, "(c) they have this note, — " as a man carries his Cross upon his shoulders." 
— The true Isaac, therefore, went forth : 

into a place called the place of a scull, which is called in the Hebrew 
Golgotha : 

A place outside the city-gate, (d) set apart for the execution of criminals, and 
which doubtless derived its Syriac(e) appellation from the hideous insignia of death 
which may well have abounded there. Close to it, however, as we shall be presently 
reminded, there was a garden ;(/') one, indeed, which seems to have been kept with 
care.(^) ... In the mean time they have reached this awful spot: 

18 Where they crucified Him, and two other with Him, on either side 
one, and Jesus in the midst. 

These two were robbers, as we learn from the other Gospels : whereby, doubtless, 
it was craftily intended to draw as thick a veil as malice could devise over the 
Righteousness of Christ. Not vainly, however, does the Psalmist counsel, — "Com- 
mit thy way unto the Lord . . . and He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the 
light. ; '(A) Hereby, it came to pass, (1st) that a prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled :(z) 
(2ndly) that Christ found a Confessor upon the very Cross. " Then said Jesus, 
Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they do :"(k) — which is the first of 
His seven last sayings ! 

The present Evangelist, until he has to describe the breaking of the legs of the 
malefactors, notices in no other way the fate of the two men who were thus cruci- 
fied with Christ. St. Luke it is who relates the striking circumstance that they 
bore in a manner the image of those who shall stand at His Right and at His left 
in Judgment, — the elect of God, and the reprobate :"(7) and to St. Luke's Gospel 
the reader must be referred on this most important, and very instructive sub- 
ject.(m) 

19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the Cross. And the 
writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE 
JEWS. 

The inscription upon the Cross of Christ, (concerning which, see the note on 
St. Luke xxiii. 38, (n) is recorded, with slight and unimportant varieties, by all the 
four Evangelists ;(o) but St. John alone relates the name of its author, and the 
circumstances under which it was written, in the verses which follow. 

20 This title then read many of the Jews : for the place where 
Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in 
Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. 

(z) See the notes on St. Matth. xxvii. 31, 32 : also, on St. Mark xv. 21. 

(a) Is. liii. 6. 4. {b) Bp. Pearson. 

(c) Gen. xxii. 6. (d) Consider Heb. xiii. 12. 

(e) See above, on ver. 13. (/ ) See below, ver. 41. 

(g) Consider St. John xx. 15. (A) Ps. xxxvii. 5, 6. 

(i) Is. liii. 12. See the note on St. Mark xv. 28. 

(k) St. Luke xxiii. 34, — where see the note. 

(1) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(m) See St. Luke xxiii. 38 to 43, and the notes there. 

(n) See also, on St. Matth. xxvii. 37. 

(o) St. Matth. xxvii. 37. St. Mark xv. 26. St. Luke xxiii. 38. 



896 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

21 Then said the chief Priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The 
King of the Jews ; but that He said, I am King of the Jews. 

22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. 

See above, the notes at pp. 886 and 888. . . . How remarkable was the firmness 
of Pilate in this particular ! The chief Priests have had their own way in every- 
thing else : but in this respect, at least, the Roman will not yield. " He doth act 
the Prophet almost as well as Caiaphas. 'What I have written, I have written ;' 
and it shall stand and obtain. They shall have no other King Messiah than this 
forever V\p) . . . May he have had an awful consciousness all the while upon 
him, that what he had written was the Truth f or was he simply bent on indulging 
the natural obstinacy and inflexibility of his own disposition, — wholly unconscious 
of everything beside ? 

" It was not for nothing," (says Pearson, beautifully,) " that Pilate suddenly 
wrote, and resolutely maintained what he had written. That title on the Cross did 
signify no less than that His Royal power was active even there : for ' having 
spoiled Principalities and Powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing 
over them in it ;'(q) and ' through His Death, destroyed him that had the power of 
Death, that is, the Devil/ "(r) 

23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His 
garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part ; 

" Casting lots upon them," (says St. Mark,) "what every man should take. ;; (s) 
And thus, at the very foot of the Cross of Christ, was enacted the emblem of that 
triumph over our Saviour which the Powers of Darkness, it may well be supposed, 
by this time thought secure ! They had slain their great Enemy, (the Devils will 
have already assumed ;) and their wicked agents may now be instigated to " divide 

the spoil." See the references on St. Luke xi. 22 Little can it have 

been imagined by those accursed ones that the Cross of Christ was to be the very 
instrument of Messiah's final Triumph: that Satan had indeed succeeded in 
" bruising the heel" of the Son of Man ; but that, in return, the Seed of the 
"Woman, the Incarnate Word, was about to fulfill the primaeval prophecy, and to 
" bruise his head :"(t) that One stronger than ' the strong Man armed," had at last 
appeared ; had already overcome him, and taken from him the armour wherein he 
trusted ; and was even now about to spoil his goods, (u) . . . All this has been so 
fully discussed on more than one previous occasion, that it shall suffice here 
simply to refer the reader to an earlier page of the present Commentary. (w) Let 
it only be further suggested that the paltry evidence of success which was actually 
discernible, — as contrasted with the signal and utter but unseen defeat which was 
in reality going on, — affords no unapt image of the relation which Earthly per- 
secution bears to Heavenly Glory ; the slender and hollow triumph which attends 
the best directed endeavours of the wicked against the Church of Christ, and His 
accepted servants, — compared with the glorious Victory which is in store alike for 
it, and for them ; but which is revealed, on this side of Eternity, to the eye of Faith 
alone. . . . They " took His garments," therefore, — 

and also His coat : now the coat was without seam, woven from the 
top throughout. 

The word here translated " coat" denotes an inner garment. ... St. John alone 
mentions the mysterious circumstance here recorded : for it doubtless is a mysterious 
circumstance. In other words, this apparently trivial statement is full of sacred 
import, which yet does not strike the common reader.(?/) Was the seamless coat 
allusive to the lofty Priesthood of the Divine Wearer ? for it seems to correspond 

(p) Lightfoot. (?) Col. ii. 15. 

(V) Heb. ii. 14. (s) St. Mark xv. 24. 

(£) Gen. iii. 15. 

(w) Consider St. Luke xi. 22, and the note there; also St. Luke xiii. 16, and the latter part 
of the note on the place. See also St. Mark iii. 27. 

(w) See especially St. John xii. 31 : also chap. xvi. 11. The reader is also requested to read 
what has been offered on St. Matth. xxvii. 35. 

[y) Consider what was offered on the last words of St. John xviii. 10. 



XIX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 897 

in description with what is relatecl(2) of the High Priest's tunic. Cyprian says, — 
"Because Christ's people cannot be rent and torn by divisions, His tunic, seamless 
and woven throughout, was not rent by them into whose hands it fell. Single, — 
united, — connected, — it shows the concord which should subsist among as many of 
ourselves as put on Christ. That vest of His declares to us, in a sacrament, the 
Unity of the Church." Chrysostom, in like manner, (speaking of the sin of Divi- 
sion,) says that it is to do that which even those men did not dare to do, — namely, 
to rend into many pieces the seamless garment of our Lord. For, (as it follows,) 

24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but 
cast lots for it, whose it shall be : that the Scripture might be fulfilled, 
which saith, They parted My raiment among them, and for My vesture 
they did cast lots. 

The fullest, and by far the most interesting account of what befell the garments 
of the Holy Jesus is given by St. John. But the reader is referred to the note on 
the latter part of St. Matth. xxvii. 35, — where the present remarkable quotation 
from Psalm xxii. 18 is also found. How little can the author of that Psalm, so full 
of a suffering Messiah, have suspected the awful and literal sense which his words 
were destined hereafter to receive ! . . . " These Divine garments," (says a pious 
writer,) "from the very hem of which 'virtue went forth and healed them all/(a) 
we may well suppose were, of all things that hand of man had ever formed, the 
most worthy of being expressly spoken of by all of the Four Evangelists, and by 

the Prophet beforehand Christ, like Joseph, was about to flee from this 

evil and adulterous World ; and leave His garment in its hands." (6) 

Such then was the rapacity of the four miscreants, (the quarternion of Soldiers,) 
who were appointed to superintend the Sacrifice of Christ, that His poor outer 
garments must be divided among them ; and even His tunic is not spared ! Thus 
it came to pass that our Saviour was crucified in nakedness,- — whereby He undid 
the shame of our first father Adam : for consider Gen. iii. 10. 

These things therefore the soldiers did. 

Does that mean, — Such was the part which the soldiers played in this terrible 
Tragedy? Uninfluenced by the Jews, — without any directions from Pilate, — 
" these things the soldiers did." 

25 Now there stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, and His 
Mother's Sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 

The three Marys ! . . . that the Virgin should not have forsaken the side of her 
adorable Son at this fearful moment, no one who knows the nature of a Mother's 
love will at all wonder. The surprise would have been if she had been away. 
Meantime, what she felt, — aged Simeon had long before described by that mysterious 
prediction, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also!"(c) She, who 
had known no pang at the Birth of Christ, is tortured to extremity at His Death ! 

But it excites both surprise and admiration to read that " Mary the [wife] of 
Cleopas,(d) and Mary Magdalene," should have had the courage to press up to the 
very Cross of our Blessed Lord at such a time. The second of our Saviour's say- 
ings on the Cross, follows. It suggests the remark, (sufficiently probable on other 
grounds,) that Joseph, the Blessed Virgin's husband, was now dead. 

26, 27 When Jesus therefore saw His Mother, and the Disciple 
standing by whom He loved, He saith unto His Mother, Woman, 
behold thy Son ! Then saith He to the Disciple, Behold thy Mother ! 

Besides the three Mary's the Evangelist himself is found to have remained faith- 
ful to our Saviour to the very last ; and to have stood by the Cross of his Divine 

Master until it was " finished." amazing privilege ! thus to have been 

appointed by the Incarnate Word Himself to supply His place towards His 

(z) By Josephus. (a) St. Luke vi. 19. 

(6) Williams. (c) St. Luke ii. 35. 

[d) " Cleophas," our translators have erroneously retained from the Vulgate. 

57 



898 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

bereaved Mother! How stupendous a legacy was this for Divine Piety to bequeath, 
and for adoring Love to inherit! . . . The Blessed Virgin was henceforth to regard 
St. Johu with maternal affection: while the Disciple himself was "to love, honour, 
and succour" that holy Woman, as though he had been in reality her son. "It is 
clear then that the presence of the GoDhead in our Lord's person did not efface 
and outshine the essential feelings of a Human heart. It did but quicken and 
strengthen all those affections and sympathies which are still left us as remnants 
of the Heavenly image, and the groundwork of its renewal within us. As God, 
our Saviour might have removed His human Mother to the best of those "many 
mansions" which are prepared for those that love Him. But it was as God He 
willed that she should stay awhile on earth : while, as Man, He both provided a 
home for her such as He could never give her while He lived ; and called the 
human feelings of a friend into play in her behalf, while He did so."(f) Do we 
need the assurance which follows? 

And from that hour that Disciple took her unto his own home. 

The abode, namely, of St. John, and St. James, and their Mother Salome, (who 
was even now beholding the scene from a little distance ;)(g) for Zebedee was pro- 
bably now dead. — The word " home" is not found in the original ; and yet, the 
phrase " took her home," would probably have exactly conveyed the meaning of 
an expression which recurs in St. John i. 11 : xvi. 32 ; and Acts xxi. .6. 

Truly has it been observed that " there is no incident in St. John's life more 
touching than this ; none, which in a few words conveys more fully his nearness 
and dearness to his Lord's human affections." (h) It is as obvious, as it is delight- 
ful, to imagine the tender care of the beloved Disciple, henceforth, towards his 
adopted Mother. How will they, evermore, have discoursed together of their 
Saviour and their God! — the reverence of either towards the other increasing, as 
the vastness of their respective privileges became more and more apparent to them- 
selves. "Imagination and thought are overwhelmed when we look into that home, 
where Christ's beloved Disciple and Christ's Mother were. Surely that place 
must have been the resort of holy Angels, if any habitation on Earth has been 
meet to be so."(?) St. John will at last have closed her eyes, — at Ephesus per- 
haps ; himself calmly tarrying for the fulfillment of his Lord's mysterious promise 
to " come" to him, after many days. But, from this place in the history, all is left 
to conjecture. The Blessed Virgin emerges but once{j) from the secrecy and shel- 
ter of that roof which St. John was careful henceforth to provide for her bereaved 
and widowed head. 

"It is remarkable" (observes a pious wrRer,)(fc) "how Holy Scripture seems to 
have thrown around her a sort of Holy silence. There appears, also, to be a sort 
of mysterious reserve in what is recorded of our Lord's expressions towards her. 
It was, as we may venture to suppose, out of tender consideration for our weak- 
ness ; and from His foreseeing that great heresy which should arise in the Church, 
under the plea of doing her honor. And this will account for the circumstance, 
that on the very few occasions when our Lord is mentioned as addressing His 
Mother, there is something different from what we should have been, perhaps, 
inclined to expect." On the present occasion, what chiefly strikes us is the purely 
human character of the incident recorded ; and indeed it is the very aspect of our 
Lord's words which makes them so exceedingly affecting. 

Do any inquire what Divine lesson this transaction conveys ? " Learn from it, 
first, that the Grace of God is designed to deepen and strengthen all the better feel- 
ings of our Human Nature. — Learn next, to seek to supply in the Church of God 
those relationships of which our Heavenly Father, year by year, is pleased to 
bereave us. The tie of Christian Brotherhood, if truly realized, will both incite 
us to become to the bereaved of human friends, a substitute, in some degree, (as 
St. John was,) for the departed; and it will bid us also seek, if we be ourselves the 
bereaved, (like the Virgin Mother,) the solace of our lost joys in drawing closer to 
those who love their Lord, and dwell in the same Household of Faith." (I) 

(/) From a MS. Sermon by the Rev. Edm. Hobhouse. 

(g) St. Matth. xxvii. 55, 56. (h) From the same MS. Sermon. 

(0 Williams. (j) See Acts i. 14. 

(&) Williams. 

(I) From a MS. Sermon by the Eev. Edm. Hobhouse. 



XIX.J ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 899 

28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accom- 
plished, 

Literally, — " that all things are now finished." The word is the self-same as in 
ver. 30, and suggests some striking considerations. " Behold, we are going up to 
Jerusalem," (our Lord had said on a previous occasion ;) " and all things that are 
written by the Prophets concerning the Son of Man must be finished." [m) There 
yet remained one article of the Passion, which had been foretold. It follows, there- 
fore, that our Saviour, — 

that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 

The reader is invited to refer to the note on St. Luke xxii. 37. — This was the fifth 
of the Seven last sayings of Christ. It had been said prophetically, in a Psalm 
which is full of His Passion, — " My strength is dried up like a potsherd ; and My 
tongue cleaveth to Myjaws."(ra) But a more striking fulfillment than this, is here 
alluded to : for David elsewhere says, — They gave Me also gall for My meat ; and in 
My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink." (o) Accordingly, besides the very lite- 
ral fulfillment which these words had already received,(jp) it is found that in reply 
to our Lord's express declaration that He thirsted, the bystanders proceeded to 
offer Him vinegar to drink. This seems to have been no longer done in cruelty 
and insult as before :(q) but the beverage was furnished from the provision which 
the soldiers had made for their own use. As it follows : 

29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar : and they filled a 
spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 

St. Matthew and St. Mark write of a sponge filled with vinegar, put "upon a 
reed."(r) St. John, by his further mention of " hyssop/' leaves us to the conjecture, 
that the reed which was employed on the present occasion for conveying a moistened 
sponge to the lips of our expiring Redeemer, was none other than the instrument 
used for the purpose of sprinkling the people; a use to which we know that a 
bunch of hyssop, (fastened, as we may reasonably conjecture, to the extremity 

of a reed,) was largely applied under the Law.(s) And thus, for the last 

time, (for of every such " shadow of good things to coine/'(z!) it was now said, 
"It is finished,") a type will have been exhibited, even beside the very Cross of 
Christ, of the work of Him who, (in the words of the Evangelical prophet,) came 
to "sprinkle many nations." (u) ...... Consider by all means, in connection with 

this great subject, the ixth. chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, verse 11 to the 
end. 

30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is 
finished : 

The sixth of our Lord's sayings on the Cross ! ... Do any inquire, What was 
then finished? In truth, so many things are contained in that single word that it 
were hard to enumerate them all. " The sorrows of His Life were finished : the' 
griefs, and sufferings, and humiliations which were crowded into His Youth and 
Ministry : the watchings and weariness, the toils and strivings. So also, the fickle- 
ness and ingratitude of the multitude ; the revilings and blasphemies of the Scribes 
and Pharisees ; the cruel revenge of the Priests ; all had done their work. They 
could do no more. There is a point at which cruelty exhausts, and hatred over- 
reaches itself. Torture could go no further, because life could no longer sustain it. 
It was finished ! 

"It was, in truth, 'finished' 7 in another sense : finished, fulfilled, accomplished, 
in them. They had shown themselves the children of those who killed the Prophets: 
they had filled up the measure of their fathers. This was finished and fulfilled, that 
all the righteous blood which had been shed from the foundation of the World should 

(m) St. Luke xviii. 31. Consider also xxii. 37. 

(n) Ps. xxii. 15. (o) Ps. lxix. 21. 

\p) See St. Matth. xxvii. 34. (?) St. Luke xxiii. 36. 

(V) St. Matth. xxvii. 48. St. Mark xv. 36. 

(«) See Ex. xii. 22. Levit. xiv. 4, 6, 49, 51, 52. Numb. xix. 6, 18. See Hebr. ix. 11 to 28. 

(*) Heb. x. 1. («) Is. Hi. 15. 



900 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

be required of that generation. The trial of their nation was at an end. Their 
destiny was completed and sealed up. It was finished ! 

" Then further, the life and power of the Old Covenant had come to an end. The 
brightness of Moses' face had passed away. Age after age had their Temple-wor- 
ship gone on, and notwithstanding all their sins and all its imperfections, God was 
in it, and among them. But ijheir Priesthood and their Ritual had now come to an 
end. Their sacrifice had ceased. The Glory had departed which had made this 
latter House more glorious than the former. (x) The Veil of the Temple was rent in 
twain, from the top to the bottom ;(?/) and — It was finished ! 

" Once more, The long line of legal types and figures ; together with all those 
many predictions which 'the glorious fellowship of the Prophets/ moved by 'the 
Spirit of Christ, (z) had from time to time delivered: all things, in short, which 
had ever been ' written by the Prophets concerning the Son of Man/ were now 
' nnished.'(a) This last and greatest indignity of all, to which He had Himself 
referred, as still requiring 'to be accomplished/ (literally 'to be finished/) in 
His own person,(6) — namely, that He should be ' numbered with the transgressors/ 
— this also was now ' finished/ He may therefore bow His Holy Head, — bow it, 
as if in meek submission to the Will of the Eternal Father, and exclaim, concern- 
ing it all, ' It is finished !' 

"Once more: 'Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become 
new !'(c) All that had gone before was a preparation for this. The stones of the 
arch had been laid : the key-stone alone had been wanting. But now, the key-stone 
was laid : the arch was finished: and what more ado was there with the scaffolding? 
' Old things' go before the Crucifixion of Christ, and are 'finished/ ' Neiv 
things' spring from His Cross . . . . ' Behold, I make all things new/ (said ' He 
that sat upon the throne/) And He straigthway added, — ' It is done !'' '(d) — 'The 
"Will of God is fulfilled : the scheme of His dispensations is perfected : the Prophecy 
is sealed up : the Revelation is completed : the Atonement is made : the Victory is 
accomplished : the Kingdom of God is come ! ... It was the work of the Neio Crea- 
tion ; and Christ as on this day entered into His rest, and kept the Sabbath in the 
Grave. It was 'finished/ then; not only in so far as 'old things' were finished 
and done away with ; not only as the Void was finished when the Universe was 
called into existence; but it was finished also, inasmuch as new things were accom- 
plished, and brought to perfection ; finished, as the new order of things in the 
Creation was finished, after the evening and the morning were the sixth day, when 
' God saw everything that He had made ; and behold, it was very good !"(e) .... 
Christ had come to do the will of the Father that sent Him, and to finish His 
Work:(/) and Lo, as He had already said, — "I have glorified Thee on the Earth: 
I have finished the Work which Thou gavest Me to do ;"(#) — as, before that ex- 
clamation in ver. 28, ' I thirst/ He is declared to have known that, ' now, all 
things were finished;" — £0, finally, with His dying breath, He is careful to repeat 
and to affirm, that, "It is finished /" 

It follows in St. Luke, — " And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice ;" (a me- 
morable epithet, which is found in all the three first Gospels, and which contains 
the record of a miracle, as will be found explained in the note on St. Mark xv. 39;) 
"He said, Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit."(7i) ... It was the seventh 
and last of the Redeemer's sayings on the Cross ! 

and He bowed His Head and gave up the Ghost. 

" Gave His Spirit up," — namely, into the Hands of the Eternal Father :{i) 
whereby " a separation was made between His Soul and Body, but no disunion of 
them and His Deity. They were disjoined one from another ; but not from Him 
that took them both together. Rather, by virtue of that remaining conjunction, 

they were again united after their separation The Word was once indeed 

without either Soul or Body : but after it was 'made flesh/ it was never again 
parted from the one or from the other." (J) 

(x) Hao-gai ii. 9. (y) See the note on St. Matth. xxvii. 51. 

(«) 1 StTPeter i. 11. («) St. Luke xviii. 31. 

(6) St. Luke xxii. 37,— where read the note. 

(c) 2 Cor. v. 17. (d) Rev. xxi. 6. 

(e) Abridged from a MS. Sermon, by the Rev. Robert Scott, D.D., Master of Balliol. 

(/) St. John iv. 34. Compare chap. v. 36. 

h) St. John xvii. 4. (h) St. Luke xxiii. 46. 

(i) St. Luke xxiii. 46. Eccl. xii. 7. (/) Bp. Pearson. 



XIX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 901 

"He bowed His Head, and gave up the Ghost." " Not/' (observes Chrysostom,) 
"that He then bowed His Head, because He expired; but He then expired, because 
He bowed His Head. By the mention of all which things, the Evangelist shows 
that He was the Lord of all." ... On the bowing of His Head, Origen beautifully 
says, that He was "reclining His Head as on His Father's Bosom."(/c) Death 
dared not to draw nigh, (says another of the ancients,) till by bowing His Head, 
our Saviour invited his approach. The Fathers abound in such remarks on the 
manner of our Lord's departure. . . . Verily these men handled the Gospel in a 
very different spirit from ourselves ! 

"0 wonderful exhibition of the goodness and severity of God ! It is the ninth 
hour ; and Jesus, strong to the last in suffering, commending His Spirit to the 
Father with a loud voice, bows his anointed Head, and renders up the Ghost. 
Nature is convulsed. Earth trembles. The Sanctuary, that type of the Heaven of 
Heavens, is suddenly and forcibly thrown open. The tombs are burst. (Z) Jesus 
hangs upon the Cross, a corpse. And lo ! the fountain which, according to the 
Prophet, was this day to be set open for Sin and pollution, is seen suddenly 
springing from His wound! (to) . . . Who, contemplating only in imagination the 
mysterious, awful scene, exclaims not with the Centurion, 'Truly, this was the Son 
ofGon!"» 

And here the reader is invited to notice the very marvellous and unexpected 
course of God's Providence ; — a Providence, which is " the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever." " As many as were sentenced by the Romans to die upon the Cross, 
had not the favour of a sepulchre ; but their bodies were exposed to the fowls of 
the air, and the beasts of the field : or, if they escape their voracity, to the longer 
injury of the air and weather. A guard was also usually set about them, lest any 
pitying hand should take the body from the cursed tree, and cover it with earth. 
Under that custom of the Roman law was now the Body of our Saviour on the 
Cross, and the guard was set. There was "the Centurion, and they that were with 
him, watching Jesus. "(o) " How then can the ancient predictions be fullfilled?" 
(asks learned Bishop Pearson.) "How can this Jonas be conveyed into the belly 
of the whale 1{p) Where shall He 'make His Grave with the wicked,' or 'with 
the rich, — in this His death' of Crucifixion ? By the Providence of Him who did 
foretell it, it shall be fulfilled. They who petitioned that He might be crucified, 
shall 'petition that He might be interred."" As it follows : 

31 The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, that the 
bodies should not remain upon the Cross on the Sabbath-day, (for that 
Sabbath-day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might 
be broken, and that they might be taken away. 

It was commanded in Moses' Law, — " If a man have committed a sin worthy of 
death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree : his body shall not re- 
main all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury Mm that day. "(g) 
Inasmuch, however, as it was now near sunset, and a Sabbath of more than usual 
solemnity, (namely, the Sabbath in Paschal week,) would then begin, (throughout 
which, it would be unlawful to touch the bodies of the dead,) — it became necessary 
to act with unusual promptitude, and to remove them, all three, at once. If Death 
had not already put an end to the sufferings of our Redeemer, and His companions 
in suffering, dissolution must therefore be accelerated by an aggravation of torture ; 
and to break the legs of those that were crucified was a common Roman practice. 
It follows therefore : 

32, 33 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and 
of the other which was crucified with Him. But when they came to 
Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs : 

Our Saviour, then, "was dead already :" dead, — because He had seen fit to die. 
It is however, in addition, a plain fact, and allowable that we should point out, 
that He had submitted to an infinitely longer amount of suffering than the two 

(k) Quoted by Williams. (?) St. Matth. xxvii. 51 to 54. 

(m) See below, ver. 34. (w) Bp. Horsley. 

(o) St. Matth. xxvii. 54. (p) See St. Matth. xii. 40. 

(q) De'ut. xxi. 22, 23. Take notice that " to be put to death/' as in our Version, is a mis- 
translation. Death was the punishment. Hanging was an indignity offered to the dead body. 



902 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

malefactors who were crucified with Him. Bp. Pearson remarks in a certain place, 
that " although the Human Nature was conjoined to the Divine, in our Lord's 
person, yet it suffered as much as if it had been alone ; and the Divine as little suf- 
fered as if it had not been conjoined ; because each kept their respective proper- 
ties distinct, without the least confusion in their most intimate conjunction." That 
the Divine Nature can suffer nothing, admits of no manner of doubt: but does not 
the pious writer understate the truth, when he declares the case of our Lord's 
Humanity ? Its perfect texture doubtless rendered its Possessor sensible, to an 
unknown extent, of outward violence: while its union with GoDhead may well 
have added intensity to every description of suffering. 

34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forth- 
with came there out Blood and Water. 

" It was not out of compassion that the merciless soldiers brake not His legs," 
(says Pearson,) "but because they found Him dead whom they came to dispatch; 
and being enraged that their cruelty should be thus prevented, with an impertinent 
villany they pierced His side ; thereby becoming stronger witnesses than they would, 
by being less the authors than they desired, of His Death." Whether this was in- 
deed the sentiment with which the soldier committed the outrage described in the 
text, and which was overruled to so marvellous a result, may perhaps be doubted. 
But the question is unimportant. The statement which follows, however, yields 
perhaps to none in the whole Book of Life for august dignity, and mysterious in- 
terest: and we should endeavor to ascertain its true value and import. 

That one great purpose of it was to furnish a convincing proof of the reality of 
Christ's Death, we nothing doubt: but we turn away, with sorrow and concern, 
not to say with amazement, from those who can really believe that this is a full ac- 
count of the matter ; that no miracle is here recorded ; and that the solemn attesta- 
tion of the Evangelist, contained in the next verse, means so little, — or rather, 
means nothing at all.(r) .... A little attention to what has been written on this 
subject, will not be misspent here. 

" These are the two blessed Sacraments of the Spouse of Christ," (says Bp. 
Pearson,) " each assuring her of the Death of her Beloved." By those words, he 
clearly adops a favorite interpretation of many of the ancient Fathers ; an interpre- 
tation which Chrysostom repeats four or five times, and Augustine nearly thrice as 
often, in his Avritings.(s) The latter delights in drawing it out in detail : and, (as 
Ambrose had done before him,) connecting it with that prophetic saying in the 
third Psalm, — " I laid Me down and slept; I awaked ; for the Lord sustained Me." 
"Christ slept," (he says,) "upon the Cross: and there exhibited in figure, nay, 
there He fulfilled in reality, what Adam had foreshown in the Garden. For, while 
Adam slept, Eve was formed out of his side : and so, while cur Lord slept," (but 
it was the sleep of Death,) "out of His pierced and wounded side the Sacraments 
flowed," — from which the Church receives life and spiritual nutriment. " Thus, 
the Spouse of Christ was fashioned out of the side of Christ ; even as Eve was 
fashioned out of the side of Adam." .... In the words of our own Hooker: "God 
made Eve of the rib of Adam ; and His Church, He frameth out of the very wound- 
ed and bleeding side of the Son of Man. His Body crucified, and His Blood shed 
for the life of the World are the true elements of that heavenly being, which maketh 
us such as Himself is, of whom we come. For which cause, the words of Adam 
may be fitly the Words of Christ concerning His Church, ' flesh of My flesh, and 
bone of My bones ;'(t) a true native extract out of Mine own Body." Augustine 
beautifully points out how, in strictness, it is said in Genesis ii. 22, that, of Adam's 
rib, God "builded a woman :"(u) and reminds us that St. Paul accordingly speaks 
of ''■edifying," (that is, "building,") the Body of Christ. "(x) We know indeed 
that St. Paul is there speaking of " the Church, — which is His Body."(y) We 
know too that Adam "is the figure of Him that was to come;"(z) and that "as in 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. "(a) .... The very day on 

{r) See the note on ver. 35. — Those "who talk of "the pericardium," and "a serous matter 
resembling water," know not what they say. 

(«) A remarkable testimony, by the way, to the answer in our Catechism, which follows the 
question, — "How many Sacraments hath Christ ordained in His Church ?" 

(t) Gen. ii. 23 : consider Ephes. v. 30. (h) See the margin of Gen. ii. 22. 

(x) Eph. iv. 12. (ij) Ephes. i. 23. 

(z) Rom. v. 14. (a) 1 Cor. xr. 22. 






XIX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 903 

which all this happened is not without meaning. It was on the sixth day that 
Man was created " in the beginning :" and lo, on the sixth day, Man is created 
anew in Christ ! 

It would be difficult indeed to believe that so beautiful and apt a specimen of 
allegorical interpretation, adopted as it has been by so many judicious Divines of 
our own Communion, is other than trustworthy. We gratefully accept it, and re- 
commend it to our reader's acceptance; with the humble suggestion that perhaps 
it will be safer not to insist, (with good Bp. Andrewes, in a certain place,)(6) that 
these are none other than "the twin-sacraments of the Church: Baptism, and the 
Cup of the New Testament," — the one precisely signified by the Water; the other, 
precisely by the Blood. There is a great consent of the Fathers as to the general 
reference of the present miracle to the Sacraments : and we shall be safest if we 
do not attempt to define over closely. Christ, — (says a Bishop of Hierapolis who 
was born about fifty years after St. John wrote his Gospel, — Christ " shed out of 
His side the two renewed [instruments of Man's] cleansing. — Water and Blood. "(c) 
And what is this but the very language of our own Baptismal Service ; whereby, 
in effect, the Church connects with Holy Baptism the fountain which gushed forth 
from our Redeemer's side ? Because He was the Son of God, (remarks a great ex- 
positor of Scripture,) "by His divine Power infused into both, He gave the Water 
such a piercing force, and the Blood so inestimably high a value, as was able 
to put an end to that which neither the Washings nor Sacrifices, of Nature or of 
the Law, could rid us of."(c?) The first, — was that " Fountain opened to the House 
of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for Sin and for uncleanness," which 
had been predicted long before by the Prophet Zechariah :(e) the second, — that 
" Blood of His Testament, whereby He set His guilty prisoners free ;" so mysteri- 
ously noticed by the same prophet. (/) . . . . " The flowing of this Water and this 
Blood, immediately upon our Lord's Death, from the wound opened in His side, 
was a notification to the surrounding multitudes, though at the time understood by 
few, that the real expiation was now complete, and the cleansing fount set open."(p-) 

" This is He that came by Water and Blood, (h) — saith the Spirit ; with clear 

reference to the present place of the Gospel Bp. Andrewes observes upon 

those vrords, — "Thus did Christ come: did, and doth still. And that He means 
His coming to us, the order showeth. For when it came from Him, it came in 
another order : Blood came first, then Water. See the Gospel. But here, in the 
Epistle, Avhen He comes to us, Water is first, then Blood. " Blood and Water," the 
order on His side : " Water and Blood," the order on ours. Even to us, in Water 
first !" 

Yet a few words, and we pass on. " This is He that came by Water and Blood/' 
(saith the Spirit,) "even Jesus Christ; not by Water only," (it is straightway 
added,) " but by Water and Blood.'\i) Doubtless, another aspect of this great 
mystery is here opened to our view, and St. John is the interpreter of his own 
work. Jesus, (he implies,) "was proved to be the Christ, — not by the Water 
only, but by the Water and the Blood." (k) And when the entire passage is taken 
with its context ; when it is considered that the Apostle is engaged in confuting 
those who denied that Jesus is the Christ, — the Cerinthian heretics on the one 
hand, who denied His Divinity ; the sect of the Docetse, on the other, who denied 
His Manhood ; — how is it possible to avoid suspecting that what He means, by 
appealing to the miracle before us, is, that our Saviour Christ came with these 
two as witnesses(Z) that He was very Man as well as very God ? that He came 
not only in the Divine Nature, — which was symbolized by the Water; but in the 
Human, — which was symbolized by the Blood ? . . . Traces of this interpretation 
are to be found in some of the early commentators, as Gregory of Nazianzus and 
Theophylact ; and it is advocated by one of the most learned of modern Doctors, — 
the late venerable President of Magdalen College ; a Divine whose remarks on such 
subjects were ever singularly cautious and well-weighed. He calls attention to the 

(6) Serin, xiii., " Of the sending of the Holy Ghost." Andrewes is there adopting an ex- 
pression of Augustine, — which however the present writer cannot find anywhere in the writings 
of that Father. 

(c) Apollinaris. He seems to mean that these correspond with the legal means of Purifica- 
tion. Consider Hehr. ix. 18 to 22. 

(d) Bp. Andrewes. - (e) Zech. xiii. 1. 
(/) Bp. Andrewes, quoting Zech. ix. 11. (g) Bp. Horsley. 
[h] 1 St. John v. 6. [i) 1 St. John v. 6. 

(k) Bp. Horsley. (I) Consider Deut. xvii. 6, and xix. 15. 



904 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

following places, which, in his judgment, illustrate the matter in hand : — St. John 
i. 13 : iv. 14 ; xix. 34. St. Matth. xvi. 17. Rom. i. 3, 4. Heb. ii. 14. 1 St. John 
iv. 2, 3 : 2 St. John 7. Acts v. 32. (m) 

" If the Jews that stood by said truly of Him at Lazarus' grave, Behold how He 
loved him ! when He shed a few tears out of His eyes ; much more truly may we 
say, Behold how He loved us ! seeing Him shed both Blood and Water in great 
plenty out of His heart :"(ri) " which He ministered in so great abundance, that all 
His blood did stream over us, until He made the fountain dry; and reserved nothing 
of that by which He knew His Church was to 'live and move and have her 
being. ; "(o) 

These are many words : but he who will be at the pains to consider the immense 
dignity of the subject, will not think them superfluous. " It was with prophetic 
reference to this wound in Christ's side," (writes Augustine,) "that Noah was 
commanded to make a door in the side of the Ark, by which every creature might 
enter, which was to be saved from perishing in the waters of the Flood." The 
Rock which, when smitten by Moses' rod, sent forth a stream of water for the 
parched assembly of the people, presented a lively image of the same transaction. 
" That Rock," (we know,) " was Christ ;"(p) and, what is strange, the Targum of 
Jonathan(^) records a tradition that when Moses first struck it, "it dropped Wood: 
at the second time, came out much ivater." .... Thus foreshadowed by many a 
type, and discoursed of in many a prophecy,(r) — represented in emblem, even while 
it was being inflicted, (s) — and appealed to by St. Thomas, and by Christ, — the 
wound in our Saviour's side is connected by the beloved Disciple with the mention 
of the great and terrible Day itself : — "every eye shall see Him, and they also 
which pierced Rim !"(t) . . . It follows: 

35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true : and he 
knoweth that he saith truth, that je might believe. 

" St. John dwells upon it with earnest, reiterated asseveration, as a thing so won- 
derful that the explicit testimony of an eye-witness was requisite to make it credible ; 
and yet of great importance to be accredited, as a main foundation of the Faith." 
When a man so speaks, " he certainly speaks of something extraordinary, and hard 
to be believed; and yet, in his judgment, of great importance." Moreover, "he 
must be supposed to speak with the most scrupulous precision, and to call everything 
by its name. The Water, therefore, which he says he saw streaming from the wound, 
was as truly water, as the Blood was blood ; and herein consists the miracle. This 
pure Water and this pure Blood coming forth together, are two of those three 
earthly witnesses, whose testimony is so efficacious for the confirmation of the 
Faith." (it) 

"He that saw it bare record." "From this one sentence we discover what was 
St. John's special work among the Evangelists of his Lord. It was to bear record, 
as eye-witness and ear-witness, of those things which he had seen and heard ; and 
that he might bear record, he was privileged to see more than all the rest." Take 
notice how he rejoices in his office, and speaks ever of his own experience as the 
proof of his record: — " That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, 
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have 
handled, of the Word of Life: .... that which we have heard and seen declare 
we unto you." (a;) With such language he opens his Epistle : while his Gospel 
begins and ends(?/) with a similar declaration. (z) 

" That ye might believe." Is not St. John the only Evangelist who in this man- 
ner addresses his Christian readers? (a) 

(m) The learned reader is referred to the first volume of the Reliquice, pp. 170, 171, 487. 
(n) Bp. Andrewes. (o) Bp. Taylor. 

\p)l Cor. x. 4. 

(q) On Numb. xx. 11. However worthless the tradition, its existence in a Jewish Commen- 
tary of the Apostolic age is surely a marvellous circumstance. 
(■>■) Zech. xii. 10: xiii. 1. 

(s) Consider St. Matth. xxvii. 51, in connection with Heb. x. 19, 20. 
(0 Rev. i. 7. («) Bp. Horsley. 

(x) 1 St. John i. 1, 3. \y) St. John i. 14 : xxi. 24. 

(z) Abridged from a MS. Sermon by the Rev. Edm. Hobhouse. 
(«) Here and in chap. xx. 31. 



XIX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 905 

36 For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, 
A bone of Him shall not be broken. 

The Scripture alluded to, is found to be partly Exodus xii. 46, partly Psalm 
xxxiv. 20 ; a blended quotation, and therefore intended doubtless as well to recall 
the prophetical bearing of the place in the Psalms, as of the Paschal type. 

3T And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on Him 
whom they pierced. 

This should be printed " They shall look on Me, whom they pierced ;" as the 
learned reader, with a Greek Gospel before him, will perceive at a glance. The 
prophet Zechariah so writes in the remarkable place from which the text is quoted, 
— chap. xii. 10 ; where it will be perceived that Jehovah is the Speaker. Christ 
is therefore Jehovah. ... In the ensuing chapter, Zechariah notices the wounds 
in our Saviour's Hands. "(b) 

There seems to be truth in the suggestion that this prophecy embraces a distinct 
reference to both the Advents of Christ. " They pierced" Him, — now: "they 
shall look on Him" — then. For, (as the same St. John by Revelation elsewhere 
writes,) — "Behold, He cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall see Him,(c) and 

they also which pierced Him."(d) "Take notice, also, that the prophecy of 

Zechariah proceeds, — ■" and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only 
son." While St. John's next words in the same Book of Revelation are, — " and all 
kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of Him" 

38 And after this, Joseph of Arimathsea, being a Disciple of Jesus, 
but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take 
away the Body of Jesus : 

What evidence have we here of a noble nature ! The sight of the ignominious 
death to which his Lord had submitted, instead of quenching his zeal or his love, 
only caused the dull embers to burst into a flame. The transition, in the case of 
the Divine Sufferer, from exceeding degradation to some slight foretaste of the glory 
which awaited Him, is instantaneous. ... It follows : 

and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the Body 
of Jesus. 

Holy, and thrice happy man : though, as yet, little conscious of his happiness ! 
Least of all, when he planted for himself a garden, and dug in the rock a new 
grave for himself, can he have suspected what was in store for that garden and that 
grave ! . . . . Surely, this entire history has consecrated expensive funerals, and 
given a solemn sanction to care bestowed on burial-places, for ever ! 

The reader is referred to a few remarks which have been already offered on this 
transaction, in the commentary on St. Matth. xxvii. 58 and 60: on St. Mark xv. 42 
to 46 ; and on St. Luke xxiii. 51. — Augustine points out that He who died for the 
sake of others, might well rest in the tomb of another : that the Prince of Life 
could require no sepulchral chamber of His own : nay, that it was but for three 
days that He needed the rich man's tomb, at all; during which brief period, He 
"laid Him down and slept" "a deep sleep "(e) 

39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus 
by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred 
pound weight. 

Thus, even in death, it may be said of Him, " All Thy garments smell of myrrh, 
aloes, and cassia \"{g) . . . " There had been an interpreted, (h) and an intended, (i) 
unction of our Saviour ; but really and actually He was interred with the spices 
which Nicodemus brought."(A;) The large quantity specified indicates alike the 
opulence and the love of this disciple ; and indeed, from what we read of the man- 

(6) Zeeh. xiii. 6. • " (c) Compare St. Matth. xxvi. 64. 

(d)Rev. i. 7. (e)Gen. ii. 31. 

(g) Ps.-xlv. 8. (h) St. Mark xiv. 8. 

(i) St. Mark xvi. 1. [k) Bp. Pearson. 



906 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

ner of Kins; Asa's burial, (I) it may be thought that the present was a far costlier 
method of interment than was within the reach of our Lord's female followers, or 
was intended by them. 

St. John is the only Evangelist who records the share of Nicodemus. in the Burial 
of Christ. The progressive boldness of this good man in the cause of Christ, has 
been fully noticed elsewhere. (to) St. John's manner of identifying the persons of 
whom he writes, by some single remarkable passage in their past history, (as Nico- 
demus, by his visit to Christ,) has been also elsewhere commented on.(w) 

40 Then took they the Body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes 
with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 

Rather, " to prepare for burial." Compare chap. xi. 44. The last few words, 
(together with many other similar expressions in the present Gospel,) remind us 
that St. John wrote at a distance from Judsea.(o) .... Joseph and Nicodemus, — 
members of the High Court of Sanhedrin, who yet had not been partakers in the 
guilt of their fellow-counsellors, — knew not as yet that this was He of whom it is 
written in the xvith. Psalm, " Thou wilt not leave My soul in Hell: neither wilt 
Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see Corruption." Nor was it fitting, as yet, that 
they should know it. Everything that was customary in the case of human burials, 
must in His case be transacted; who verily and indeed, "died, and was buried;" 
as well as, " on the third day rose again." It follows : 

41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a Garden : 
and in the Garden a new Sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. 

Observe the prominence which the inspired Evangelist gives to the fact that it 
was in a Garden that the Second Adam " laid Him down in peace and took His 
rest."(_p) The reason of this has been already mentioned in the note on St. John 
xviii. 1. Take notice, also, that now was done literally that thing which our 
Saviour had discoursed of, long before, in parable : for this was none other than 
that " grain of Mustard seed, which a Man took, and cast into his Garden; and it 
grew, and waxed a great Tree."(<?) This was that "corn of Wheat," which, except 
it "fall into the ground and die, abideth alone: but if it die, bringeth forth much 
fruit !"(/) .... The writer supposed, for a moment, that the idea of connecting 
St. Luke xiii. 19 with the present verse, might be novel: but he found that Gregory 
the Great had anticipated him ; and that Ambrose had anticipated Gregory. Such 
thoughts have probably occurred to believers in every age. 

A new sepulchre was surely the only fitting resting place for One whose Death 
was to "make all things new:"(s) for One, who, as the Author of Life and Im- 
mortality, could have no intercourse, even in Death, with corruption : for One, 
about whose Resurrection there must be no room for doubt or cavil: for One, lastly, 
who, (as the Creator of the World,) must ever find honor, at the hands of some 
of His creatures, amid the very depth of that dishonor, to which, for our sakes, He 
submitted. See the note on St. Matthew ii. 2. 

42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation 
day ; for the Sepulchre was nigh at hand. 

In other words, the Garden closely adjoined the scene of the Crucifixion. — "Pre- 
paration" was the ancient name for " Friday," or the eve of the Sabbath; " there- 
fore called the Preparation, because on that day they did prepare whatever was 
necessary for the celebration of the following festival." [t) See above, verses 14 
and 31. 

(I) 2 Chron. xvi. 14. 

(m) See the note on St. John iii. 1. 

(n) See the notes on St. John iv. 46, and xviii. 14. 

(o) See the note on St. John vi. 1. (p) Ps. iv. 8. 

(q) St. Luke xiii. 19. 

(r) St. John xii. 24. Compare 1 Cor. xv. 36. 

(s) See the notes on St. John xiii. 34. (t) Bp. Pearson. 



XX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 907 



CHAPTER XX. 



1 Mary cometh to the Sepulchre : 3 so do Peter and John, ignorant of the Resurrec- 
tion. 11 Jesus appeareth to Mary Magdalene. 19 and to His Disciples. 24 The 
incredulity, and confession of Thomas. 30 The Scripture is sufficient to Salvation. 

Between the last verse of chapter xix. and the words which follow, there is an 
interval of one entire day; which, with the concluding portion of Friday, (the day 
of Death and Burial,) and the beginning of Sunday, (the day of Resurrection,) 
makes, according to the idiom of the Sacred writings, the well-known space of 
"three days" after which Christ "rose from the dead." And during this entire 
period, (the space probably of nearly thirty-six hours,) our Saviour's human Body 
lay in the Grave, while His human Soul went to the place of departed spirits. The 
reader is requested to read what has been already offered on this great subject in 
the note on St. Luke xxiv. 3, as well as in the note prefixed to St. Mark xvi. . . . 
In the words of the prophet Jonah, — " The waters compassed me about, even to 
the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. 
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains ; the earth with her bars was about 
me for ever: yet hast Thou brought my life from corruption, Lord my God. "(a) 
— Consider St. Matthew xii. 40 ; and observe the fulfillment of our Saviour's pro- 
phecy in the words which follow. 

1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it 
was yet dark, unto the Sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from 
the Sepulchre. 

St. John, like the first two Evangelists, sets the name of Mary Magdalene, (who 
is not to be confounded with the sister of Lazarus,) in the very forefront of his ac- 
count of the Resurrection ; marking thereby, doubtless, the eagerness of her love, 
as well as preparing us for the amazing privilege which was in reserve for her of 
beholding, before any one else, her risen Lord. (b) "Good proof gave she of that 
love," says Bp. Andrewes. " She was last at His Cross, and first at His Grave : 
staid longest there, was soonest here: could not rest till she were up to seek Him: 

sought Him while it was yet dark, before she had light to seek Him by." 

Is it not written in a certain place, "I love them that love Me; and those that seek 
Me early shall find Me?"(c) 

To show how entirely consistent with one another are the four inspired accounts 
of our Blessed Saviour's Resurrection, is the province of a Harmony, rather than 
of a Commentary on the Gospels. It shall but be observed in this place that if men 
would but approach the Word of God with the same fairness, and apply to it the 
same principles of Interpretation, which are so readily applied to the writings of 
uninspired authors, we should have heard less of the difficulties which are supposed 
to beset this subject. 

The moment indicated by the beloved Disciple, is that which immediately precedes 
the dawn. The Jewish Sabbath, which had begun on Friday evening, had come to a 
close at the sunset of the previous day ; and the prescribed period of sacred rest 
having then ceased, it would have been lawful for the party of holy Women of 
whom we read in the other three Gospels, and who had " rested the Sabbath-day, 
according to the commandment," (d) now at length to approach the Sepulchre. 
But, for their purpose of anointing our Lord's Budy,(e) they required light ; and 
they knew that in a few moments the Sun would rise upon the Earth. They set 
out, therefore, " while it was yet dark/' for their love would not suffer them to 
wait any longer, and reached the Sepulchre, (as they had intended,) " at the rising 
of the Sun."(y) . . . They knew not, that He of whom the Sun is a faint emblem 
or shadow,(#) had already come forth " as a Bridegroom out of His Chamber/' 

(a) Jonah ii. 5, 6. (6) St. Mark xvi. 9. 

(c) Prov. viii. 17. (d) St. Luke xxiii. 56. 

(e) See the note on St. Luke xxiv. 1. (/) St. Mark xvi. 2. 
(g) Ps. xix. 5. 



908 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP 

rejoicing " as a Giant(7i) to run His course ;" nor yet that the last Jewish Sabbath 
had already reached its close, and that the first Lord's Day was about to begin, — 
the birthday of the New Creation ! . . . . See the note prefixed to St. Matthew 
xxviii. — In the meantime, Mary Magdalene, (who had not come alone.) " seefch the 
stone taken away from the Sepulchre.'' The manner of its removal is described by 
St. Matthew.O") 

2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other 
Disciple, whom Jesus loved, 

It seems fair to infer from this statement, both that Mary Magdalene knew 
where St. Peter and St. John were to be found, and that they were already living 
together. Consider what has been already offered concerning this noble pair of 
Disciples, in the commentary on St. John xviii. 15. Were they perhaps engaged, 
at this time, in administering consolation to the bereaved Mother of our Blessed 
Lord ?(&) . . . How little Mary understood, as yet, what had taken place, appears 
from her words which follow : 

and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the 
Sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him. 

" They have taken away!" — the very thing, (though she knew it not,) which the 
band of soldiers had been stationed there in order to prevent ;(Z) the very thing 
which, afterwards, the high Priests would have had the World believe. (wi) So 
possessed was she by the belief that our Lord's Body had been carried off by .some 
one, that she repeats her conviction, as if it were an established fact, no less than 
three times. (n) " We know not," — because she was one of a company of many 
women, as we learn from St. Mark xvi. 1. 

3, 4, 5 Peter therefore went forth, and that other Disciple, and came 
to the Sepulchre. So they ran both together : and the other Disciple 
did outrun Peter, and came first to the Sepulchre. And he stooping 
down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying ; yet went he not in. 

Rather, he " saw the linen cloths." Not apparel, but that wherewith the corpse 
had been swathed, is spoken of.(o) 

6, 7 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the 
Sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was 
about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together 
in a place by itself. 

Everything which St. Peter saw indicated Divine calmness and perfect order. 
There had been no hurried rising, — still less had there been any hostile intrusion 
into the chamber of Death. Our Saviour Christ having laid Him down in peace 
and taken His rest, awoke on the morning of the third day ; for God, — who would 
not leave His soul in Hell, neither would suffer His Holy One to see Corruption, (p) 
—God Himself sustained Him.(g) The linen clothes in which the Body had been 
shrouded, lay together ; and the napkin which had covered His sacred Head, was 
discovered carefully folded, and deposited in a place apart, — the work, it may be, 
of ministering Angels, who waited upon His Rising. 

Let it only be remarked in passing that when, (In conformity with the express 
word of Scripture,) we speak of our Saviour as " sustained ;" as not left in Hell, 
nor suffered to see Corruption: as "raised from Death, and ministered to by 
Angels, — we do not forget that we speak of Him who even then sustained Crea- 
tion; who raised Himself from Death, — as He pleased, and when He pleased ;(r) 
and quitted the Holy Sepulchre in the manner which to Himself seemed good, 
without the help of any, — much less of His own created Angels. No ; the stone 

(h) Consider Judges xvi. 3. (i) St. Matth. xxviii. 2. 

(7c) For consider St. John xix. 27. (I) See St. Matth. xxvii. 63 to 66. 

(m) See St. Matth. xxviii. 11 to 15. (») In verses 2, 13, 15. 

(o) See St. John xix. 40. (p) Ps. xvi. 10. 

(</) Ps. iii. 5. (r) See the note on the last half of St. John x. IS. 



XX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 909 

rolled away was the work of one of these heavenly ministers, indeed ; but only as 
a sign to the soldiers and the rest that Christ was risen already. 

8 Then went in also that other Disciple, which came first to the 
Sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. 

"Believed/' (that is,) in the Resurrection. St. John knew how Nicodemus and 
Joseph had swathed the Body of his Lord ; — the Hands and Feet fettered, as it 
were, with grave-clothes ;(s) which must have been compacted together by the 
glutinous nature of the myrrh so profusely employed on this occasion ;{t) while 
the sacred Face had been bound about with a napkin. He knew too of the soldiers 
who had been stationed to guard the Sepulchre ; and of the seal which had been 
set upon the stone. When, therefore, he beheld those soldiers dispersed, and that 
seal broken, and that stone removed ; those linen clothes deposited in order, and 
that napkin folded together in a place apart ; — the truth flashed upon him in an 
instant. Many a dark saying of his Lord as to what was to befall Himself grew 
bright ; and he believed that the crowning marvel of all must have taken place, — 
even that the Holy One had raised Himself from Death ! . . . Take notice, there- 
fore, that the Disciple whom Jesus loved, was the first of all mankind to believe and 
to knoio the truth of His Resurrection ! 

What is recorded of the two Disciples on this occasion, (and which St. Luke 
relates so concisely, (u) that even the identity of the narratives has been doubted,) 
is remarkably illustrative of the characters of St. Peter and St. John, respectively. 
Both of an eager disposition, they are both found to " run" towards the Sepulchre. 
St. John, — was it because he was the more youthful, and therefore perhaps the 
more vigorous ? — reaches the goal first ; but he is withheld by reverence and awe 
from entering. He stoops, and only gazes in. So was it afterwards upon the 
Lake. The Disciple whom Jesus loved reached the goal first, in heart and by 
Faith, then, as it was he who reached the Sepulchre first, in bodily presence, now. 
By throwing himself into the Water, he might have come to our Lord ; yet, for 
whatever reason, " went he not in." He remained in the ship. Not so Simon 
Peter, on that occasion : not so Simon Peter now. On reaching the spot, he enters 
immediately. St. John at last overcomes his hesitation. He enters, — and at once 
believes. . . . What is implied by this last announcement is shown by the words 
which follow ; which also explain the reason why the Apostles were so slow to 
admit the fact of their Lord's Resurrection. 

9 For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again 
from the dead. 

Marvellous declaration ! — and we have it from the pen of St. John himself. The 
Apostles knew many things which Moses and the prophets had announced con- 
cerning Messiah ; but " the Scripture that He must rise again from the dead," — 
that they knew not. They had heard their Lord say this thing many times ; but 
they had not understood Him. See St. John xii. 16, and the beginning of the note 
on the place. They had heard Him not only darkly intimate the period of His 
own Resurrection,(a:) but even plainly declare that " on the third Day, He should 
rise again ;"(?/) yet had those words, as it seems, hitherto conveyed no clear signi- 
fication to their minds. Nay, they had " kept that saying with themselves, 
questioning one with another ivhdt the rising from the dead should mean:"(z) for 
" they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask Him."(a) What is 
truly astonishing, the enemies of Christ seem to have understood its import per- 
fectly well : for see St. Matthew xxvii. 63, 64. 

What St. John here asserts of himself and his fellow-disciples, however, is, that 
" as yet they knew not," that is, "did not understand the Scripture," (b) To what 
" Scripture," then, may he be supposed to allude ? The only texts expressly quoted 
in this behalf, in the Book of the Acts, are Psalms ii. 7,(c) and xvi. 10 ;(d) yet is it 

(s) See St. John si. 44. 

(t) St. John six. 39, 40. Chrysostom says that the myrrh was glutinous. 

(u) St. Luke xsiv. 12. (a?) St. John ii. 19, and St. Matth. xii. 40. 

(?/) See St. Matth. svi. 21 : xvii. 9 and 23 : ss. 19. 

(z) St. Mark ix. 10. («) St. Mark ix. 32. 

(6) Consider St. Luke xxiv. 45. (c) Acts xiii. 33. 

(cZ) See Acts ii. 25, &c. and xiii. 34, 35. 



910 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

reasonable to suppose from the emphatic words of our Lord on two other occa- 
sions, (e) as well as from the language of St. Paul,(/) that this stupendous truth is 
contained, in one form or other, throughout " Moses, and the Prophets, and the 
Psalms," also : not only darkly, — as in Ps. ex. 7 ; but plainly, — as in the histories 
of Isaac, of Joseph, and of Jonah: indeed, in many other ways, in many other 
places. It has been well remarked, that " as the number seven is of special use in 
Scripture, because of the Sabbath-day, (g) so three is a mystical number, because of 
Christ's rising from the dead on the third day." (7*) The reader will do well to 
consider the several references indicated at foot.(z) " Unto which we may add a 
Jew's testimony, commenting on Gen. xxii. 4, that "there are many a three days in 
the Holy Scripture, of which one is the Resurrection o/"Messias."(j?') 

May we, without fear of offence, humbly suggest that something more than we 
have in any way even alluded to, may possibly lie concealed beneath the surface of 
the narrative contained in the last seven verses ? . . . Why are we told so minutely 
what was the conduct and bearing of the two Disciples on this occasion ? ... But 
to have said these few words shall suffice. There is surely a third course open to 
us, besides being either fanciful in assigning interpretations on every occasion, and 
presumptuous in assuming that we know all that is contained in the words of the 
Spirit. 

10 Then the Disciples went away again unto their own home. 

And if that home, as above suggested, (A*) was already the home of the Blessed 
Virgin, — the rapture of the intelligence which St. John will have had to convey 

to her bruised and almost broken heart ! The reader is invited to consider 

that one only incident is recorded of our Blessed Lord, from His Infancy to His 
Manhood, — that visit, namely, to Jerusalem, when His Parents missed Him ; and 
"after three days found Him" in His Father's House. {I) "The circumstance 
itself creates an apprehension that there is more in the matter than appears. The 
whole transaction seems calculated to train His Mother to a trust and reliance in 
Him, when He should be out of her sight; and when, for " three days," she should 
be in vain seeking for Him, sorrowing. If this incident, and the instruction con- 
veyed by it, had not the effect of schooling her beforehand for her great trial, — 
will not His Divine Teaching on that occasion have appeared to her now, in the 
retrospect, after His Resurrection ?"(m) 

In the meanwhile, what is expressly revealed to us is, that the two Disciples, 
leaving Mary Magdalene behind, went home : St. John, in faith ; St. Peter in won- 
der. (n) And this last circumstance, by the way, may possibly explain why a spe- 
cial appearance was vouchsafed to Simon. (o) Is it not remarkable, when St. Peter's 
share in St. Mark's Gospel is considered, that we should discover an explanation of 
this slowness of heart on his own part, twice inserted there ? namely, in St. Mark 
ix. 10 and 32, (p) — where the words have evident reference, by anticipation, to the 
present hour. 

11 But Mary stood without at the Sepulchre weeping : 

For she had, of course, hastened back to the spot in company with the two Dis- 
ciples. — The indications of her love are many and affecting. So late at the Cross, 
— so early at the Grave, — so impatient for sympathy and help when she found the 

(e) See St. Luke xxiv. 25, 26; 45, 46, and the notes. 

(/) 1 Cor. xv. 4. (g) Gen. ii. 2. 

(h) St. Matth. xvii. 23 : 1 Cor. xv. 4. 

(i) Gen. xxii. 4 : xl. 12, 13 : xlii. 17, 18. Exod. v. 3 : xv. 22 : xix. 11. Numb. x. 33 : xix. 
12. Josh. i. 11 : ii. 16. Esther v. 1. Jonah i. 17. Hos. vi. 2. St. Mark xv. 25. St. Luke 
xiii. 32, &c. Threefold is the division of St. Matthew's genealogy : and threefold the temptation 
of our Lord. Thrice did our Saviour repeat His mysterious prayer in the Garden of Gethse- 
mane, — St. Matthew xxvi. 44 : and thrice command St. Peter to feed His sheep, — St. John xxi. 
17. And see ver. 14. St. Peter declares concerning his vision, "This teas done three times," — 
Acts ix. 10. 

( / ) Ainsworth, quoting Bereshith Rabba. 

(k) See the note on ver. 2. {I) St. Luke ii. 46. 

(m) Williams. (n) St. Luke xxiv. 12, 

(o) St. Luke xxiv. 34 and 1 Cor. xv. 5. 

( p) Compare, (for it is delightful to have one's attention called to such things,) the language 
of St. Mark ix. 6, and xiv. 40. 



XX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 911 

sacred Body missing, — so faithful to the spot, when not only the other women, but 
even St. Peter and St. John, had left it ! We shall presently learn that as she 
stood weeping, (she stood, for she could not rest,) her tears were so abundant, that 
the first inquiry of the Angels, yea, of Christ Himself, was "Woman, why weep- 
est thou ?" It follows, that not satisfied with her former inspection of the cham- 
ber of Death, nor with the experience of St. Peter and St. John, she cannot help 
gazing through her streaming eyes into the vacant Sepulchre, yet once more. 

12 And as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the Sepulchre, 
and seeth two Angels in white sitting, the one at the Head, and the 
other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 

" And yet, these two Angels had not been seen there by others, nor by herself 
before : like vast spiritual truths, of which, at one moment, we have a full and dis- 
tinct perception; but, at another, lose sight of them ; and which one sees, and ano- 
ther does not."(<?) For it is not to be supposed that these Angels, now repaired to 
the place of our Saviour's Burial for the first time. They had been there from the 
very first. 

At His Transfiguration, at His Kesurrection, and at His Ascension, He is waited 
on by two.ir) ..." In white," — ■" their Easter-Day color, for it is the color of the 
Resurrection." .... "In white," and "sitting," — a sufficient proof that He was 

no longer there 1 " As the color, of joy ; so the situation, of rest." "The 

one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the Body of Jesus had lain." 
For Christ's Body was the true Ark, in which it pleased "the GoDhead to dwell 
bodily. "(s) His resting-place is therefore between two Angels, like the mercy-seat, 
of old. Even in His Death, He is found to have dwelt, as in ancient days, "between 
the Cherubim." (0 

13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou ? 

" They mean," (remarks good Bp. Andrewes,) "that she had no cause to weep. 
She weeps because she found the grave empty, — which God forbid that she should 
have found full! for then Christ must have been dead still, and so, no Resurrec- 
tion. And this case of Mary Magdalene is our case oftentimes: in the error of 
our conceit, to weep where we have no cause ; to joy, where we have as little. 
Where we have cause to joy, we weep; and, where to weep, we joy. False joys, 
and false sorrows, false hopes and false fears, this life of ours is full of. God help 
us!" 

She saith unto them, because they have taken away my Lord, and 
I know not where they have laid Him. 

Like the Spouse in the Canticles, "by night she sought Him whom her soul 
loved; she sought Him but she found Him not." (if) .... "The suddenness, the 
strangeness, the gloriousness of the sight of two Angels, moves her not at all. 
She seems to have no sense of it; and so, to be in a kind of ecstasy all the while. 
She had rather find His dead Body, than behold them in all their Glory. Until she 
find Him again, her soul refuses all manner of comfort; yea, even from Heaven ; 
even from the Angels themselves."(a:) 

" Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first 
to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils." (y) Accordingly, it 
follows : 

14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw 
Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 

Augustine remarks that " Christ is never long absent from those who seek 
Him." But how did it happen that Mary Magdalene "turned herself back," thus 
opportunely ? Wa^ she not gazing intently into the Sepulchre ? and must not the 
sight of those two radiant beings, (notwithstanding the pious remark of Bp. An- 

(q) Williams. (r) See the note on St. Luke ix. 30. 

(«) Col. ii. 9. 

[t) Exod. xxv. 17 to 21, and the marginal refei-ences against ver. 22. 

(u) Solomon's Song iii. 1. (x) Bp. Andrewes. 

(y) St. Mark xvi. 9. 



912 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

drewes,) have sufficiently occupied her attention? Yes, doubtless. But at the* 
sight of their Creator, the Angels will have expressed awe, perhaps adoration. 
They will have risen from their seats, and bowed their heads, or prostrated their 
bodies. And Mary, amazed will have turned to see what was passing behind her. 
. . . She beholds her risen Lord, but she does not recognize Him. Her eyes are 
holden, — as in the case of the two going to Enimaus,(2) and of the Disciples by 
the Lake in the next chapter.(a) 

15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman why weepest thou? whom seekest 
thou? 

" It is the voice of her beloved," — whose " head is filled with dew, and his locks 
with the drops of the Night;" (5) but she knows Him not. . . . Our Lord begins 
as the Angels had begun. (c) See above on verse 11. It is to teach us, (remarks 
Ambrose,) that the words of Angels are spoken by command of God. A great 
Father of our own Church observes upon it, — " Now, seeing Christ asks it again 
a second time, we will think there is something in it, and stay a little at it. The 
rather, for that it is the very opening of His mouth ; the very first words that ever 
came from Him, and that He spake first of all, after His rising again from death. 
There is sure some more than ordinary matter in this, 'Why weepest thou?' if it 
be put even for that !"'... (How keen and true a sense of the dignity of the Gos- 
pel had the Man who could so write! He proceeds :) — " Thus say the Fathers ; 
that Mary Magdalene standing by the Grave's side, and there weeping, is thus 
brought in to represent unto us the state of all mankind before this Day, the Day of 
Christ's rising again ; weeping over the dead as do the heathens, who have no 
hope.(<i) But Christ comes and asks 'Why weepest thou?' as much as to say, 
' Weep not ! There is no cause of weeping now/ Henceforth, none shall need to 

stand by the grave to weep there any more So that this, ' Why weepest 

thou?' of Christ's, (a question very proper for the day of the Resurrection,) wipes 
away tears from all eyes ; puts off our mourning weeds, girds us with gladness, 
and robes us all 'in white/ with the Angels."(e) 

The further inquiry " Whom seekest thou V seems to have reference to Mary's 
brief conversation with the two Angels, which our Lord will have overheard, as 
He stood behind her. 

She, supposing Him to be the Gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if 
thou have borne Him hence, tell me, where thou hast laid Him, and I 
will take Him away. 

The second Adam is seen standing in the Garden, and straightway he is mistaken 
for "the Gardener!" . . . Can we suppose that any single word is set down idly 
here ? If Mary's surmise had had no reasonableness in it, — think you, that the 
Holy Spriit would have suffered St. John to write her surmise down ? Not so, there 
is deep Divinity in the circumstance. " She mistook Him," (observes Gregory the 
Great,) "Avithout being in reality mistaken." "A Gardener He is," (adds pious 
Bp. Andrewes ;) " the first, the fairest Garden that ever was, was of His planting !" 
— alluding to Genesis ii. 8. 

" If thou have borne Him hence," — are her first words : but she has not, as yet, 
mentioned of whom she speaks. " The soul, transported with love, seems at first to 
express her affection without declaring its object, as thinking all the world must 
know who is the person intended." (/) "An irregular speech, but Love's own dia- 
lect," exclaims Bp. Andrewes. "Him is enough with Love. Who knows not who 
it is, though we never tell His name, nor say a word more V\g) . 

Observe further her intention to " take Him away." A weak woman to think of 
accomplishing such a task, alone ! And yet, the Body "had more than a hundred 
pounds weight of myrrh and other odours upon it !" But Love is stronger than the 
Grave. . . . She suspected that the Gardener had removed beyond the limits of his 
Garden, our Lord's Body ; and if she may but know where those sacred limbs have 
been laid, she promises to convey them away to some other place. 

1 (z) St. Luke xxiv. 16. Compare St. Mark xvi. 12. 

(a) St. John xxi. 4. (b) Song of Solomon v. 2. 

(c) See ver. 13. (d) 1 Thess. iv. 13. 

(e) Bp. Andrewes. (/) Bp. Home on Ps. cxvi. 1. 

(g) So also Gregory the Great. Rarely indeed does it happen that a true remark of a modern 
Divine is not to he found in the pages of an ancient Father. 



XX.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S OOSPEL. 913 



It seems that in accosting the Gardener, she called him " Sir," in order to con- 
ciliate his favour. Unconsciously, she bestows upon the Stranger His right title. 
The word is literally "Lord," in the original. Nay, every word she now utters, 
"bears a lofty and an unsuspected meaning : for ivlio but Christ Himself, whom she 
addressed had borne away that body of which she was in search ? 

Having spoken such words to the supposed Gardener, Mary turns away from 
Him to gaze again into the Sepulchre, — as we learn from the next verse. Was it 
perhaps because, for a few moments, our Saviour made her no reply ? 

16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. 

" It should seem that before, with His shape, He had changed His voice also. 
But now, He speaks to her in His known voice, in the wonted accent. He does 
but name her name, 'Mary;' and that is enough/-' . . . Call to mind, here, what 
is said in so many places of Scripture about Christ "calling," "knowing," His 
sheep and His people "&?/ Name."{h) Consider further, that "till He knows us, 
we shall never know Him aright." 

"And with this, all is turned out and in," (proceeds the pious commentator from 
whom we have quoted so largely.) "A new World, now! For, in very deed, a 
kind of Resurrection it was which was wrought in her ; revived, as it were, and 
raised from a dead and drooping, to a lively and cheerful state. The Gardener has 
done his part: made her all green on the sudden. And all by a word of His 
mouth. Such power is there in every word of His ! So easily are they called whom 
Christ will but speak to!" 

She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni ; which is to say, 
Master. 

the rapture, the joy unspeakable which must have found expression in that 
single word ! . . . " We see that He chose to be made known by the ear, rather than 
by the eye. He opens her ears first, and her eyes after. Hearing is the sense of 
Faith : and so, most meet ; for Christ is the Word. In matters of faith, the ear 
is of more use, and to be trusted before the eye : for in many cases, Faith holdeth 
where Sight faileth.(t) .... Concerning the title by which she addressed our 
Saviour, see the note on St. John xi. 28. 

It would seem, that, at the sound of the well-known voice, Mary fell prostrate at 
the feet of Him whom she so desired, and sought to embrace His feet. She has 
" found Him whom her soul loveth: she holds Him and will not let Him go."(&) 
For it follows, — 

17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch Me not ; for I am not yet ascended 
to My Father. 

Strange that both the old World and the new should have begun with the same 
prohibition,— " Touch not!(Z) In the words before us, there are two difficulties 
which require explaining. (1st.*) Why may not Mary Magdalene touch her risen 
Lord, if the other women may "hold Him by the feet ;"(»&) if St. Thomas may 
thrust his hand into His side ; and all the assembled Disciples may be even invited to 
"handle" Him, and see that it is He indeed? — The true answer is probably sup- 
plied by Chrysostom. "To touch, would not have cured her disease, but made it 
worse. They touched, because they believed not : she touched not because she 
believed not of Him aright. They touched, that they might know He was risen : 
she touched not, that she might know He was not so risen as she wrongly imagined; 
that is, that He was no longer as in former times she had known Him."(n) — The 
reader is invited to refer to the notes on St. Luke viii. 39, and St. Mark v. 19 : also 
to the end of the note on St. Matthew xi. 5. 

(2nd.) What is the force of that reason assigned : " Touch Me not, for I am 
not yet ascended?" Doubtless, Augustine has rightly suggested that, in these 
words, Christ's meaning was to wean her from all sensual and fleshly touching : 
to teach her a new and a true touch, — truer than that which she intended. The, 
form of His prohibition clearly conveys a promise that after His Ascension she may, 

[h) See the note on the latter part of St. John x. 3. 

(0 Bp. Andrewes. (k) Song of Solomon iii. 4. (I) Gen. iii. 3. 

(m) St. Matth. xxviii. 9. (n) Bishop Andrewes. 

58 



914 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

nay, that she must, touch Hini. This touch of 'Faith could not begin till then. He 
had hinted as much, indeed, to the men of Capernaum, when He asked, 'Doth this 
offend yon ? What, and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was 
before ?"(o) . . . This touching, therefore, is ours and our children's, forever. A 
loftier privilege we find, a more real "touching," than Mary could have enjoyed in 
the Garden, or the Twelve in the upper chamber at Jerusalem ! . . . Consider, in 
illustration of what has been thus offered concerning the spiritual touch, the note on 
St. Mark v. 31. — Let us then send up our Faith, (says Andrewes after Augustine,) 
and that shall touch Him ; and there will come forth virtue out of Him. Yea, it 
shall take such hold on Him, that it shall raise us up to where He is ; bring us to 
the end of all our desires, — a joyful Ascension to our Father and to His ; to Him- 
self, and to the Unity of the Blessed Spirit. " Here, then, is the doctrine, which 
detached from the particular case and character of Mary, (who herein stood in the 
place of the Church,) seems to fill up the great doctrine of Christ's presence in the 
Church. It could not be until, in the flesh, He had ascended to the Father/' (p) 
Consider St. John xvi. 7. 

"Shall she then be quite cast off, in the meantime? Denied touching, and nothing 
to comfort her, in lieu of it?" .No. Christ is not unrighteous that He should for- 
get the work and labour of her Love, which she, this clay, made so many ways to 
appear. Somewhat He deviseth to comfort her. He vrill employ her in a message," 
— and thus make her an Apostle ; yea, make her the very Apostle of the Apostles ! 
send her to preach the very Gospel of the Gospel ! . . . He says : 

But go to My Brethren, 

" There is nothing here that savours of anger or of pride. He calls them Breth- 
ren," — an endearing title which He had never bestowed upon His Disciples till 
now. "Even as Joseph, in the top of his honour, so He, in this the day of His 
glorious exaltation, claims kindred with them, — a sort of poor forlorn men ; and, 
(as the Apostle expresseth it,) He is not "ashamed" of them that were ashamed of 
Him.(^) Poor as they are, unkind as they were, He vouchsafes to call them 
" Brethren :" which word implies two things. First, that His Nature is not changed 
by Death; but, He rises again in the same Nature He died in. Secondly, He is 
risen with the same love and affection He had before. He hath not changed that, 
either. "(r) .... How remarkable is the discovery that inasmuch as the twenty- 
second Psalm, (which the Church hath appointed to be used on Good Friday,) con- 
sisteth of two parts, — whereof the former, (verse 1 to 21,) is prophetical of Christ's 
Passion, and the latter, (verse 22 to 31,) celebrateth His Resurrection, (s) — the 
strain changes to a hymn of triumph in the mouth of the Redeemer with the words, 
" I will declare Thy Name unto My Brethren!" Nay, can we doubt that our risen 
Lord, by the use of this word here, and in St. Matthew xxviii. 10, lays his finger 
on that very place in ancient Prophecy? . . . " Go to My Brethren," (saith He,) — 

and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father ; 
and to My God, and your God. 

Pie sends not word to His "Brethren" that He is "risen." Of this, Mary needs 
no assurance ; nor, very soon, will they. But, lest they should simply think of 
Him as returned to Earth, — restored to them eternally on the same terms as before, 
— He sends them a message of His approaching departure from them, and Ascen- 
sion into Heaven ; as if He had said, Look not any more for My bodily presence 
among you. Learn, at last, to "lift up your hearts !" . . . Then, further, because 
"He is no sooner risen than He makes ready for His ascending, — so, with us, 
Rising and Ascending are to follow straight one upon the other." 

" And out of what Christ did, we learn what we are to do. Seeing Christ staid 
not here, we are not to set up our stay here neither: not to make Earth our Heaven, 
nor to place our felicity here below." 

Take notice that our Lord makes mention of ascending, twice ; of rising, not at 
% all. And it is to teach us, (observes the same pious writer,) that Resurrection is 

nothing, nor is any account to be made of it, if Ascension go not with it 

" Never take care for Resurrection ! That will come of itself, without any thought- 
taking of thine. Take thought for Ascension ! set your minds there ! Better lie 
still in our graves, better never rise, than rise, and rising not ascend." 

(o) St. John vi. 61, 62. (p) Dr. Moberly. (q) Heb. ii. 11. 

(r) Bp. Andrewes. (s) See Bp. Home on that Psalm. 



XX.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 915 



" Where then, or what, is their comfort, or ours, in these tidings ? To deal 
plainly, when we seek it in the announcement of our Lord's Ascension to His 
Father and His God, we find it not : but in the assurance that it is ' our Father/ 
and ' our God/ as well, to whom He ascended, there we find it ! Christ implied as 
much, indeed, when He called the Disciples His 'Brethren/ but He would not 
deliver so blessed a truth only by implication, — but explicitly and plainly : and not 
once, but twice. And it is happy for us He did so ; for this point cannot be too 
plainly or too often repeated. All the joy of this morning is in this. Tell them 
that if I go to Him thus because He is My Father, they also shall come after Me, 
because He is theirs. Moreover, by virtue hereof, if we cry Abba, Father, He is 
ready to hear our prayers ; and when we go hence, ready to receive our persons. 
If at any time we repent, and say, ' I will arise and go to my Father,"(/) He is 
ready to receive us to Grace; and when we go hence, we may say with Christ, ' I 
ascend unto My Father/ for he is ready to receive us to Glory. Sc useful to us is 
this blessed assurance both here and there \"(u) 

" Now, that Christ should speak of His ' Father/ is natural ; but how should 
He speak of His ' God ?' And again, though it needs no explanation that He 
should speak of our God, what propriety is there in His calling that same God our 
Father ? In exact propriety of speech, then, ' Father' here refers to Christ ; God, 
to us. But observe, that His Father becomes our Father by His means : our God 
becomes His God, by ours. In order to effect this, He that doth here ' ascend' did 
first ' descend/ even to be one of us ; and so,, being one of us, to be a creature as 
well as we. What He was, such He is, — for the Soul and Body of Christ are in 
the rank of creatures ; and when He speaks with relation to His human Soul and 
Body, a creature He is, a God He hath, — the same that we have ; for there is but 
One. And so, He may truly say that our God is His God. That we might cry 
' Abba, Father/ He was content to cry that strange cry 'Eli, Eli/ on the Cross. (a:) 
So Christ might truly say ' My God/ no less than ' My Father/ His Father, as 
God: His God, as Man. As the Son of God, a God He hath not, — a Father He 
hath. As the Son of Man, a Father He hath not, — a God He hath. A God then 
He hath ; but never till then : yet what He then had, He hath ever since. And 
thus, He that was ours and not His, is now His as well as ours." St. Paul accord- 
ingly, in a certain place, makes mention of 'the God of our Lord Jesus Christ :'(?/) 
and our Saviour Himself, speaking by Revelation to ' His servant John/ four 
times in one verse uses the expression ' My God. '(2) 

"In like manner, though He alone can properly say 'My Father/ yet, by be- 
coming one of us, by becoming our Brother, we also become partakers of His Sox- 
ship. And this explains why, at His rising from the Grave, and ascending into 
Heaven, He is careful to speak of us as ' His Brethren :' for thereby He adopts us ; 
and, by adopting, makes us for ever Children of His Father. He, God's Only Son 
by Nature and Eternal Generation : we, ' the sons of God'(a) by Adoption and 
Grace. For, a Brotherhood, we grant, was begun at Christmas, by His Birth ; but 
His Resurrection is a second Birth, — Easter, a second Christmas. ' This day/ 
(saith God,) 'I have begotten Thee !"(5) And if there was a new begetting, so 
was there a new Paternity and Fraternity both. Indeed, the Brotherhood of Christ- 
mas would have been dissolved by His Death, but for this day's rising. Accord- 
ingly, as soon as He was born again of the womb of the Grave, He begins a new 
Brotherhood straight; adopts us, we see, over again; whereby He that was 'the 
First-born from the dead/(c) becomes ' the First-born among many brethren.'(cZ) 
Before, by the Mother's side, He was ours: now, by the Father's side, we are His. 
Brethren at Christmas, because our God was His God ; brethren at Easter, because 
His Father is our Father. But half-brothers before ; never of the whole blood 
till now. Now, by Father and Mother, very Brethren. We cannot be more !" 

So full of meaning were the first words which proceeded from the lips of our risen 
Lord ! So important was the first message He sent to a World which He had 
renewed! So much of doctrine, so much of exhortation, did His short speech to 
Mary Magdalene comprise ! He teaches her therein (1st) His Resurrection ; (2nd) 

(t) St. Luke xv. 18. 

(u) Altered from Bp. Andrewes, who also supplies what follows. 

(x) St. Matth. xxviL 46, quoting Ps. xxii. 1. 

(y) Ephes. i. 17. (z) Rev. iii. 12. 

(a) 1 St. John iii. 1. 

(b) Ps. ii. 7, — explained in Acts xiii. 33, and adopted by the Church as a Proper Psalm for 
Easter-day. 

(c) Col. i. 18. Rev. i. 5. [d) Rom. viii. 29. 



916 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

wherein He was the same, and wherein He differed, from what He was before; (3rd) 
His approaching Ascension : (4th) what would he the fruit thereof to the whole 
Human Family ; (5th) the mystery of His GoDhead and of His Manhood ; (6th) our 
adoption to be sons ; (7th and lastly,) He conveys a message of Peace and Love to 
all I .... If any one is of opinion that our remarks have been too many, let him 
consider that we are here unfolding the first page in the History of the New Crea- 
tion. What is worthy of our attention, if it be not such a History as this? 

18 Mary Magdalene came and told the Disciples that she had seen 
the Lord, and that He had spokon these things unto her. 

Thus at once, arresting the tide of sorrow in those " who had been with Him, as 
they mourned and wept,"(e) and setting a seal on the faith of St. John, as well as 
fulfilling his loftiest anticipations. Take notice that thus, " as by a Woman came 
the first news of Death, so, by a Woman came also the first notice of the Resurrec- 
tion of the dead. And the place fits well ; for, in a Garden they came, both." 

The words are Bp. Andrewes', but the remark is common to all the Fathers 

Consider how that announcement " I ascend unto My Father/ 7 must have struck 
a chord in the Disciples' memories which could hardly yet have ceased to vibrate I 
See chap. xiv. 28 : xvi. 10, 16, 28. 

Passing over the next three appearances of our Lord on the first Easterly) St. 
John proceeds to describe what occurred at evening, when the Disciples were as- 
sembled. 

19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, 

Take notice how emphatically St. John marks on which day this happened. He 
told us in ver. 1, and here he repeats, that it was now the first day of the week, — 
a day ever since dedicated to the special service of Him who on this day rose from 
death ! See the note prefixed to St. Matthew xxviii. This was, then, the first 
time the Church had ever met ; and lo, Jesus Christ was found to be there, in the 
midst of them ! Consider the repeated sanction which His presence gave to the next 
"Lord's Days,"(#) (as St. John elsewhere calls Sunday ;) [h) whereby the Great 
Architect taught Mankind, 

" Sundays the pillars are 
On which Heaven's palace arched lies." 

Observe, too, the many indications that the first day of the week became regarded 
henceforth as the Christian Sabbath. (i) . . . ''The fear of the Jews," which St. John 
proceeds to mention, explains as well why the Disciples assembled together " at 
evening" as why " the doors were shut." 

when the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for 
fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, 

By mentioning that "the doors were shut," St. John teaches us that our Lord 
entered the chambor by virtue of the altered nature of His risen Body, — even as 
He had already risen from the closed tomb.(&) Consider also St. Luke xxiv. 31. 
" He stood in the midst of them," as if suddenly, and without a sound or step being 
heard, or any approach or passing by being noticed ; noiseless as a shadow, and 
sightless in His coming as a dream. . . . Here then was the promise visibly fulfilled, 
" where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst 
of them."(Z) — Hooker observes that the question at Capernaum was, " Kabbi, how 
earnest Thou hither ?" " The Disciples, when Christ appeared to them in a far 
more strange and miraculous manner, moved no question, but rejoiced greatly in 
that they saw. For why ? The one sort beheld only that in Christ which they knew 
was more than natural, but yet their affection was not rapt therewith through any 
great extraordinary gladness ; the other, when they looked on Christ, were not 
ignorant that they saw the well-spring of their own everlasting felicity. The one, 
because they enjoyed not, disputed : the other disputed not, because they enjoyed." 
— Jesus, then, " stood in the midst :" 

(e) St. Mark xvi. 10. 

(/) St. Matth. xxviii. 9. St. Luke xxiv. 34, and 13, &c. 

(g) See ver. 26. Consider also Acts ii. 1. (h) Rev. i. 10. 

(i) See Acts xx. 7, — (an assembly at evening, observe, still :) also 1 Cor. xvi. 2. 

(k) See above, the note on ver. 7. (I) Williams, quoting St. Matth. xviii. 20. 



XX.] , ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 917 

and saith unto theni, Peace be unto you. 

" "Why weepest thou ?" had been our Saviour's first words to Mary Magdalene. 
He asked the two going to Enimaus, Why they were sad ?(m) To the women, He 
exclaimed, " Hail !" that is, " Kejoice !"(w) "Peace be unto you I" are His first words 
to the assembled Disciples. " There was therefore to be no "weeping," no " being 
sad," now. Nothing, on this day, but " Peace" and " Joy."(o) "By this declara- 
tion of Peace, our Lord showed the efficacy of His Cross."(_p) 

For can we forget that this was the salutation of Shiloh, (that is, " Peace, ")(q) 
even "the Prince of Peace" Himself V'(r) of Him who is declared to be "our 
Peace :"(s) who bequeathed His Peace to the Disciples ;(t) and promised that Peace 
should be their abiding portion ;(?t) and directed them to salute with "Peace" every 
house into which they entered. (x) Peace was the subject of the Angel's carol on 
the night of the Lord's Nativity :(y) behold, Peace is the first word He pronounces 
in the hearing of His Disciples now that He is risen from Death \(z) ... "I know 
well," (says Bp. Cosin,) "that by many frigid and common expositors, 'Peace be 
unto you' is taken for no more than an ordinary salutation among the Jews ; but, 
by the best and most ancient, for a higher and deeper mystery : as being well 
assured that His coming was to leave that Peace, first, which He had so lately 
purchased betwixt God and Man, among men themselves ; and then, to leave that 
Power which God had conferred upon Him for the benefit of His Church forever." 

Notwithstanding this comfortable greeting, we learn from St. Luke's Gospel that 
" they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a Spirit. And 
He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your 
hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me, and "see ; 
for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have."(a) 

20 And when He had so said, He showed unto them His Hands and 
His Side. 

His risen Body retained, and yet retains, the marks of its wounds. They are the 
tokens of His victory over Sin and Death, — His trophy when He returned from the 
conquest of" the Enemy of our Race. Consider Zechariah xiii. 6. With these, He 
will at last return to Judgment !(&) 

It is a terrible subject to dwell on ; but the reader will take notice that these 
were as yet open wounds, — not scars: for see below, ver. 27. 

Then were the Disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. 

The same who " liveth, and was dead ; and behold, He is alive evermore !"(c) 
— Brief and simple, yet most important record ! Thus did the promise which our 
Saviour had made to His Diciples on the night before He suffered, receive its first 
fulfillment : " I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice." (d) Surely, no words 
can describe " what a deluge of joy was in their hearts" (e) when they beheld Him! 

To know what followed, refer to the xxivth chapter of St. Luke, and read from 
ver. 41 to 49. 

21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you ! as My 
Father hath sent Me, even so send* I you. 

Words almost identical with these are found in the Great Intercession, in St. John 
xvii. 18, — to which the reader is referred. It was there remarked that in the parallel 
thus established between the sending of Christ and the sending of the Apostles, 
two circumstances seem to be chiefly intended. First, — both Messiah and the 
Twelve were anointed not with natural oil, but with the Holt Ghost. Thus, Mes- 
siah was " anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power," (/) both at the time of 

(m) St. Luke xxiv. 17. (») St. Matth. xxviii. 9. 

(o) Bp. Andrewes. {p) Chrysostom. 

(q) Gen. xlix. 10. That text was -wrongly explained in vol. i. p. 100; and above, at p. 743, 
note (g) Doctors are much divided indeed; but the best-informed modern Hebrew scholars, 
(as Dr. McCaul,) say that "Shiloh" certainly means "Peace." 

(r) Is. ix. 6. Compare Hebr. vii. 2. (s) Ephes. ii. 14. 

(*) St. John xiv. 27. («) St. John xvi. 33. 

(x) St. Luke x. 5. " (y) St. Luke ii. 14. 

(z) Consider Rom. v. 1. Col. i. 20. Is. xxvi. 3 : lvii. 19. Ps. lxxxv. 8. 

(«) St. Luke xxiv. 37 to 39. (b) Rev. i. 7. 

(c) Rev. i. 18. (d) St. John xvi. 22. 

(e) Abp. Leighton. (/) Acts x. 38. 



918 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

His miraculous Conception, (g) and in the hour of His Baptism. (7?) Twofold, in 
like manner was the unction of the Apostles : for " He breathed on them, and saith 
unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, "(i) on the present occasion; and fifty days 
after, on the Day of Pentecost, they were "baptized with the Holy Ghost and with 
fire,"(,/) .... 

Secondly, — Besides being commissioned to teach the same Doctrines which our 
Saviour Christ Himself had taught, the Apostles must have been armed with the 
like general poivers. "If, then, Christ sent the Apostles as His Father had sent 
Him, — sent them, that is to say, to do His work after He had departed from the 
World ; if by that very act He showed that, in His ministerial character, He had 
the power of delegating and continuing His authority, — could they, to whom He 
promised the same power as He possessed, conceive that that essential part of it, 
the right of delegation, was withheld, when the Religion was to be continued for- 
ever V'(k) Not so. "Lo ! I am with you always/' (said He, ) " even to the end of 
the World."(7) Why was such a promise given, except to imply that they and their 
successors forever would need His perpetual presence at the execution of every 
function of the Apostolic office ; of which Ordination hath ever been accounted the 
very chief? ... As Christ had been sent to establish the Church upon Earth, even 
so were the Apostles of Christ now sent, — with the like authority, and for the 
same end. " And, as the Son sent the Apostles, so did they send others by virtue 
of the same Spirit. Thus, by virtue of an Apostolic Ordination, there is forever to 
be continued a Ministerial Succession."(m) 

22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto 
them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost : 

"'He breathed on them.' Another proof of the reality of His risen Body! a 
proof whereby the blind, and deaf, and benumbed, (without touching,) may be con- 
vinced of the reality of a living bodily presence near them l"(n) 

'0 most solemn and mysterious incident, as well as most awful and prevailing 
words ! The action of our Saviour here described may have shown emblematically 
(as Augustine suggests,) that the Holy Ghost proceedeth also from the Son. It 
may further have served to show that this was He by the breath of whose mouth 
all the Host of Heaven were made ;(o) and especially, (as Cyrill supposes,) that 
Christ was the same who, after creating Man in the beginning, " breathed into 
his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul."(jj) But more than 
that is here intended. For it is to be thought that, at the time of Man's Creation, 
" together with his soul, or the principle of his natural life, he received also the 
Grace of the Holy Spirit as a principle of the Divine Life to which he was also 
designed." (q) That is, the soul of Man received from the very first " the peculiar im- 
press of the Holy Spirit super-added," as Clement of Alexandria writes. And 
Basil, expressly comparing the Divine insufflation upon Adam with that of Christ 
upon the Apostles, tells us that it was the same Sox of God " by whom God gave 
the insufflation : then indeed, together with the soul ; but now, into the soul." — 
Eusebius is even more explicit. " The Lord," (he says,) "renews Mankind. That 
Grace which Man enjoyed at first, because God breathed into his nostrils, — that 
same Grace did Christ restore when He breathed into the face of the Apostles, and 

said, Receive the Holy Ghost. "(r) Is it not written in a certain place, "When 

Thou lettest Thy breath go forth, Thou shalt renew the face of the Earth V'(s) 

We have elsewhere pointed out that at the first institution of certain mysteries 
of the Faith, there was not wanting the outward emblem of an inward grace ; which 
grace was afterwards conveyed without any such visible demonstration. Thus, at 
the Baptism of Christ, "the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove 
upon Him." (2) And now, at the Ordination of His Apostles, our Lord is found to 
have " breathed into" their faces, when He would convey to them the gift of the 
same Blessed Spirit " to confirm them in their Apostolical Commission. The gift 
which they received from Him soon after, on the Day of Pentecost, was to enable 

(fj) See St. Luke i. 35. (h) St. Luke iii. 22 : with which compare iv. 1, 14, 18, 21. 

(/) St. John xx. 22. (j) St. Matth. iii. 11. 

(Jc) Rev. Hugh James Rose. (I) See St. Matth. xxviii. 20. 

(m) Bp. Pearson, quoting 1 Tim. v. 22. Tit. i. 5. 

(») From a MS. Sermon by the Rev. Edni. Hobhouse. 

lo) Psalm xxxiii. 6. (_p) Genesis ii. 7. (q) Bishop Bull. 

(r) From a newly discovered fragment of this Father. 

(s) Psalm civ. 30. (() St. Luke iii. 22 : see the note on St. Matth. iii. 17. 



XX.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 919 

them, by the possession of miraculous power, to carry that Commission into 
effect." (u) The self-same form of words is retained in Ordination, at the present 
day ; but the Heavenly gift is sent unseen. How apt the emblem was which our 
Lord employed on this occasion, we are at no loss to perceive, from such nlaces of 
Scripture as St. John ii. 8, and Acts ii. 2. — Our great High-Priest proceeds . 7 •-. 

23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and 
whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. 

A further illustration is thus presented to us of our Lord's meaning in ver. 21. 
It was discovered, from an earlier page of the Gospel, that " the power of forgive- 
ness on the Earth was delegated to Christ as the Son of Man, "(a-) — that Son of 
Man to whom the Spirit was given without measnre. " This power He now gives 
to the Apostles, the successors of the Son of Man upon the Earth, by the gift of the 
same Holy Ghost by whom it was in Himself."^) The words before us are ac- 
cordingly used by the Bishop at the present day, in the Church of Christ, on ad- 
mitting a Deacon to the Order of Priesthood. 

But, "the very largeness of this grant startles many, from their reverence for 
the "Word of God, into an unwillingness to receive in their plain sense its explicit 
declarations, — nay, the very words, full of Grace and Truth, of Him who was the 
Truth itself. "What!" (they object,) "The incommunicable power of God made 
over to miserable, sinful man ! the destiny of immortal souls placed in the keeping 
of mere mortal worms I" 

"No such thing. It is an utter misconception of the grant that prompts the 
just objection. 

"Forgiveness of sins is revealed to us as exclusively conditional. Not even God 
Himself, (we may reverently say, can forgive the impenitent and unbelieving; be- 
cause He has declared that He will not, and it is impossible that He should lie. 
Forgiveness of sins, declared or conveyed by whomsoever or howsoever it may be, 
can be the boon only of the repentant believer. Faith must exist, to receive it, — 
whether declared by Revelation, proved by Miracle, imparted by official Absolution, 

or sealed in a Sacramental Ordinance Faith, then; Faith in Jesus ; shown, 

on the believer's part, by laying hold on the promises in the Sacraments, (2) — 
'washing away his sins in Baptism/ and eating the ' flesh' and drinking the 
' blood' which are ' meat' and ' drink indeed/ in the Supper of the Lord, — is 
the pre-requisite to that forgiveness of Sin, which the Saviour gave His Apostles 
and their successors power to minister, when He sent them in His Name even as 
He had been sent forth of the Father. "(a) See the notes on St. Matthew xvi. 19. 

" The power of remitting sins, then, is originally in God, and in God alone ; in 
Christ our Saviour, by means of the union of the GoDhead and Manhood in one 
Person, by virtue whereof the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins upon Earth. 
This of the Apostles is nothing else but a branch out of His, which He Himself, as 
Man, had here upon Earth. For, as Man, He Himself was sent ; was anointed with 
the Spirit ; and proceeded by Commission."(6) 

From a comparison of the three places in the Gospel, which relate to Absolution, 
"the general result is this: that the power of binding and loosing is a solemn 
privilege or prerogative of the Church of Christ, thrice insisted upon by our 
Saviour: — First, by way of prediction that He would confer it.(c) Secondly, by 
way of more particular description of the manner, and direction for the end and 
use of it.(d) And thirdly, by a preparatory kind of instating them in this power, 
an initial investing them with this sacred ghostly authority,(e) immediately before 
His final departure from the World ; which seemeth to have been thoroughly per- 
fected and completed, when after His Ascension, the Holy Ghost did visibly de- 
scend upon those to whom these words where by Christ then delivered." (f) 

The Evangelist proceeds to relate what occurred, perhaps, at a later hour on the 
same evening ; when Almighty God, " for the more confirmation of the Faith, suf- 
fered His holy Apostle Thomas to be doubtful in His Son's Resurrection."^) — 

(«) Lonsdale and Hale, — quoting St. Luke xxiv. 49. Acts i. 4, 5, 8 : ii. 1 to 4, and 33. 
(x) Consider St. Matth. ix. 6. (y) Dr. Moberly. 

(2) Acts xxii. 16. St. John vi. 55. 

(a) Prom the first of two valuable Discourses (on "The Priesthood in the Church,") by Bp. 
Whittinghain, the learned Bishop of Maryland, — printed at Baltimore, 1843. 

(b) Bp. Andrewes. (c) St. Matth. xvi. 19. (d) St. Matth. xviii. 18. 

(e) St. John xx. 23. (/) Dr. Hammond. (>j) Collect for St. Thomas' Day. 






920 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

Take notice that the absence of St. Thomas from the scene above described finds a 
remarkable parallel in the Old Testament, where the absence of two of the seventy 
Elders, Eldad and Medad, from the Tabernacle, is recorded, at the time when 
the Lord gave His Spirit to the rest; and yet, "the Spirit rested upon them like- 

24 But Thomas, one of the Twelve, called Didymus, was not with 
them when Jesus came. 

Not to repeat what has been already so fully offered concerning the character of 
this eminent Apostle of the Lamb, the reader is particularly requested, before he 
proceeds any further, to read the note on St. John xi. 16. He may also refer to St. 
John xiv. 5, and the comment on the place. That St. Thomas presents us with an 
example of the desponding temperament, is pretty clearly established. " When 
therefore the hour of darkness came, realizing apparently in its worst form the me- 
lancholy anticipation of Thomas ; and when a despair of the redemption of Israel 
through Jesus of Nazareth fell not on him only, but on them all, — can we wonder 
that this Apostle was the last to receive the new hope awakened by the unexpected 
news of the Lord's Resurrection from the grave ? Unexpected it ought not to 
have been: the Lord's prediction to that effect, the knowledge of which had 
reached, as we find, even the counsels of the enemies, ought never to have been 
absent from the faithful recollection of his chosen ones ; yet so it was. The 
reports of the holy women who found the Body gone, and heard the Angel's assu- 
rance that the Lord yet lived, were regarded by them as idle, tales, and they be- 
lieved them not. But this culpable incredulity and dullness of heart, for which our 
Lord upbraided them all, (as we are told by St. Mark,)(i) proceeded in Thomas one 
step further. By accident, as we may well conceive, though not without a Divine 
Providence overruling the accident, he was not with the rest when Jesus, on the 
evening of the first Easter-Sunday, appeared in the midst of them."(&) 

25 The other Disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the 
Lord. 

Any one who considers the matter will perceive that " the other Disciples" must 
have said much more than this to St. Thomas. They must have related how our 
Saviour had "showed them His Hands and His feet;"(Z) and how, not only those 
sacred extremities bore the impress of their recent wounds, but how the Saviour's 
gaping side proclaimed the further outrage of the soldier who had "pierced Him." 
Accordingly, it follows concerning St. Thomas : 

But He said unto them, Except I shall see in His hands the print 
of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust 
my hand into His side, I will not believe. 

He refuses to admit any proof of the Resurrection of our Lord, arising from the 
the testmony of others, " unless the fact of its being a real and not a phantastic 
body were made evident to the sense that could alone determine that question. 
Let us not exaggerate the feeling, blameworthy as it is, which dictated this deter- 
mined refusal. There is not the least reason for thinking that Thomas suspected 
his companions, either of fraud or of a deluded vision ; but, without better proof 
than their assurances or arguments could afford to his questioning spirit, he could 
not believe but that this was a mere spectral apparition, such as common belief and 
tradition affirmed as not unusual with the ghosts of the departed ; and that his 
Lord might be yet in Hades, His body still lifeless, either in the grave where He 
was laid, or elsewhere. And his gracious Lord, who saw in this too wilful oblivion 
of His own promised resuscitation, only an extension of the same unbelief that 
had existed and had been forgiven in the other Apostles, — an extension proceeding 
less from any greater moral evil in him, than from a peculiarity in mental constitu- 
tion,— does not refuse to St. Thomas that proof which He had in mere mercy 
afforded to them, the sensible proof that He was risen." 

It must have been a gaping and a ghastly wound, — that wound in our Saviour's 
side, — that St. Thomas should have proposed to "thrust his hand" therein! 

26 And after eight days again His Disciples were within, and 

(7t) Numb. xi. 24 to 2C. (*') St. Mark xvi. 14. 

(*) Dr. W. H. Mill. (I) St. Luke xxiv. 40. 



xx.] on st. John's gospel. 921 

Thomas with them : then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood 
in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 

Take notice that the salutation is thus repeated for the third time, see above, the 
concluding part of the note on verse 9.— It will be perceived that our Saviour did 
not silence His servant's doubts immediately; but suffered him to remain in a state 
of suspense, and even of unbelief, until the following Sunday ; " as if to teach us 
that, during the six days of this World, we are to walk by faith and not by sight ; 
and that on the last, which will be the first day of the new World, and the coming 
in of His heavenly Kingdom, He will reveal Himself to us ; but not till then."(ra) 
No incident whatever is related by any of the Evangelists as having occurred dur- 
ing the interval. " On the Sunday following that of the Resurrection, — (for such 
honor did He to that holy day, which was to be the standing Lord's Day of the 
Christian Church, as to mark it by this very expressive token, a weekly recurring 
festival of His rising again,) — on this Sunday after Easter, He appears to Thomas 
as well as to the other Ten."(n) And it is worth observing that he now repeats 
every circumstance of His former manifestation, — bearing the infirmities of the 
weak,"(o) and making Himself therein an example to ourselves. 

But when He thus appeared for the second time, we may be well assured that 
He designed more than the removal of unbelief from the mind of a single Disciple. 
He vouchsafed this appearance for the sake of confirming the faith of all the 
others, — and of ourselves. 

27 Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold 
My Hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My Side : 
and be not faithless but believing. 

Literally, "Be," (or rather, "Become,") "not unbelieving, but believing." — 
" Not content with the proof of sight which He renews to them, He invites the 
doubting Disciple specially to prove by touch that it was no mere spectre or phan- 
tom of a body, but the same body which was pierced with the nails and spear, now 
revived and incorruptible." (p) Whereby, take notice that our Lord not only 
affords evidence of the truth of the Resurrection of His human Body, but gives 
proof of His Divine knowledge as well. For His invitation to St. Thomas showed 
that He knew what had been the thoughts of his heart, and what the words of his 
lips, on the previous Sunday. Having thus, "convinced" the Disciple, He proceeds 
to " rebuke" him, (q) — which now He may do with good effect ; whereas before, 
rebuke would have been fruitless. 

28 And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my 
God. 

It is usual, in pictures, to represent St. Thomas as touching our Lord's side: but, 
in the Gospel, it is not related that he did so. Our Saviour's words to him are, 
"Because thou hast seen Me, thou hast, believed." "However produced and con- 
firmed, we find that his conviction was complete ; and that it embraced not the 
bare fact of a man risen from the dead, but the saving truth of the Christian creed, 
— the Resurrection of the Incarnate Lord : that, with the Humanity, it embraced 
also the inherent Divinity concerned in this fact ; the Divinity and Humanity of 
Him who had power to lay down His life, and had power to take it again, — who 
was One with the Father that raised Him from the tomb ; one with the Spirit 
that quickened His human remains to new life. This confession, the foundation of 
the Christian's hope for time and for eternity, is expressed by the convinced Apos- 
tle in the exclamation, 'My Lord and my GoD.'"(r) .... Take notice that this is 
the first place in the Gospel where our Saviour Christ is addressed as God I 

" The first instruction which his case appears to suggest is this ; that minds of 
every natural complexion are called to the exercise of Christian faith. The prin- 
ciple of Faith, — the disposition to receive the Word of God as such, to embrace and 
to walk by it, — is not indeed the gift of Nature, but of Grace : but its operation in 
each individual mind is modified by that mind's peculiar cast or temperament ; 
and to every class of mind there are sufficient motives presented for the willing 
admission of the Truth whereby we are sanctified and saved." Let us beware, 
above all, that we partake not of the thoughtless irreverence which can venture to 

(m) Williams. (n) Dr. W. H. Mill. See above, the note on the first words of ver. 19. 

(o) Rom. xv. 1. (p) Dr. W. H. Mill. (g) 2 Tim. iv. 2. (r) Dr. W. H. Mill. 



922 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

speak of " unbelieving Thomas ;" as if unbelief were indeed the characteristic 
feature of this holy man. "We cannot doubt the exemplary fidelity, and earnest 
self-devotion, of one who bore the name of his Lord to remote regions of Asia, and 
sealed his testimony with a glorious martyrdom : nor can we but feel a singular 
interest in that Apostle to whom ecclesiastical tradition assigns the first implanta- 
tion of the Christian faith in India : a country in which the Church, planted by 
him and subsequent Apostolical labourers, has never ceased to exist after a man- 
ner ; while yet, in the great body of its inhabitants, the dominion of its ancient 
idolatry remains unshaken, even to the time when Divine Providence has brought 
it under British rule."(.s) 

" But the great lesson of this example, — that which raises it above all merely 
local or personal considerations, and gives to all in every age an intimate concern 
in this doubt and its removal, — lies in the Divine address which follows :" 

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou 
hast believed : blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have 
believed. 

Mighty indeed was the privilege of those who heard, saw with their eyes, who 
had looked upon, and whose hands had handled, of the Word of Life ;(t) yet are 
not these the persons who are here pronounced "blessed." The blessedness of 
Faith without the evidence of sense, — this it is of which our Lord here assures us ; 
and of this, St. John, (concerning whom it is expressly related that "7*e saw, and 
believed,) (u) St. Peter," St. Thomas and all the rest, were perforce destitute. . . . 
" Never can we sufficiently estimate the value of this assurance to distant ages of 
the Church. Here, men are no longer tested by the fiery trial of persecution, 
urging them to forsake their Lord, as was the case when the proofs of Divine pre- 
sence in the Church were more conspicuous : a different, and to some dispositions 
a far more severe trial, is afforded by the speculative difficulties which arise in the 
absence of such plain tokens ; the temptation thence presented to insincere, or 
fluctuating minds, to abandon all practical regard to the unseen objects of Faith ; 
and to live the life of sense, and of the World." 

" Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed : who, against the 
things of sense, the temptations of the World and Satan, against the perplexities 
of the natural mind, the misgivings of a fearful, and the lacerations of a wounded 
heart, have opposed a firm faith in facts remote in Time, but indelible and eternal 
in effect: who have admitted to their hearts and understandings the purifying 
truth, that He whom the Church now contemplates, He who was once born in the 
manger of Bethlehem, is indeed their Lord and their God. He truly died for their 
sins: He is truly risen for their justification. He is their Saviour, and will be 
their Judge !"(u) 

30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His 
Disciples, which are not written in this Book : 

It does not seem quite certain whether the Evangelist alludes here to our 
Saviour's miracles in general, — the " signs" of His Divine Mission, which He 
displayed both before and after His Resurrection ; or only to those various appear- 
ances of Christ which the other Evangelists record, — and which were " signs" of 
the reality of His Resurrection. Ten ot our Lord's appearances are recorded, in 
all; of which St. John describes but four. In this place, therefore, he probably 
alludes to the accounts of the Great Forty Days which are contained in the earlier 
Gospels ; as well as to those " many" convincing marvels, — those unrecorded mani- 
festations of Himself, it may be, — which seem glanced at by St. Luke in Acts i. 3. 
And, at the close of the ensuing chapter, he will allude to the multitudinous trans- 
actions of our Lord's entire Ministry, which nowhere find any record at all. 

31 but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye might have life 
through His Name. 

That is, "Eternal Life through Rim." — On the Evangelist's form of address, see 
the note on chapter xix. 35. — " These things have I written unto you that believe 
on the Name of the Son of God," (declares the same St. John in another place ;) 

(s) Dr. W. H. Mill. (t) St. John i. 1. (u) See above, ver. 8. {v) Dr. W. II. Mill. 



XXI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 923 

" that ye may know that ye have Eternal Life, and that ye may believe on the 
name of the Son of God. "(iv) 

" The main drift of the whole New Testament, is that which St. John setteth 
down as the purpose of his history/' says our own thoughtful Hooker. To adopt 
the weighty observations of a great modern writer: " if is the real Incarnation of 
the Eternal Word, — the actual coming in the flesh of the Son of God, born, dead, 
and risen for our Salvation, — which is the sole basis of our Religion : and this, 
through the divinely appointed means by which its belief and salutary influence is 
propagated, becomes the principle of Christian faith and righteousness. This great 
fact, and not any particular proposition concerning it, however true or useful in 
its place, which men may consider as containing the whole idea, or all that is 
essential to its purpose ; this great fact, I say, in the totality of its objective 
character, and in the consequent totality of its applicable virtue and influence; 
this is the real Article of a standing or falling Church." (x) 

With the words before us, St. John's Gospel seems to come to a close. His 
twenty-first chapter has a supplementary air. Many have not hesitated to apply 
to it the name of an after-thought. . . . We make wondrous free with the Gospels ! 
Are they mere human works, then ? and do they stand on the same footing as the 
Annals of Tacitus, or the Commentaries of Caesar? Or are they the work of the 
Spirit ; the inspired oracles of the Eternal God ? . . . We humbly suspect, (with 
many of our Fathers in the Faith,) that it is because the transactions of the ensuing 
chapter have a distinct character of their own, — are prophetic in their details, and 
stretch out their shadows even unto the end of the World, — that the Evangelist 
thus severs them from all that went before. By two verses of like character and 
import, (y) he seems to put a wall on this side and on that of the solemn narrative 
which follows ; and which he thereby emphatically commends to the devout atten- 
tion of the Church to the end of Time. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



1. Christ appearing again to His Disciples was known of them by the great draught 
of fishes. 12. He dineth with them: 15 earnestly commandeth Peter to feed His 
lambs and sheep : 18 foretelleth him of his death: 22 rebuketh his curiosity touch- 
ing John. 25. The conclusion. 

The reader is invited to read the remark which was offered at the close of the 
Commentary on the preceding chapter. It has been already there suggested, that 
the concluding chapter of the present Gospel has a prophetic character of its own, — 
shadowing forth, in symbolic outline, the ultimate fortunes of the Church. We turn 
with amazement from those who, from making over^free with the wondrous details 
which follow, have presumed even to question the authenticity of the chapter in 
which they are found. (a) To ourselves, every word of the record seems to glow 
with mysterious meaning ; every trivial feature of the history seems pregnant with 
momentous interest. Be sure that nothing here is set down in vain. It is the last 
page of the Eternal Gospel! We are going to read the last words which "the Dis- 
ciple whom Jesus loved" was instructed to write for the eternal edification of the 
Church. Immediately after which, his task will be completed, and the record of 
Messiah's First Advent will be sealed up for ever ! 

" One feels a reluctance," (as Isaac Williams truly remarks,) "to dwell much on 
spiritual significations, from the objections which some persons feel to entertain 
them: objections, partly arising from a natural inability to enter into cases of 
analogy, and from finding nothing to satisfy their minds in such resemblances, — of 
which, indeed, they have but a faint perception. But even those who are most 
averse to speculations of this class, do feel constrained, in this instance, to admit 
that there are indications of most pregnant significancy, breaking forth throughout, 
and rising to the very surface of the narrative." . . . Let the reader beware, then, 
how he reads, — at least this, the last page of the Gospel, — lest he miss its solemn 

(w) 1 St. John v. 13. (x) Dr. W. H. Mill. (y) Chap. xx. 30 and xxi. 25. 

(a) As G-rotius. The reader may refer to the Preface. 



924 A PLAIN COMMENTABY [CHAP. 

meaning, while he is laudably anxious not to substitute his own imaginations for 
the Truth. Let the exceeding minuteness of the narrative be first considered, toge- 
ther with every possible explanation of which that minuteness will admit. Then, 
let that similar miracle to the present, which St. Luke records, (b) be compared 
throughout with what is related here. Next, let the parable of the*Draw-net be 
studied attentively, and our Lord's Divine interpretation thereof be be devoutly 
read.(c) When, in conclusion, the analogy of Scripture language is considered ;(d) 
and the rebuke which our Saviour administered to His Disciples on a certain occa- 
sion for their dullness in not understanding what He meant when He spoke of 
"leaven,"(e) is borne in mind ; as well as the many occasions on which He inti- 
mated to them that His words and actions had a profounder meaning than met their 
ear or their eye ;{f) — when all this has been duly weighed, we cannot understand 
why any one should hesitate to admit that here at least, the narrative is of that kind 
which is called mystical : that, in this place, the Spirit is teaching us by signs 
"things which shall be hereafter." 

After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the Disciples at 
the sea of Tiberias ; and on this wise showed He Himself, 

St. John has already mentioned the two occasions on which our Saviour "showed 
Himself to His Disciples/' collectively. He proceeds here to describe the third. 
To what period of the great Forty days, the appearance at the Sea of Galilee, (or, as 
St. John calls it, "of Tiberias," )(</) belongs, cannot be' ascertained : but the dis- 
covery that the Apostles have left Jerusalem, — wandered back to their ancient 
locality, and resumed their former trade of fishermen, — seems to suggest that a con- 
siderable interval of time has elapsed since the octave of the first Easter. 

They had returned to Galilee, doubtless in obedience to the command conveyed 
by the Angel to the women on the morning of the Resurrection. " Go your way, 
tell His Disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee : there shall ye 
see Him, as He said unto you."(7i) They will have also doubtless remembered our 
Saviour's words, — " After I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.""^) 
And this we say, remembering well that the appearance specially promised on the 
occasion referred to, is that which St. Matthew describes in the five last verses of 
his Gospel, and concerning which the reader is invited to read the note on St. Mat- 
thew xxviii. 16. — And now, " they are again among their former haunts and 
abodes ; in a spot already hallowed by so many endearing and sacred associations, 
and presenting so great a contrast with the turbulent Jerusalem ; amidst scenes of 
nature, and the quiet waters of their own beautiful sea. They are again on that 
very place and shore which had probably been their home from childhood, and 
where they had been since trained to things Divine, by miracle, and precept, and 
parable ; the place where they had been first called." (k) 

2. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, 
and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two 
other of His Disciples. 

" First, Simon ;"(Z) but Thomas, who so late was doubtful, is mentioned next. 
Never more will it be said that " Thomas, one of the Twelve, called Didymus, was 
not with them when Jesus came !"(m) Nathanael, (that is Bartholomew,) of whop 
we have heard nothing since the day of his first call to Apostleship,(w) is found in 
the third place ; and we learn that he was " of Cana in Galilee," — by which intima- 
tion, the record of this, our Lord's last miracle, is connected with the " beginning 
of miracles." St. James and St. John come next; and by the "two other of His 
Disciples" are doubtless meant St. Andrew and St. Philip; — whose names are 
always recorded among the first five of the Twelve. They were both from the same 
city,(o) and their names are found connected on two,(j?) indeed on three(g) occa- 

(b) St. Luke v. 1 to 8. (c) St. Matth. xiii. 47 to 50. 

(d) See St. John vi. 51, &c. St. Luke v. 10. 

(e) St. Mattk. xvi. 11, 12. Consider also St. John xii. 16. 

(/) See St. John xiii. 7, and the note there: also xiv. 26, and the long note on the place. 
\g) Concerning it, see the note on St. Mark i. 16. See especially St. John vi.l, and the note 
there. 

(70 St. Mark xvi. 7. Compare St. Matth. xxviii. 7. (i) St. Matth. xxvi. 32. 

(k) Williams. (0 St. Matth. x. 2. (m) St. John xx. 24. 

(n) See St. John i. 45 to 50. (o) St. John i. 44. 

(p) St. John vi. 5, 8, and xii. 21, 22. (q) St. Mark iii. 18. 



XVII.] 



ON. ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 925 



sions. To seven of His Disciples, therefore, on this occasion our Lord revealed 
Himself. ..." Wisdom," (that is Christ,) is about to "build her House:" where- 
fore " she hath hewn out her seven pillars."(r) 

3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, 
We also go with thee. 

The Disciples have therefore returned to their nets, as at the beginning ! In fact, 
the whole of the present miraculous narrative exhibits parallel features of resem- 
blance and of contrast with that earlier one, recorded in St. Luke's Gospel, chap. v. 
1 to 11, which would be extraordinary indeed were those features not, every one, 
intentional, and full of mysterious meaning. 

Here, then, seven Disciples go forth to fish on the Sea of Galilee, as four had 
gone forth in the first days of the Gospel. Simon Peter is foremost on both occa- 
sions, and his partners are still with him. We felt something akin to surprise, when 
we last beheld these fishermen gone forth ; for we said to ourselves, Are not these the 
men whom Christ hath so recently brought to the knowledge of Himself ?(s) and a 
like feeling of surprise awaits us now. These men were so lately assembled at 
Jerusalem, and Christ was among them : — what do they here on the waters of 
their familiar lake, and engaged in their ancient trade ? 

One thing, at least, is certain ; and the circumstance is full of affecting interest : 
it must have been their necessities which sent the Apostles forth on their present 
lowly errand. And yet, these were they on whom the Church was to be built! 
These were the names which were to be written on the twelve foundations of the 
Heavenly Jerusalem l(t) .... Verily, the discovery that their Lord and their God 
could suffer the men He loved to remain in such a low estate and precarious condi- 
tion, should teach Christians for evermore to submit cheerfully to poverty, as well 
as to behold with a feeling akin to reverence, the brother of low degree. . . . The 
Seven Apostles seem to have been sitting together in doors, and it was the time of 
evening : a Sabbath-evening perhaps, — so that the manifestation which follows may 
have taken place, like the former two, on a Sunday. 

They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that 
night they caught nothing. 

Rather, "into the ship/' — as on so many other occasions. ... A point of con- 
trast between the miracle in St. Luke v., and that here recorded, at once presents 
itself: namely, that one vessel, not two are employed.(it) 

The night, (as we were once before reminded, ) was the season when fishermen 
were accustomed to pursue their trade : but on this, (as on that other night,) the 
Disciples " caught nothing."(x) And it was to convince them, — and through them 
to instruct us, — that, without Christ, we "can do nothing." (y) The "ministers 
and stewards of His mysteries," in particular, are hereby taught that " except the 
Lord build the House t their labour is but lost that build it."(z) 

4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore : 

" There appears a Stranger in the dim twilight, drawing the attention as it were 
to Himself, though they knew not who it was."(a) . . . "When the morning was 
now come, — Jesus stood on the shore." How prophetic is the sound of every word! 
It was a symbol of the Eternal Morning, when Jesus (who is " the hope of them 
that remain in the broad Sea !")(&) will at last appear : for the Church as yet waiteth, 
" until the day break and the shadows flee away."(c) No longer in the ship with 
His Disciples, — as on the occasion of the former miraculous draught of fishes, (d) 
when He was like one crossing " the waves of this troublesome World," — He is 
seen standing on the fixed immovable shore ! Thither " they shall go to Him, but 
thence He shall not return to them."(e) Consider how that word (" the shore,") is 
introduced in the parable of the draw-net, which our Lord Himself explained to be 
symbolical of what "shall be at the end of the World."(/) 

but the Disciples knew not that it was Jesus. 

Not because they were a long way off from where He stood, ("for they were not 

(r) Prov. ix. 1. Compare Gal. ii. 9. (s) See the note on St. Matth. iv. 18. 

(t) Rev. xxi. 14. (w) See St. Luke v. 7. 

(x) Compare St. Luke v. 5. (y) St. John xv. 5. (z) Ps. cxxvii. 1. (a) Williams. 

(6) Ps. lxy. 5. (c) Song of Solomon ii. 17 : iv. 6. (d) St. Luke v. 3. 

(e) 2 Sam. xii. 23. (/) St. Matth. xiii. 48, 49. 



926 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

far from land :")(#) nor yet because the morning was grey and misty. " The Dis- 
ciples knew not that it was Jesus" for the same reason that Mary Magdalene 
"knew not that it was Jesus," (7i) when she saw Him standing close beside her: 
for the same reason that the two who walked with Him to Emmaus knew not that 
it was He. The«yes of all "were holden that they should not know Him."^') So 
enveloped was His risen Body with something that was Divine, something which 
He brought from the grave, — that it allowed not of human affection, but Divine 
Love, to discern it."(/) And it was done in order to accustom them to walk by 
Faith, and not by Sight. For thus it was that our Saviour was recognized by St. 
John noio. The miracle was to be the evidence that it was He. 

5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat ? They 
answered Him, No. 

The word for " Children" here, is not the same which our Saviour had applied 
to His Disciples in chap. xiii. 38, (where see the note ;) but rather, as in the margin, 
— " Sirs." (A;) . . . Chrysostom says that He accosted them in the manner of one 
who was desirous to buy fish of them. Such a remark, from one whose native lan- 
guage was Greek, is entitled to attention. The word rendered " meat" perhaps 
specially implied that ^7* was the food inquired for. . . . The Saviour, (as so often 
pointed out elsewhere, )(7) did not need to be informed how unsuccessfully the Dis- 
ciples had been toiling ; but His inquiry was to remind them of the fact, as well as 
to draw from them an admission of their forlorn and unprovided state. 

6 And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, 
and ye shall find. 

The season for fishing prescribed by Nature, had already expired : it was now 
the season appointed by Grace. In truth, Man's extremity is ever found to be God's 
opportunity. So was it at Cana's Feast ; and so, on many other occasions recorded 
in the Gospels, — as the reader will find pointed out, if he will refer to the places in 
the commentary, indicated at foot.(m) In the meantime, take notice that the neces- 
sity of human exertion is not to be superseded by the promise of Divine help. Paul 
must plant and Apollos water, though God must give all the increase. 

" Nothing better brings to light the import of the present mystery than the com- 
parison of this miracle with that recorded in St. Luke v. : and already, there is a 
marked difference between them. In the former miraculous draught of fishes, it 
had been simply said, ' Let down your net for a draught.' Neither right nor left 
was specified ; for, on the former occasion, there was set forth in figure the Church 
visible, — the net spoken of in the parable as ' gathering of every kind,' and being 
' filled with bad and good.' The net, therefore, was then thrown, as it were, at 
random, neither to the right nor left. But here, where the Church invisible of the 
Elect is represented, — such as is filled only with those that are finally saved, and 
come to the land of everlasting life, — {'great fishes, an hundred and fifty, and 
three/) — it is said, ' Cast ye on the right side/ Here is choice and election as de- 
signed in secret knowledge by Christ Himself." («) 

Not only when God commands, therefore, but as God directs, must the net be 
thrown, if we would secure the prize we long for. By commanding the Disciples 
now to shift the position of their net, and to cast it on the right side of the ship, 
our Saviour teaches them that the draught of fishes which they presently capture 
is no chance transaction, but takes place by His own Providential ordinance. . . . 
At the same time, He inclines the hearts of the men in the ship to obedience ; or 
their own unyielding wills would have marred the gracious designs of His Provi- 
dence towards them. 

Many are the occasions in Holy Scripture where "the right side" is designated 
with special honour. Not to insist on the session of the Eternal Son "at the Right 
Hand of God,"(o) we know that the " Right Hand" is given to " the sheep" in the 

(g) See ver. 8. (h) St. John xx. 14. (i) St. Luke xxiv. 16. (/) Williams. 

(/c) It is often, however, a term of kindness, — as in 1 St. John ii. 13, 18. 

\l) See the notes on St. Mark v. 9 and 30 : viii. 24: ix. 21. Also on St. John xi. 34, — where 
see the references. 

(m) See the notes on St. Matth. xiv. 26. St. Mark v. 24 and 35 : St. Luke v. 17, and St. 
John iv. 47 : xi. 6. 

(n) Williams. 

(o) Ps. ex. 1, quoted in St. Luke xx. 42. Acts ii. 34. Heb. i. 13. Consider St. Mark xiv. 
62 and St. Luke xxii. 69 : also St. Mark xvi. 19, Acts vii. 55, &c. 



XXI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 927 

Kingdom ;(p) that "the Cherubims stood on the right side of the House" in Ezekiel's 
vision :(q) and that Zacharias saw the Angel " standing on the right side of the 
altar of incense"(r) ... In the meantime, the Disciples comply with the Stranger's 
injunction, and marvellgus is the result. 

They cast, therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the 
multitude of fishes. 

It is manifest that the only difference "between the right and the left side of the 
ship, in this instance, consisted in the fact that the one side had been preferred by 
God before the other. A net will capture the same prey precisely, on whichever 
side of the ship it is let down, if a shoal of fish are swimming past the ship : and 
yet, who doubts that on the present occasion, success, or failure, depended entirely 
on the Disciples' obedience, their strict compliance with the required condition? . . . 
It may teach us that, in things to all appearance indifferent, a Divine command, (a 
positive precept, as it is called,) overcomes all other considerations, and must be im- 
plicitly obeyed, if we would inherit a blessing. 

Applied to the matter immediately before us, we are reminded, (as we were in 
the Evangelical account of the former miraculous draught of fishes,) that Ministerial 
labour must of necessity be fruitless, until it is conducted in obedience to a Divine 
call, (s) and in conformity with a Divine command. Throughout the long night, the 
Disciples have been toiling fruitlessly. Once thrown, in the morning, the prey 
which their net captures is so large as to be even unmanageable. 

7 Therefore that Disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is 
the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt 
his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into 
the sea. 

St. Peter had nothing on him but his inner garment, (t) — as was natural in one 
engaged in toil. . . . Strange, that he should have been slower than his friend and 
fellow-disciple to discover that it was the Lord ! The prominent part which he 
played at both the miraculous draughts of fishes, — being the chief speaker, and, as 
it would seem, the most conspicuous agent on the latter as well as on the former 
occasion, — would prepare us naturally to expect that the recognition of their Divine 
Master would have first taken place on the side of St. Peter. But it was not so. 
St. John, who reached the Sepulchre before St. Peter by speed of limb, and "be- 
lieved/' now reaches his risen Saviour first, by Faith, and informs the other, that 
" It is the Lord V To St. John, on both occasions, the statement is applicable, — 
"yet went he not in:" even as, on both occasions, St. Peter is the one to press 
furthest forward afterwards, — casting himself now into the water, with a noble 
instinct of love which we cannot too much admire ; and wading through the shal- 
lows in the direction of the Figure upon the strand. . . . There was nothing what- 
ever to be gained by this proceeding on his part, — which makes it the more interest- 
ing, as an exhibition probably of the personal character of the Apostle : for this 
was he who must needs walk to Christ upon the water, — follow Him into the high- 
Priest's palace, — and press eagerly into the Holy Sepulchre, after his Resurrection, 
while St. John was gazing without. 

A great Doctor of our own writes as follows concerning the transaction in the 
text: "It is St. John whose instinct of love penetrates the disguise, and tells Peter 
that it is the Lord. It might strike the recollection of both, how a few short years 
before, the same Lord had, in His mortal days, given a similar direction, — a like 
miraculous draught following : though then, they drew the net ; but now, they 
could not : then, the net brake : but now, for all the greater multitude of fishes, 
when it was drawn to land, the net was unbroken : then, the ship began to sink, 
and Simon Peter, affrighted, besought the Lord to depart from him, a sinful man ; 
whereas now, as soon as he heard that it was the Lord, and believed it was so, he 
plunged into the water to go to Him. These circumstances, symbolizing the greater 
power of the risen Lord, — or rather the greater power He obtained for the fishers 
of men when the mysteries of His Redemption were accomplished, — were not lost 



(p) St. Matth. xxv. 33. (q) Ezek. x. 3. 

(r) St. Luke i. 11. Compare Lev. i. 11. \s) Consider St. Luke v. 5. 

(t) The work "naked," in the original, implies this. Compare St. Mark xiv. 52. 



928 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

on St. John ; who, ever calmer than St. Peter, while his emotions were the deepest, 
tranquilly remained with the rest in the vessel, till it was brought to the shore." (w) 

8 And the other Disciples came in a little ship ; (for they were not 
far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net 
with fishes. 

Rather, "the other Disciples came in the boat P Their fishing-vessel drew too 
much water to approach any closer to the edge of the Lake, from which they were 
about a hundred yards distant : the Disciples accordingly lowered the boat, and 
rowed for land, — dragging the net with them. Take notice, that this time the fish 
are not emptied into the boats,— as on the former occasion ; but drawn to shore. 

" Two hundred cubits." " So near are we, even in this troublous World, to the 
land of Everlasting Rest," and to Him who there abideth ; " though He be not far 
from every one of us, for in Him we live, and move, and have our being."(y) 

9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals 
there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. 

Fish and Bread : — the very materials out of which, a year before, their Lord had 
fed five thousand, on one of the mountains hard by ! The food may have been sym- 
bolical ; but we will not presume to divine of what. 

A charcoal fire, miraculously prepared, — a supply of food also, miraculously pro- 
vided, — awaits the arrival of the seven wondering Apostles. "A fire already made 
upon the shore, to welcome them in the cold of the early morning ; fish already 
baked thereon ; and bread by itself. Then, surely, no needy suppliant for their 
hospitality had accosted them a few moments since : but the same who says, — " If 
I be hungry I will not tell thee ; for the whole World is Mine, and all that is 
therein \"{x) The circumstance is the more mysterious, because our Lord never 
appears to have worked miracles for no purpose ; and, humanly speaking, there 
was no need for this bread and this fish, — not of the fish, certainly ; for the Dis- 
ciples were already abundantly supplied. Something, no doubt, very great and 
Divine must be contained in all this !"(y) 

10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now 
caught. 

It was they indeed who had caught the fish ; " yet, how true was it of these, ' All 
things come of Thee ; and of Thine own have we given Thee V "(2) 

Twofold, it may be, was the purpose with which this command was given. Our 
risen Lord probably willed that the attention of the seven Disciples should be 
drawn to the extent of the prey they had recently captured, — the size, and the 
number of the fishes ; — as well as to the circumstance that, " for all there were so 
many, yet was not the net broken." The Divine command seems to have a further 
gracious intention, which the reader will find indicated at the conclusion of the 
note on ver. 13, — the suggestion being there offered, not without distrust, to his 
indulgent consideration. 

11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great 
fishes, an hundred and fifty and three : 

A moment since, and we were told that " they were not able to draw it for the 
multitude of fishes." Simon Peter now goes up, and draws the net to land, alone !(&) 
Did our Lord perhaps command him to take upon himself this office ? or do we 
only behold here another example of St. Peter's forwardness and zeal ? 

Take notice that it is declared that the fishes were all "great." Their number 
is also specified ; — a circumstance which suggests that the Disciples were instructed 
to ascertain the exact sum of them. But how singular does it seem that their atten- 
tion should have been directed to such a circumstance, at such a time ! and how 
strange that the circumstance should be recorded! Is it perhaps done, (among 
other reasons,) with allusion to "the number of the elect," — certainly fixed in the 
eternal counsels of the Most High, though to Man a thing ever unknown? Or 
may there be some real connection between this place of Scripture, and that place 

(u) Dr. W. H. Mill. (t?) Acts xvii. 21, 28. (x) Ps. 1. 12. 

ly) Williams. (z) Williams, quoting 1 Chron. xxix. 14. 

(a) Consider the conduct of Jacob, as related in Gen.xxix. 2, 3, 1, 8, 10. 



XXI.] 



ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 929 



where it is mentioned that " all the strangers that were in the land of Israel were 
found an hundred and fifty thousand, and tJiree thousand, and six hundred ?"(c) The 
reasons which Augustine gives for the number, ("an hundred and fifty and three,") 
seem fanciful and insufficient. Hereby, however, we are reminded of the sum, 
which is also recorded, of those who were saved in the ship which conveyed St. 
Paul, — "two hundred, three score, and sixteen souls ;"{d) as well as of the doings 
of Him who " doeth all things in measure, and number, and weight."(e) 

and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. 

A mysterious circumstance, which seems to be noticed with special reference to 
that former occasion when, because the Disciples "enclosed a great multitude of 
fishes,' ; St. Luke relates that "their net brake.'Xf) . . . If the rents and divisions 
in the Church of Christ during these, the days of her warfare, are signified by the 
broken net, the net unbroken must represent symbolically the Church's altered for- 
tune, when her " Prayer for Unity" will at last be granted. 

12 Jesus said unto them, Come and dine. 

Rather, — " Come, breakfast."(#) The tender love of Him whose mercies 

are over all His works is apparent in this invitation ; for the Disciples had toiled 
long, were cold, and wet, and weary, and had hitherto eaten nothing. Yet, through 
reverence and awe, they kept aloof from the simple banquet which their Divine 
Master had provided for them ; nor, till they were specially invited, did they pre- 
sume to approach the place where He stood. 

Meantime, beneath these lowly symbols was transacted the image of a lofty mys- 
tery ; for what did this meal signify but that Heavenly banquet, of which it is 
promised that the redeemed shall partake hereafter, when they shall 'sit doivn with 
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven?"(7i) "Blessed are 
they which are called into the Marriage Supper of the Lamb \"(i) . . . The seven 
Disciples exhibited in a figure the blissful estate of those who shall eat bread in 
the Kingdom of God :"(j ) while the true Joseph, — (speedily to be revealed in his 
other character of "the Shepherd, "(&) — displayed an emblem of that spiritual 
repast which He will then provide for the perfect refreshment of His Brethren. 
Consider further St. John xii. 2. — Our Lord may have Himself partaken of the pre- 
sent meal, in order to convince His Disciples of the truth of His Resurrection, — 
as He had done once before :(Z) for in this interval between His Resurrection and 
Ascension, " as He had risen Himself, so He is raising them from their unbe- 
lief."^) But the fact is assumed, in the heading of the chapter; where we read, 
— " He dineth with them" 

And none of the Disciples durst ask Him, Who art Thou ? knowing 
that it was the Lord. 

" No one dared to ask Him, for they had no longer the same freedom of speech 
and boldness as heretofore." A change seems to have passed upon His aspect: 
He was another, — yet the same : And the Disciples, " beholding His form altered, 
and replete with something exceedingly astonishing, were stricken with very great 
fear ; being desirous to make some inquiry concerning it, but awe, and the con- 
sciousness that it was not another, but He Himself, restrained the question ; and 
they only ate those things which He had created with great power." (n) 

13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish 
likewise. 

"On this occasion," (as Chrysostom points out,) "He no longer looks up to Hea- 
ven," blessing and giving thanks, as He had invariably done before His Resurrec- 
tion; "showing that those acts had formerly taken place by condescension." "All 
power," (He seems to say,) " is given unto Me in Heaven and in Earth."(o) 

Is it meant, in the verse before us, that He " came" to the spot where the Disci- 
ples were, — the spot, comparatively a remote one, where they had timidly seated 

(c) 2 Chron. ii. 17. (d) Acts xxvii. 37. (e) Wisdom xi. 20. (/) St. Luke v. 6 

(g) Compare St. Matth. xxv. 34. (h) St. Matth. viii. 11, where see the Bote 

(i) Rev. xix. 9. (j) St. Luke xiv. 15, — where see the note. (&) Gen. xlix. 24 

(I) See St. Luke xxiv. 41 to 43. (m) Abp. Leighton. 

(n) Chrysostom. (o) St. Matth. xxviii. 18. 

59 



930 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

themselves ? Or is it simply that, after the Disciples had sat down, our Saviour 

Himself approached the spot, — " came" and sat down likewise ? Observe, 

that the. Disciples do not help themselves to food. It is still Christ that taketh, — 
Christ that giveth! All the spiritual refreshment of Heaven will still be His gift! 
The very Bliss of the Saints will be altogether from Him! .... And yet, besides 
the iish miraculously provided for the refreshment of the Disciples, we find that 
they were fed with some of the fish which they had themselves recently caught.. 
This we gather from the special statement in verse 10. But those fishes, as we 
certainly know,(_p) symbolize the successful result with which the Apostles should 
hereafter preach the Gospel. Are we not at liberty, then, to connect with the pre- 
sent passage that remarkable declaration of St. Paul, — " For what is our hope, or 
joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye, in the presence of our Lord Jesus 

Christ, at His Coming ?"{q) mystery of Divine Love, in reserve for 

those who have faithfully fed the flock of Christ committed to their care; if, through- 
out the ages, they shall be conscious of an augmentation of Bliss from the souls of 
those to whom in life it was their privilege to minister ! 

14 This is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His 
Disciples, after that He was risen from the dead. 

Not, His third appearance, or manifestation of Himself; for no less than five 
appearances, (as already remarked elsewhere,) are recorded to have taken place on 
the day of His Kesurrection;* and this is the fourth appearance which St. John 
himself describes. But this is " the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His 
Disciples," collectively. 

Throughout the Bible, " the third time," (a number ever divinely allusive to the 
mystery of the Blessed Trinity !) is either for confirmation or consummation. If 
the present is an example of " the third time" being used in this latter sense, we 
shall be presented, further on, with an example of its use in the former. The • 

reader may be referred, on this head, to the note on chapter xx And here, 

a new subject as it were begins, — a new scene is disclosed. It is no longer fisher- 
men, aid their nets, and the salt lake ; but shepherds, with their flocks, and a green 
pasture which comes to view. Above all, our Lord Jesus Christ, now newly 
risen from the dead, comes before us, (as St. Paul not obscurely intimater,) in the 
character of "the Great Shepherd of the sheep," (r) — (His ancient character ;) [s) 
— even as " the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls." 

" Some part of the great Pastoral Office to which He had been designated by 
ancient Prophecy, and His own Divine words, our Blessed Lord discharged while 
He remained on Earth in the flesh; pitying, tending, feeding, loving those who had 
been "as sheep having no shepherd :" and above all exhibiting that greatest token 
of the Good Shepherd, the laying down of His life for the sheep. But when He 
had done this, and having now risen from the grave, was about to ascend where* 
He was before, He left behind Him in the great saying which follows, (" Feed My 
Sheep,") the institution of Pastoral Succession to the end of the World. "(t) 

15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, 
son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these ? 

This very form of address recalls that former occasion when our Lord pronounced 
Simon Peter " blessed" for his glorious confession of His Divinity, and bestowed 
upon him a mysterious promise concerning His future Church. "Blessed art thou, 
Simon Barjona, — He began. (u) 

"Lovest thou Me more than these [love Me]?" asks our Lord. The inquiry has 
clear reference to that recent occasion when Simon had declared that his attach- 
ment to our Lord's person was stronger than that of any of the other Apostles. 
See St. Matthew xxvi. 33. Thrice, on the very night of his confident boasting, as. 
our Saviour proceeded immediately to predict, (v) Simon did nevertheless deny 

(p). Consider St. Matth. xiii. 47 — 49; and see St. Luke v. 10. 

(q) 1 Thess. ii. 19. (>•) Heb. xiii. 20. 

(«) Ps. xxiii. 2: lxxvii. 20: lxxviii. 52: cxix. 176. Is. xl. 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 11 to 23: 
xxxvii. 24. Jer. iii. 15 : xxiii. »% 4. See the notes on Sfc. Luke xv. 3 to 6 ; but, above all, St. 
John x. 1 to 16, 

(t) Dr. Moberly. 00 St. Matth. xvi. 17,— where see the note. 

(v) St. John xiii. 38. St. Matth. xxvi. 34. 



XXI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 931 

Him. And so, thrice, at the present time, His risen Lord repeats His inquiry, — 
"Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?" 

A remarkable variety, however, is discoverable in the terms of our Saviour's 
repeated question, and St. Peter's repeated answer, which is lost to the English 
reader. Two words, differing in their intensity, are employed for " to love/' where 
we possess but one: Our Saviour, using first the word expressive of less strong 
personal affection, asks, — "Lovest thou Me?" "At this moment, when all the 
pulses in the heart of the now penitent Apostle are beating with an earnest affec- 
tion toward his Lord, this word on that Lord's lips sounds too cold. Besides the 
question itself, which grieves and hurts Peter, there is an additional pang in the 
form which the question takes, sounding as though it were intended to put him at 
a comparative distance from his Lord, and to keep him there ; or at least, as not 
permitting him to approach so near to Him as he fain would. He therefore in his 
answer substitutes for it the word of a more personal love, — " Thou knowest that T 
love Thee dearly." When Christ repeats the question in the same words as at 
the first, Peter in his reply again substitutes his "love Thee dearly" for the 
" lovest thou" of his Lord. And now at length he has conquered : for when his 
Master puts the question to him for the third time, He does it with the word which 
Peter feels will alone express all that is in his heart; and instead of the twice 
repeated "Lovest thou Me?" His word is, "Dost thou love Me Dearly?" . . . 
The question, grievous in itself to Peter, as seeming to imply a doubt in his love, 
is not any longer made more grievous still, by the peculiar shape -which it 
assumes." (w) 

He saith unto him, Yea, Lord ; Thou knowest that I love Thee. 

"Dearly." Take notice that Simon, in his reply, presumes not to speak, (as he 
did before,) (x) of the love of his fellow-disciples, — concerning which he can know 
nothing. Humbled by his fa\\,(y) he does but make profession of his own love ; 
appealing, in proof thereof, to the perfect knowledge of Him by whom he is 
addressed. " Thou knowest !" — knowest that I do more than " love" Thee. 

He saith unto him, Feed My Lambs. 

That is, — If thou truly lovest Me, then, — " Feed My lambs !" Prepare thyself, 
for their sakes, even to lay down that life which thou didst once so boastfully pro- 
fess thyself willing to lay down for Mine :(z) remembering that " the good shepherd 
giveth his life for the sheep. (a) . . . Does not St. John allude to all this in his first 
Epistle, when he writes, — "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid 
down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren ?"(6) 

This rejoinder of our Lord is surely full of precious teaching to the Ministers of 
Christ forever. The test of their love towards their Divine Master, — the only test 
which He Himself proposes, the only proof which He will Himself accept, — is their 
care of His flock ; and first, of the lambs of the flock. Consider Isaiah xl. 11. Now 
the " lambs" are those little ones, — (whether in respect of age, or abilities, or 
station,) — who, as " babes in Christ," require to be fed " with milk and not with 
meat ;" and " have need that one teach them which be the first principles of the 
oracles of God." " For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of 
righteousness : for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of 
full age."(c) So far, St. Paul. How remarkable is it to find the self-same image 
in the writings of St. Peter also 1(d) 

Every word here is, in fact, a Homily. " The lambs are"to be fed. Their daily 
portion of food (all that is needed for the soul's health and strength, all that is 
included in that petition "Give us this day our daily bread,") is here specially 
spoken of. And those "lambs," saith "the Great Shepherd of the sheep, "(e) are 
"Mine" .... salutary thought for the pastor of souls, that the "sheep" and 
the "lambs" are not his, but Christ's! Not his ; — therefore, like Jacob with the 
flock of Laban, should he be prepared to give account for all!(/') . Not his; — 
therefore must there be One above him, to whom they are a care as well as to 

(w) Trench, " on the Synonyms of the New Testament," — a delightful little work. 
(x) St. Matth. xxvi. &3. (y) See the notes on St. Matth. xxvi. 75. 

(z) | St. John xiii. 37. (a) St. John x. 11. (b) 1 St. John iii. 16. 

(c) Heb. v. 13, 14. Abp. Laud supplies these two references. (d) 1 St. Pet. ii. 2 

(e) Heb. xiii. 20. Consider the whole verse. (/) Gen. xxxi. 39. 



932 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

himself; even "the Chief Shepherd," (<7) who careth alike for Mm and for them! 
the Same -who saith, " I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which 
was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen 
that which was sick."(7i) — But " Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed 
themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks ¥'(i) .... See below, on 
ver. 17. 

16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, 
lovest thou Me ? He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord ; Thou knowest that 
I love Thee. He saith unto him, Feed My sheep. 

Rather, '• Tend My sheep." . . . Before, it was " Feed ;" noAv, it is " Tend" or 
."Shepherd:" that is, "Perform all a shepherd's duties" by them; "Feed the 
flock, like a shepherd ;"(j) do all that should be done by a "shepherd of the 
sheep." (h) Call thine own sheep by name, and lead them out; and when thou 
puttest forth thine own sheep, go before them, that the sheep (knowing thy voice) 
may follow thee. Consider St. John x. 3, 4. — Before, also, the little "lambs" were 
specified as the prime object of pastoral solicitude. Now, it is the grown "sheep." 
But of both alike, " the Good Shepherd" says — They are "Mine" 

17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest 
thou Me ? 

As Peter had thrice repeated his denial, so does our Lord give him the oppor- 
tunity of thrice repeating the declaration of his love; — thereby conveying to him 
forgiveness, and restoring the afflicted Apostle to favour. Not once, however, now, 
does Christ address him by his name of strength ;(l) but repeats, on every occasion, 

an allusion to his humble parentage Concerning the altered form of the 

present inquiry, see above, the note on ver. 15. 

A practical lesson also is surely to be derived by ourselves from this repeated 
question. The Divine Speaker " seems to say that, in a Pastor, the first, the 
second, the third requisite, is love of Christ." (m) 

Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest 
thou Me ? And he said unto Him, Lord, Thou knowest all things ; 
Thou knowest that I love Thee. 

He was.perbaps "grieved," because the sad remembrance of the past suggested 
the possibility that his present confidence was only the prelude to a second fall. 
He appeals, therefore, to his Lord's Omniscience, (?i) and humbly repeats the 
assurance of his personal affection. 

Jesus saith unto him, Feed My sheep. 

This is not, by any means, the same injunction as the last. It is no longer 
" Tend," or " Shepherd," My sheep, — as in ver. 16 ; but "Feed" them, — the same 
word which was used above, in ver. 15, with reference to the little lambs. . . . The 
same catechetical training therefore, — the same careful attention to the soul's 
natural cravings and acquired needs, which was enjoined on be half of the " lambs" 
of the fold, — is here enjoined on behalf of the " sheep," also. 

Thus earnestly did our Lord, for the third time, commend " the people of His 
pasture and the sheep of His Hand," to the care of all the Bishops and Pastors of 
His Church, — as Augustine truly observes. For, though the Blessed Speaker 
directed His words to St. Peter in particular, it is not to be imagined that He 
entrusted His " lambs" and His " sheep" to him alone. So obvious a circumstance 
would not require even passing notice, but for the profane and ridiculous preten- 
sions of the Church of Borne, which are based, in great part, on the words of our 
Saviour here recorded. The Papists assume, — (1st) that He hereby appointed St. 
Peter His Vicar upon Earth ; (2ndly) that St. Peter was the first Bishop of Rome ; 
(3rdly) that St. Peter transmitted to the Bishops of the same see in endless succes- 

(g) St, Pet, v. 4. (h) Ezek. xxxiv. 16. 

(t) Ezek. xxxiv. 2. ( /) Is. xl. 11. 

(k) St. John x. 2. (I) See St. Luke xxii. 34. 

(m) Williams. (n) See St. John xvi. 30. 



XXI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 933 

sicii, his own (supposed) authority over the rest of Christendom. Each one of 
these assumptions is simply unfounded and untrue ; opposed alike to Scripture and 
to Reason ; to the records of the early Church, and the opinions of the primitive 
Fathers. With such fictions, nevertheless, do Romish writers- distort the true image 
of Christianity : disfiguring their commentaries therewith ; and betraying, by a 
restless eagerness to obtrude their ambitious and unscriptural theory on all occa- 
sions, their secret misgivings as to its real value. 

But why, (it will perhaps be asked,) did our Lord deliver this charge to one, if 
He desiguecl it equally for the rest? — We begin by observing that a certain prece- 
dence in Rank, though no kind of superiority in Authority, was certainly enjoyed 
by St. Peter over the rest of the Apostles, (o) It is only necessary to take a careful 
review of the entire Gospel History, to be fully convinced of this. To St. Peter, 
therefore, chief of the Apostles, — [chief in rank, where all were equal in poioer,') — 
what is more natural than that our Saviour should address that instruction which 
He designed for the acceptance of the whole body ?(^>) When He conveyed the 
power of binding and loosing, He addressed His words, in the first instance, to St. 
Peter alone ;(q) "and yet we certainly know that they were not intended for St. 
Peter, exclusively of the other Apostles ; for, in the eighteenth chapter of the same 
Gospel, they are repeated in a promise to the Church ; and in the twentieth of 
St. John, the promised power is given to the Twelve without distinction or differ- 
ence." (r) The gracious intention of thus restoring the great Apostle to his half- 
forfeited Apostleship, is suggested by Cyril as another reason why our Lord should 
have now addressed him singly. Cyprian declares that " the other Apostles were 
what Peter was, — endowed with an equal participation of honor and power ; but 
the beginning [of Pastoral authority] proceeds from unity, that the Church may be 
shown to be one." .... Whatever may be thought of these suggestions, (which are 
as old as Christianity itself,) the modern Church of Rome, at all events, can lay no 
exclusive claim to any single privilege which our Lord may be supposed, at any 
time, to have bestowed on Simon Peter. This has been already shown in the notes 
on St. Matthew xvi. 19, — and a careful examination of the writings of the Fathers 
the first three centuries does but serve " to confirm the ancient tradition of the 
entire equality in all powers and rights, not excluding the pastoral, of the whole 
Apostolic college." (s) 

But did our Lord convey to St. Peter any special privilege on this occasion ? Is 
there any reason for supposing that the Pastoral Office belongs to him alone, — and 
was derived from him to the others ! We are conducted to the very opposite con- 
clusion : First, because, being equal in all other Apostolic powers, the Apostles 
cannot be conceived to be unequal in the power which is conveyed in the Pastoral 
Commission. "But the real answer to the proposed question, is this: when we 
turn to the Apostolic commentary upon these sacred sayings contained in the later 
Scriptures, — a commentary from which we derive the undeniable and inspired re- 
cord of the meaning in which the Lord spake them ; and the holy Apostles, under 
the Spirit of Knowledge and Power understood and administered them, — we find 
a complete and final proof of the equality of the Apostles in all Apostolic powers; 
and a disproof of any personal superiority of St. Peter, even in any such peculiar 
powers as may be esteemed specifically pastoral. It is impossible that this argu- 
ment can be stated too strongly. There is not, from one end to the other of the 
Apostolical Epistles, a verse or word that can be tortured into proving or supporting 
the pastoral supremacy of St. Peter. There are, meanwhile, many words and 
passages, and recorded acts, which do most distinctly disprove it."(6) But it must 
suffice to refer the reader, for the partial proof of these statements, to the refer- 
ences at the foot of the page.(2i) 

A matter of deep and affecting interest it is, with the scene before us fresh in our 
recollection, to notice in what terms the same St. Peter afterwards exhorted the 
elders of the Church. " The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an 
elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, . . . Feed the flock of God which is 
among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly ; not for 
filthy lucre, but of a ready mind ; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but 

(o) See vol. i. p. 155. - (j)) See Acts xx. 2S. 1 St. Pet. v. 1 to 4. 

(q) St. Matth. xvi. 19. (■»■) Dr. Moberly. 

(s) Dr. Moberly. (t) Dr. Moberly. 

(m) Consider Acts xv. 6 to 21. Gal. i. 1 : ii. 6 to 9, and 11 to 14. 2 Cor. xi. 5: xii. 11, 12. 
St. Matth. xix. 2S. 



934 A PLAIN COMMENTAKY [CHAP. 

being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall 
receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."(#) It is worth observing also 
that in this exhortation of St. Peter to. the elders of the Church, he has a few words 
oj^ address to the "younger" also. St. John, in like manner, writes as well to the 
"little children," and "young men," as to the "fathers" of his flock, (y) — The rea- 
der is here invited to call to mind a passage in St. Paul's charge to the elders of 
Ephesus, — Acts xx. 28. 

Whatever the nature of St. Peter's " grief" may have been at the repeated inquiry 
of our Lord, most instructive surely is it to observe in what terms his anxieties 
are dispelled : e en by the announcement of the bloody baptism which was in store 
for him ! It follows : 

18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst 
thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, 
thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shalt gird' thee, and 
carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 

19 This spake He, signifying by what death he should glory God. 

Compare with these last words, the language of St. John xii. 32, 33, — where the 
terms are recorded in which our Blessed Lord signified that He should Himself 
die ; should Himself " glorify God." See the note on St. John xiii. 31. 

By such sayings, then, our Saviour Christ intimated to Simon Peter, (obscurely, 
as it seems to us,) that death by crucifixion would be his portion in his age ; and the 
Apostle grew old in the anticipation, (to him a blissful one!) of thus tieading in his 
Master's footsteps, and "following Him" in His mysterious pathway of pain. 
" Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus 
Christ hath showed me." See 2 St. Peter i. i4. 

" When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself," &c, — the action of one who pre- 
pares for bodily exertion. (a) But the words, here, seem to have been spoken with 
special reference to the act which St. Peter had so lately performed ; when he 
yielded to the impulse of his love, and walked through the wafer whither he 
would, — even unto Christ ! . . . . That is perhaps why, (or one of the reasons 
why,) the circumstance contained in the latter part of ver. 7 finds so distinct a 
record. 

" Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands." " The words are descriptive of the prac- 
tice, mentioned by ancient authors, of stretching out the hands of criminals upon 
the two extremities of a yoke placed across the neck, and so carrying them out to 
crucifixion. "(6) That St. Peter was crucified at Rome, we learn from Church His- 
tory; and the affecting circumstance is recorded that he suffered by his own request, 
.with his head downwards, — as unworthy even to be agonized with the same agony 
as his Lord. 

In illustration of being "girded by another," refer to Acts xxi. 10, 11. It was 
perhaps usual to bind criminals, by the loins, to the Cross whereon they suffered ; 
or at least, through decency, to gird them. Consider Psalm cxviii. 27. 

"Whither thou wouldest not," by no means implies that St. Peter would be un- 
willing to suffer martyrdom for his Master's sake. The expression does but indicate 
that the death by which "he should glorify God" would be one from which all the 
blameless instincts of his Nature would recoil, — a violent and a torturing death. 

And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow Me. 

After the Paschal Supper was ended, it will be remembered that Simon Peter 
said " Lord, whither goest Thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst 
not follow Me now ; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards."(c) The season which 
the Blessed Speaker then alluded to, had now at last arrived ; and the solemn pro- 
phecy which goes before, sufficiently shows along which pathway, in particular, it 
was intended that St. Peter should tread in his beloved Master's footsteps. That 
same Master had indeed, long before, declared, — " If any man will come after Me, 

(x) 1 St. Pet. v. 1 to 4. 

\y) 1 St. Pet. v. 5, and 1 St. John ii. 12, 13, 14. 

(a) See St. Luke xii. 35 and Exod. xii. 11. (b) Lonsdale and Hale. 

(c) St. John xiii. 36, where see the note. 



XXI.] ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 935 

let him deny himself, and take up his Cross, and follow Me.(c?) (How far-reaching 
and many-sided are the sayings of our Lord!) To complete by symbol, therefore, 
the instruction which it was His gracious pleasure on this occasion to deliver to 
His highly-favoured servant, our Saviour seems to have next moved to a little 
distance from the band of wondering Apostles ; delivering to the foremost of the 
seven, as He went, the invitation, — "Follow Me!" . . . We do not need the assur- 
ance that the man so addressed was prompt to obey the summons ; separating 
himself from his brethren, and proceeding a few paces in the same direction as his 
retiring Lord. St. John is found to have followed, — (it must have been in silent 
adoring love !) — at a distance : for we read, 

20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the Disciple whom Jesus loved 
following ; which also leaned on His breast at supper, and said, Lord, 
which is he that betrayeth Thee ? 

21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this 
man do f 

Take notice here-, first, of the method by which the blessed writer of the present 
Gospel identifies himself. Enough has been already offered on this subject in the 
note on St. John iv. 46, — to which the reader is requested to refer. See also the 
note on St. John xiii. 25. It should however perhaps be suggested that there may 
have been a distinct reason why St. John, on the present occasion, refers in so 
pointed a manner to a certain incident in the history of the Paschal Supper. The 
three tokens of his Master's special favour which he enumerates, may have been 
the very considerations which now so weighed with St. Peter, (and of this, St. 
Peter himself may have afterwards informed St. John,) as to draw from his lips 
the memorable inquiry which follows. 

The suggestion thus offered leads naturally to our next remark,— namely, that 
the solicitude of St. Peter to know what St. John was to do, deserves attention ; and 
here the reader must be invited to consider what has been already written on chap, 
xviii. 15. So deeply must Simon by this time have become convinced of the lofty 
pinnacle which St. John occupied in their Master's love,— (was not St. John His 
chosen friend? yea, His adopted Brother?) — that on hearing the summons, 
" Follow Me!" addressed to himself, the natural instincts of an honest and good 
heart may well have caused St. Peter to turn about in quest of St. John. He 
beheld that favoured Apostle of the Lamb, "following;" and he could not repress 
his loving desire, (for mere curiosity it was not,) to know what should be done by 
him. " Lord !" (he says,) " and this man, — what?" as if he would have added, — 
Is not he to follow Thee as well ? Thou mysterious Risen One, who, moving away 
from us, dost graciously bid me to follow Thee, — may not this man, who hath 
never denied Thee, never forsaken Thee : may not this man follow Thee too ? . . . 
He presumes not, however, to say all this. A broken sentence conveys all his 
timid inquiry : and our Divine Lord, by the form of His rejoinder, teaches him 
how much deeper had been the meaning of His command than either St. John, or 
himself, as yet, suspected. He also repeats the summons for the second, yea, 
rather for the third(e) time ; and it becomes apparent that He uses the words 
figuratively, — as St. Peter now perceives full well.(/) 

22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what 
is that to thee ? follow thou Me. 

This reply has been thought very difficult ; but the most obvious interpretation 
of our Lord's meaning is probably also the correct one. He is intimating what 
shall be the portion of St. John ; and His words seem to imply that the beloved 
Disciple should not "follow" Him, — should not come to Him through the gate of 
Martyrdom, — like Simon Peter: but that he should " tarry" behind ; tarry for the 
coming of His Lord to him. . . . This Divine method of speaking of Life and 
Death '"derives illustration from the following places of Scripture: — St. Mark xiii. 
35, 3G, (where see the note :) also Philipp. i. 23, 24, and 1 Cor. xv. 6 ; also St. Mat- 
thew xvi. 27, 28 ; and xxiv. 30.(#) 

(d) St. MatthI xvi. 24. See also x. 38. 

(e) See St. Matth. iv. 19, 20. (/) Consider 1 St. Pet. ii. 21, Ac. 
(g) 2 Thess. iii. 5 is perhaps not a case in point : 1 Cor. i. 7 is not, certainly. 



936 A PLAIN COMMENTARY [CHAP. 

This, then, we regard as the Divine announcement of the manner of St. John's 
departure ; (an event which, as we learn from this place, depended altogether on 
the Will of Him who is at once God and Christ ;) and most instructive, as well as 
most comfortable, the language may well prove to every Christian heart. It is most 
instructive ; for we cannot but call to remembrance the prophetic promise made by our 
Saviour, long before, to St. James and St. John, that they should indeed drink of 
His bitter cup, and be made partakers of His Baptism and Blood. (Ji) St. James, 
the first Apostolic Martyr,(i) fulfilled our Saviour's prophecy to the very letter : 
but how different in circumstance was the verification of that prophecy in the case 
of St. John ! He was to " tarry" till Christ " came ;" patiently to " linger on, year 
after year, in loneliness and weariness of spirit ;"(k) to abide persecution,(Z) oppres- 
sion, and wrong ; to endure the enmity of the wicked, (m) and the sight of heresies 
abounding in the Church :(n) "as if to exemplify all classes of the faithful, that 
there are various modes of drinking the cup of Christ, and being baptized even 
with that baptism with which He'was finally baptized. "(o) The reader is invited 
to. read the note on St. Matthew xx. 23. 

Our Saviour's language is most comfortable, — for it recalls those many places in 
the Gospel where Death is spoken of as disarmed of its terrors. Thus, — " When 
ye fail," saith our Lord, in a certain place ;(p) meaning "When ye die." As if 
to teach us that the death of His Saints is, in His sight, but like the fainting of a 
strong man at the end of a long race ; a mere failure of bodily vigour. Nay, Death 
is " abolished," (q) according to the Gospel view. This subject will be found to be 
touched upon above, at page 446. . . . The Divine Speaker's intention, then, seems 
to have been, not so much to intimate that St. John was to die, as that he was to 
ivait: to imply, not so much that Aewas to go, as that Christ was to come. "Surely 
I come quickly. Amen," are- accordingly the last words addressed by Revelation 
to the Evangelist ; and he closes the inspired Canon with his own devout reply, — 
"Even so, come, Lord Jesus !"(r) 

Besides what this memorable reply may be considered to reveal, as well concern- 
ing the future destiny of St. John, as concerning our own state in Life and in Death, 
the rebuke thus administered to St. Peter is surely full of practical teaching, also. 
The words seem to have an abiding force, and to be of universal application ; yet 
not because they are ambiguous, (like the oracles of old,) but because they are 
Divine. They are made up of rebuke and counsel, "What is that to thee?" — 
which of us has not deserved the rebuke ? " Follow thou Me !" — which of us does 
not require the counsel ? The heart and eye are thus called away from the problem 
which perplexes, the prospect which discourages, the thoughts which distract and 
paralyze ; and a plain duty is proposed instead. Not Speculation, is enjoined, but 
Practice; not knowledge, but Goodness ; not another man's matters, but our own. 
Let the reader consider the places indicated at foot ;(s) and decide whether St. Peter 
may not have learned now the lesson which he afterwards conveyed to the Church 
in the precept that no one should be "a busybody in other men's matters." (t) . . . 
Nay, our Lord's rebuke may well silence over-anxiety also about our own future 
fate : as "what thoughtful, forecasting Christian has not felt a desire to know how 
long he shall live? what shall be the manner of his life, and what of his death? 
Such inquiries are sure to arise, more or less, in every breast : but He who alone 
could make answer, will not. Ask Him, and He will say, — "If I will that thou 
tarry till I come, what is that to thee ?"(«) 

Leighton says, — " This was a transient stumbling in one who, but lately recov- 
ered of a great disease, did not walk firmly. But it is the common track of most, 
to wear out their days with impertinent inquiries. There is a natural desire in 
men to know the things of others, and to neglect their own ; and to be more con- 
cerned about things to come, than about things present." 

(70 St. Matth. xx. 23, cand St. Mark x. 39. 

(i) Acts xii. 2. (Jc) Rev. A. P. Stanley. 

(I) Rev. i. 9. (m) 1 St. John hi. 13 : 2 St. John ver. 9, 10. 

(n) 1 St. John ii. 18, 19, 26 : iv. 1, 3. 2 St. John ver. 7. 
(o) Dr. W. H. Mill. 

(p) St. Luke xvi. 9, — where see the beginning of the note. 
(q) 2 Tim. i. 10. (r) Rev. xxii. 20. 

(•s) St. Luke xiii. 1 to 3 ; and 23 to 24. St. Matth. vi. 31 to 33, Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19. Deut. 
xxix. 29. Ps. cxxxi. 1, 2. 

(*) 1 St. Pet. iv. 15. Compare 1 Tim. v. 13. 

(u) From a MS. Sermon by the Rev. Edm. Hobhouse. 



xxi.] on st. John's gospel. 937 

23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that 
Disciple should not die : 

Would it not seem to "be a fair inference from the present verse, that the Evan- 
gelist St. John, at the time when he wrote his Gospel, was a very aged person ? 

The literal sense in which, (as we gather from this passage,) the primitive Church 
was accustomed to understand the words of her Lord, is striking and instructive. 
No quaint improbable notion that the Blessed Speaker referred, in the words before 
us, to the Destruction of Jerusalem, found place in the minds of those simple men. 
The event alluded to was over long before the date at which St. John wrote his 
Gospel ; but the "saving' 7 that "the Disciple whom Jesus loved" "should not die," 
still prevailed in the Church. These early believers reasoned thus : — Christ spake 
of St. John's tarrying till Himself came; but Christ is in Heaven, — from whence 
He shall come(x) to "judge the quick and the dead,(?/) at the Last Day. St. John 
is therefore one of those who will " be alive and remain unto the coming of the 
Lord," (2) — (a season, be it observed, which some of the first believers incorrectly 
supposed to be very near at hand. See 2 Thess. ii. 2 to 6.) . . . The simple manner, 
meanwhile, in which the Evangelist himself, without either denying or admitting 
the possible correctness of the inference, effectually shows that the thing itself had 
not been by his Divine Master foretold, — is much to be noticed. He says, 

yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die ; but, If I will that he 
tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? 

faithful witness ! Verily, the man who could so write, was a fit person to be 
an Evangelist. St. John here teaches us in what way we should deal with Divine 
Truth when its features come to us concealed under a dark saying. It must be our 
part to accept every statement of our Lord even as He hath been pleased to deliver 
it to our acceptance : not to gloss it with fancies of our own. Do but consider how 
applicable to the supposed equivalent of many a controverted saying in Divinity, 
the words of the text would be ! 

24 This is the Disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote 
these things : and we know that his testimony is true. 

" We know," — as in 1 St. John i. 1 to 5, and 3 St. John ver. 12. Consider also 1 
Thess. ii. 18. In such terms does St. John indicate himself; explaining to the 
Church wlw was the author of the last of the Four Gospels, — and certainly not 
excepting this, the concluding chapter of all. The expressions may be compared 
with what are found in chap. xix. 35, where the reader is invited to peruse the note. 
"The emphatic singularity of his designation as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved/ — 
the mystery which encompassed, and in some degree still seems to overshadow the 
Divine announcement of his destiny to his fellow Apostle, — are made yet more 
striking and significant to us by the circumstance that the subject of these myste- 
rious words is also their recorder. It cannot but be so when we perceive what the 
narrative itself impresses irresistibly on every reader, that it is dictated by no self- 
exalting, no self-reflecting spirit, but by a deep devotion of \hQ author's whole mind 
and thoughts to the Speaker, the Incarnate Word ; whose special love to himself 
inspires awe as well as gratitude : — an awe that suffers him not to name himself 
beside others apparently less favoured ; while every word that fell from his Lord, 
is, on that account, treasured up with reverence, as full of weighty meaning; 
fraught with the mysteries of an Eternal Life." (a) 

25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did; the 
which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the 
World itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. 

" Great and many were the miracles which Moses and the rest of the Prophets 
wrought for the ratification of the Law, and the demonstration of God's constant 
presence with His people ; and yet, all those wrought by so many several persons, 
in the space of above three thousand years, are far short of those which our Lord 

(x) St. Matth. xvi. 27 : xxiv. 30. (y) 2 Tim. iv. 1. 

(z) 1 Thess. iv. 15. («) Dr. W. H. Mill. 



938 A PLAIN COMMENTARY. 

Jesus Christ did perform within the compass of three years ;" — concerning which, 
(adds Bishop Pearson,) "St. John testifieth with as great certainty of truth as height 
of hyperbole." 

" Amen," he adds, (like his three predecessors,) in confirmation of every sentence 
which has gone before ; and doubtless of the sentence with which he concludes. Let 
us not prate, then, about "the hyperbolical language of the East," in order to dwarf 
this majestic statement of the faithful witness, — this " record" of him "that saw 
it." Let not our last words be words of cold, paltry criticism ; but rather of ado- 
ration, and wonder, and admiring love. The blessed Writer seems to have been 
transported, at last, by the recollection of the many things he had been divinely 
guided to leave unsaid: — those many mighty Miracles, which neither in this, nor 
in any other Gospel, find the slightest record ;(6) — those many Discourses, so full 
of unutterable Majesty and sweetness, to which we scarcely anywhere find so much 
as an allusion ;(c)— and he challenges the World itself to find room for the written 
history of His beloved Master's acts and sayings, even could historians be found to 
commit each several particular to writing. Surely, at such words, our part should 
only be to wonder and admire ! " Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who 
only doeth wondrous things ! And blessed be His glorious Name for ever : and let 
the whole Earth be filled with His Glory ; Amen, and Amen l"(d) 



(b) Consider St. Matth. xi. 20, 21, 23 : iv. 24. St. Mark i. 32, &e. 

(c) Consider St. Matth. iv. 23 : ix. 35. St, Mark vi. G. • St. Luke xiii. 22: xxi. 3f: xxiv. 
21, &G. 

{(1) Ps. Ixxii. IS, 19. 



Teque beprecor, bone JESU, ut cui propitius bonasti verba Tuje 
Scienti^ bulctter haurire, bones etiam benignus aliquanbo ab Te, 
fontem omnis sapienti^l pervenire, et parere" semper ante faciem 
Tuam ! Yen. Beda ; ad calcem Hist. Eccl. 



LIST E BOOKS 

PUBLISHED BY HERMAN HOOKER; 

S. W. corner Eighth and Chestnut Streets. 



Any offtliese Booiss supplied for Casii— Postage paid toy tlie Publisher, 



SERMONS ; by Rev. Alexander H. Vinton, D. D., in one volume, 
12mo., $1. 

TWENTY-EIGHT LECTURES ON THE MORNING- SERVICE 
OF THE CHURCH; by the Rev. Robert A. Hallam, D. D., of 
New London, Conn. The Lectures begin with the Sentences and 
end with the Apostolic Benediction. They are eminently practical, 
and commend the doctrine and worship of the Church in a masterly 
manner. 

HULSEAN LECTURES ON THE INSPIRATION OF HOLY 
SCRIPTURE, or on the Canon of the Old and New Testament, and 
on the Apocrypha : by Chr. Wordsworth, D. D., Canon of West- 
minster. 8vo. $1.50 

" This work has "been issued by Mr. Hooker in a handsome and well gotten-up 
octavo volume, and will at once take its place as a sound, solid, thorough standard 
on the all-important subjects of which it treats. The true position and authority of 
the Church in regard to Scripture are happily shown." — Church Journal. 

" A work of great merit and learning, and eminently adapted to be useful in 
these times." — Episcopal Recorder. 

DR. WORDSWORTH'S' LECTURES ON THE APOCALYPSE. 
In one vol., 8vo., $2. 

DR. WORDSWORTH'S THEOPHILUS AMERICANUS. 1 vol. 
8vo., $1 50. 

DR. WORDSWORTH'S ELEMENTS OF CHURCH INSTRUC- 
TION. 12mo., 75 cents. 

HARDWICK'S HISTORY OF THE XXXIX ARTICLES OF 
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 8vo. $1.75. 



SERMONS ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE : by the Rt. Rev. George 
Burgess, D. D. $1.00. 

" These sermons are remarkable for comprehension of thought, beauty of style, 
and for the gentle and attractive graces of the Spirit, which they disclose and in- 
culcate/' 

THE BOY TRAINED TO BE A CLERGYMAN : -by the Rev. J. N. 
Norton. Second edition enlarged, price 87 cts. 

" This little book gives the trials and experiences of a boy's life through college, 
his preservation by the great purpose of his life, — his good influence on his com- 
panions. Altogether it is a most pleasing and instructive book." 

PRACTICAL RELIGION. Exemplified by Letters and passages 
from the Life of the late Rev. Robert Anderson. By the Hon. Mrs. 
Anderson. 75 cents. 

THE STAR OF THE WISE MEN. Being a Commentary on the 
second chapter of St. Matthew. By Richard Chenevix Trench, B. I). 
37 cents. 

TRENCH'S HULSE AN LECTURES : one vol. 12mo. 75 cents. 

LAST ENEMY, CONQUERING AND CONQUERED. By Bishop 
Burgess. 12mo. 75 cents. 

HYMNS FOR LITTLE CHILDREN. By the Author of the " Lord 
of the Forest," "Verses for Holy Seasons," &c. 20 cents. 

THE BOOK OF THE HOMILIES. Complete with the Constitution 
and Canons of the English and American Churches. 8vo., $2 25. 

MESSIAS AND ANTIMESSIAS ; A PROPHETICAL EXPOSI- 
TION. To -which are added two Homilies on the Body of Christ, by 
Charles Ingham Black, Curate of All Saints, Middlesex. 75 cents. 

STORIES EXPLANATORY OF THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 

By Mrs. Sherwood, edited by Bishop KEMP. 12mo., 75 cents. 

DIXON AND SMITH ON THE CHURCH CATECHISM. A plain 
Manuel of Divinity for Sunday Schools, Catechetical and Bible 
Classes. 18mo., 38 cents. 

THE POPULAR WORKS OF THE REV. HENRY BLUNT. In 

4 vols. 6th edition. In sets, $3 ; single volume, 75 cents. 

BLUNT'S DAILY COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS 

OF MOSES. 3 vols. $2 25. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: June 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



HHHBHHI^HHHHH^HMHHHH^^HMHHHHI^HH^HHHHHHHHHHnHi 



S 



